(Minghui.org) I am a young Dafa practitioner. I learned about Falun Dafa in 1999. I was very young, and hadn’t even finished reading Zhuan Falun when the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) launched the persecution of Falun Dafa. Although I didn’t really understand the Fa principles in Zhuan Falun, I felt that everything in the book was correct. I was a weak child and prone to illness. When I became ill, I would take gobs of medicine and I attracted spirit possession. My main consciousness was very weak. Later, after completing Zhuan Falun, the possessing spirit in my body was cleaned out by Master Li (the founder of Falun Dafa).
I truly entered Dafa cultivation after graduating from the university. My grandfather, grandmother and aunt all cultivated, but my parents didn’t. After my grandmother started cultivating, she was free of illness. In the beginning, my grandfather was against my grandmother practicing Falun Dafa and he would spew profanities whenever it was brought up. Sometime later, my grandfather had a fall and became bedridden. The hospital wasn’t able to do anything to help. My grandmother told him to recite “Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance is good,” and he recovered. After this incident, my grandfather also started to practice Falun Dafa. My grandfather was illiterate, but since starting cultivation, he is now miraculously able to read all of the Dafa books!
Letting Go of Resentment
As I dove deeper into cultivation, I let go of the resentment that had built up over the years. My father had a bad temper. Although I am an only child, he was very harsh on me. I had to work in the fields as a kid while being scolded so I became introverted, I developed an inferiority complex and I was weak and cowardly. I resented my father deeply. One day, I suddenly realized that I was viewing myself as his daughter, but not a cultivator. As a cultivator, one needs to measure oneself by the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance. My father is also a sentient being and everything that he has done to me is a result of karmic retribution. It is the result of the karma that I accumulated, so why did I resent my father? A Dafa practitioner needs to let go of all human attachments.
I had to change my heart in order to change my father. When my aunt was being persecuted, my father drove to the police station to demand her release. The resentment between my family and our relatives was also resolved. Now when I call my father, we can speak easily with each other. Everything that happened before has all but vanished.
Taken to a Detention Center
In 2017, I was taken to a police station while passing out truth clarification materials. Eight or nine men rushed to my home and ransacked it. They were very fierce and asked me questions, but I refused to answer; I didn’t say a single word. I just remembered that Master Li (Falun Dafa's founder) said,
“No matter what the situation, do not cooperate with the evil’s demands, orders, or what it instigates. If everyone does this the environment won’t be this way.” (“Dafa Disciples’ Righteous Thoughts are Powerful,” Essentials for Further Advancement II)
That evening, I was transferred to a detention center. Although the head of the detention center was a woman, she seemed like a man to me. She would yell and was very fierce. I asked myself, “Are you afraid of her? I’m not afraid. I am a Dafa practitioner. I am a good person and I am not afraid of her.” I didn’t want to stay there so I asked Master Li to help me leave. I knew that only Master could help me get out of that place. In the month that I was detained there, I never stopped asking Master for help or sending forth righteous thoughts and clarifying the truth.
Soon, a lawyer came to see me. Here, I would like to add that it is very important to hire a lawyer. Firstly, a lawyer is a channel of communication between the detainee and the outside world. There would be a fluid stream of information and it allows us to collaborate with those on the outside to form one body. Secondly, the lawyer can see the detainee and that is frightening to the evil. Another factor is that it creates a good opportunity to clarify the truth. It allows people and family members to understand that practicing Falun Dafa is legal. But we shouldn’t rely on lawyers.
I left the detention center without making any promises or signing anything. That day, my mother was at the door to pick me up. There were also a lot of practitioners that I didn’t recognize who came. A practitioner saw me and said my name with a smile. Although I didn’t know this practitioner, I felt their compassion and warmth.
Later on I found out that many practitioners outside of China were also involved in rescuing me from the detention center. After one of my relatives who lives overseas received news of my situation, they raised a lot of awareness. I was very touched by their actions.
When my mother heard that I had been kidnapped by the police, she trembled with fear. She told my father what happened with trepidation and the two of them, who had never traveled far from home before, came to the big city with the help of our relatives. There were a lot of practitioners there to welcome my parents. They helped them continuously throughout their stay. The practitioners accompanied my mother to the national security office every day to demand my release. They didn’t miss a single day and they sent forth righteous thoughts for me. Slowly, my mother was touched by their actions. She asked, “You don’t know my daughter, so why are you being so helpful?” The practitioner replied, “We are all fellow practitioners. We are family. If it were the other way around and we were in trouble, your daughter would come to our aid as well. We are one body!” Later, my mother also started to cultivate. After she took up the practice, she went to the village where she was from and clarified the truth to the people there. She did very well.
When rescuing me, my practitioner relatives also worked together well. They contacted my grandparents, who they hadn’t been in touch with for over a decade. All of the resentment vanished in an instant. This is the power of Dafa!
In 2019, I was stopped at a security checkpoint at the airport. I was taken to the police station and I faced a room full of police. Yet I wasn’t afraid because I was a Dafa practitioner. I was the most righteous! The guards were very polite to me at first. They brought in a person who was in charge of “transforming” Dafa disciples with plans to brainwash me. I clarified the truth to them. They brought videos and articles slandering Dafa, but I turned my head when they forced me to watch and read them. I thought to myself, “I will not look at things that slander Dafa. I will not listen to slander.” I continuously sent forth righteous thoughts and as a result, the slander did not enter my mind. I knew that other practitioners did not know what had happened to me so I could only ask Master for help and rely on my own righteous thoughts. I continuously asked Master for help and sent forth righteous thoughts.
After a few hours, they were not able to convince me of anything. So they started to be more aggressive, which included swearing. A few men took turns verbally shaming me. They tried to do a full-body search, record what I was saying, and make me provide information, but I didn’t cooperate with them. Two of them dragged me to a nearby room. My shoes came off in the process. I wouldn’t eat or drink. They called the head of the police station who said that I should write a guarantee statement to stop practicing. I told the police officer, “I won’t write it.” Because of Master’s help, they sent me to the airport the following afternoon.
When these things happened, it was very clear that my cultivation was not solid enough. But during the most crucial moment, I still placed Master and Dafa first. Because I had chosen Dafa over being human in that moment, I was walking on the path that Master had arranged for me. Master wrote,
The Master-Disciple BondWhen disciples have ample righteous thoughtsMaster has the power to turn back the tide(Hong Yin II, Translation Version A)
Finding My Fundamental Attachment
I started to memorize the Fa. I also increased the duration and frequency I spent studying the Fa. I seriously looked inward and found my fundamental problem. It is shameful to say but after more than a decade of cultivation, I didn’t know why I wanted to cultivate! I had read in Zhuan Falun that people wanted to return to their original, true selves, but I wasn’t able to understand this from the bottom of my heart. I knew perceptually that Falun Dafa was good and was righteous, and that’s why I started cultivating, but I didn’t have very profound experiences in the Fa. Although I was doing the three things and when others asked me why I was passing out truth-clarification materials I would say it was because I wanted to speak a word of justice for Dafa, I had not placed myself in the perspective of awakening people. I had not placed myself in such a sacred position.
One day, thanks to Master’s arrangement, while sharing with two other practitioners, something that one of them said immediately awakened me. I was astounded and I immediately understood why I wanted to cultivate, and that is to “Assist Master in rectifying the Fa and save sentient beings!”
