(Clearwisdom.net) I knew about Falun Dafa as early as September 1998, when I was 14 years old and started to learn Chinese dance at a performance department at an art college in Beijing. One day, my mom took me to a park where many people were practicing some kind of exercise. A ruddy-faced elderly lady chatted with my mom. Later, I found out that they were practicing Falun Gong.
In July 1999, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began to persecute Falun Gong (also called Falun Dafa). That September, officials at my college demanded that everyone sign a large banner to oppose Falun Gong. I remembered what my mom had told me, namely, that Falun Gong teaches people to be good, and I had also witnessed that my mom's bad temper disappeared after she practiced Falun Gong. Therefore, I believed that Falun Gong is good and I should not give my signature. I also asked my classmates not to sign, but they did not listen to me. I tried to slip out through the school gate.
However, I did not really get to know Falun Dafa until 2003. Due to SARS scare, the officials at the college told us to go home. It was the first time that I opened my mother's copy of Zhuan Falun. I read it through in two days. I realized that everything in the book was absolutely correct. For example, I remembered when I was very young, I could often see many terrible demons that scared me for quite a long time.
Although I understood that Dafa is good and even took Zhuan Falun with me to Japan from 2004 to 2006, I personally had not yet become a practitioner. Due to the fast decline of social morality, I went along with other young Beijing girls, who liked to smoke, drink, and had boyfriends.
Teacher kept reminding me and blessed me again and again. I had no contact with fellow practitioners in Beijing, so one day I wanted to log onto the Minghui website [the Chinese version of Clearwisdom]. The next day, I received truth-clarifying materials from a fellow practitioner. Then, I studied the Fa every day. I cried in front of Teacher's photo. I was pleased that Teacher had accepted me, and I certainly wanted to do well in learning the Fa.
I studied the Fa and found time to do the exercises every day and thus I experienced obvious changes. I always felt that Teacher was watching me, and when I did well, I noticed that Teacher was smiling at me when I looked at Teacher's photo. I realized that time is precious and I started to make truth-clarification posters and wrote truth-clarifying phrases on paper currency. I told my students about Falun Gong and the persecution and advised them to quit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its subordinate organizations.
I felt that Teacher was very strict with me, and when I made even a small mistake, I immediately had to pay for it. I am a very sentimental person, and Teacher gave me many hints, so that I would care less about it. Each time I read the paragraph on sentimentality in Zhuan Falun:
"If this sentimentality is not relinquished, you will be unable to practice cultivation. If you are free from this sentimentality, nobody can affect you. An everyday person's mind will be unable to sway you. What takes over in its place is benevolence, which is something more noble." (Lecture Four, "Upgrading Xinxing," 2000 Edition).
I knew that I needed to let go of my sentimentality but was still reluctant to do what Teacher was urging me to do. During that time, I had big troubles in my job. Either the company was having financial problems, or a new position was not available. Obviously, I needed to leave that place. My boyfriend begged me not to go, but he also did not agree with my cultivating Falun Gong. I told him firmly that I would definitely practice it forever, and that no one could change that. During our last dinner, he fussed at me like crazy, but I remained calm.
I truly believe when we firmly decide to save sentient beings and validate the Fa, only then can we do it. Thus, I left Beijing and returned to my hometown.
Most fellow practitioners I knew supported my decision to return, but many people did not understand why I had left Beijing, because they thought that living in Beijing was very comfortable and that my boyfriend had been so kind to me. A relative of mine even thought that I was pursuing something extreme. But what I really should do is to repay Teacher for his kindness and do the three things well. I came to this world for the Fa, and I should not be attached to anything in this human world. I simply need to do the things Teacher requires of me better and follow Teacher back to my true, original home.
I like to dance and would love to become a member of Shen Yun Performing Arts. However, I am not tall enough to meet the standard, so I was very disappointed for a while. As a practitioner, my mission is to validate the Fa, no matter where I am or what I do. Later, I set up two art studios and attracted a lot of kids. I tried my best to clarify the truth to them and save more people with a predestined relationship.
There is much more I would like to say, but I have no words to express my love, esteem, respect, and gratitude toward Teacher. What I can do is to use my righteous thoughts and righteous actions to repay Teacher's benevolence and salvation and walk well on the road toward my true origin.