(Minghui.org) I first learned of the practice of Falun Gong just days before the persecution began on July 20, 1999. Due to the tremendous pressure the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) inflicts on Chinese society, and subsequent conflicts experienced between family and friends, it would be another four years before I truly began practicing Falun Gong.
Before I started to practice, I had come across a small strip of yellow cloth at a relative's house that read, “Falun Dafa Is Saving Sentient Beings.” I was really drawn to it and displayed it in my place of business – a hair salon. When my customers saw it, they asked if I practiced Falun Gong. When I said I didn't, they would ask, "Then why do you hang it here?”
I told them I wasn't really sure why. I just really liked it. I also felt protective of Falun Dafa. Although I was unfazed when others criticized me personally, if someone criticized Falun Gong, I would argue with them fiercely.
My body was riddled with ailments. No matter how others tried to comfort and help me, they could not understand the constant pain I lived with. I became so depressed and desperate that I even contemplated suicide. But because I had read through the Falun Dafa books, I knew such an act would incur tremendous karma. Fortunately, I did not do it.
When I truly set my heart to practicing Falun Dafa, in less than a year, all of my health problems disappeared.
Since I benefited so much from Dafa, I was eager to share its greatness with others. Because I was ill as a child, I did not receive much schooling. I even struggled to read many Chinese characters. Although my education was poor, my willingness to save people was strong. I took every chance I could to tell my customers the truth about Falun Dafa.
I once had a customer who insisted he was beyond salvation. I told him that if he continued to come to my salon, I would help him. And he did come. Over time, I told him the truth about Falun Gong and the persecution by the CCP. It took three years, but one day he finally saw the truth, renouncing the CCP, and its affiliate organizations. “Falun Dafa is good!” he exclaimed, happily. I reminded him that three years before, he had told me he couldn't be saved. “You still remember!” he said.
“If you understand the truth about Dafa, and take responsibility for your life, you will be saved. That is for sure,” I replied.
A well-known CCP secretary from the village also frequented my salon. Whenever I clarified the truth to him, he would get infuriated and argue with me. I didn't give up. I kept explaining the truth to him, and in my heart, I really wanted him to have a better future. Gradually, bit-by-bit, he began to understand the truth about Falun Gong, and the persecution. Finally, he quit the communist party.
Later he told me a story of divine intervention. One evening, while out for a drive, he swerved suddenly to avoid pedestrians, crashing into a tree. The car was heavily damaged, and he was pinned in the driver's seat by the broken steering wheel.
He crawled out of the car, completely unscathed!
Witnesses to the accident were stunned, as normally the victim's ribs would be crushed. He said Dafa had protected him and he was deeply grateful.
This village secretary invited a group of migrant workers he hired to come to my salon and speak with me. I explained to them with compassion why they must renounce the CCP. Ten of the workers agreed to quit the party, including a man in his 40s.
Days later, the worker in his 40s returned with friends. He told me he had almost died in an accident, and showed me an injury to the back of his hand, which was burned and somewhat mutilated. When I asked what happened, he shared the following story:
As an electrician, he had worked on fixing transformers for many years. He usually wore rubber-soled shoes to work, but the day of the accident he forgot and wore regular shoes. A fireball of high-voltage electricity sparked from the transformer and penetrated his body, from the back of his hand to the sole of his foot. It knocked him off his ladder, and he fell to the ground, unconscious.
When he came to, the only injury he suffered was the burn to the back of the hand. Coworkers and witnesses were stunned, as such a bolt of electricity would normally be fatal.
Around 2006, an older couple came to my salon. They were Korean Chinese and in their 70s. The lady was so hunched over that when she sat in the salon chair, she was stooped over nearly 90 degrees. As I started to do her hair, I explained the truth about Falun Dafa and quitting the CCP, to both of them.
The husband shouted, “Isn't this all just superstition?” I adjusted my thoughts and spoke to the lady in a low, gentle voice. “Granny, I have a predestined relationship with you, and I really want you to have a good future.
“When you joined the CCP, or any of its organizations, you gave your life to them, and took an oath to give your life. While your youth is now gone, you ought to keep your life for yourself. We cannot be scapegoats for the CCP.”
She described to me the intense pain in her lower back. I told her it was because of the poison of communism in her body. I said, “People deceive each other over money or women, but no one swindles another by wishing them blessings and a safe life.” I told her she could trust me. “I wish you a bright, safe future. That is all I want,” I told her.
She said she used to be a member of the CCP. I offered to help her quit the Party using the pseudonym, “Safety.” She agreed to do that. I then asked her to silently recite, “Falun Dafa is good; Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance are good.” She said she would.
A month later, the couple returned. Although I immediately recognized the lady, what stood in front of me was a spirited lady, standing up straight, at 5' 7''! She could see my amazement. “One morning, when I could no longer bear the pain in my lower back - even after taking a lot of medicine - I suddenly thought of the phrases you taught me.
“I forgot the exact words, but I remembered the part about Falun Gong, and shouted, 'Falun Gong is good!' Suddenly I heard a cracking sound in my lower back, and the pain was gone! I could stand up straight!” She eagerly asked me for a Falun Dafa keepsake and told me she would always return to my salon to have her hair done.
An older man visited my salon. He did not speak and had a dull countenance about him. As soon as his haircut was done, he would get up and leave. One day I struck up a conversation, and he told me he had a lot of problems. Often he couldn't eat for days, and people were afraid of him when they saw him. After spending tens of thousands of yuan in hospital visits, doctors were clueless as to what was causing his condition.
I believed he had incurred animal or spirit possession.
I calmly explained the truth about Falun Dafa and the need to quit the CCP. I told him to recite “Falun Dafa is good; Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance are good.”
I also gave him a Falun Dafa pendant. He stared at it, wanting to accept it, but was afraid. “Is it really you who are afraid?” I asked. “You are a grown man. Why the hesitation? What do you have to fear? If you wear it, you will be protected!” He took a deep breath and finally, with great effort, put it on.
He returned to my salon the very next day, quite excited. He told me that right after he left me the day before, after just a few steps, he began to feel hungry. He bought a big carp, went home, cooked it, and ate it up! His wife asked him how he could recover so quickly, and he showed her the Dafa keepsake.
When she asked where he got it, he said, “Just remember this: it is Falun Dafa that cured me!”
I was also excited, and happy. He was saved! Furthermore, even as a non-practitioner he knew to think of the safety of others and from then on always wore the pendant. When it showed signs of wear from sweating, he made a special trip to see me and replaced it with a new one.
And there was more. On another visit for a haircut, he told me that while transporting grain to Harbin, he almost drove his truck off a cliff. At the very last moment he managed to successfully stop the truck, saving himself and five other people.
“Did you recite 'Falun Dafa is good?'” I asked. “I did!” he said, in a low voice. “Otherwise, I would have tumbled off that cliff and been smashed along with that truck!”