(Minghui.org) To fulfill our vows, Falun Dafa (also known as Falun Gong) disciples must do well the three things. As Master Li, the founder of Falun Gong, told us, to validate the Fa, we must first of all follow the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance and be good people.
Master said in “Teaching the Fa at the Conference in Singapore,”
“To fulfill the Fa, you must first of all be a good person. When you’re being a good person, that is an act of fulfilling the Fa.
….That’s because the conduct of each student in everyday people’s society represents Falun Dafa [in people’s minds]. Isn’t that right? If we don’t conduct ourselves well, we’ll undoubtedly tarnish Dafa’s image, and it couldn’t be said that we’re fulfilling the Fa.”
I started practicing Falun Gong before the persecution began in 1999. In more than a decade, I have followed Master's teachings to validate and fulfill the Fa. I started by being a good person.
From my behavior, people realized that Dafa practitioners are good people and that Falun Gong has been smeared by the Chinese Communist Party. This made my truth-clarification more easily accepted and believed. I validated the Fa in simple ways.
My husband was transferred to another province not long before I started practicing Dafa. I was also transferred to a county financial department. As Master taught me, to be a good person, I must start by being a good employee.
The county where I worked was the poorest in the whole province. My workplace was filthy. The windows had never been cleaned. After I started to work, I came in a half hour early to clean up the environment every day. My workplace soon took on a completely new look.
County leaders quickly became aware of the changes. The head of the health bureau praised me and called on other departments to follow suit. One key leader openly praised me at a Spiritual Civilization Conference and asked other employees to learn from me.
I worked across from the desk of the county governor's wife before I retired. After I began practicing Dafa in 1997, I came to the office early and left late every day. I did my job conscientiously. I did not haggle with others for personal gain.
Seeing my changes, she often praised Dafa and mentioned the goodness of Dafa to other people. She was particularly impressed about one event.
My son's high school charged 6,000 yuan tuition to each incoming freshman, but it offered a 3,000-yuan discount to employees of my workplace, with which it shared a longstanding partnership. After school started, my colleagues, who also sent their children there, were each refunded 3,000 yuan, a large amount at the time. My refund, however, was stolen. I did not know who took my money. I kept silent.
The wife of the county executive told me who did it and suggested I talk to the county executive. I calmly told her, “Our Master teaches us to be considerate. This person who stole my refund has financial hardship because his wife was laid off. His children are still little. If the news gets to the county leader, his career is over. It is extra money for me. Just let him have the money and give him an opportunity.”
She was extremely touched. She respected me and admired the inspiring power of Dafa to teach people to be kind.
I was unlawfully detained for more than four months in the spring of 2000 and faced an illegal prison sentence for sending an appeal letter for Falun Gong.
During my detention, the wife of the county executive told her husband, “Everyone at our workplace knows she's a good person. She only wrote a letter for Falun Gong. Why should she be arrested and sentenced?” She also asked the police chief to help get me released.
My husband tried to have me released, also. The party secretary of the local political and legal affairs committee told my husband that many people have spoken on my behalf and that I would be released soon. I was indeed released shortly thereafter.
My husband and I moved back to our village in 2003. We behaved in accordance with the principle of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance and have actively supported all public welfare undertakings that benefit villagers.
The dam of a pond which provides water to half of the villagers was damaged in heavy rain in 2007 with a large hole. If the dam opening was not filled in before next flood season, the pond would be fill with sediment washed down from upstream. People were anxious.
Filling the dam opening required about ten tons of cement and rocks. My husband and I donated the rocks and 2,000 yuan to buy the cement. When the dam was repaired, everyone in the village cheered. The village secretary said that it would be wonderful if we had more people like Falun Gong practitioners in our village.
Police officers once harassed us on a “sensitive day”. The village secretary said to them, “Don't you have anything better to do? If it weren't for this couple, the dam wouldn't have been fix. You can ask other people about it. If everyone were like Falun Gong practitioners, our village would become a much better place.”
Because of my good deeds, this village secretary now openly supports Falun Gong.
The street in front of my house was paved with stone in 1958. It is the main road for fruit farmers to bring their apples to market. It had deteriorated badly, forcing the farmers to drive at extremely slow speeds. Even when they drove carefully, the apples were still bruised badly.
In 2013, I suggested to our new village secretary that we initiate a campaign to raise money to resurface the street. I not only donated 10,000 yuan but also went out with village cadres to persuade others to give. The result was a total failure, because the villagers did not trust the cadres.
A villager advised me to go out alone, and I was able to raise enough money from every affected family. I then organized a team to coordinate the effort, recruited volunteers to level the road, and resolved conflicts that arose during the effort. After a month of hard work, the project was finally done.
Everyone cheered the day the street was reopened. Some people suggested that we invite a television station to report on the new road. I said that they surely would not come when they found out I was taught by Master Li to do so.
“A sixty-some-year-old woman not only donated money but also personally managed the project,” some villagers said angrily. “She is a hundred times better than those corrupt officials. Falun Gong indeed is good!”
The village secretary was pleased. “My friend,” he said to me, “you successfully led the villagers to repair the street. From this undertaking, we learned the meaning of commitment and dignity. If my superior finds fault with you, I will do my best to change his opinion.”
The second village secretary also supported Falun Gong. This person was a security officer the first year we returned to the village. He helped the 610 Office send practitioners to a brainwashing center. His attitude had changed completely.
In 2015, I left the village to work at a company where my husband had worked since 2013. I then received a phone call from the new village secretary asking for donation to repair another road. I went back the village and donated 5,000 yuan.
The new village secretary told everyone about this. “Falun Gong practitioners are different,” he would say. “She immediately sent money to us after receiving just one call. There are many rich people in our village, but there is no one like her. It would be wonderful if every person would practice Falun Gong.”
The third village secretary now supports Falun Gong.
In the years I lived in our village, I always reminded myself that I am a practitioner. To validate and fulfill the Fa, I let people know the goodness of Falun Dafa through my actions.
I not only donated money for public projects but also lent money to people in need without considering if they could pay it back. To date, more than 100,000 yuan that I lent is still unpaid.
One person I helped was a single man in his 60s. He suffered a cerebral thrombosis and had no money for medical treatment. He stayed at home and waited to die. I immediately gave him 1,000 yuan and also asked my husband to apply for financial aid for him from local governments.
My husband is a fruit tree specialist. After he retired, he often tried to grow new varieties. We always gave the new varieties to anyone who wanted to plant them. My husband also taught them horticultural techniques. One cherry variety we provided to farmers is the main fruit in our village for three years running.
From my actions, people—from cadres to villagers—now know that Falun Gong has been wrongly persecuted. They feel that they have to protect the reputation of Falun Gong and safeguard practitioners.
One year, when the audit bureau conducted an audit, they could not find some money I had processed before my retirement. They believed that I had swindled the money and investigated my former workplace. They did not believe when they were told that I was an honest person, so they came to our village to question me.
Seeing those agents in uniform, some villager mistakenly thought that they were coming to arrest me because of Falun Gong. They refused to tell the agents my address.
We were not at home when the agents found my house. They asked villagers where I was. The villagers told the agents that I was the best person in town and that I had done many good things for the village. This dispelled the agents’ doubts about me.
When we came home at noon, the agents were waiting for us. I took the opportunity to tell them the facts about Falun Gong. The bureau chief smiled and said, “We came here for the money you processed, not for Falun Gong. From the villagers’ comments, we believe you absolutely have nothing to do with this missing money!”
I was told later that, as I talked with those agents, many women called on people through a loudspeaker and asked them to come out to stop the agents from taking me away.
Indeed, many people have protected Falun Gong practitioners.