(Clearwisdom.net)

Part 1

Mr. Zhao is 76 years old, and his wife Zhu is 65 years old. Both of them started practicing Falun Dafa in 1997. I got to know them in April 1999, when they came to Germany to visit their two daughters. Our local practice site was close to where they stayed, so they contacted us. We talked about many things, and their sincerity in cultivating Falun Dafa left a deep impression on me. After our conversation, we met several times. They also participated in the Falun Dafa Expo in our city. Soon after, they moved to another city.

At the end of November 2001, local practitioners went to the Frankfurt Airport to welcome home German practitioners who had participated in a peaceful protest in Tiananmen Square. It was a protest against the persecution of Falun Gong in China. I was surprised to see Mr. Zhao and his wife Zhu in the welcoming crowd. Mr. Zhao looked really thin. He then told me about his life and death experience.

In July 2001, Mr. Zhao suddenly had stomach pains. He couldn't eat and soon lost weight. His two daughters insisted that he go to the hospital, but Zhao refused, because he believed that as a Dafa practitioner he would not have illnesses and he mustn't damage Dafa's reputation. But his health kept deteriorating, and Zhao eventually couldn't even move. His older daughter planned to feed Zhao sleeping pills so she could send him to the hospital when he fell asleep. But Mr. Zhao's wife found out what her daughter was planning to do and stopped her. Her daughter gave one last warning, "If father dies, I won't have anything more to do with you." Zhu was affected by her daughter's words, and Zhao had second thoughts as well, "What if I don't go to the hospital and die? How could we explain that to the family? They would think that I died as a result of practicing Falun Gong. Yet, going to a hospital is against my will. This is so hard!" He asked his wife, Zhu, "If I were gone, what would become of you?" Zhu said, "I wouldn't be able to bear it." Hearing that, Zhao became very sad. He felt that the test of life and death was approaching step by step. Several practitioners heard the news and thought that he should go to the hospital for an examination. If he did not have an attachment, then things should be all right. If he did not go, family tensions would intensify. Finally Zhao agreed to go.

By then Zhao had become very sick, and he had to be taken to the hospital in an ambulance. After the exam, a doctor told Zhao's daughters, "There is no hope. He has terminal stage colon cancer." The daughters couldn't bear to tell their parents the diagnosis, so they kept it a secret. But they secretly begged the gods and Master Li Hongzhi to protect their father. Zhao's condition was very serious, and the doctors also found some bright spots in his liver. They had no idea what they were. Many medical specialists, including doctors from the U.S., came to the hospital and examined Zhao. They decided to perform surgery. Zhao's daughters immediately agreed to the surgery, as they saw a glimmer of hope. Zhao felt a great burden in his heart. He continued to study the Fa, recite Hongyin, and send forth righteous thoughts. Fellow practitioners visited him and gave him a pot of beautiful lotus flowers. They sent forth righteous thoughts together with Zhao. One practitioner whose Third Eye was open told Zhao that a Falun was turning rapidly inside his body and dark substances were being removed. Hearing this, Zhao was really encouraged. In the past, he sometimes wondered if Master still watched over him. One third of his colon was removed during the surgery. He still couldn't eat and was very thin. Zhao realized that he should leave the hospital. After less than a month in the hospital, he went home. Soon after, Zhao's health amazingly returned to normal, and his weight increased to over 130 pounds. The whole family thought it was unbelievable. If he hadn't practiced Dafa, he would probably have died.

Several months later, in April 2004, Jiang Zemin visited Germany. Even though it was freezing, Mr. Zhao and his wife participated in all the peaceful protests organized by Dafa practitioners. Who would've thought that a few months before Zhao was struggling for his very life? His own experience once again validated the power of Dafa to the public.

Part 2

Around New Year's Day this year, I saw Zhao and Zhu at an experience sharing gathering with fellow practitioners. I had heard from a fellow practitioner that last November they had both gone to Manhattan to attend the Fa Conference and clarify the truth, and they were honored to see Master in person for the first time. When I met them this time, they smiled and told me that they had seen Master three times while in New York. Once, as the two of them were clarifying the truth on the street, a car stopped nearby. When the car door opened, Master greeted them with a gentle smile and reached out to shake hands with them. "I felt really emotional, and tears ran down my face immediately," Zhao told me with excitement.

I noticed that Zhao looked very well but was extremely thin. I asked him the reason. He nodded his head but didn't say anything, and he looked heavy-hearted. Zhu told me, "This year (2004) he has passed another test of life and death. It was really difficult." I was extremely surprised to hear this.

Zhao said that after he passed the first test, his health was quite good in the following years. But in March 2004, he all of a sudden could not walk any more, and he had to urinate frequently. He became very thin. Her daughter insisted that he go to the hospital. He was diagnosed with diabetes, and he was seriously dehydrated. His blood sugar index reached as high as 600 while that of a normal person is about 100. His daughter then told the doctor that Zhao had suffered from late stage colon cancer three years earlier. This time he had serious diabetes plus cancer of the liver. The doctor severely reprimanded his daughter for not having him examined and treated over the last three years. This time he needed to have the cancer removed from his liver.

As a precaution, he was required to have a comprehensive physical exam. To his surprise, they found cancer cells in his lungs, too. The doctor said that Zhao had to be treated with chemotherapy to remove the lung cancer cells first, and after that the doctor would operate on Zhao's liver to remove the cancer. For the next two months, Zhao underwent numerous physical examinations, exhausting him and his family members. His daughters constantly complained about the doctor, and the surgery still couldn't be done. Zhao and his wife realized that this might be Master's hint that he really did not need the surgery, but his daughters insisted that he go through chemotherapy. Zhao hesitated but finally agreed to have the chemotherapy.

After two months of chemotherapy, Zhao felt very uncomfortable yet unexpectedly seemed to be in good spirits. Even the younger patients, who were enduring chemotherapy similar to his, found it hard to get out of bed. He could even go outside with fellow practitioners to do the exercises and distribute truth-clarifying materials, even though the weather was very cold at the time. He read Dafa books and sent forth righteous thoughts every day. During this time, he and Zhu made character updates on more than 40 Dafa books. His family members saw the difference between him and other chemotherapy patients and knew that it was due to his practicing Falun Gong. After two months of chemotherapy, the doctor suddenly became anxious when he discovered that the cancer on Zhao's liver had, instead of shrinking, become larger. When his daughters heard this news, they became depressed and lost all hope. His wife, however, thought of it as another hint from Master. A practitioner shouldn't be sick, and this was only a false image. She threw away all his medicines as well as the herbal cures that their relatives and friends had gotten for him. Zhao also realized that Master was waiting for him to improve his understanding, and he stopped the chemotherapy immediately. The doctors had also given up on him, knowing that surgery would not make any difference in this case.

In less than a month after Zhao returned home, he had recovered miraculously, without taking any medicine. His blood sugar index became normal. When the doctors inquired about his situation, his daughter replied happily, "He's recovered!" The doctors couldn't believe it. After he regained his health, last November Zhao and Zhu decided to go to New York to participate in the truth clarification activities there. His daughters were still worried about his health. He said to them, "I am not going there for a holiday but to attend a Fa-conference and to validate the Fa. Master will certainly protect me."

Zhao talked about his condition in New York, "I was energetic. I attended the Fa-conference, joined the parade, and distributed materials on the street. I was especially happy to have seen Master three times. When Master was shaking hands with me, tears ran down my face. Our compassionate Master has protected me one time after another and has helped me pass through critical junctures."

A fellow practitioner accompanied Zhao and Zhu home from the U.S. Their daughters, feeling anxious, hurried to see their parents. As soon as they saw their father glowing with good health, full of energy and looking even better than before, both exclaimed from their hearts, "Falun Gong is truly marvelous!"

Part 3

I asked Mr. Zhao about his understanding of the two tests of life and death he had encountered. He said that the two huge tests were to see whether he really steadfastly believed in Master and Dafa. He had been educated and influenced by the Chinese Communist Party for a long time, and he did not believe in the existence of divine beings. He obtained the Fa and started to practice because he found that his wife's chronic disease was cured through practicing Falun Gong and that Zhuan Falun was good. Yet he always had problems in understanding certain parts of it. Even after he passed the first test of life and death, there were still things that he could not enlighten to. He still thought that his life would have been in great danger had he not been to the hospital and that science also played a role in his survival. It was exactly this wavering belief that led to the second test of life and death. At first, he still hoped to eliminate the cancer cells through chemotherapy treatments and still thought that the problem could be solved in an ordinary way. Now he realized that if the cancer cells had indeed been eliminated by the chemotherapy, he would have started relying on science again. He now clearly realizes Master's compassion. Master used this method to improve his understanding. It was through the second test that he now has complete faith in Dafa.

When talking about the old forces' persecution, Mr. Zhao said that it took him a long time to finally understand the issue. When he encountered his first test of life and death, he didn't understand the old forces' persecution at all. He only thought that he was not diligent enough and was staying at the same level without improvement, and when his time came, he would pass away. For example, a fellow practitioner once asked him why his tribulations were still so severe even though the old forces were eliminated to such a huge extent with the progress of the Fa rectification. Although he knew that Master was rectifying the Fa of the entire cosmos, on the issue of his "illness" he was not clear if it was an actual illness, elimination of karma, or the old forces' persecution. Later on through Fa study and experience sharing, he gradually came to understand that a cultivator's body is constantly being replaced with high-energy matter, which would easily dissolve pathogens infecting everyday people and negative effects. Therefore, a cultivator would not get sick. He also realized that, as a veteran practitioner who always paid sufficient attention to Fa study and had a fairly good understanding of the Fa, it was not that he was not diligent, so he shouldn't have such huge karma. He then understood that his tribulations had something directly to do with the old forces. Later on he was clear that the old forces had taken advantage of his weakness of not believing firmly enough in Dafa to persecute him. By letting him suffer from an incurable disease, they tried to shake his faith and to obstruct other people from believing in Dafa. He felt fortunate that he had passed the tribulation under Master's benevolent protection.

Mr. Zhao also talked about how he had gained an understanding of the Fa-rectification. He knows that only paying attention to one's personal cultivation cannot make one a Fa-rectification period Dafa disciple. We should cultivate ourselves, but, more importantly, we must save sentient beings. This understanding, however, is not easy to put into practice. Tourists from China always visited his city. He thought that it was too difficult to tell them the facts because their minds had been so deeply poisoned. So, except for a few people, he was reluctant to talk with them. When fellow practitioners were distributing fliers, he sent forth righteous thoughts instead of clarifying the truth face to face. He even hoped that the head of the evil and his accomplices would die so that people would awaken to the truth. He said that all those thoughts, which relied on changes in human society, were wrong. During his trip to Manhattan, he was greatly inspired by the huge momentum of the Fa-rectification and realized his duty and its importance. During that week, he went with fellow practitioners to subway entrances to hand out truth-clarifying materials. He was not disappointed when Chinese people didn't take the materials. After he read Nine Commentaries on the Chinese Communist Party, he suddenly understood why those Chinese people were poisoned so severely. He too was once educated by the Communist Party and had been restrained and poisoned by their ideological system. He realized that the formation and development of the Communist Party was the old forces' arrangement. The purpose was to hinder the Fa-rectification and destroy sentient beings. He has realized his responsibilities and wants to save those Chinese people who have been deceived.

After suffering from these two tribulations, Mr. Zhao also realized that he was too attached to his family. He cared too much about the attitudes of his family members and didn't consider things with the standard of the Fa. Sometimes when he was in a bad mood and not feeling well, he would blame his wife Zhu for not being compassionate instead of looking at things from her perspective. He feels that the key to cultivation is to let go of the attachment to selfishness. Being selfish was the basis of life in the old cosmos and it was the most difficult and painful thing to get rid of. Selfishness also has the biggest restriction on cultivators, since it comes from the extremely microscopic level of life. If a cultivator fails to look inward, it reflects the person's selfishness. He now understands even more clearly that cultivators should always cultivate themselves and look within for shortcomings in all circumstances.