Give the Beauty and Preciousness of Falun Dafa to All Living Beings

(Minghui.org) I am a 50-year-old rural woman and have been practicing Falun Dafa (also called Falun Gong) for 23 years. I would like to share some of my cultivation experiences to show people the preciousness of Falun Dafa, as well as thank Master for His continued protection.

Prompted to Cultivate By My Husband

I am an introvert, and people think that I am a quiet person. Born and raised in the countryside, I never had to get involved in farm work because my family was relatively well-to-do. I was pampered by my elders. My childhood and teenage years were fun, and I was the envy of many of my peers.

I was not diligent at school, but I loved to read extracurricular books, ancient or modern. I developed a habit of thinking and daydreaming. Traditional culture laid a foundation for my outlook on life and marriage. In my mind, men built houses and women make homes. My role should be assisting my husband and bringing up children. My husband must be a decent, kind, brave, and responsible person.

However, my marriage was disappointing. Conflicts regularly broke out and intensified. My husband disliked my pettiness and capriciousness, and I did not like his laziness and irresponsibility. A conflict broke out each time he drank with his “gang,” or came home in the middle of the night after gambling.

Three years of married life filled my heart with bitterness and exhaustion. One day, I couldn’t hold my anger any longer and hit him.

Once, he came back in the middle of the night, and I kicked him out of the bed. He grabbed the blanket and went to sleep on the couch in the living room, but I did not let him. He ended up sleeping on the food bags in the hen house.

On another occasion, he came back after drinking and tried to sneak into the bedroom through the window. I smashed all the windows. He often drank with his “gang” and delayed feeding the chickens, and I couldn’t do it because I had to take care of the baby. Once, because of this, I hit him with a work cap and gave him a bad bump on his head.

During those days of distress, I often wondered why I married such a man. I felt sad seeing my thin, haggard self in the mirror and asked where my once proud and confident self had gone. I made up my mind to divorce him as soon as our daughter was old enough to go to kindergarten.

It was in the morning of March 17, 1999. We were having breakfast, and our daughter was two and a half years old. I said, “I heard that your eldest sister is practicing Falun Dafa. I want to practice it too.” My husband looked at me disdainfully and replied, “You can’t do it!”

I asked, “Why can’t I do it?” He answered, “I heard Falun Dafa talks about Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. What a good temperament my sister has! It’s not for you.” I responded defiantly, “Who said so? Watch out, I’m going tonight.”

To prove my point, I went to the Falun Dafa practice site near my home with my sister-in-law. I did the wheel-holding exercise in its entirety and sat in meditation for 20 minutes. Reading the Fa was even more enjoyable.

The more I studied Falun Dafa, the more I loved it. I knew I had finally found a way to cultivate my mind and nurture my nature. Something I had been seeking since I was a child. I really have to thank my husband for this. Thanks to his prompting I made up my mind to walk into Dafa.

The first time I watched Master Li’s (Dafa’s founder) lecture video at a fellow practitioner’s house, I felt as though Master was so familiar. On my way home, I looked up at the blue sky and felt that the world was so wide open, and so was my heart. A warm current flowed through my heart: life became so beautiful!

I have a Master now! I am finally on my way to returning to my true self!

Understanding the Bond Between My Husband and I

I went to the practice site for Fa study and exercises every day. As I learned the Fa more, I improved my xinxing. Although my husband was still doing whatever he wanted, I no longer thought about divorce or acted violently.

Whenever conflicts surfaced and affected my heart, I recited Master’s Fa,

“Forbearance is the key to improving one’s xinxing. To endure with anger, grievance, or tears is the forbearance of an everyday person who is attached to his concerns. To endure completely without anger or grievance is the forbearance of a cultivator.” (“What is Forbearance (Ren)?” Essentials for Further Advancement)

That’s right, as a Dafa practitioner, I should follow the requirements of Dafa. In the past, I only focused on my husband’s shortcomings and ignored his merits. I regarded myself as perfect and did not accept any critique. I did not let myself suffer, and have never put myself in his shoes when considering his actions.

In fact, my husband is a warm and kindhearted person. He respects the elderly and cares about the young, and greets others as soon as he sees them in the distance.

I no longer gave him the cold shoulder and our relationship gradually became harmonious. I sometimes lost my temper, and would apologize to him sincerely afterward, “I failed to do what a practitioner should do, I’m sorry.” He would not say anything but smiled at me with a soft light in his eyes. He supported my study of the Fa, and took the initiative to look after our daughter when I had to go out.

Tribulations Abound

I had only practiced for four months when the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began its persecution of Dafa. I went to Beijing with fellow practitioners to speak out for Dafa. When I returned safely four days later, my husband said, “I didn’t sleep well for several nights. I was really worried that you would face machine guns, as we experienced in the ‘June 4’ massacre in 1989.”

My husband was under a lot of pressure each time I was persecuted, but he never complained because he knew Falun Dafa is good and righteous, and Dafa has reshaped me and given us a happy family life.

Life is never smooth sailing. My husband was injured at work in 2002 and suffered from femoral head necrosis. He lost the ability to work. For a rural family living on a shoestring budget, the loss of the husband’s ability to work was like the collapse of a house beam.

The physical pain and mental anguish made my husband drink so much alcohol on the sly that he was often unconscious. I persuaded him to stop drinking, but he insisted drinking would help relieve his physical pain and comfort his heart. I tried many times without success.

The burden of my family fell on my shoulders. It was a big blow to me because I wasn’t very strong physically. It would have been impossible for me to bear it if I hadn’t practiced Dafa.

Before I began practicing Dafa, I often caught a cold or flu, and never stopped taking cold medicine. I was bloated with wind during the postnatal month and often suffered backache as a result.

After studying Falun Dafa, I became free of illness and learned the principles of life through the study of the Fa. I learned that birth, old age, illness and death all happen for a reason. That illness is paying back the karma owed in previous lives, and that suffering pays back karmic debt.

I did not fall down despite the great pressure.

I could not go out to work because I needed to take care of my husband and daughter, so I borrowed money and built a big shed, and worked hard in it every day. I told myself to keep a compassionate and peaceful mind every day, I followed the Fa principles to enlighten my husband, took care of the family, and raised our daughter.

One day, when I was walking home on my tired legs, I saw five or six people helping my husband into our house. I rushed home and found out he had drunk too much at a wedding and wet his pants, so he was escorted home. When the people left, I dragged him to the bed and changed his clothes.

I shed tears at that moment, hating him for being such a disappointment. I felt my pride had been hurt, that I had lost face, especially since all the escorts were prominent people in the village, including the village chief. I asked Master in my heart, “Master, what is my karmic relationship with my husband?”

I saw a vision in meditation that night: a boy and a girl dressed in ancient clothes were drifting down from the sky. The girl was seven or eight years old, and the boy was four or five years old. The girl had a solemn face, and the boy held the girl’s sleeve, and full of frustration, said, “Sister, you did not take good care of me!”

Tears ran down my face, and I knew I was the girl, and the boy was my husband. I said in my heart, “My brother, I will take good care of you and bring you back to our heavenly home!”

Master’s Merciful Protection in the Midst of Tribulation

On May 10, 2016, while I was studying the Fa in a fellow practitioner’s house, plainclothes police officers barged in and arrested us. They took us to a detention center on May 10, 2016. My heart sank as soon as we arrived. I had been arrested twice in the past and both times I was taken to the administrative detention facilities. I was released within a month. I was afraid it would not be so simple this time.

Because of my weak Fa-study foundation, I couldn’t remember any Fa at the time, so I asked Master for help. The head inmate arranged for a fellow practitioner to sleep next to me. When that practitioner had taught me all the Fa she could recite, the head inmate seemed to come to her senses: How could I arrange for them to be together?

My human thoughts surfaced during my illegal detention and I worried that my daughter would soon come home from Shandong Province for summer vacation.

I imagined her heartbroken look, and all kinds of distracting thoughts popped up in my mind: she came home and did not see her mother, how sad would she be? How could she finish her two more years of college? Who will pay for her college when I’m not home? How can she and her father get by financially? And my husband’s health... I had a lot on my mind.

I had a clear dream that night. In the south, in rows of apartment buildings, I saw a small bridge over flowing water. It was a quiet environment and it was my daughter’s future home. When I woke up, I understood Master was taking care of my daughter and her future had been arranged.

As it turned out, when I returned home later, my daughter was already working in the south. She bought me a smartphone, and on the home screen was the same picture I had seen in the dream!

I refused to “transform” during my illegal detention, despite being beaten by several inmates, who were encouraged by the guards. They stripped off my outer clothes, pulled off my shoes and socks, and knocked me over on the concrete floor. My face was bruised and swollen, and I had several egg-sized bumps on my head, but I did not feel much pain.

They dragged me to the washroom, held me down on the wet floor, and then poured basin after basin of cold water over my head. It was cold in March in the north, and my thin clothes were soaked in cold water. One inmate said, let’s stop, she is about to pass out.

They stuffed a rag in my mouth and dragged me to the cell. I was shivering and could not speak. An inmate opened the window while slapping me, “Aren’t you tough? If you do not write the statements of renouncing Falun Gong, you will be frozen to death!”

I sat on the floor underneath the window, but I felt warm air blowing on me from outside; it was indeed warm! I burst into tears, I knew Master was protecting me!

Many inmates said at that time, “So-and-so (my husband’s nickname) won’t wait for his wife to come back home.” My husband was not only in much better health than before, but beyond my wildest dreams, he even took a taxi with my father to visit me in prison! He asked me in front of the prison guards, “I heard you were beaten. I’m going to sue them.” I was so touched by his righteousness!

When I was released and returned home, my daughter told me about her job-hunting experience, saying, “Mother, you know what? Everything went smoothly! Wherever I went, there was someone there to help me.” I said, “Do you believe that’s Master helping you?” My daughter nodded affirmatively.

A Dafa practitioner’s home should be clean. I wanted to renovate the house a bit during the pandemic in 2020 because it was so old, but I didn’t have enough money. My daughter got a monthly raise of 2,000 yuan (US$287). She told me, “Go ahead and do the cleanup, I’ll pay for it.”

Many people lost their jobs due to the pandemic, but my daughter, a young lady who had just graduated from college was paid a monthly salary of 8,000 yuan, isn’t this a blessing from Dafa?

Looking back on my 20-plus years of cultivation practice, I would not have made it without Master’s merciful protection. Master’s grace transformed an introverted, blushing, capricious and selfish me into a cheerful, optimistic, and strong Dafa practitioner, and gave me a happy family. Thank you, Master!

Believing in Dafa, Mother-in-Law’s Physical Conditions Changed

My in-laws live with us and have also benefited from Dafa. My mother-in-law is 79 years old and never attended school. Witnessing how her eldest daughter became healthy after practicing Falun Dafa, she believes in Dafa from deep within her heart.

She chanted “Falun Dafa is good! Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good!” sincerely and devoutly every day. Her health improved daily. She never removes the Dafa amulet around her neck and treats it like a treasure.

She used to be weak and could not eat anything during the holidays. She had to lay in bed all day.

Her most serious condition was trigeminal neuralgia, which is known as the “Number one pain in the world.” When it attacked, she would bang her head against the wall and slap her own face. She was known from near and far to have this disease. She had used many medicines without any improvement.

But since she wore the Dafa amulet and chanted the nine words of “Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good,” she has recovered from all her illnesses without taking a single pill. She now has a rosy face and her body is light, and she is no less capable than I when doing housework.

She burns incense and bows before Master’s portrait every day and offers fruit on the 1st and 15th day of every month. She often tells family and friends proudly, “I have recovered from all diseases with Master’s help. Master has been so good to me. I am grateful to Master!” She is listening to Master’s lectures now!

In my 20-plus years of cultivation, my family has benefited from Dafa in many ways, and we can’t say enough about the preciousness of Master, and our gratitude. My family of five now bows to Master! May the world feel the power and virtue of Falun Dafa, understand the truth, and be saved! I would like to present the beauty and magnificence of Dafa to all living beings!