(Clearwisdom.net) I'm a Falun Dafa practitioner in my seventies. I have been thinking of writing about my cultivation experience for many years, but several attempts ended in failure because of my lack of literacy and also because of my lack of awareness that the failures were really due to the evil's interference. Today I must write about my experiences.
I attained the Fa back in October 1998. Before that, I had suffered from many illnesses for over 39 years, including headaches and pain in my legs, arms, and my entire body. The heart attacks and myocardial infarction often hurt me so badly that even frequent use of medication did not help. My weight dropped to 100 pounds. I was waiting for death. I can recall that one night I cried until midnight. That night I dreamed of many large golden words, with a huge immortal on one side. He paused, perhaps because he saw me. I called other people to come to see the huge immortal.
I woke up without paying too much attention to the dream. A few days later, I was told that Falun Dafa was a very good practice that cured various kinds of diseases for many people. "Is that true? Where can I learn? I'm going to learn it tomorrow," I said. On the third day after I started to practice Falun Dafa, Teacher began to purify my body. In a little over a month, all of my illnesses disappeared without my noticing, and my body felt very light.
Initially when I read Zhuan Falun with a local group, I was able to read only half of the words. With the help of our benevolent Teacher and other practitioners, I was eventually able to read the entire book.
At the beginning of a regular Fa study, a practitioner told me that we would watch Teacher's lectures on videotape at 5:00 p.m. We were all very happy. When I returned home, I told our children about this. My daughter was very pleased, but my son, refusing to go with us, started to cry and became disgruntled. I immediately realized that it was evil interference, so I simply left him alone and went with my daughter. To my surprise, when we came back, he was not angry at all.
Out of fear, many people stopped practicing Falun Dafa when Jiang's regime launched the persecution of Falun Gong in 1999. "Why don't they let us practice such a wonderful system? I'm determined to practice it!" I thought. Nevertheless, the practice site was gone, and I had to study the Fa and do the exercises at home by myself. One day a former practitioner, who had a wrong understanding of Dafa and the persecution, told me, "Many practitioners have been 'transformed' and they've turned in their Falun Gong books." "Why?" I asked. "Hasn't anybody from the township authorities talked to you?" he asked. "No," I said. "Then follow me to the Party School," he said. "No way," I answered. A few days later, he told me, "You should go there. There are a lot of practitioners over there. It'll be helpful to talk to other practitioners there." For the sake of the opportunity to talk to other practitioners, I went, which proved to be damaging to my practice.
One night in a dream, I heard someone calling me from far, far away. After waking up I thought, "It must be the great and benevolent Teacher who is calling His student." Teacher must be calling His unqualified student, because He did not want to leave any practitioner behind. From then on, I started to study the Fa, practice the exercises, and send forth righteous thoughts every day. I was determined to firmly believe in Teacher, believe in the Fa, and to be worthy of Teacher's benevolent salvation.
On another occasion, after I finished watching Teacher's videotaped lectures at a fellow practitioner's house, I returned home. Since it was already 11:00 p.m., I went to bed without doing the exercises as usual. I didn't practice the meditation either when I woke up the next morning. The third night I dreamed of Teacher lecturing in that practitioner's home. I could see Teacher's face, since He was taller than anyone else. As I tried to see it more clearly, I failed. "Did you do the exercises last night?" Teacher asked. Ashamed, I lowered my head. When I woke up, I started to blame myself. My fellow practitioners! Even for such an unworthy student who didn't cultivate diligently, our benevolent Teacher was safeguarding me constantly. After waking up from the dream, I told myself that I must do the three things more diligently that Teacher has required us to do. I must more frequently send forth righteous thoughts, clarify the truth, and save sentient beings.
During the autumn harvest season, a police officer came to my home and tried to take me to the local police station. "Why do I have to go there? I didn't violate any law," I said. "You better come," the officer urged. I began to calm down and to send forth righteous thoughts to eliminate the evil elements behind him. Then he said, "If you don't go, at least you should turn in the books and other materials." "I don't have anything to turn in," I answered. He started to search for the books, but I kept sending forth righteous thoughts. I was requesting Teacher to strengthen me and to stop the officer from finding anything. Indeed, he failed to find anything. He was still searching when I told him, "You won't be able to find anything." He kept searching. "You don't have to search," I said. "Why?" he asked. I explained to him that I couldn't read. He stopped searching but told me that practicing Falun Gong was illegal. I said, "The exercises help practitioners improve their health. Besides, practitioners strive to be good people. What law do we violate? How can I violate any law as an old woman?" The officer did not reply.
I continued, "You should not bother the senior citizens who practice Falun Gong. We never commit any bad deeds, and in fact, we are all good people." After I clarified the truth to him, he was speechless. He seemingly understood what Dafa is. "Will you continue to practice, then?" he asked. "I will whenever I have time," I answered. He called the police station chief. "She is an old woman and she cannot read. There is nothing related to Falun Gong in her house," he reported. Finally he left, for good.
As Teacher taught us,
"In fact, making progress in one's own cultivation is a part of the process of saving beings. Saving beings, improving yourself, and resisting the persecution are all acts that validate the Fa; only walking straight your path amounts to validating the Fa." ("Walk Straight Your Path," September 25, 2005)
As a Falun Dafa practitioner in the Fa-rectification period, I must walk straight my path. I used to be fearful when clarifying the truth. The more fearful I was, the less effective I was at clarifying the truth. Now wherever there are people, I always send forth righteous thoughts first to eliminate the evil elements behind them, and then I clarify the truth to them. It's always more effective this way. The more I clarify the truth, the better I do it and the better others like to listen. Then they are often happy to accept other Dafa materials or to quit the CCP when hearing of the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party. So far, I have successfully persuaded almost 40 people to quit the CCP. In addition, most people in my village agree that Falun Dafa is good.
Back in 2003, I read a story on Clearwisdom Weekly that at her New Year's dinner, a practitioner just had some vegetables because she couldn't afford any meat after spending all of her money for Dafa. Besides, she could only have one meal a day. I cried when I read her story. "Aren't we also Dafa practitioners?" I thought. The day after, I gave the only 10 yuan I had to another practitioner, but he declined. "Practitioners in other areas have used up their money on making truth-clarification materials. As a result, they're starving. Why can't we do this?" I said. "I agree," he answered. "Then go ahead to contribute if you wish. Please don't mind how much it is." "That's right!" I said. Since then, I have been trying to save every penny so that I can contribute as much as I can in order to clarify the truth to and save as many sentient beings as possible. I believe every practitioner has the responsibility to help more people receive truth-clarification materials. This way, it will be much smoother to personally clarify the truth to them.
Last year our local truth clarification materials distribution site was sabotaged. Some practitioners raised the question of how we could possibly clarify the truth without truth clarification materials. After the sharing, we decided to make the materials ourselves. We bought some large pens. At the beginning I was unable to write anything. Then I started to practice writing the words "Falun Dafa is good." In merely a day, I was able to write "Global Coalition to Bring Jiang Zemin to Justice." On the eve of the Chinese New Year, a few practitioners and I went out to hang the posters as soon as it was dark. The next morning, on the first day of the New Year, Falun Dafa posters were everywhere. I strongly believe that the posters must have eliminated a lot of evil elements in other dimensions.
This is my first experience-sharing report. If there is anything improper, please point it out with compassion.
