(Minghui.org) During her youth, middle school teacher Chen Xunxun endured emotional betrayal, marital turmoil, and intense workplace pressure. Exhausted both physically and mentally, she lost hope in life on several occasions.
At the age of 40, she was fortunate to encounter the spiritual practice of Falun Dafa, also known as Falun Gong. The principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance not only gave her the peace and strength to face life anew, but also eased the tensions in her family and improved her relationships with students and colleagues, allowing her to experience a complete transformation and a new beginning after half a lifetime of trials and tribulations.
Xunxun was born into an ordinary family. Her father was a laborer and her mother a homemaker, and she was the only girl of four children. She was well-behaved and sensible from a young age, yet as she grew older she found herself unable to fit into the world around her. She likened herself to a clock on the wall, saying, “I’ve always felt like an outsider.”
This sense of not belonging often left her feeling isolated and helpless. She immersed herself in literature and philosophy in hopes of piecing together the answers to life’s questions. Although those books were thought-provoking, they did not resolve the confusion in her heart, nor the mysteries of life.
Emotional Trauma and Suicidal Crisis
During college, Xunxun was in a relationship, but her boyfriend got married to someone else without even breaking up with her. His deception and betrayal shattered her confidence, both in herself and in life.
She said, “If I couldn’t even hold on to a single relationship, then I certainly wouldn’t be able to handle other situations in future. At the time, it felt like there was nothing ahead of me except dead ends.”
Unable to process the trauma, she fled to a remote town to escape the pain, and even briefly contemplated suicide. However, just as her despair became unbearable, a powerful thought struck her, “What if death doesn’t bring relief, but instead brings even more suffering? What then?”
This thought broke through Xunxun’s emotional turmoil, pulling her back from the brink of suicide. As she seriously contemplated the consequences of dying, she realized that suicide offered no guarantee of a clean end to everything. She had no choice but to dry her eyes, return to reality, and go on living.
Spiraling Out of Control
After graduating from a university, Xunxun enrolled in a teacher training program and was selected as a junior high school teacher. She then met her future husband while teaching.
Due to the past betrayal, it wasn’t easy for her to trust others again. However, this man’s sincerity, and his determination to start a family, gave her a long-lost sense of security, which gradually melted away the doubts in her heart.
At the age of 30, Xunxun decided to get married, not realizing that the man, who she hoped would shield her from life’s storms, would actually become the most turbulent storm ahead.
Her husband loved to drink, and this habit became even worse after they got married, and he often stayed out all night. Waiting for her husband to come home, Xunxun lay awake night after night, too anxious to sleep. “People told me not to wait up for him and to go to sleep, but I just couldn’t help it,” she said.
In an effort to win her husband back, Xunxun ventured out onto the pitch-black streets in the middle of the night. Even while very pregnant, she waited for him on street corners late into the night.
After the baby was born, Xunxun was plagued with chronic insomnia and disappointment. The previously gentle woman began drinking competitively with her husband out of spite, leading to violent confrontations.
Xunxun’s family life was unraveling, and the pressure at work was growing. Faced with defiant students and an unruly class, she felt overwhelmed by a profound sense of frustration, and felt powerless.
“Every day when I got home, I was utterly drained—physically and emotionally—and had to collapse on the bed for a good while just to regain enough strength to get up and do anything else.”
With the storm in her marriage, the pressure at work, and her failing health, Xunxun was caught between these three forces and felt as if she was drowning, struggling even to take a deep breath.
She recalled sadly, “I often stood in the school hallway, staring blankly into the distance with tears in my eyes, thinking how wonderful it would be if life were like a computer—where you could simply click ‘Log Out’ and leave it all behind.”
Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance Opened Her Heart
Looking for solace, Xunxun visited churches and meditation centers, but her sense of distress was so heavy that she could barely breathe. Finally, at the age of 40, a ray of hope pierced through the dark clouds that had long overshadowed her life.
Xunxun recounted, “In 2003, I watched a television program introducing Falun Dafa. I saw how vibrant and energetic all the people looked after practicing the exercises, and—most importantly—I saw Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance.”
The three characters “Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance” struck a chord deep within her heart. The moment she saw them, an indescribable wave of emotion washed over her.
“I was feeling so bitter at that time, and as if I could hardly breathe. So when I saw those three characters, tears streamed down my face without warning. I thought to myself, ‘If I could cultivate Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance, wouldn’t that mean I could immerse myself in those pure principles? What a blissful feeling that would be!’”
Xunxun hurriedly went to a bookstore to purchase the main text Zhuan Falunand some other Dafa books, then began eagerly reading them. That night, the principles of the teachings washed away her distress like streams of clear water; she came to understand the karmic connections between people and the reasons for human suffering. She felt a sense of ease and lightness in her previously heavy and repressed heart that she had never experienced before.
Xunxun humbly and quietly studies, regaining inner harmony and tranquility.
“I will practice! I will practice diligently,” she declared to herself with unwavering resolve.
However, her real life was still far from easy. The responsibilties of caring for young children, attending to her in-laws, and shouldering a heavy load of housework and professional duties bound her up like ropes, making it difficult for her to carve out even a moment for herself.
Although trivial matters bogged her down, her desire to learn the Fa never wavered. Xunxun tried searching online for videos to learn the exercises, and looked forward to attending the “Nine-Day Falun Dafa Workshop.”
She said, “Once, while riding my scooter through the streets with my child, I couldn’t help but cry out loud in a moment of emotional stress, ‘I want to practice cultivation! I must attend the nine-day class.’”
That cry was both a heartfelt wish and the driving force that broke through countless obstacles. She finally achieved her dream and attended that year’s nine-day class.
Body Purified and Lightened
After successfully completing the nine-day course, Xunxun embarked on her cultivation journey. Whenever she quieted her mind and meditated, she could feel wonderful changes taking place in her body.
She said, “I experienced the state described in the book. It was as if my hands and feet had vanished, and I felt as though I were floating in an infinite space—a wondrous sensation beyond words”
The most striking change was in Xunxun’s frail physique. Once described by a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner as having severe stagnation in her energy channels, she had suffered from cold hands and feet and dizziness for years. Yet, shortly after beginning cultivation practice, she began to feel as light as a bird.
One day, while walking up the school stairs as usual, she suddenly exclaimed in surprise, “Wow! Why is it so easy to climb these stairs? I feel light as a feather, as if my whole body is weightless.” The stairs, which she had once dreaded, now felt incredibly easy to climb, step by step.
Xunxun practices the exercises outside, experiencing a wonderful sense of physical and mental lightness, tranquility, and serenity.
Mind Nature Elevated, Life Enters a New Horizon
As her understanding of Dafa deepened, Xunxun developed an even stronger wish to study the Fa. To immerse herself in the Fa at all times, she began memorizing Zhuan Falun one short passage at a time. “The capacity of my heart kept expanding, and I felt that Dafa was thoroughly cleansing many impurities and my bad temperament.”
Once her xinxing improved and elevated, the classroom—which had been a source of deep frustration for her—became a place where she could cultivate her mind and character, and spread kindness.
Faced with her students’ mischief and disrespect, Xunxun consistently used Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance to remain tolerant and guide them. “Later, even when students pointed at my nose and hurled profanities at me, I didn’t get angry at all; I just thought about how I could help them.”
The children sensed her sincere kindness and became more mature and understanding. Xunxun organized two Falun Dafa workshops for teachers at her school. She shared the beauty of the practice with her colleagues and inspired many other teachers to begin practicing.
At the same time, her troubled marriage was quietly beginning to change. Before she began practicing Falun Gong, Xunxun was filled with anxiety and resentment whenever her husband came home late, after a night of heavy drinking.
After becoming a practitioner, she no longer felt resentful about his behavior. She instead took care of her husband and the household with a kind heart. Witnessing his wife’s transformation, her husband drank less and less, and developed a deep respect for Dafa.
Xunxun said with a smile, “That is because my husband knows very well that Dafa saved our family.”
Now 63 years old, her face radiates happiness and gratitude.
Having weathered life’s storms, all the icebergs of trouble have melted with tolerance and kindness, and Xunxun found true happiness and peace. Had she not encountered Falun Dafa, she could not imagine what her life would be like today.
It was Dafa that cleansed her of lifetimes of karma and a volatile temper, granting her a healthy body and the wisdom of tolerance. More importantly, Dafa restored the happiness and well-being of a family that was once on the verge of collapse. As she journeyed from the depths of despair to a bright new horizon, Xunxun’s heart overflowed with boundless gratitude and a deep appreciation for the life she now leads.
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