(Minghui.org) Ms. Shuzhen was born into a Taoist family. Her grandparents from both sides and her parents were all successors in their school of Taoist practice. She became the sole successor of her parents’ school as soon as she was born. For fifty years she practiced faithfully and loyally, but her faith in Taoism did not help her gain a healthy body or find happiness. It was not until she began to cultivate in Falun Dafa that the illnesses that she had suffered for decades were cured. Her life is now full of meaning and peace.
A Family of Taoist Successors
Shuzhen’s father was her Taoist Master in the secular world. Her father began teaching her to meditate as soon as she was old enough to do so. She learned from her father to be honest, and respectful of the elderly and young alike. She also learned that she should never kill or be greedy.
She recalled one childhood incident: “Father liked to drink some wine every day, and he often asked me to go buy it for him. (It was legal to do so in China). Father was a good friend of the wine shop owner, so he paid the owner once at the end of each month. One day I was tired, so I lied to him, saying the owner refused to sell me the wine since I did not have any money.
Staring at me, Father asked, ‘Are you telling me the truth? The owner indeed told you that?’ At that moment, I had no choice but to continue lying to him. Holding my hands, Father told me very seriously, ‘You won’t get dinner tonight if you continue lying to me. Think about what you should have told me instead.’ Tears streamed down my cheeks as I told Dad, ‘I did lie to you, but I know that I’m wrong now.’ From then on, I never lied again.”
Shuzhen’s parents’ families were both wealthy, and her father had a reputation for being generous. He often helped the poor and those in need. However, three years before the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) took control of China in 1949, her father began to have financial troubles. Eventually a serious illness exhausted all of the family’s wealth. Because of this, her family was categorized by the CCP as a member of the “poor peasants”, who were then treated by the CCP government as an “honorable” social class in China. Therefore, the “poor peasant” category helped her family avoid being persecuted. Her father spread Taoism far and wide nonetheless, and with his help, many villagers became Taoists, including some local CCP officials. Fellow villagers agreed that her father was a man of honor.
However, he was eventually reported by someone to be the “head of Taoists”, and his freedom was restricted in 1957. Her father was forced to stand in the rain to reflect on the “bad deeds” he committed in the past because he refused to report on others. Shuzhen went home to tell her mother about what was happening to her Dad. Without panicking, her mother told her family to sit and pray to Heaven to protect him. Dad indeed came back safe and sound, but the person who reported him to the government eventually died in shame. That experience taught Shuzhen that good gets good returns, and bad meets with evil.
Government officials demanded that her father write a “confession.” She wrote one for her father and handed it in because she did not want her father to be humiliated. However, the government agents yelled at her, pounding on the table and viciously blaming her for turning in something that was not “sincere” enough. She did not tell her father about it and endured everything herself. Difficulties and hardships taught Shuzhen to be strong.
Under such great pressure, Shuzhen could not practice her exercises publicly. In college, she meditated late at night so that she would not bother her roommates. She practiced Taoism gingerly for the next fifty years.
“A Daughter of the Divine Will Not Associate with the CCP”
Shuzhen was an honor roll student. So after college she was offered employment at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, where she met her husband, who graduated from the China University of Technology. When the Chinese chairman, Hu Yaobang, was president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, her husband was his executive assistant. Hu asked her husband to go to work for him in the CCP’s Central Government, but Shuzhen insisted that her husband should not be involved in politics. “My father advised me long ago not to join the CCP because it is not trustworthy and it antagonizes the divine. A daughter of the divine must not associate with the CCP. The CCP has committed all kinds of vicious acts, and whoever is a member of that organization will surely be demolished.”
Shuzhen (淑珍) and her husband, Yang Lifang (杨礼方)
Shuzhen’s father passed away at the age of seventy. Villagers from near and far came to say good-bye to him. They knelt down on the roadside when the vehicle that carried his casket passed by to show their respect to him. People’s desire to worship the divine had not been completely wiped out by the CCP. “He told me that he would pass away in ten days, but I didn’t want to believe him because he seemed so young to me. After making all the arrangements, he indeed passed away. Before leaving, he reminded me to remain steadfast in my cultivation. He continued safeguarding me in other dimensions for me to cultivate after he left me,” Shuzhen added.
The Chinese Academy of Sciences set up many companies in the 80s. So Shuzhen’s husband opened an international optical company, funded by the Economic and Trade Department. His company merged with a Swiss company in 1987, and her husband became the Chinese chief executive officer for the joint venture located in Bern. So she moved to Switzerland with her husband.
Shuzhen had cultivated in Taoism faithfully for fifty years, but she was unable to be delivered from illness. As a matter of fact, she suffered from various kinds of chronic illnesses, such as bloating from colitis, stomach pain, and diarrhea. She tried both Western and Chinese medicines, but to no avail. “Diarrhea hit when I was tired, in a bad mood, or nervous. I had to go to the bathroom when I went outside in the wind, summer, or winter alike. Because of that, I know exactly where all the public bathrooms are in Bern.”
She often brought herbal medicines back from China, and sometimes she had to have them shipped because it was too much for her to carry with her. The herbal medicines were dark and sticky, like opium. So the Swiss custom officers once suspected she was a drug dealer.
“Like a drug store, my house was piled up wall to wall with Chinese and Western medicines. I must have taken large amounts of medicines daily, both Chinese and Western. When the medicines were no longer effective for me, I switched to using devices and techniques, such as a magnetic device, electrotherapy, Zhou Lin spectrum analyzer, acupuncture, cupping, etc. My husband became so skillful with the devices that he was almost like a doctor himself.”
Before those illnesses were cured, she got more illnesses, including peri-arthritis, tenosynovitis, arterial sclerosis, glaucoma, foot fractures caused by osteoporosis, and ovarian cysts. The two surgeries that she had only made her situation worse, and she became even more frail. Her poor physical condition caused her to have a bad temper. She was tired all day and felt depressed. She said, “People say that living in Switzerland is like living in heaven. But my illnesses made me miserable, and I often asked Heaven when it would all end.”
A Dramatic Turn
Shuzhen met a Falun Gong practitioner when she and her husband traveled to Hong Kong in 1996. She obtained a copy of Zhuan Falun, but she did not read it until after she was at home with a broken leg the next year.
She finished reading Zhuan Falun and was deeply impressed. She understood why she came to this world, and why she needed to be a good person. She understood how to follow Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance to be a good person. She realized that karma was the source of all illnesses and unhappiness. She understood how de (virtue) can be transformed into gong and that the ascension of xinxing is the foundation of the enhancement of gong . “This is indeed a very precious book. Mr. Li Hongzhi explained very well the truth of the universe. After reading the book, I became enlightened.”
She could not decide whether she should cultivate in Dafa or stay with the Taoist school practice that her father taught her, which she had followed for fifty years. However, she mistakenly believed that maybe she was not destined to cultivate in Dafa, so she encouraged her husband cultivate in Dafa instead. After reading Zhuan Falun , her husband began to cultivate in Dafa right away, leaving her feeling deeply regretful.
Decision
Shuzhen went with her husband to the 1998 Switzerland Falun Dafa Experience Sharing Conference. She recalled, “As soon as Teacher Li entered the room, I could tell that Teacher Li was by no means an ordinary person and must be an enlightened being. I was deeply impressed and had the desire to cultivate in Dafa at that instant. But when I remembered what my parents told me before they passed away, I did not know how to tell them, and was also afraid that my fifty years of cultivation would all be in vain.”
She could not fall asleep for a few days after that. “In a dream, I vaguely saw myself walking in a pair of Mandarin duck shoes with completely different designs. I realized that the dream was telling me that I had my feet in two boats at the same time, but I must cultivate in only one cultivation way. It was imperative for me to make up my mind immediately.”
A practice site was established in Bern, and practitioners from Geneva and Zurich all came to celebrate with them. Fellow practitioners shared their experiences, and a veteran practitioner’s words awakened her, “Your fifty-year-old cultivation will not be in vain because Teacher will help keep the good elements for you, and eliminate the bad ones.”
She read in Zhuan Falun that evening, where Master said:
“We will straighten out all these matters and, by preserving the good part and removing the bad part, ensure that you are able to practice cultivation later. However, you must be here to genuinely study this Dafa.”
“At present, I am the only person genuinely teaching qigong towards high levels at home and abroad.”
“There are not many opportunities for something like this, and I will not teach this way forever. I think that those who can listen to my lectures in person, I would say, honestly... you will realize in the future that this period of time is extremely precious. Of course, we believe in predestined relationship. Everyone sits here all because of a predestined relationship.” (Zhuan Falun)
At this point, Shuzhen was deeply touched, “It is hard to meet a Teacher like this, and it is equally difficult to come across Fa-rectification. What am I waiting for? I should start cultivating in Dafa this very moment!”
She knelt down in front of her parents’ portraits and told them: “Mom and Dad, I am grateful that you brought me through the door of cultivation and have protected me for fifty years. However, I did not truly understand the principles of the Fa and had not met a genuine Teacher who could really teach me how to go back to Heaven. I suffered from various illnesses and had been miserable. But now I have met the revered Master and Falun Dafa, and I want to cultivate in Dafa. You’ve raised a good daughter, and I am sure that when I reach consummation, you will be very proud of me. I’m hereby bidding farewell to you since I’m going to cultivate in Dafa. I sincerely hope that if you meet Dafa someday, please do not let it pass by!”
She recalled that when she opened her window the next morning, she saw in the air a very young-looking, radiant and huge Taoist dressed in a red, dazzling vest and robe. She heard her father’s voice telling her, “You’ve never seen a Taoist Master before. Now you have.” But she replied to him, “I do see him now, but my Teacher is Li Hongzhi. I’ve determined to cultivate in Dafa, and nothing will change my mind now.”
Once she made the choice, Teacher immediately helped her. She saw two small dragons, one white and one black, leave her, and her father never came back to her. He probably knew that she would be well in Dafa. After she cultivated in Dafa for a few years, a family member of hers, who also cultivates in Dafa, saw her parents reading Zhuan Falun in another dimension. She was very delighted to hear that.
Divine Powers Manifest in the Secular World
She wished she had begun cultivating in Dafa earlier. Teacher said,
“You do not need to practice such low-level things, and we will push you beyond it, making your body reach a state free of any illness. In the meantime, we will install in your body a system of ready-made mechanisms necessary for laying a foundation at the low level. This way, you will practice cultivation at a very high level.”
Tears rolled down her cheeks: she had staggered down a minor path for half a century, and had only recently entered the gate of the high-level cultivation way. It is true that Buddha's mercy is the most profound!
She now understood that the reason her gong could not reach a high level was because she did not know the high level Fa, and she did not know that xinxing elevation was crucial. She began to read Zhuan Falun diligently. “There is different Dharma at different levels, and so I understand the Fa layer by layer. The more I study the Fa, the better I understand the law of the universe. I read three chapters a day, so I finish reading the entire book in three days. Whenever conflicts have occurred, I use the principles in Dafa to genuinely cultivate myself; thus my xinxing has elevated vastly.”
She is confident in her cultivation. She knows clearly that she can return to Heaven and feels calm, peaceful, and happy now that she genuinely understands what the real “Way” is.
“On the day that I began to cultivate in Dafa, Teacher installed the entire mechanisms in me. I could see the law wheels spin around the parts where there was illness. I vomited a few days after the law wheels cleansed my body, and I knew that Teacher endured it for me. After vomiting for six days, my stomach felt very comfortable. I can eat ice cream and drink cold drinks now. I no longer need to go to the bathroom when I’m outside.”
Teacher cleansed her body for fifty days; afterwards, she was free of illness, and her temper also changed from being depressed and agitated to being open-minded, cheerful, and peaceful. Her husband commented on the changes: Dafa is indeed magnificent. In merely fifty days, Dafa had changed a person from the inside out. He wrote a verse to express how grateful he is to Teacher:
“Endless road, for fifty years, possessed by numerous illnesses, consummation beyond reach, full of lament;
Profound Fa, in fifty days, freed from ailments, refreshed with an energetic spirit, divine powers manifest in secular world.”
(to be continued)
