(Minghui.org) After I began practicing Falun Dafa in 1996 I understood the true purpose of life: to assimilate to principles of the universe—Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance—to return to one’s true self and go back to one’s true home.
I used to suffer from many illnesses including ankylosing spondylitis, rheumatoid arthritis, neurogenic muscle atrophy, and heart disease. My life was worse than death. A doctor once told me that ankylosing spondylitis is like a cancer that one doesn’t die from. I started stocking up on sleeping pills, thinking that if one day I couldn’t bear it I’d commit suicide.
Then one day in December 1995, a coworker saw how much I was suffering and said, “There’s a qigong practice that can improve one’s health. Want to try it?” I asked what it was. She said it was called Falun Dafa and described it. When I heard it involved a sitting meditation I said I couldn’t do it because I had trouble sitting down and standing up. How would I be able to practice? She continued, “There’s also a book. Why don’t you read the book first?”
She brought me Zhuan Falun the next day. When I got home and opened it, the first thing I saw was Master’s photo. I said, “Wow, this person looks so familiar!” I ran to my neighbor’s home with the book and asked, “Doesn’t this man look familiar to you?” The neighbor agreed, and said he’s quite young. She also got a copy of Zhuan Falun.
I started reading it that day. Two days later, I told my coworker, that I’d like to keep the book, and asked how much it cost. She told me she had two more books: Falun Gong and a book of cultivation stories. I said, “I want them all. Please bring them to me.”
My son and I took turns reading all the books. As we read, we kept saying to each other, “This is so good and so true!”
From the day I began reading Zhuan Falun, my body began to feel lighter without me realizing it. My back didn’t hurt as much, and I no longer needed medicine. I stopped having to go to the hospital for treatment, injections, or medicine. I used to be quite irritable because I was in pain, and whenever I got angry, my back hurt. But after studying the Fa, my temper improved a lot.
At that time, my son had just started junior high. One day he came home from school and said, “Mom, everything Master says is true.” Then he told me about three incidents.
The first was on his way home from school. He suddenly felt someone pushing him to the side of the road. Right then, a car sped by. If he hadn’t been pushed, he would have been hit.
In the second incident, a classmate was giving him a ride to the science museum on a bicycle. Along the way, my son’s foot got caught in the wheel. Six spokes broke but his foot was not injured. He said, “When I was little, my foot got caught in Dad’s bicycle and it left a scar that I still have. This time, Master must have protected me.”
When the third incident happened he was just about to sit down when a classmate pulled the chair away, and he fell hard on his buttocks. Everyone laughed. He just smiled and looked at his classmate, thinking, “Thank you.”
Someone asked him, “We’re all laughing at you, but you’re laughing too. Are you stupid?”
He thought, “I’m not stupid.” He remembered the Fa principles of, “no loss, no gain” and didn’t feel any resentment at all. What happened next was very interesting. The bell rang and they all sat down. About 10 minutes later, the classmate who pulled his chair fell when his chair leg broke! It was a metal chair but somehow the leg broke, and the classmate had to pay 8 yuan for it. It is just like what Master said about karmic retribution.
My son then urged me, “Mom, let’s go to the exercise site this weekend. I’ll go with you.”
Just like that I truly began cultivating. My child had to help me get to the exercise site, but very soon I could move freely. I was only able to meditate for 10 minutes at first. But that progressed to 20, and 30 minutes, and within a few months, I could sit for an entire hour. One time, it snowed heavily and there were no buses. I walked home from the exercise site. This was something I’d never have imagined before. The other practitioners at the site were inspired by the changes they saw in me. My family, friends, and coworkers also witnessed the miracles of Dafa.
When Jiang Zemin, former leader of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), launched the persecution of Falun Dafa on July 20, 1999, my husband, out of fear, tried to persuade me to stop practicing. I told him, “Even if all the others give up, I won’t. You know my life was saved by Master. I must go and clarify the truth to the government. What’s wrong with Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance? Why are they banning it?”
He said, “At our age, you understand how the CCP works! Do you think they’ll listen to you? How can you fight them?”
I responded, “I’m not fighting anyone. I’m just speaking the truth.” He continued to say some bad things. I firmly told him, “Even if a single person in the world does not practice Falun Dafa, I will. Stop trying to stop me.” Realizing he couldn’t change my mind, he was quiet.
I joined other practitioners in stepping out to seek justice for Dafa, taking up the path of truth clarification in various forms. As I gradually clarified the truth to my husband, he began to understand and supported Dafa.
I was illegally sentenced and my husband was also sent to a labor camp. After experiencing the persecution firsthand, he saw the CCP’s evil nature even more clearly. He told me that when he was young, his work performance was excellent, and the leadership wanted him to join the CCP. But his father, who suffered during the Cultural Revolution, strongly opposed it. In the end, under pressure, he joined. His father said, “You’ll regret it some day.” And now the CCP even took away his livelihood! When the movement to quit the CCP began he resolutely withdrew from the Party.
The police posted some slanderous slogans on the wall and a banner about Dafa outside our home. They were placed very high. I talked with my husband, “Let’s cover the slogans and take the banner down tonight.” That night we went out, sprayed paint over the evil slogans, took down the banner, and threw it into the trash.
The next day the police came and demanded to know who did it. I told them, “Was it you who posted these outside my door? If you do it again, I’ll post mine on top of yours. If you’re allowed to post them, so am I. If you think this wasn’t right, then you should clean it up.” The next morning, I saw the neighborhood director lead three people to scrape off the slogans.
I was arrested and taken to a detention center. The police took me to a hospital for a check-up and put handcuffs on me. On the way back they couldn’t unlock the handcuffs. One officer said he would go get another key. At that moment, I realized that I shouldn’t be wearing handcuffs at all! With that thought, I simply slipped my hands out of the cuffs. The officers were stunned. From that point on, they treated me with more respect and no longer handcuffed me.
Another time, I was sent to a brainwashing center. It was inside a hotel, and two people watched me every night. One of them even moved a bed in front of the door to prevent me from leaving. I clarified the truth to them. At first, they wouldn’t listen. Gradually, they began to understand, although they still whispered to me out of fear. One of them said, “We’re just doing our job. We have no choice.”
On the ninth day, I thought, “I’ve pretty much done with clarifying the truth here, it’s time to go.” I sent forth a strong righteous thought, “At noon, during the global time for practitioners to send forth righteous thoughts let those watching me fall asleep.” I also asked Master for help.
Lunch was usually served at noon, but that day it came early. After eating, I sent forth a thought: “Let them fall asleep quickly!” Sure enough, they did. I looked outside, and everyone else had gone to their rooms for a nap. I sent another thought: “Let the lobby be empty.” I walked out, saw no one at the front desk, and the main door was wide open! With Master’s help, I walked out of the brainwashing center unhindered.
There was a time where I broke through sickness karma with righteous thoughts. One day, my leg suddenly began to hurt badly. It got worse and worse, until I couldn’t even walk. Two large lumps appeared at the top of one of my thighs. Soon both legs had them. From a medical perspective, it was likely a lymphatic problem. At first, I thought, “I’ve created so much karma through different lifetimes, and I’ve had shortcomings in cultivation. Maybe this was just karma being eliminated.” So I endured it passively.
While studying the Fa, I suddenly awakened. I identified many of my attachments: fear, showing off, competitiveness, pursuit of happiness, etc. The old forces were using my attachments to “test” me, to interfere with me, to trap me, so I couldn’t go out and fulfill my duties as a Falun Dafa practitioner. They were trying to destroy me. I couldn’t acknowledge them, and had to completely negate them.
The next morning when I woke up the lumps were gone, and everything was back to normal. With tears in my eyes I thanked Master.
In these 29 years Dafa changed me in countless ways. Today, I finally picked up my pen and wrote this down to validate Dafa with my personal experiences, and express my gratitude to our compassionate and great Master!