(Clearwisdom.net) I am a veteran Dafa practitioner from mainland China. In recognition of World Falun Dafa Day, I would like to express my sincere gratitude for Teacher's salvation along with all the other Dafa practitioners and sentient beings of the world.
I began cultivation in May 1998. Before that, at just 51, I was in poor health. I had heart disease, lumbar herniated disc symptoms, rheumatoid arthritis, joint deformation, shoulder inflammation, cervical vertebrae pains, gastric disease, and severe leg pains. Furthermore, my husband was having an affair, and we were close to divorce. I was in a state of total physical and psychological collapse at the time. My son was studying out of town. My daughter was already grown up, independent and sensible. She asked me to go to a hospital in Beijing to be examined by a specialist.
I remember that day well. It was May. After examining the X-rays, the doctor told me I had a "narrow waist" coccyx as well as thick bone spurs. The doctor also told me that he couldn't guarantee that there wouldn't be complications after the surgery or even if the surgery would necessarily be successful. Since there are many nerves in the lower back area, any mishaps or miscalculations could damage the nerves permanently. The cost of the surgery was also quite high. After my daughter heard this, she didn't know what to do. Finally, the two of us decided to give up on the operation.
On May 29 that year, my daughter came to me and said, "Mother, I have brought you a book. Please read it. My coworker said this is a good practice." I looked at the cover. It was Falun Gong (Revised edition). After my retirement, I was too embarrassed to go out because of the whole marital affair situation. I felt as if I had done something wrong and I often found myself lost in my own imagination, day after day sitting at home. The more I dwelt on it, the more hopeless I felt, and the more my health deteriorated.
I remember catching a cold one day. I had problems breathing through my nose, so I lay flat on my bed. When I needed water near the far end of the bed, I tried to sit up and suddenly felt a heart attack coming on, as if my heart was going to jump out of my chest. Bean-sized drops of sweat oozed from my pores. I couldn't move. The emergency pills for my heart were right next to my pillow, but I could not reach them or swallow them. I felt my heart aching as I lay there, thinking how easy it was for a person to die. After five or six minutes in agony, my heart stabilized and I knew that the worst was over for now.
Because I shut myself in, I didn't know that Dafa was out there. Only after my daughter brought me this book did I know that Dafa was being adopted so widely. After I opened the book I discovered how great it was. I read the entire book in one sitting and skipped lunch. After I read it once, I tried to follow Teacher's movements shown in the book.
My daughter told me that her co-worker knew where the exercise sites were, so I gave her co-worker a call to take me to the site. Her initial response was that she couldn't make it that day, maybe some other time. However, I was anxious and tried to persuade her, saying, "You only have to take me there and then you can go." She finally agreed. At the time I thought, "What a good person she is." But this was before I knew what Dafa cultivators are like. No matter what, a cultivator always puts the other person's interests ahead of her own. That is what Teacher says we should do. From that day forward, I walked the path of a cultivator. From that day forward, my life underwent a thorough transformation.
It was on the fourth night of my cultivation that I could see a silver Falun spinning rapidly. On the eighteenth day, the videotape of Teacher's lecture in Guangzhou City was shown at the exercise site. The next day, my menstrual period resumed after an absence of more than a year and a half. At the time, I was quite agitated. However, the other practitioners were very happy to hear it. They told me it was a good thing, because Teacher was cleansing my body, pushing it toward a younger state, and so I shouldn't feel vexed. After thoroughly studying the Fa, I genuinely understood that it was indeed a good thing.
After cultivating for almost two months, when I did the second standing exercise, I saw that the upper half of my body was enormously large. Below my waist, I saw a vast blue sky and white clouds. There was also a white flower with a green stem spinning in the clouds. It was fantastic beyond words.
After I finished my practice, I told other practitioners about this. They were all very happy, and someone asked me, "How do you feel now compared to before?"
When the question came up, it immediately made me remember all the illnesses that had plagued me. The first day when that practitioner took me to the exercise site, I limped each and every step along the way. Now, I couldn't even recall which day or which moment it was that all my illnesses went away. I was without a trace of sickness.
I was struck for a moment, and tears began to run down my cheeks. It's difficult to say whether it was happiness, excitement, or gratitude. I just cried and cried. At that moment I didn't feel at all like a 50-year-old, but like a 30-year-old. Everyday I was full of energy. Every morning I practiced the exercises. After that I would study the Fa for the rest of the morning and then have a steamed bun and a cup of water for lunch. In the afternoon, five to ten of us would go out to tell others about the Fa. At night we would hold group Fa study. My life was rich with happiness. Back when I started cultivation, I devoted my whole heart to Fa study and exercise. Starting with Zhuan Falun, I've read every single one of Teacher's lectures. The more that I read, the more I wanted to read. The more that I studied, the more I wanted to study. I studied the Fa over and over, and everyday I practiced the exercises. This set a firm foundation in my future validation of Dafa.
Later we formed small groups to get things done more efficiently. I was in a group of three, the other two a couple with day jobs. We would share the Fa with others in the evenings. During the day, we had to prepare materials and network with people. At night we played Teacher's lecture video recordings. We typically had to travel for miles on bicycles each day and came home around midnight. If it was too far, we would have another practitioner take us on a motorcycle.
I remember there was a blizzard during the winter of 1998. Snow and ice covered everything. However, this did not deter us from our efforts to spread the Fa. Upon returning home, the motorcycle broke down. There were no signs of shops or residences anywhere, only the vast expanse of white snow. At the time, none of us three were scared. The other two were veteran practitioners who had started back in 1996. The female practitioner said to her husband, "Be attentive and try to fix the motorcycle. Teacher's Law Body will help us." She then began to teach me to recite one of Teacher's Grand Verses, "Cause and Effect" from Hong Yin. Before we had finished, we saw headlights coming towards us from afar. When it got closer, we saw the other group of practitioners riding on a tractor. With their help, our motorcycle was quickly repaired. When we got home, it was 2 a.m.
In 1999, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), under the leadership of Jiang Zemin, began the persecution of Falun Gong, using monstrous deceit, and tried to poison the minds all sentient beings. As Teacher's disciples and as true cultivators of Dafa, we were all very clear that "Falun Dafa is a righteous Fa." And so, like many other Dafa practitioners hoping to clarify the truth to the government and the world's people, we headed to Tianamen Square.
At that time we still thought that the government would be able to distinguish right from wrong. But the CCP was evil to the core. It threw many practitioners into detention centers and prisons, myself among them. It was during my detainment that I received an official divorce filing from my husband. It was really a bitter feeling of one calamity after another. Maybe our predestined marital relationship was supposed to last just for those years. I signed the divorce document. It was something that I never would have done if had I not been a cultivator.
After we got out, practitioners began creating truth clarification materials. In the beginning, because they weren't widely produced yet, I took only two or three pamphlets at a time to distribute. After seeing this, other practitioners were inspired to participate. Everyone knew about the Minghui website (the Chinese version of Clearwisdom.net), which now directed our cultivation. From making contacts with people here and there, I became a coordinator. During those dark times, I was at first really afraid. When I walked out the door, I could hear my heart racing, and I took each step in fear. I was angry with myself over that. I asked myself, "What's there to be afraid of? Isn't what I'm practicing a righteous Fa? Of course it is." In order to build up my righteous thoughts, I would silently say to myself, "Falun Dafa is good." After saying it no more than ten times, I was no longer afraid. My body and mind assimilated with this phrase, and I felt my back straighten up and my steps become light. I could walk as normal again. Just like that, during the years that followed, no matter where I delivered materials, no matter how far I had to walk, the phrase "Falun Dafa is good" would always accompany me on the roads that I traveled.
On the fourth day of the 2004 Chinese New Year, I was hit by a girl on a motorcycle as I was returning home. I was thrown into the air and landed over three meters from my bicycle, unconscious. The girl who hit me was speechless with fright. When I came to, my first thought was. "Teacher save me."
When I opened my eyes, I saw a sizable crowd had gathered around me. I slowly got up and asked one of the men, "Could you please help me pick up my bike, sir?" He didn't move. Then I knew that I should clarify the truth to these people. I said to him, "Mister, don't be afraid. I am a Falun Gong practitioner. Falun Gong practitioners are good people. Don't listen to what the news media is saying. They're all lies. Exercising Falun Gong could improve your health miraculously. There isn't anything wrong with following Truth-Compassion-Forbearance to be a good person, right? What does everyone here think? The girl who hit me, she couldn't possibly have done so on purpose."
I turned to the girl and said, "Don't worry, I won't try to blackmail you for anything." Then the man walked over to me and said, "Ma'am, don't let the police catch you saying things like that. Let me help you with your bike. Can you walk?" I told him it was all right. I dusted myself off and headed home.
After I returned home, I cooked dinner and then brought my granddaughter home. Then I noticed something was amiss. I felt my right eye shifting upward. I then noticed a swollen area the size of an egg on the back right side of my head. Even so, it didn't hurt or itch and was only a bit numb. After I told my daughter and son about this, my son asked, "Mom, since you practice Truth-Compassion-Forbearance, then you speak the truth, right?" "Yes." I replied. He continued, "Then don't you hurt after being hit like that?" I laughed and said, "Would I be cooking and picking up my granddaughter if I did?" But my son just couldn't believe it. In the end, the two of them simply had to drag me to a hospital. My daughter cried and pleaded with me, "Can't you just let them take one X-ray?" I had little choice and let them take me to the hospital. Before we left, I sent forth one thought, "I am fine, they won't find anything wrong with me." In front of the hospital, I sent forth another thought, "There's nothing wrong with me." After the CT scan, my daughter was happy. Not only did they not found anything, but discovered that my previous illnesses were completely gone.
My daughter and son were convinced by the supernatural power of Dafa. I took the opportunity to clarify the truth to them in detail. From that point on, my daughter would frequently clarify the truth about Dafa to her friends.
In 2008, the CCP took advantage of "ensuring security" for the Olympics and illegally arrested many Dafa practitioners. The two practitioners we worked with to create truth clarification materials were arrested and sentenced. Since there were no other practitioners to make the materials, I thought about doing it myself. But I didn't know how to do it, and I didn't have much confidence. After abundantly studying the Fa, I was more clear about what it means to be a Fa rectification Dafa practitioner and of what our mission should be. I became more resolute in understanding that creating truth clarification materials had to be done, and that I had to step up.
With other practitioners' help, I was introduced to a practitioner who understood the technologies involved. He patiently taught me everything, step by step, as I took note of them. He taught me earnestly and I remembered it diligently. After one day, I could do practically everything. I was able to overcome my fear of difficulty with Teacher's support and the help of my fellow practitioners. Nowadays, I am working with a young practitioner to produce truth clarification materials. We laid out our pledge to continue to do even better until the Fa rectifies the human world.
It's impossible to express our gratitude for Teacher and our veneration for Dafa. In the coming days, we must be even more diligent to be worthy of Teacher's compassion and salvation.
Our best wishes to Teacher!
