(Minghui.org) I was a “problem child.” I started smoking and drinking when I was in elementary school, and often got into fights. The school and my parents eventually gave up on me. I did not learn anything in school. However, I accepted the atheism taught by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). As a result, I thought cultivation was ridiculous. I didn’t care about anything. I only knew that life was short and that I should enjoy myself.
When I was sixteen years old, a middle-aged man walked into the store my mom worked in and insisted on telling her fortune. My mother refused and said, “I do not believe in this. Please go away.” But the man insisted and said, “I don’t make my living telling fortunes. I won’t charge you a penny.” The man continued, “Usually, people are designated to be reborn. You have a noble son. He chose to be born into your family. By the time he is twenty-six years old, he will be a very good person. He will become better and better. He will have many friends.”
My mother said bitterly, “I do have a son, but he keeps me on my toes and I’m constantly worried about him. He does have many friends, but most of them are already in jail!” The fortune-teller said again, “Don’t worry, your son will be fine in time.” He left after saying that.
I continued to muddle through life and thought I’d be rich.
My brother-in-law was very kind to me. In 1996, when I was twenty-four years old, he hired me to manage his hotel and hoped I could get a fresh start. But I did nothing except drink, fight, and gamble. As a result of my mismanagement, his hotel had a deficit of 80,000 within one year. It was a significant loss at that time.
My brother-in-law didn’t give up on me. He hired me again to do sales in his company. Unfortunately, I didn’t appreciate his kindness. I got drunk and quarreled with him, and quit the job. I got drunk every day and began having stomach pains from consuming so much alcohol.
At that time, my parents and sister had already begun practicing Falun Dafa. My mother often told me about the wonderfulness of Dafa. However, I refused to listen.
One day, my mother gave me a copy of Zhuan Falun and asked me to read it. I said, “What’s the point of this book?” My father said, “If you can open your heart and sincerely read it, any miracle can happen.” I was curious, even though I didn’t quite believe it, so I took the book and read it.
I was fascinated by Zhuan Falun. All the questions I had about life were answered one by one. It turned out that cultivation was true, and people live to return to their true selves. I decided that I wanted to cultivate.
I read Zhuan Falun every day. One day I drove my sister to the practice site, and she invited me to do the exercises. My legs hurt after I just meditated for ten minutes. However, when I was just about to put my legs down, the pain suddenly disappeared, and a wave of energy enveloped my entire body. The feeling was wonderful! I was excited and thought, “Finally, I’ve found a real master! I will definitely practice diligently!”
I was exactly twenty-six years old that year. Looking back on the fortune teller’s words, I realized that Master had been watching over me before I obtained the Fa. I did become a good person and a better person. My outlook on life changed radically under the guidance of Dafa.
After I began practicing Falun Dafa, I went back to work in my brother-in-law’s company. This time, I let go of my attachment to reputation and money and became a good employee living up to Master’s requirement. I worked hard and took compensation lightly. I did whatever I could at work.
Every day after work, I studied the Fa and did the exercises. On the way to work, I listened to the recordings of Master’s teachings. My life became meaningful and happy. Sometimes I visited my former friends, not to drink or gamble, but to tell them that I began practicing Falun Dafa and that I quit smoking and drinking.
Many people who knew me thought it was incredible. Some people that I had bullied in the past wanted to get back at me. I didn’t fight back because Master taught us to live by the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance and do not fight back when being punched or insulted.
I owed many debts when I managed the hotel for my brother-in-law. I didn’t keep records at that time, and it had been several years since then. As a practitioner, I knew I should be a good person who always think of others, so I went to pay them back. The debtors were shocked because they all thought I would never pay them. I then told them, “I practice Falun Dafa now, and my Master teaches us to be good people. I can’t do things that hurt people anymore.” I apologized for what I had done before. They all said that I had changed so much!
Whenever I did something good, I experienced body purification or some miracles. Once I was just about to go to bed when I felt a big hand patting me on my back a few times, and then a lot of pus spurted out of my nose and mouth. There was nothing when I turned on the light to clean up the pus. I knew Master was purifying my body.
I had only been practicing for two months when the peaceful April 25 appeal occurred. Another practitioner came and told my father that they wanted to go to Beijing to appeal for Falun Dafa. My father said he had to work and could not go. When I heard this, I thought, “Dafa is being slandered, and practitioners are being arrested. I can’t just sit back and do nothing.” So I set out with several practitioners on the road to Beijing. As we were halfway, we heard that the matter had been resolved, so we returned home.
That night, I clearly felt a large ball in my abdomen going rapidly upward and reaching the top of my head in about a few minutes. I didn’t quite understand what was going on. The next day when I read Zhuan Falun, I realized that it was “The placement of the mysterious pass.” I realized that Master had let me experience this to encourage me and strengthen my confidence in cultivation.
As the persecution of Dafa continued to escalate, my practice environment also changed. The police began harassing practitioners at the peaceful practice site every day. They registered our names, used water jets to spray water on us, and made noise using loud speakers. Later, they started to arrest practitioners. I was arrested and beaten many times because I insisted on doing the exercises outdoors.
In early 2000, I did the exercise at the city square with dozens of other practitioners. I was arrested and taken to a brainwashing center. An officer said, “We are uneducated, but we are good at torturing people.” After saying that, they went out to drink. When they came back, they started beating us. I was beaten to the point that the flesh on my back was torn off. At that time, I was a young man in my twenties, and I would have fought back if I had not practiced Falun Dafa. I repeatedly recited Master’s Fa in my heart and endured the torture.
During the day, we were forced to stand in the snow for hours in only our thin shirts. One of them said, “I don’t believe in gods.” I said, “Then why do you guys who stay inside with the heater on end up catching colds while we are forced to stand outside in our only shirts, but we are still healthy?” He was dumbfounded, and after a moment of silence, he nodded and left.
Master said,
“When you are overcoming a real hardship or tribulation, you try it. When it is difficult to endure, try to endure it. When it looks impossible and is said to be impossible, give it a try and see if it is possible. If you can actually do it, you will indeed find, “After passing the shady willow trees, there will be bright flowers and another village ahead!”” (Lecture Nine, Zhuan Falun)
I later went to Beijing many times to appeal for Dafa, during which I experienced many hardships.
In June 2000, a group of practitioners and I decided to go to Beijing again to appeal for Master and Dafa. However, I couldn’t take the public transit because the police took my ID when I appealed for Dafa before. I could not take a bus without a valid ID, so we decided to walk more than 500 kilometers to Beijing.
But it was not as easy as it sounds. We had to walk from dawn until late at night. I never walked so much. I developed egg-sized blisters on my feet, and they hurt with each step. I couldn’t even take off my socks because of the bleeding pus. We had to sleep in the fields when we couldn’t find a hotel. Sometimes we slept on the side of the road.
Once at midnight, we saw a large mound not far ahead of us. We thought it was a haystack that we could sleep on, but it turned out to be a grave. We had no choice but to encourage each other to continue moving forward. By the time we finally found a small hotel, my legs were purple and swollen like a tree stump. I was so tired that I fell asleep as soon as I sat on the bed.
I was too tired to walk another step when we were halfway through the journey. I was exhausted, and my feet hurt terribly. In addition, we were under high pressure as we had to avoid being intercepted by the police.
One day, when we got to a small restaurant, I felt that it was beyond my limit. At that time, the restaurant was repeatedly playing a song. The song said, “Let my back be pressured bend, let the soles of my shoes wear through, look at the sky beyond the sky, walk on, and you will find the road open for you. It is hard to go through this, but people will admire you when you make it.” Hearing this, I couldn’t hold back my tears. I knew that Master was by my side, protecting me and encouraging me. I picked up my courage and was determined to continue. After walking for two weeks, we finally arrived in Beijing. The swelling in my legs was gone, and soles of our feet were covered in thick calluses.
Later, the police arrested us. One officer handcuffed me tightly. I felt unbearable pain, so I silently begged Master to help me. An old lady beside me said to the policeman, “You handcuffed him so tightly. Don’t you think it hurts?” The policeman then loosened my handcuffs. Once again, I felt that Master was beside me at all times. When my will was not strong, Master encouraged me in various ways. When I suffered pain and could not bear it, as long as I thought of Master, Master would help me resolve it. I could not describe in words my appreciation for Master.
As the persecution of Falun Dafa continued to escalate, the CCP’s propaganda broadcast on the state-run media slandered Master and Dafa every day. We wanted to clarify the truth to people. In the beginning, we looked for printing houses everywhere, but few of them dared to print the truth-clarification materials. Those who agreed were under a lot of pressure and had to lock their doors and work at night.
It was not a long-term solution and too risky, so we decided to start our own material site. I was in charge of purchasing the supplies and delivering materials.
Under Master’s protection, I experienced many miracles. One time, I went to deliver materials to a practitioner. As soon as I arrived, she told me that the police had been waiting there for several days to catch me and they just left.
Another time, the police came while I was unloading the materials. Strangely enough, they didn’t seem to see me, so I took the opportunity to escape. When the police entered the practitioner’s home, the lights suddenly went out. They had to leave because they couldn’t see anything inside. This gave me enough time to go back and move out all the materials that I had just unloaded.
It has been twenty-three years since I started practicing Falun Dafa. I experienced so many miracles over the years. Falun Dafa made me a new person. I cannot express my gratitude to Master in words.