(Minghui.org) I was fortunate to begin cultivating in Falun Dafa in 1996, and I have benefited from the practice for more than 20 years. I can’t express my gratitude to Master in words. Looking back at what I used to be like, Falun Dafa has truly changed me and reshaped me from the core.
I used to be very assertive. I pursued perfection in everything I did and would not be taken advantage of in society or at work. I would be in a bad mood over any trivial thing, and I was physically and mentally exhausted from living for the sake of a single breath.
My daughter, who was in elementary school, was hit with a whip by a girl in her class. When I found out, I went and slapped that girl’s mouth and told her that if she hit my daughter again I would hit her back.
I once went to the market to buy peanuts and the vendor gave me one ounce less than I paid for. I went elsewhere and weighed the peanuts, then went back to the vendor in a rage and snatched his weighing scales. Without saying a word, I broke them. There were many onlookers, and I became more and more courageous. At home, I was a person of my word. Playing mahjong, going to karaoke, and drinking alcohol were my happiness in life. People around me knew that I was assertive and unforgiving. Because of my bad temper, my body was in bad shape when I entered my thirties, and I was tormented by many illnesses.
I recovered from all my ailments not long after I started practicing Falun Dafa, without treatment. This made me truly feel the happiness of being illness-free. Studying Dafa helped me learn the truth about being a good person. According to Dafa’s principles, I strictly adhered to being a good person and making sure to continue being a better person. When things went wrong, I looked inward to find my shortcomings and tried to improve my xinxing.
I rented a booth in a store and sold shoes, hats, umbrellas, clothing, and other goods, which went quite quickly. Every time I re-stocked, many customers were waiting to buy whatever I had to offer. My neighboring booth was run by two sisters, who did not sell the same products as me. But, when they saw that I quickly sold everything I stocked, they started to sell the same items as me. I was a little uneasy at first and wanted to confront them, but I took a step back and thought that since I had learned Dafa I shouldn’t argue with them. Then, they started to sell their goods at lower prices than mine, and called customers over to buy their goods instead of mine. I couldn’t stand it any longer, thinking that this was too much. If I hadn’t learned Dafa, I would have stopped this from happening long ago.
Master’s Fa teachings constantly appeared in my mind, and I did not treat them as they treated me. I exchanged my thoughts with other practitioners at the Fa study group. They said that I had improved my xinxing through this incident. I was very dominating before, and this experience was to improve my xinxing, and to see if I would be moved. When they saw me earning money, naturally they would be anxious when they couldn’t sell their goods. So from then on, I no longer cared what they sold. When I had the same goods as theirs, I didn’t take out my goods to sell until theirs were sold. One of the sisters said, “We really didn’t expect you to be as considerate as you are. Thank you, my friend!”
I replied, “It is Dafa that has changed me. My Master tells us to be kind and considerate of others, which I would never have been able to do if I hadn’t studied Dafa.”
I started selling other goods, and could make money from whatever I sold. I knew that this was because I practiced Falun Dafa and received blessings. When my business was doing well, my workplace did not want me to keep this job, and asked me to come back to work. My younger sister was finding it difficult to make a living and often borrowed money from me, so I wanted to transfer the booth to her. I knew she didn’t have much savings to buy goods, and I had more than 20,000 yuan of goods in the warehouse and the booth.
I told her that she needed to pay me only 10,000 yuan for now and I would give her the business and the stock. After she sold the goods and made money, she could then pay me the rest of what she owed me. If she later did not want the business she could return the booth back to me, but not transfer it to others. She happily agreed.
She had earned some money a year later, and bought a motorcycle, and a gold ring, but did not pay me for the stock I gave her. My husband asked why she didn’t return the money, “She did not invest a penny in the business, and now look at her. I also want to buy a car, but I am short of money.”
I said to my sister nicely, “If you have money, can you pay me back? Your brother-in-law is not happy.”
She snapped back, saying, “Okay! I won’t re-stock. I’ll use the money to pay you back.” Seeing her attitude, I didn’t say anything further. But, I didn’t feel good either, thinking, “I have been helping you earn money, delivering you meals, taking care of you, but you are not grateful.”
I went to my sister’s booth with her meal about two years later. The booth was not far from my home, and I often took food to her. Going into the store, I saw some people holding pieces of note paper near the booth. Seeing me coming, they didn’t move. I asked, “What’s going on?”
My sister lowered her head, and didn’t say anything. A woman who had the note paper in her hand was someone I knew. She said that the booth was transferred to her. I got angry, and immediately said out loud to my sister: “The booth is mine! What did I tell you?!”
My sister told the woman that she wouldn’t be transferring the booth to her, and the woman responded, “I have already counted half of the goods in your booth.” I became awakened, and thought of Master’s Fa.
Master said:
“Sometimes, you think that something should be yours, and others also tell you that it is yours. Actually, it is not.” (Lecture Seven, Zhuan Falun)
I realized that I was too attached to the booth, and was not even aware that my attachment was so strong. My mind became calm, and I said to the woman, “Go ahead and count the goods. This booth should be yours. I’m leaving!”
My sister chased after me and apologized with tears in her eyes. I said, “It’s okay. I just had a bad attitude, please don’t be angry at me. I’m a Dafa practitioner.”
“Dafa is really good!” she responded. After this incident, she started to tell everyone she met that, “Dafa is good.”
After I started practicing Falun Dafa, my body and mind underwent tremendous changes. Seeing these changes, everyone in my family has supported me in the practice. My daughter often tells her friends how good Falun Dafa is. She has also told her friends that quitting the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its affiliated organizations would ensure their safety, and helped them quit the CCP’s youth organizations.
She has benefited a lot from Dafa, including finding a good job that she likes. My granddaughter has been studying the Fa with me since she was little, and has also benefited. Dafa opened up her wisdom. She is the youngest in her class. She studies well and often tells her classmates, “Falun Dafa is good.” Her teacher said, “This child is different from others. She is kind-hearted, and helpful.”
My granddaughter said to me, “Because I studied Dafa, I have been able to do all the good things in school. I am so lucky!”