(Clearwisdom.net)
He always indulged himself in alcohol and gambling. He frequently did not go home at night. Because of this, Mr. Xu Shangqin's marriage almost broke up and his health was ruined. He had high blood pressure and was temporarily blind after two strokes. However, a book and five sets of exercises totally changed his life. After practicing Falun Dafa, he was able to see again without taking any medicine. His experience adds to the millions of miracles resulting from the cultivation of Falun Dafa.
Mr. Xu lives in Tainan City. He runs a business selling canned foods wholesale. Every day, he goes out early and comes back late delivering his product. Before he started to practice Falun Gong, he drank alcohol and smoked while interacting with his friends and with those related to his job.
He would eat and drink with friends, from noon until midnight. Every time they left a restaurant, there would be many empty wine bottles on the floor. Mr. Xu was fond of gambling as well. Once, he gambled for three days and nights without going back home. Although he had thoughts of giving it up, he could not control himself when his friends asked him to join them.
As a result of Mr. Xu's three bad habits, drinking, gambling and staying out nights, his wife to ask for a divorce. In the end, she gave up the idea because of the love she had for her husband of so many years. Mr. Xu also suffered from high blood pressure because of his fast life style and heavy drinking.
A Life is changed because of one book and five sets of exercises
Like most people, Mr. Xu often went to the temple to burn incense and kowtow to the Buddha statue. Of course, he was praying for financial success and for the safety of his family. Yet, in most cases, though the incense was in his hands, he felt deep in his heart that Buddha would not "respond to whatever is prayed for." In June 1999, a book and five sets of exercises changed his life completely. After his friend recommended it, he started to practice Falun Dafa.
When he read "Zhuan Falun" for the first time, he found the answers to almost all of the puzzles in his life. He could not help feeling surprised and thought, "How can something so good exist?" Ever since, he has not wanted to stop reading Zhuan Falun. Even at midnight, he keeps reading and does not feel like sleeping.
The five simple and easy to learn exercises make him vigorous and full of energy every day. He has reduced two hours from his sleep because of doing the exercises, and the effect is even better than he before, when he took walks. He feels fresh and clear the whole day after doing the exercises and his high blood pressure problem is becoming better as well.
Also, his bad habits like gambling, drinking and his irregular life style disappeared naturally after he started to practice Falun Dafa. Because of this change, his whole family feels very happy too.
Not only did his health improve, but his xinxing changed as well. One day, Mr. Xu went to collect money from a store for his products. After he came back home and examined the bills and cash, he found that he was given more money then necessary. The next day, he went back to the store to return the money. On another occasion, he collected a check and found that the amount on the check was bigger than it should have been. He returned the difference as well. He said, "To do business honestly not only makes me feel more comfortable but also brings me more business since my clients trust me more and feel like doing more business with me."
Making phone calls to Mainland China to clarify the truth; passing two life and death tests with an unshakable belief in cultivation practice
So that more people could benefit from practicing Falun Dafa, Mr. Xu and his fellow practitioners went to local communities to hold free seminars and to teach the exercises free of charge. They helped to establish two practice sites. Mr. Xu realized that the general public in China was being poisoned by the lies told by Jiang's regime. In order to clear up the misunderstanding about Falun Dafa, he resolutely participated in making truth clarification phone calls to people in China. He made phone calls patiently one after another, explaining the truth. Every time people on the other end of the line understood the truth, he felt inexplicable happiness and pleasure.
In the past year, he had gone through two tests of life and death.
In October 2003, Mr. Xu and his fellow practitioners went to Hong Kong to clarify the truth to Chinese tourists. Right before he was ready to fly back, he felt stiffness coming from his head and down his back to his limbs. He could not control his hands and feet any more and kept vomiting. Without others' help, he could not walk. A fellow practitioner was a doctor of Chinese medicine. Using his medical knowledge, the doctor thought that Mr. Xu had a blood clot in his brain. Upon hearing this, Mr. Xu did not feel upset. Instead, he took it lightly. After he went back home, he kept on reading Zhuan Falun, doing the exercises and clarifying the truth as usual, with a strong will and with an unshakable belief in the cultivation of Falun Dafa. Over the next month, he gradually recovered.
The same situation occurred again in July 2004, but it was more serious and sudden. That day, Mr. Xu was working. Suddenly, he could not see anything. This was followed by increased blood pressure, sharp headaches, vomiting, and loss of speech. His family members were frightened and sent him to the hospital immediately. After the doctors' diagnosis, he was transferred to a special intensive care ward.
For the first three days in the intensive care ward, Mr. Xu felt puzzled, not knowing what to do. Encouraged by his fellow practitioners, he realized that as a practitioner, the only way to defeat the sickness karma was to strengthen his will in cultivation practice. Therefore, after he was transferred to the regular ward, he decided to leave the hospital and go home. Back at home he kept practicing cultivation like a normal person, although his eyesight hadn't come back yet and his health was still in poor condition. One month later, he had gotten rid of the sickness and completely recovered without taking any medicine.
Ms. Chen Yunru, a practitioner who knows Mr. Xu Shangqin quite well, recalled, "His mother is very happy and made a phone call to me especially to show her appreciation. I told her that it is all because of his cultivation of Falun Gong that he recovered so soon." She said, "In fact, Shangqin's firmness inspired me as well. I have a deeper understanding of the principles of Falun Gong."
As for Mr. Xu, how does he view the two life and death experiences he had? He said calmly, "Falun Gong gave me a brand new life. I have a better understanding of cultivation practice. I know how to let go the 'self' and face tribulations bravely."
