(Minghui.org) Greetings, revered Master! Greetings, fellow practitioners!
I've been practicing Falun Dafa since 1998. Had it not for Master's compassionate protection and guidance, I wouldn't have made it this far. I would like to share my cultivation experience.
Before I began to practice Falun Dafa, I suffered from bronchitis, a hernia and generalized pain. My back became hunched when I was in my 30s, making me look 20 years older. I also lost the sight in my left eye in 1996.
My younger brother introduced Falun Dafa to our village in 1998. One day I saw a group of practitioners watching a Fa teaching video and overheard the word “celestial eye.” Suddenly, I felt a stream of energy push on my forehead and almost knock me down. I was stunned. That was when I started to practice.
After practicing for a little while, my ailments disappeared and I regained my vision. My hunched back miraculously straightened. My wife and two daughters witnessed this and became practitioners, too.
I decided to speak up for the right to practice after the persecution began. On April 17, 2001, I went to Beijing to clarify the facts about Falun Dafa. I had never been in Beijing and did not know where Tiananmen Square was. An old man suddenly appeared and told me to go straight. He left before I could thank him.
I wondered if I should ask someone for directions again when another old man appeared. He said, “Are you here to speak up for Falun Dafa? That is very good. Tiananmen Square is on the other side of the overpass ahead of you.” I thanked him and continued on. When I turned to look back after a few steps, he was gone. I was much moved and deeply appreciated what Master had done for me.
An officer stopped me on Tiananmen Square. Remembering that I was there to validate the Fa, I started to do the exercises in front of him. I was soon taken away and escorted home by local police officers.
I was detained for a month in a detention center. The officers also ransacked my home and confiscated a television set, VCRs, tape recorders, stereos, and Dafa books. I was severely persecuted in the detention center. I had lost almost 30 pounds by the time I was released.
In the detention center, I was forced to do hard labor for long hours. Several inmates were ordered to beat me and kick me. Although I bled, I did not hurt. Actually, I felt good, as if something had been removed from my body. I enlightened that it was Master who bore the pain for his disciple. I couldn't hold back my tears.
I never missed a chance to clarify the facts. I told inmates how good Falun Dafa was and how I had regained my sight and health. I taught some of them the exercises.
My wife and I were arrested as we were celebrating my father's birthday on December 13, 2007. We were sentenced without due process to two years in Zhangqiu Guanzhuang Addiction Treatment Center (a forced labor camp) in Jinan when my family refused to give them 40,000 yuan.
In the forced labor camp, I was beaten frequently, forced to do heavy work for long hours, and had to sit on a small bench. I was closely monitored at all times. I was also forced to watch videos that slandered Dafa.
I was tortured to try to make me give up practicing Falun Gong. I was severely beaten and then tied in place for seven days straight until fellow practitioners asked for my release by staging a sit-in.
On another occasion in the winter, I was first handcuffed and tied to a steam pipe with a padded coat on. I started to sweat all over. Then they took off the coat and put me in a room with the windows open. When I was shivering, I remembered what Master taught us in “Daft Disciples' Righteous Thoughts are Powerful” in Essentials for Further Advancement II and started sending forth righteous thoughts to the cold air, saying, “I am a Dafa disciple. I sincerely hope you can choose a good future for yourself and not cooperate with the evil.” I suddenly felt a warm breeze and was no longer cold.
I spoke to the handcuffs the same way, and the handcuffs responded. I then had a sudden thought: “I am a Dafa Disciple, and I want to do the exercises. Master said that we can still do the exercises without hands and legs. A Dafa Disciple should not be tied up.”
Amazingly, when I started doing the exercises, the handcuffs attached to the steam pipe moved with me like a rubber band. Seeing my movement, the guard asked me how I was able to move my hands. When I showed him that my hands were still handcuffed, he left, puzzled.
I was not allowed to go to the toilet for four days, and my stomach started to bulge. I looked inwards and realized that I was being persecuted to force me to give up cultivation. Since Master gives every Dafa disciple supernatural powers, I thought could relieve myself in another dimension. After this thought, I felt fine. Master resolved my tribulation.
Prior to the persecution, we earned tens of thousands of yuan every year from sales of asparagus we farmed on a few acres of land. After the Jiang regime ordered the implementation of its policies to “ruin their [practitioners'] reputations, cut off their finances, and eliminate them completely” policy, we became poor and our lives were hard. We hardly had enough money for food, clothes, and our children's tuition.
Our home has been ransacked several times. We lost a television set, VCRs, tape recorders, stereos, and Dafa books in the first raid. After I was released, officers from the 610 Office and police station frequently raided my home illegally and eventually took away every item of value.
Our home was ransacked again on December 13, 2007. Officers from police station confiscated about 6,000 yuan in cash and other personal belongings, such as VCRs, television, notebook computers, and MP3 players.
Master has looked after me all the time and everywhere on my cultivation path. Looking back on the persecution I endured, if it wasn't for Master, I would not be what I am today. To thank Master, I will do three things well, improve myself, and closely follow Master home.