(Clearwisdom.net) In the picture, Aunt Qiu appears to be just over 50, but she is 66 years old. She told us the following story about how she is fortunate enough to cultivate Falun Dafa.
Aunt Qiu doing the Falun Gong exercises
Fortunate to Learn the Fa and Obtain a New Life
Aunt Qiu grew up in a poor family in a remote village in the south central part of Taiwan. She was not able to go to school and learn to speak Mandarin due to her family's financial situation. Over the years, she had been plagued by unidentified illnesses and frequently had to go to the hospital for I.V. infusions.
At the beginning of 2001, Aunt Qiu's son started practicing Falun Gong and experienced many miracles and the wonderfulness of Dafa, so he told her about it. Before the Chinese Near Year (January 24, 2001), her son gave her a book with a golden cover. It was Zhuan Falun. She said, "When I opened the book, I could read slowly, character by character, following my son. I also heard a voice in my ear teaching me how to read it."
Aunt Qiu started reading the book every day, character by character. "At first, I read very slowly. I could read at most one or two lines a day. Though I did not understand the meaning of the words, I never stopped. After a few days, I started to worry: "At this speed, how long would it take me to read through the book just once?" Then I fell a sleep at the table. I heard a voice encouraging me not to be afraid and just try my best to learn. It was very clear to me. Then a magical thing happened. Whenever I didn't know a word, I would hear a voice in my ear telling me the pronunciation. Gradually, I could read a whole page in one day, then two, then three pages." Now Aunt Qiu can read one or two lectures (each lecture has about 40 pages) every day. And she understands the contents of the book more and more.
Before she practiced Falun Gong, Aunt Qiu often had severe pain at her spine. Sometimes she could not even squat or sit due to the pain. She said, "When I watched Teacher's Nine-Day Lecture video, I did not understand what he said, but I thought it sounded very nice and I knew it was very good. I did not know why it was good though. I never skipped a day of the nine lectures. Miraculously, the pain in my spine was gone on the fifth day."
Clarifying the Truth about Falun Dafa and Validating the Fa
When talking about clarifying the truth of Falun Dafa and validating the Fa, Aunt Qiu smiled broadly, "At first I followed other practitioners at the exercise center, putting addresses on envelopes to mail truth-clarification materials. I tried stroke by stroke to write each character. At the beginning, my writing was so big that I could not fit one line on an envelop, but gradually I could write the whole address on it. Though I was slow, I kept doing it week by week, believing that there were many sentient beings waiting to be saved who received our truth-clarification materials." Also, Aunt Qiu participated in the projects to fax and post truth-clarification materials on websites. She said, "Whether it is writing letters, faxing, or posting things on websites, I do it without any notions. So the success ratio of my faxes is very high, about 80 percent. Sometimes other practitioners cannot fax an article through and they give it to me, and I can fax it right through. When I post an article, I hold the mouse and click. It always picks the article that I want to post. My fellow practitioners wonder how I can be so efficient since I only know a limited number characters and cannot really read. I am very well aware that it is Teacher's benevolence and Dafa's mighty virtue helping me."
The first time that Aunt Qiu went out of the country was to attend a Fa Conference and Dafa event in Japan. At that time, she had just started practicing Falun Gong and did not know what a Fa Conference was. She followed other practitioners in Japan, without a clear goal. When she attended the New York Fa Conference in November 2004 Aunt Qiu began to truly understand the Fa and stepped forward to validate the Fa and clarify the truth.
At the New York Fa Conference in April 2007, Aunt Qiu saw Teacher for the first time. She felt very fortunate and excited. On her way back to the hotel, she fell heavily near a traffic light, tearing her skirt. However, the next morning, all her bruises were gone and she felt no pain at all. She realized that Teacher had protected her and helped eliminate her karma. She was very grateful for Teacher's benevolent protection and help.
Having Firm Righteous Thoughts When Going to Hong Kong
"I went to Hong Kong to participate in the parade celebrating Hong Kong's tenth year anniversary of being returned to China on July 1, 2007. When we were going through the immigration check at the airport, I saw an official standing on a chair watching. So I kept sending forth the righteous thoughts and was able to pass through without any problem. After I passed immigration, I heard that all seven of the practitioners who came with me were stopped by the Hong Kong immigration."
"It rained for the four days when I was in Hong Kong, but we proceeded with all our activities. Every day we were wet, but it did not bother us at all. This trip to Hong Kong was very helpful to me. My fear and attachment to depending on others for the past couple of years were all gone." Aunt Qiu said, "When I returned to Taiwan, I became very clear-minded. I understood many things in Zhuan Falun. I can keep up with other practitioners' reading during group Fa study now, and I can understand the meaning of the book. Especially I can understand the Fa from a rational view point. It all happened naturally. I told myself that I should be more diligent, to be worthy of Teacher's arrangement and salvation."
Cherishing the Opportunity to Obtain Eternal Life
Though there have been bumps along her cultivation path, Aunt Qiu has greatly changed in her health and mind. She used to fight with others over tiny issues; saved money but could not eat or sleep well; and often had dizzy spells, symptoms of anemia, and insomnia with unidentifiable causes. She didn't feel good mentally or physically. She was in a lot of pain. After cultivation, she became joyful and her illnesses all disappeared. With a healthy body and lighter heart, she is capable and responsible.
"I truly feel that it is such great fortune and a predestined relationship for a person to cultivate Falun Dafa!" Aunt Qiu said, "So I cherish this unprecedented opportunity a great deal. I do not want to skip any Fa study or opportunity to do the exercises. I attend every Fa reading event. I follow Teacher's instructions, treating myself as a cultivator all the time and looking inwards for every problem I have. Moreover, I do the three things well. For the past three years, I have not missed any Fa-validation event such as mailing letters, parades, torture exhibitions, and so on." Humbly claiming that she has poor enlightenment quality, Aunt Qiu said that her cultivation is like the story of the tortoise and the hare: As long as she is diligent and never gives up, she will make it! "I have never thought about what I want to obtain. Whatever I can do, I will do. All I hope is that every sentient being who should be saved is saved, and that none are missed!"
October 20, 2007