(Minghui.org) Greetings Master! Greetings fellow practitioners!
My older sister’s husband survived a devastating car accident this May, thanks to the protection Master Li, the founder of Falun Dafa. The accident turned out to be a silver lining that helped him to resume practicing Falun Dafa, which he had given up when the Chinese communist regime started to persecute the practice in 1999.
My sister and her family live in the capital city of a neighboring province. Her husband was a senior engineer and project manager at a provincial-level research institute. He was rehired as a technical consultant after he retired.
My brother-in-law was driving to work one morning in early May 2024, collided with a street-cleaning truck, veered onto a green belt, went over the guardrails, and stopped. He lay unconscious in a pool of blood. Witnesses called 120 (the emergency service), and an ambulance arrived an hour later. No one believed he would survive.
Doctors at a nearby hospital said he had a traumatic brain injury, that he’d had multiple strokes, that the retina in his right eye was detached, and that his left arm had a compound fracture. He was in critical condition; his life was hanging by a thread.
My sister rushed to the hospital, and the doctors told her that they couldn’t save her husband’s right eye. They might have to amputate his left arm, and that he may die. My sister remained calm, thinking, “Only Master can save him now.”
She whispered in his ear, “Remember, ‘Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance is good.’” She silently pleaded for Master’s help.
Against the doctors’ advice she decided to transfer him to the best hospital in the province. They warned her that it was risky to move someone in such a critical condition. With extreme care, she managed to transfer him successfully.
He was still unconscious when he was transferred to the new hospital, and he was placed in the intensive care unit (ICU). Relatives from afar came to visit. Medical experts warned that the longer he remained unconscious, the slimmer his chances of recovery. They estimated it might take two or three months for him to wake up, with a high probability that he would be in a vegetative state if he remained unconscious for six months.
My sister firmly believed Master could save him. She sought help from fellow practitioners, including my younger sister, to send forth righteous thought to eliminate all the negative elements in other dimensions. She sent righteous thoughts more often and for longer periods of time.
When someone is in the ICU, family members can only visit for half an hour each day. It took my sister over three hours by subway to get to the hospital, and she came every day. Each time she visited, she whispered in his ear, “Remember ‘Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good.’”
Miraculously, he regained consciousness five days after the accident—far sooner than the medical experts predicted. Everyone was amazed and called it a, “medical miracle,” but we knew it was Master’s compassionate salvation.
Although his life was saved, he still had challenges: preserving his left arm, saving his right eye, and rehabilitating his brain. He was moved from the ICU to a regular ward for further treatment. The surgeries to repair his left arm and eye were highly complex and posed significant risks. Despite the doctors’ advice that it be amputated, my sister insisted on saving his arm.
My brother-in-law was completely bedridden. We had to feed him and clean him when he soiled himself. It was a lot to do, so my second sister and I shared the workload of nursing him. During each surgery, we sent forth righteous thoughts outside the operating room and repeatedly recited: “Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good.”
He had several successful surgeries. It was in the heat of the summer when he was to be operated on for his craniocerebral injury, and the chances that his incisions could become infected were very high. The doctor said there was no good way to prevent it, and we had to rely on the patient’s immune system.
To almost everyone’s surprise, my brother-in-law recovered well and was discharged at the end of June. Master saved him in less than two months.
We repeatedly talked about why this accident happened. On the surface, it was because my brother-in-law stepped on the gas instead of the brakes and collided with the truck.
From a cultivator’s perspective this was persecution from another dimension. My brother-in-law used to actively practice Falun Dafa before 1999, but slacked off after the persecution began. His wife repeatedly encouraged him to be diligent.
As time went by, his thoughts slipped further and futher away from the Fa, and eventually he was the same as an ordinary person.
We realized that no one can be forced to cultivate. Dafa disciples have a mission and must fulfill their vows. Once they step away from cultivation, they have to bear all the karmic debts they owe, and their lives will follow that arrangement. We believed this was the deeper reason for the car accident.
My brother-in-law was later moved to a rehabilitation hospital. While his recovery progressed smoothly, my sister suggested bringing him home despite objections, believing that the environment at home for him to study the Fa was beneficial to his recovery.
Everything was fine the first few days. But an infection in his left arm prompted a return to the hospital. Reflecting on this, we realized that he was not yet truly cultivating and thus needed regular medical care. He used to practice Falun Dafa, but not anymore. Before he genuinely practiced again, he would have to get regular medical treatment just like anyone else.
His car accident was a disaster, but we realized it might turn out to an opportunity for him to return to practicing Dafa. We should seize this opportunity to have him realize the impermanence of the human world and the illusory nature of money and fame, so that he could start cultivating again and return to his true home.
Caring for him brought unexpected challenges. His severe brain injury left him cognitively impaired, leading to communication difficulties and misunderstandings. For example, he called his boy an airplane, mistook me for his brother, and called his wife by his mother’s name. What was even more challenging was when we couldn’t understand what he was saying. He sometimes berated us out of frustration.
At first, I couldn’t take it, as no one ever insulted me like that. This really tested my xinxing. I was so frustrated, I even thought about leaving.
I reflected on myself and realized that I was only focusing on my feelings and not considering my brother-in-law’s needs. I also identified my attachments to pride and self-interest. I remembered that about ten years before, my sisters said that I couldn’t accept criticism. I now realized that I never really changed in that regard.
Looking inward more deeply, I asked myself why couldn’t I accept criticism? It was because I always thought I was great and looked down on others. I liked to be praised. All of these were manifestations of clinging to my ego and were selfish. Master exposed my attachments, and I knew I should eliminate them completely.
With Master’s guidance, I began to truly think from my brother-in-law’s perspective, and I could guess what he was trying to say. Now we get along well.
After regaining consciousness, my brother-in-law had no memory of the accident because of his brain injury. He was excited about returning to work. He wanted to earn more money and live a happy life.
We were deeply concerned. Master saved his life so that he could cultivate and fulfill his vow and mission.
We told him about the accident that almost killed him, about the steps to his recovery, and how we asked Master to save him. He finally realized how badly he’d been injured and that without Master, he wouldn’t have survived. After giving it serious thought, he agreed to resume practicing Falun Dafa.
We knew the first step was to guide him to study the teachings. We began by having him listen to the recordings of Master’s teachings. It was fine at first, but later he fell asleep. We thought Master was cleansing his brain.
However, he fell asleep every time. We realized that it was interference preventing him from learning the Fa, so we started reading Zhuan Falun aloud to him, one lecture a day. But he fell sleep again in the middle of every lecture. We told him that sleeping while listening to the Fa is disrespectful of Master and Dafa.
At the same time we realized we were too pushy: one lecture a day was too much for him. So we adjusted. We read a few paragraphs, and then asked him if we should continue. If he was alert and said yes, we kept reading. But if he was tired, we stopped.
The result was good. Now he is quite motivated to read the book, and sometimes he even urges us to study the teachings.
My brother-in-law is getting better every day and is now able to take care of himself. We are very grateful for Master’s compassion and salvation!