(Minghui.org) I am in my 70s, and life used to be constant suffering with endless tears. But everything changed after I began to practice Falun Dafa over 20 years ago.
I got meningitis at 16 and I was in danger of dying. At that time, the routine treatment was to remove the bone marrow, but there were inevitable side effects. My father knew the hospital president well and they decided on a conservative treatment without taking out my bone marrow. I miraculously recovered.
When I was 28, everyone in my family died in the Tangshan earthquake, leaving me in despair. To make things worse, my lovely older daughter was murdered by her husband’s family 20 years later in 1996. When I heard about my daughter’s death, I passed out.
In addition, I had numerous health problems. I had cerebral neurosis, low blood pressure, and anemia. Besides fatigue, I was in a mental fog all day long. In the summer, I had to have emergency medicine whenever it got too hot or I would pass out. I had pharyngitis and fibroids in my breasts that spread to my lymph nodes. I had a problem with my kneecap and hyperplasia. I lived in endless pain. I spent half of my paycheck every month on medicine. After my first daughter was killed, I also got heart disease. To me, living only meant endless suffering.
The spring after my daughter was killed, one of my friends came to visit me. She could barely recognize me because I was in such bad shape. She advised me to practice Falun Gong, but I had no interest in it. She continued to encourage me and I agreed to go to the practice site the next morning. I would just take a look, I thought.
There were many people doing the Falun Gong exercises together and many of them were young. They all looked kind and gentle, making me very comfortable about staying. After the group exercises, those who did not go to work would sit together and read Zhuan Falun.
To my surprise, all of my health problems were gone in a short time. My complexion returned to normal and I could climb stairs with ease. Although I’d had difficulty riding a bike in the past, now I was able to carry the bicycle upstairs. A coworker said, “You are truly a testimony to Falun Dafa’s benefits.”
My husband had similar experiences. He used to have numerous health issues, such as stomach problems, a duodenal ulcer, back pain, and leg pain. All his problems went away within a short time after beginning to practice Falun Dafa. Plus, knowing he’d smoked for 30 years, none of his colleagues believed that he could actually quit. One day when he watched the video of Master’s video lecture, he heard Master talk about quitting smoking and drinking. My husband immediately threw away all the cigarettes in his pocket. He has not smoked or had a drink even once since.
Neither of us has needed to take any medication over the past 20 years of cultivation, as we have not been sick again. Besides enabling us to regain our health, Falun Dafa has also improved our character and made us better citizens. We feel as if we are the happiest people in the world and there are no words to fully express our gratitude to Master Li.
Through studying the Falun Dafa teachings, I understood the karmic relationship between people and the true meaning of life. The previous suffering and difficulties in my life were actually good things because they helped me as a practitioner to eliminate karma. No longer heartbroken, I got over my daughter’s death.
Master said,
“In your cycle of rebirth, if you want to count the mothers that are human and nonhuman, they’re just countless. And how many children have you had over all those lifetimes? They’re countless, too. Who is your mother? Who are your children? When you take your last breath no one recognizes anyone, and you still have to pay back the karma you owe. People just can’t let go of these things when they’re lost in delusion. Some people’s children have died, but they can’t let go of them and talk about how wonderful they were, or they talk about how great their mothers were, but they’ve died. These people grieve their hearts out as if they want to follow their deceased for the rest of their lives. Why don’t you think about it: aren’t they doing this to wear you down? They do this to keep you from living a comfortable life.” (The Sixth Talk, Zhuan Falun)
Six years after my daughter’s death, the murderer was caught and brought to justice. The city court informed us to claim compensation.
My husband and I remembered Master Li said:
“I also want to tell you that your nature in the past was actually based on egotism and selfishness. From now on, whatever you do, you should consider others first, so as to attain the righteous Enlightenment of selflessness and altruism.” (“Non-Omission in Buddha-Nature,” Essentials for Further Advancement)
In the court, we told the judge we agreed that the murderer should be sentenced according to the law but that we would not seek any compensation since the money would come from the murderer’s parents. They were already old and we did not want to make their lives difficult. After all, Master told us to be considerate of others at all times.
The judge was very surprised since no one had ever responded like that before. It let him know that Falun Dafa practitioners are extraordinary.
My husband was a modest person. After he began to practice Falun Dafa, he did even better at work. He always fulfilled his responsibilities and never fought for awards, promotions, or pay raises. As a result, he was often praised. Had it been someone else, his coworkers would have been jealous. But no one felt that way because they all believed that he deserved it.
After the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) started the persecution of Falun Dafa in 1999, my husband was disciplined at work for his faith and given one year of probation. During that time, he was paid only 200 yuan per month. He did not complain and did his work as usual. His coworkers were indignant, saying “Please don’t work that hard. Why do you work for such little pay?”
But my husband continued as usual. At the year-end evaluation, all the others voted for him as the “excellent worker.” Their managers said that Falun Dafa practitioners were not qualified for the award. But the workers replied, “No one else is as qualified as he is. If we can’t vote for him, we won’t vote at all.”
My first daughter was kind and intelligent, which always made us proud of her. Our second daughter was the opposite. Although she was smart, she was rebellious. For example, she did not like going to school or work. She would spend every penny she had without considering the future.
Because she never listened to us, my husband and I were frustrated and gave up on her. She felt that way, too. Knowing we were not happy with her, she did not tell us about her life, not even her divorce. We did not find out about it until her ex-mother-in-law called us.
Following the Falun Dafa teachings, my husband and I started to look inward. By then we realized that we had been wrong. It is selfish to expect our children to be what we want them to be, since that is just satisfying ourselves and not being considerate of her.
Master said,
“We should treat everyone the same, be good to our parents and our kids, and always be considerate of others. Then your heart isn’t a selfish one when you do that, but a compassionate one—it’s compassion.” (“The Sixth Talk,” Zhuan Falun)
I thus called my daughter and said, “Please come home and live with us.” At that time, her son was just two, and we took care of him every weekend. He was a sweet little boy. My daughter was happy, too. After my grandson got a little older, one day he told us, “Dad’s family says bad things about you.” I told him, “Honey, you can tell them that we practitioners only say good things about them.” My grandson grew up in a loving family and has not been affected by his parents’ divorce. He is also close to his mother.
After we changed, my daughter changed, too. She went to Beijing, studied hard, and came back with five professional certificates. We paid for her rent and car, and she always bought us gifts like clothes and food supplements. We told her, “We are practitioners, and we don’t pursue these. We are happy when you are happy.”
When my husband and I were illegally imprisoned for our faith, my daughter tried her best to rescue us by frequenting various government agencies. We were touched by her courage and appreciated Master for giving us such a good child.
May 13 is Master’s birthday and also World Falun Dafa Day. Here we wish Master a Happy Birthday. Thank you, Master, for everything!