(Minghui.org) I would frequently look up at the blue sky or out to sea and wonder why I was living in this world, and why were our lives full of ups and downs.
Whether life is happy or sorrowful, glorious or gloomy, one always goes through the cycle of birth, aging, sickness and death. Why am I locked in this cycle and how can I break away from it?
I had thought about it and even cried about it, but the meaning of life puzzled me until the answer was revealed to me inadvertently.
A colleague invited me to attend a series of Qigong lectures with her. I had no interest in Qigong exercises, but couldn't refuse her kindness so I agreed.
Born and raised in communist China, I was totally brainwashed with communist ideologies and atheism. Listening to the first lecture, I thought the lecturer was “teaching superstition as a science.” But I was curious and continued to attend the following day.
When I completed the nine lectures, I found the answers to my questions about life. I felt like I had suddenly awakened from a dream, and my whole life has since changed.
The Qigong exercises, you may have guessed is Falun Dafa, and the lecturer was Master Li Hongzhi, its founder.
Millions of people have started practicing Falun Dafa cultivation practice for different reason since it was introduced to the public in 1992. All the genuine practitioners have experienced enormous changes both in mind and body. Here are a few examples.
The first example is about myself.
My husband often got drunk and then came home to make trouble for me, or break things in anger.
The first Chinese New Year's Eve after our marriage, we went to his parents' house to celebrate the New Year. I had a quarrel with my mother-in-law and sister-in-law. My husband sided with them. I felt isolated so I went to the guest bedroom to sulk.
My husband didn't follow me into the room to coax me which made me angrier. In frustration, I pushed a teapot to the floor and broke it. Hearing the noise, my husband came in and beat me. After beating me, he broke some furniture and then threw the TV set down the stairs. (Note: domestic violence is often tolerated in northern China.)
His mother and sister hid during the conflict, but a former classmate of my husband's came by to offer New Year's greetings and was shocked to see the mess.
After practicing Falun Dafa, I began to look at myself to find my problems. I realized that I was spoiled, moody, and lacked tolerance. I didn't know how to do housework and usually did no housework at home.
So I willingly took over more housework, became more considerate of my husband, and harmonized the relationships with my mother-in-law and sister-in-law. My sister-in-law later said to me, “Sister, it is like you have been reborn after practicing Dafa.”
I am a teacher. I am devoted to my students and care little about fame or gain, as taught by Falun Dafa. When police came to our school to harass me, our school leaders stood up to protect me. They told the policemen not to harass me because I was the best teacher in the school.
My mother-in-law had heart disease and had to take pills several times a day. After she saw that other people had regained their health after practicing Falun Dafa, she wanted to learn the exercises also.
Her heart disease symptoms soon disappeared and she didn't need to carry a bottle of pills with her anymore.
Another example is Aunt Tian, who lives in a neighboring village. She had been unable to work for more than 10 years and had a hunchback. One of her sons is a policeman and the other is a teacher. They took her to many hospitals but the doctors said she had a syndrome that they couldn't treat.
After she practiced Falun Dafa, she could stand straight, her ailments disappeared and she could even do some farm work. Because of this the villagers saw the magnificent power of Falun Dafa.
I went to Beijing with many other practitioners to appeal for Falun Dafa after the persecution started in July 1999. I was illegally detained in Xicheng Detention Center in Beijing. We went on a hunger strike to protest our detention and requested to be immediately released. After three months of hunger strikes and repeated force-feeding, I had lost a lot of weight. The bones in my hands and feet protruded.
One day, a guard saw me half leaning on the wall after being force-fed, he bent down and asked, “Why do you want to suffer like this? You only need to write a statement promising not to practice Falun Dafa and you will be released.”
With my hoarse and weak voice, I told him, “I am using my life to tell the world that Falun Dafa is good.” The practitioner sitting beside me saw the guard had turned away with tears in his eyes.
Falun Dafa has benefited millions of people in more than 100 countries and regions. I hope you don't miss the opportunity to learn more about Falun Dafa and read the book “Zhuan Falun.”