(Minghui.org) In 1996, my life had reached its lowest point. I suffered from coronary heart disease, angina, rheumatism, asthma, and I had cerebral vasospasms since childhood. When I was very young, I fell off a truck that was driving very fast, which left me with permanent hip problems, and I had difficulty bearing weight.
What was even worse, when our daughter was 3 years old, my husband developed a mental illness and would hit our daughter and me without provocation. Under extreme stress, I would sometimes cry for an entire day. Even though I took medication to relieve my depression, I couldn't stop crying. When I had angina I wasn't able to move at all, and so I couldn’t work or cook. Sometimes, a kind-hearted neighbor would bring us food, but my husband wouldn't allow me to eat it. My neighbor then had to sneak me over to her place to eat.
1. Witnessing Falun Dafa’s Miraculous Effect On My Health
I will never forget May 8, 1996, the day when a neighbor gave me a ticket to a Falun Gong recorded lecture. I went reluctantly. Once in the hall I fell asleep, but I somehow heard everything. I understood in my heart, but just couldn’t put my understanding into words. When I got home, I threw away my boxes of medication. On the second day of the lecture, I fell asleep again. On the third day, I had been asleep for some time when a huge gust of wind shook me awake. I woke with a start and looked around, but the hall was quiet and the only sound was Master’s voice giving the lecture. There wasn’t a single breath of wind in the hall. From then on, I became clear-headed and was no longer muddle-headed. However, I still continued to suffer from heart problems.
One day, I had just got home from my night shift and saw my daughter’s clothes soaking in a wash basin. I didn’t feel that I had the energy to wash them, but then I asked myself, “Can I wash these clothes?” I told myself with determination, “Am I not a practitioner? Master told us that practitioners don’t have illnesses. I can definitely wash them!” With that, I cleaned the clothes and the house for four consecutive days. Miraculously, despite working so hard, I didn’t have any heart discomfort! That was how my heart condition, which I had suffered from for many years, disappeared.
My happiness was indescribable, and every day I felt like jumping with joy. Whenever I had time, I would study the Fa and do the exercises. I gradually improved, and in the time I could sit in the full lotus position. Master said,
“Some people cannot bear the pain in sitting with the legs like that, and they want to give up by putting the legs down. Some people cannot bear it anymore after sitting a little longer. Once the legs are put down, one’s practice is in vain.” (Lecture One in Zhuan Falun)
Whenever I finished one hour of the fifth exercise, I would uncross my legs with tears running down my face, and wouldn’t be able to walk straight afterwards. But I refused to give up. At that time, I felt like I was making breakthroughs in my cultivation very rapidly, and could elevate to the next level in just a few days. In the past, due to my chronic illnesses, I was on various medications for a long time, which was probably why my complexion was dark and sick looking. Through studying the Fa and doing the exercises, my complexion became fairer within a few days. When my colleagues saw me, they were surprised and exclaimed, “Falun Dafa is just miraculous!”
Not long after I began doing the exercises, I developed a persistent fever of about 102 degrees. My blanket was soaked in so much sweat that I could wring the water out of it. The fever lasted for the next 18 days, and I became so thin I could wear my daughter’s clothes. One day, while drifting in and out of consciousness, I saw two small black beings who said to me, “We want to take your life.” I immediately called on Master to save me. I steadfastly believed in Master and the Fa, without any doubt. I believed that this wasn’t an illness, and that Master was adjusting my body – Master was bringing all the bad things accumulated over my past lives to the surface, and helping me to repay my debts.
My faith in Dafa wasn’t just following some theory or philosophy. No matter how unwell I felt, I would determinedly get myself out of bed and lean against the wall to do the exercises. When doing the exercises, I would lift my arms, rest for a bit, and lift them again determinedly. I refused to view myself as a sick person. On the fifteenth day, I could just barely hold myself upright, so I went back to work. The factory foreman asked, “Can you still work the night shift?” I said with determination, “Yes.” Three days later, I was back to normal. For those 18 days, I never once had the thought of going to the hospital, and I left everything in Master’s hands. It was compassionate and esteemed Master who helped me through this trial of life-and-death.
On June 26, I again went to listen to the audio recording of Master’s lectures. When I got back, I couldn’t stop coughing. My cough persisted throughout the day and night, and I coughed out something that looked like raw egg white. But no matter how terrible I felt, I refused to be lax in my own Fa study and exercises. Having strong faith is a good thing, and Master was looking after me. My cough persisted until September, and one day I suddenly stopped coughing altogether. It was thus that my asthma, which I had had for many years, disappeared.
When my family, neighbors, and colleagues saw the dramatic change in my health, they were truly in awe of Falun Dafa’s miraculous effect on one’s health. Several of them also became Dafa practitioners.
2. Foreman Said, “Ms. A is Such a Good Person”
In 1997, the working conditions at our workplace were very relaxed, so most of my colleagues would bring whatever personal work they had to the workplace. After practicing Falun Dafa, I knew that Master required us to be good persons no matter where we are. We had to be even better people than the heroic role models in history. So I made sure that I was on time for work every day, and no longer did my personal work at the workplace. At first, I wavered over my new resolution. None of my colleagues felt that bringing personal work to the workplace was wrong. Moreover, when I got home after work, I would still have many chores that I could have completed at the workplace, along with studying the Fa and doing the exercises. I felt very busy. Master said,
“Study the Fa and gain the Fa, Focus on how you study and cultivate, Let each and every thing be measured against the Fa. Only then, with that, is it actually cultivation.” (“Solid Cultivation” in Hong Yin)
I knew that this was a test of whether I was a true cultivator. I must govern every single thought I had with the Fa. Only by following the requirements of Master’s Fa can I be considered a cultivator.
At work, I washed the bathing area for the workers. A worker in the boiler room told others, “Although there are over 400 people in this workplace, I can bet you that it was Ms. A (myself) who cleaned it.”
One night, we had just finished our night shift and were walking back home. We stopped at a traffic light. Although there wasn’t a single person or car on the road, I thought to myself that a practitioner should follow the traffic rules, or he would be no better than an ordinary person. So I waited there until the traffic light turned green. My colleagues laughed at me and said that no one would see me even if I jaywalked. I replied that a practitioner must hold himself to strict requirements no matter where he or she is. He does good things, but not because he wants others to see it. We true Dafa cultivators do good from the heart, for the Gods and Buddhas in the heavens to see. We must not do things that will disappoint our Master.
In my day-to-day life, I was able to govern myself based on the Fa. I never tried to be cunning or take advantage of others, and I liked to help others. Thus I got along very well with my colleagues. When the persecution started on July 20, 1999, the evil party’s agents came to my workplace to gather information. My foreman said, “I don’t know much about Falun Gong, but I do know that Ms. A is a good person.”
3. “She's a Falun Gong practitioner!”
After July 20, 1999, I was unable to voice the repressed feelings in my heart. How could such a good practice be slandered in this manner? In December 2000, after some challenges, I successfully reached Tiananmen Square. I finally managed to shout out the words that I had kept inside for so long: “Falun Dafa is Good; Falun Dafa is the Righteous Fa; Please Restore the Reputation of Falun Dafa’s Founder!” Moments after I unfurled the “Falun Dafa is Good” banner, I was arrested by the police patrolling the square.
Afterwards, I was taken to a prison in Tianjin, and then transferred to the prison in my area. However, my mentally ill husband set fire to our stove and almost endangered our neighbors’ lives. As such, my workplace, the resident committee, and the detention center arranged for me to return home and be kept under close watch. So, almost two months after I was arrested, I finally went home. My workplace then forced me into the company’s brainwashing class.
When the security department and the company party secretary spoke to me, I said, “I cannot stop practicing Falun Gong. My body was once riddled with illness, but after practicing Falun Gong my illnesses have all disappeared without taking any medications. As a person, I cannot behave without a conscience.” When they heard this, they had nothing to say to me. The company’s main corridor was so dirty it was impossible to walk through it. So I spent a few days cleaning up the entire corridor. Passers-by who saw the clean corridor were so surprised that they asked about it. Even the director exclaimed to the secretary, “Look at how clean this corridor is!” The secretary laughed and said, “She's a Falun Gong practitioner!”
Because I was able to do things righteously, my workplace no longer gave me any trouble. After returning to work, the foreman, director, and secretary all made reports to the higher levels, and I received two months worth of pay as well as bonuses.
4. Team Leader Proudly Said, “We Have a Falun Gong Practitioner”; Foreman Said, “Falun Gong Practitioners Are Not Putting Up a False Front”
I was transferred to another shop of the factory to work, and on my first day my team leader was extremely displeased. He complained to others, “Why did they give me a Falun Gong practitioner?” However, I didn’t argue with him. Our workshop in the factory was 13 years old, and the grease on the floor was half an inch thick. So whenever I had time, I would scrub the shop from top to bottom. During a sanitation inspection, the inspector from the company said, “Wow, I can even see the grain in the wood and the shine on the steel.” Even the team leader from the other shop said, “Why didn’t my team get such a good worker?” I replied, “If you want one, you should ask the people in your team to practice Falun Gong.” For every team I went to, my team leader would never have to worry. When all the 36 team leaders in the factory had a meeting, our team leader said proudly, “We have a Falun Gong practitioner.”
When I retired, everyone was reluctant to see me leave. During our final meal together as a team, the foreman said sincerely to me, “You Falun Gong practitioners are genuinely good. You are not putting up a false front.”
For the past 17 years of cultivating Dafa, I have gone through all sorts of hardship. Words cannot express my profound gratitude to our compassionate and esteemed Master.
