(Minghui.org) Amidst turbulent and confusing times, I obtained the precious book Zhuan Falun. I used Falun Dafa’s principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance to guide me to be a good person. These principles are rooted in the hearts of millions of Dafa practitioners across the world. I’d like to share my cultivation experiences with my teacher, Master Li Hongzhi, and fellow practitioners.
Before I started to practice Falun Dafa, I was very selfish and narrow-minded. If I had not become a practitioner, my brother, sister-in-law, and I would have never interacted with each other. My mother-in-law gave most of the family land to her eldest son. I said to my husband, “We didn’t get a penny from your family’s property, so I have no obligation to support your mother.” When I saw my son playing with the children of my husband’s brother, I would hit him and accuse him of having no backbone.
I became consumed by greed and despair over petty gains, unwilling to yield even a bit, and ended up riddled with health problems such as rheumatic heart disease, arthritis, rhinitis, a herniated disc, and vertebral hyperplasia. These ailments tormented me greatly, requiring various medications for temporary relief, further burdening my already impoverished family.
In my 30s, my face was lined with wrinkles and etched with worry. I remember when I was carrying my daughter in the park, a woman asked me if she was my granddaughter. I replied, quite embarrassed, “She is my youngest daughter.”
At this lowest point in my life—when I often thought that living a life this miserable was worse than dying—I was fortunate to begin cultivating Dafa. After about three months, I started to feel light and illness-free. I had not enjoyed the bliss of being healthy and carefree for a long time. I no longer had trouble breathing on cloudy or rainy days, I stopped crying from back pain when carrying my daughter upstairs, and I didn’t get rhinitis attacks when the weather was cold or hot.
As I read Zhuan Falun, I understood that this was not an ordinary book, but the Buddha Law that one could follow to cultivate to high levels. I told myself that I must follow Master’s words and cultivate well.
My sister called to say her son was getting married and that she hoped I could come help out with the preparations. In the countryside where we lived, wedding banquets are usually held at home. I thought to myself, “I’m a practitioner, so I shouldn’t bring shame on Master.” Both my practitioner husband and I got the days off to go to my sister’s before the banquet. We got up to start preparations as soon as it was light. We were not afraid of getting dirty or tired. Wherever there was work to be done, we were there. I cautioned myself: “I’m a practitioner and represent the image of Dafa.”
We were constantly busy. Although the meals were handled by chefs, I helped them whenever there was anything that needed to be done. The head chef exclaimed, “You’re in really good shape!” That gave me an opportunity to tell them that I practiced Dafa; followed the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance; and was always considerate of others. I also helped them understand the facts about Falun Dafa. They said the practice was truly amazing and readily quit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its youth organizations.
The summer heat was intense, and my clothes were soaked with sweat, so I often washed my face to cool off. My husband and I didn’t mind that some of my brother-in-law’s relatives were taking breaks by either enjoying the shade under the trees or eating watermelon and sunflower seeds. We helped out without complaint, doing whatever we could by sweeping the yard, cleaning the chickens and fish, and picking vegetables.
When someone saw I was wearing a Falun (law wheel) pin on my shirt, he looked at it carefully and asked, “Isn’t this the symbol of a Falun?”
When I said it was, he asked me to tell him about it.
I told him how I had behaved in the past and how Master asks us to conduct ourselves. I also shared how I came to be illness free by cultivating a virtuous, high level practice such as Falun Dafa. I stressed that cultivation could help improve one’s moral standards and purify one’s heart and that I held myself to these standards and would continue to be considerate of others in everything I did.
I also talked about the fact that the former CCP leader, Jiang Zemin, used his power to orchestrate the staged self-immolation on Tiananmen Square in order to frame and persecute Dafa practitioners. Master told us “... suicide is sinful.” (“Lecture Given at the Conference in Sydney”) and asks us “... to be good and then even better persons ...” (“Teachings at the Conference in Los Angeles”)
This man came to understand that Dafa is a high-level cultivation practice. He mentioned that he had heart disease. I said, “Then why don’t you try sincerely reciting ‘Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good.’ If you’re sincere, you’ll be blessed. If you truly believe, Master will take care of you.”
He said, “When I see you being so kind, I believe what you say.”
On this occasion, a number of people had the opportunity to see how my husband and I treated everyone with sincerity, dealt with everything that came up with kindness, and tolerated others’ shortcomings. Together, my husband and I helped 89 people quit the CCP. They now understand that Dafa has been spread in this world to save everyone.
Poisoned by the lies fabricated by the CCP, two of my brothers were strongly against Dafa. My younger brother, who owned a restaurant, called to say that his wife had just had surgery and needed someone to take care of her. I took my youngest daughter to the daycare center so I could go take care of my sister-in-law. If I was not practicing Dafa, I wouldn’t have done that. I was tied up with work, taking children to and from school, and cooking. But I knew that I had to do well in this situation to help them understand that Dafa is righteous.
The day after my sister-in-law’s surgery to remove a breast fibroadenoma, she seemed to be doing well. However, she was still under the effects of the anesthesia and had yet to regain consciousness. The doctor instructed me to stay by her side until she woke up. While waiting for her to wake up, I wiped her hands and feet with a warm towel and trimmed her nails. Following the doctor’s instructions, I also held her hand and called her name.
My brother was too busy at work and forgot to bring me anything to eat. My stomach was growling, but I didn’t dare leave her side for a moment, not even to get a drink of water. It wasn’t until almost midnight that she woke up and asked if I had eaten. By then, my brother had finally finished at work and brought me food.
I took good care of my sister-in-law in the hospital. When she was ready to clean up, I squeezed her toothpaste, washed her face, and put lotion on her. One of the hospital staff asked, “Are you her sister?” I replied that I was her sister-in-law.
She exclaimed, “Sister-in-law? You’re taking such good care of her, as if she were your own sister!”
I said cheerfully, “I practice Falun Dafa. Master Li asks us to be good and kind to everyone.”
I also advised my sister-in-law to repeat the auspicious phrases in her heart to help her recover more quickly. She was discharged from the hospital in a week.
After I helped my sister-in-law wash up just before she left, I wanted to find a private room to take a rest. I found a room with only one patient and politely asked, “May I rest in your room for a bit?”
She replied, “Sure, I’ll be going home soon. You can rest here.”
We started to chat, and I learned that she’d be diagnosed with breast cancer. She’d had a mastectomy and had her axillary lymph nodes removed. She was now having chemotherapy, and the drugs were really strong, leaving her mouth completely ulcerated.
I said, “It might be helpful that we met!”
I then talked to her about how I’d suffered from many ailments and that, by practicing Falun Dafa, they all disappeared. I told her Dafa was a Buddha School practice that could save people. I asked her, “Do you believe that Buddha and gods will protect kind people?”
She replied, “Yes. I do. I’m kindhearted, too. I’m the director of the education bureau, and I sponsored a poor student to go to school. She has already graduated from university with a major in traditional Chinese medicine.”
I said, “If you sincerely recite, ‘Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good, Falun Dafa is good,’ miracles might happen to you. If you truly believe in Dafa, Master Li can save you.”
When I asked her if she was a member of any CCP organizations, she told me she’d joined the Party. I said, “That evil Party killed 80 million innocent Chinese people after seizing power, and now it’s harvesting organs from practitioners against their will. Don’t let yourself be buried with it.” I encouraged her to renounce her membership, and she agreed.
Four days later, while I was taking care of my sister-in-law, she appeared at the entrance of the ward and called out, “Falun Dafa is good!” and gave me a thumbs-up.
Then she told me about the last four days. On her first day home, she didn’t remember what I had told her about reciting the phrases. The side effects of the chemotherapy were unbearable: She drooled constantly, the skin around her mouth was completely ulcerated, and she relied solely on intravenous nutrition. The next day, she suddenly recalled what I had told her, so she tried reciting the words for a day. That night, miraculously, the sticky drool stopped! On the third day, she continued reciting and the ulcers in her mouth began to scab over and heal. Early on the fourth day, she came to tell me about what had happened.
She asked, “When we met the other day, I believe I heard that you had Dafa keepsakes with you. Is that so?”
When I got one out and gave it to her, she asked me for another one. I said, “If you believe in it, one is enough.” She told me that it was for her son and then asked for a third one to give to her son-in-law. I encouraged her, “Remember, if you recite the phrases every day, you’ll recover very soon. Master will take care of you.”
Returning to the ward, I shared this experience with the other patients and their relatives. They all asked, “Do you have any of those keepsakes left?” I then took out a handful and let everyone choose their own special Dafa keepsake.