(Clearwisdom.net)

Meixian lived a miserable, pain filled life for over a decade, but now she happily talks about how she gained a new life after cultivating Falun Dafa. The following is Meixian's story:

In March of 1988, when Meixian was 52 years old, she was in pain all over her body. The results of a medical examination showed that there was a 5 cm large tumor in the right hemisphere of her brain that affected her sight and hearing. The tumor had already damaged her visual and audio nerves as well as some other nerves. Various complications arose after the tumor was removed. Meixian's body and organs had degenerated to the point that her tongue and teeth could not touch each other, which caused food to drop out of her mouth when she ate. Her eyelids could not close, she could not see or hear clearly, she had difficulty speaking, and she was losing the use of her withered limbs.

She could only walk slowly, as she had difficulty controlling herself. Her body was very bent when she walked and she would often bump into people or objects. She had to rest for a long time after even small movements. Half of her face twisted to the left and caused her facial expression to be very stiff. She could only speak slowly, word by word, and her lachrymal glands [glands that make tears in the eyes] were out of control, causing tears to run down her cheeks. She always had to carry a towel to wipe her tears. She would also often lose consciousness without any warning. Various parts of her body had degenerated so badly that she had to depend on other people to do everything in her daily life. In order to improve her physical health, she tried many kinds of treatments, such as physical therapy, traditional Chinese medicine, even folk medicine doctors, etc. She said, "I lived a miserable life at that time."

She often asked herself, "Is there any method that could help me not rely on other people any more? Do I have to be this way for the rest of my life?" One day, she saw a TV news report on Falun Gong which mentioned that this practice was very good. At that time she had a wish to learn it, but didn't know where to find it.

Three years ago, she saw Falun Gong in a park. The next day, she made a great effort to walk to the practice site in the park, where other practitioners taught her the "Falun Standing Stance Exercise." But Meixian had difficulty raising her hands to her chest. Her hands felt so painful that she had to put them down. After she went back home, she thought ,"It is too difficult to practice the exercises! I won't go tomorrow!" However, when she woke up on the second morning, she still slowly walked to the practice site in the park to learn the practice. Each day, she felt very tired after she finished and wanted to give up, but some power pushed her to go to practice again the next morning.

Three months later, Meixian suddenly realized that she didn't even need to take the pain medication that she had lived on for many years. This was a big encouragement for her, so she continued practicing the exercises. Gradually, she could raise her hands to her eyes and then slowly above her head. She was also able to extend her practice time from a few seconds to minutes to finishing half an hour's exercises. Her feet also changed. At first she could not bend them into the single lotus position in the sitting meditation but with practice she made continuous progress. Over the next three years she found that she was able to do many things in her life that she had not been able to do before. Her ability to walk improved as well as her confidence in herself.

Falun Gong emphasizes that practitioners must upgrade their state of mind, so they read the book and study the Fa together after finishing the exercises. After practicing the exercises for some time, Meixian also started to read Zhuan Falun. At first, she could only read one or two words. She worried about wasting other practitioners' time, so she thought, "I won't read the book. It will be good enough if I just practice the exercises!" However, her fellow practitioners encouraged her to participate in group study in the evening. One practitioner explained to Meixian the relationship between reading the book, studying the Fa, and cultivation. Meixian really wanted to cultivate, so she decided to start reading the book again.

Meixian started by slowly reading one word after another. Then she would read one sentence and rest for a while before reading the next sentence. In this way, Meixian improved her ability to read the book. Now, 65-year-old Meixian not only has clear eyesight, but can also speak smoothly. She can also read the book and study the Fa together with other practitioners at the same speed. She can speak fluently and also discuss questions with other practitioners.

Meixian's story is not an unusual one among Dafa practitioners. However, her personal experiences make her tell everyone from the bottom of her heart, "I thank all fellow practitioners for helping me and I thank Master Li for his compassionate salvation!"