Offering Salvation While Working at a Pharmacy

(Minghui.org) I am 54 years old this year and started practicing Falun Dafa in 1996.

After the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) initiated the persecution of Falun Dafa in 1999, I was responsible for delivering Dafa truth clarification brochures, stickers, banners, and copies of Master’s new teachings to fellow practitioners in my area.

A fellow practitioner and I set up the first informational material production site at the home of a relative who supported Falun Dafa in 2003. It was the first in our county, and it saved practitioners from having to go to the nearest city more than 100 kilometers away to get Dafa materials. The planned demolition of my relative’s home forced us to close the center in 2008. By then, several other production centers that had been established were able to support practitioners in their truth-clarification efforts. After the site shut down, I started producing and supplying fliers from my home.

Neither my husband nor I held formal jobs. We operated a small business to support our family, including two of our elderly parents. However, our expenses exceeded our combined income. My husband and I are the youngest in our families, and we have many older siblings. However, our older brothers and sisters similarly lived hand to mouth and could not offer any financial aid. Over time, it became more convenient to call and have replacement goods delivered. This eliminated the necessity of having one person drive over every day to fetch goods and take them to the store. Now that our small store could be managed by just one person, I decided to find another job to supplement our family income.

One day, I passed a high-end pharmacy chain store and saw a notice that read “Salesperson and Decoction Preparer Wanted” pasted on the window. This store was known as the best pharmacy in our county. I knew I had little chance of becoming a salesperson because I had little knowledge or understanding of medications. Moreover, since practicing Dafa, I had not taken any medication myself and could not even distinguish between Chinese and Western medications. As for “decoction preparer,” I was not even sure what the job entailed, although I assumed it meant processing raw medicinal herbs into ready-to-use forms at the back of the pharmacy. Confident I could learn to do that, I went into the store and introduced myself.

I was interviewed by the store manager, an elegant, well-dressed, and intelligent woman in her 40s. She explained that pharmacies generally hired employees with experience and who were below a certain age. did not meet the criteria, so under normal circumstances, my application would not even have been considered. However, the manager was willing to give me a chance to prove that I could learn quickly.

I was an ordinary person with no work experience or knowledge of medicine. Yet the manager asked me to try my hand at learning how to sell medications. She advised me to study hard and told me to report to work the next day. Landing this job was beyond my wildest dreams. I realized later that this was a gift from Master. It not only solved my income problem but also put me in convenient circumstances to clarify the truth and save people. Acquaintances and friends were astounded. Without any knowledge of pharmacology or experience in medicine, how could I survive working in a pharmacy? Moreover, particularly for those with no background, medicine is a difficult field.

Yet with Master’s blessing and half a year of hard work, I managed to master the necessary skills and was officially hired. I even became one of the most relied-upon staff in the store.

I treat every customer with kindness, and over time, many have cultivated a good impression of me. During my free time, I take advantage of the opportunity to clarify the truth, distribute pamphlets and amulets, and persuade those I meet to quit the CCP and its affiliated organizations. I have encountered all kinds of responses. Some express gratitude while others threaten to report me to the police. Some refuse to believe what I say, while others turn around and complain to the store manager behind my back. Some express disbelief at my supposed naivety: “Why do you still believe in this?” Regardless of their responses, with Master’s help I continue my efforts to convey the truth to all sentient beings.

Truth Clarification at Work

One afternoon, I met a mother and her daughter as they entered the pharmacy. Having traveled from the countryside, the daughter was looking to buy medicine for her mother. Her mother looked particularly pale and lethargic. After hearing her complaints of stomach discomfort and difficulty walking, I sold her the appropriate medicine for her symptoms. Afterward, the mother decided to sit in the pharmacy and rest while her daughter went out to buy them something to eat.

At that time, the store was empty of other customers. I knew Master had arranged for her to hear the truth, so I quickly walked out from behind the counter and advised the elderly woman to sincerely recite, “Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good” to obtain miraculous benefits in healing and health. I also told her about Falun Dafa. The woman willingly accepted my words and happily quit the Communist Youth League and Young Pioneers. She told me, “I was feeling upset and uncomfortable this morning. My daughter refused to take me out, though she changed her mind when I insisted. After hearing your words, my heart is now lighter. My trip was not in vain, and I feel much better.” Just then, her daughter returned and they left.

Another time, just as I was about to leave for the day, the manager informed me of a customer who had called and asked that her medications be delivered to her home. Fortunately, the customer lived nearby. Even though I did not know who this customer was, I took the medicine, put on my coat, and ventured out into the light snowfall to make the delivery.

I rang the doorbell for a long time before the customer managed to open the door. After I went in, I located her in her washroom. She feebly instructed me to put the medicine near the doorway. She didn’t look good, so I asked, “Is this medicine for yourself?” She replied, “Yes. My chronic symptoms started acting up today. I feel cold all over and dizzy whenever I move. I’ve also been vomiting and have diarrhea.”

When I asked where her family was, she said, “I live alone. My children are married and work elsewhere. In the past, whenever I fell ill, I would take some medicine and my symptoms would be gone. Today, I took my medicine again but surprisingly do not feel any better.” She instructed me to go into her bedroom to see what medications she had been taking. I found several kinds, some for reducing blood pressure, some for gastrointestinal symptoms, some for dizziness, and some for colds. She said, “Because I could not leave home, I had to call the store and ask to have the medicine sent over. I will try it and see how it goes.”

Having heard about her condition, I could not bear to leave. I asked, “Have you eaten anything?” She said she’d had breakfast, so I said, “You can’t carry on like this. You have to reach out to your children.” But she refused to. “I can’t call my children. They are busy and too far away. It’s an old problem, I’ll be fine after taking some medicine. I just can’t move around and cook for myself now.”

“Do you have relatives nearby? Someone needs to stay with you.” I said. The woman explained, “My hometown is in a rural area. When I was in good health, I lived there with my children. When my health worsened, my children rented this place for me to stay on my own. I don’t have any relatives here. I am on good terms with the housekeeper who works in this building, and I used to look for her when I needed anything. But with Chinese New Year around the corner, she has been busy preparing for the celebration. Plus, she has been ill these past two days and cannot come. Could you find someone to work part-time for me?” I replied, “It is late now and it’s still snowing outside. Besides, I have never hired anyone, so I don’t even know where to start looking.”

Since I had encountered this situation, I thought that I should help her. After all, Master must have arranged this so I could save her. I told her, “Don’t worry. I’ll come back to cook and stay the night with you. For now, I have to return to work. I’ve been gone for so long, my co-workers will start to worry.” Embarrassed, the woman replied, “Then I’ll have to trouble you later.”

Back at the store, my co-workers asked why it took me so long to deliver the medicine. When I told them what had happened, they were all dismayed: “You can’t go back. We know you mean well, but if she gets worse, won’t her children blame you?” “Tell her to call her son and have him send her to the hospital.” “You don’t know her. If she has a stroke, you will be blamed.” I replied, “I promised to return soon. I’ll assess the situation and act accordingly.”

I wanted to tell this woman about Dafa. Also, I was sure that, with help from the Fa, nothing untoward would happen to her. I went home, grabbed a quick bite to eat, and then set off in the deepening snow to the woman’s home. Her door remained open, and after I let myself in, I found her in bed, covered with a blanket. I asked her what she wanted for dinner, and she asked for boiled noodles with no oil. I cooked a bowl of noodles and took it to her bedroom. She ate her dinner slowly. Afterward, although she felt less cold, she was still unable to sit up for long and had to lie down.

After cleaning up the kitchen, I sat at her bedside and told her about the persecution of Falun Dafa. She accepted my words and quit the Youth League and Young Pioneers. She had previously believed in Buddhism but had felt this cultivation way would not enable her to cultivate to high levels. She told me, “This phrase, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, gives me a wonderful feeling—as though it belongs to the highest level, higher than anything I previously believed.” She listened attentively and asked many questions.

I had originally planned to stay the night, but with her continued acceptance of Dafa, she rapidly improved. Soon she was able to sit up and even asked me to tell her more. I took her blood pressure and saw that it was in the normal range. Strength gradually returned to her voice, she stopped feeling dizzy, and she had some color in her cheeks. She said, “I’m so lucky to have met you. We don’t know each other, yet you have helped me. Nowadays, who would do such a thing?” I replied, “It’s because I practice Falun Dafa, and Dafa requires us to be good people. It is my pleasure to help you.”

She had improved to the point there was nothing wrong with her anymore, and I had said all that I needed to say, so I advised her to sincerely recite “Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good” and decided I didn’t need to stay. I said, “Since you feel much better, I won’t stay the night, but I’ll come visit you again tomorrow morning.” She thanked me and said, “I was so fortunate to meet you today. I feel fine now. You don’t have to stay with me anymore.” She even stood up and walked on her own to the toilet. “Look, I’ve recovered! You don’t have to worry anymore. It’s already after 10 p.m. Let me give you some money so you can take a taxi home.” I declined and told her, “It’s all right. I can walk home.”

As I made my way home, I thanked Master for his merciful salvation of sentient beings. The following morning, before I could even call her, she called me. In a clear, loud voice, she said, “I’m fine. You don’t need to drop by this morning to visit, nor do you need to worry about me anymore. I can cook and care for myself. I thought I should let you know that you don’t need to make the trip over, so I called you first thing. After you left yesterday, I went to bed and slept very well. I got up this morning and my symptoms had vanished!”

We were friends from then on.