(Minghui.org) Ms. Chen is in her 60s and lives in Montreal, Canada. She recalled, “I lived with my three children and also took care of my mother who was in her 80s. I was operating under immense daily stress. I had one thought, and that was that no matter how hard my own life was, I would not let my children and mother experience hardship. Thus, I got up early in the morning and went to bed late at night, every day. I supported my family, but because of the strain, I couldn't sleep well and I had problems eating. As a result, I had many illnesses, including pain in my liver, stomach, and neck. The neck pain was so bad that sometimes I couldn't even hold a pen and fainted on my bed for quite a while. Because I had no money to see a doctor, I did not know what my physical problems were. I just lived an extremely difficult life until my children grew up.”
Ms. Chen started practicing Falun Gong in 1997. She explained, “My mother had just passed away that year. To find something to do with myself, I learned about Falun Gong from a classmate. I did not know how good it was and didn't practice it wholeheartedly at the beginning. But I felt very good in a short time. So then I practiced it diligently. Without my noticing exactly when it happened, all my pain was gone.”
After she started practicing Falun Gong, Ms. Chen had many amazing experiences. She said, “I went to the practice site to do the exercises every day. Sometimes when I was still asleep in the morning, I'd hear a sound like someone knocking on the door. After getting up, I didn't see anyone outside. But when I looked at the clock, it was time to go to the practice site. Sometimes I'd hear the phone ring in the morning, but nobody actually called me as no phone number showed up on the phone display. I knew that Master was taking care of me and helping me. Two fellow practitioners had previously had cancer and were treated with chemotherapy. They recovered after practicing Falun Gong. I witnessed the wonders of Falun Dafa. I knew that I must continue practicing it and would never give it up.”
Experiencing Years of Persecution by the CCP
On April 25, 1999, Ms. Chen participated in the peaceful appeal at the Beijing Appeals Office, when 10,000 Falun Gong practitioners quietly gathered to ask the government to allow practitioners to practice Falun Gong in China without interference. On July 20, 1999, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) initiated the large scale persecution of Falun Gong. Ms. Chen traveled back and forth between Beijing and her hometown to tell people the facts about Falun Gong. She posted messages on walls reading, “Falun Dafa is great” and distributed flyers to local residents. Ms. Chen said, “I only wanted to let people know the truth about Falun Gong and how much I had benefited from it.”
Between 2000 and 2009, Ms. Chen was arrested and sent to forced labor camp twice for talking to people about Falun Gong and exposing the persecution. She said, “I was taken away twice in Beijing and was imprisoned in a forced labor camp for two years, and two-and-a-half years, respectively. The first time I was imprisonment was from 2002 to 2004, in the Beijing Women's Labor Camp. The guards deprived me of sleep, which led to high blood pressure. Then the camp medical personnel forcibly gave me injections and oral medicines to torture me. Sometimes I was forced to take medicine seven times a day, a total of several dozen tablets. The medicines made me feel faint and caused hearing loss. I was tortured until I was very weak. I was still forced to do hard labor for 13 or 14 hours per day. I experienced significant physical and mental injury at the labor camp.”
“The second time I was imprisoned was on May 2, 2006. I was beaten many times and held in labor camps for two and a half years. Four police officers in the Wanshouluo Police substation beat me brutally, resulting in bleeding over my left eye. Even when my blood pressure rose to a dangerous level – 244/151 mm – I was still imprisoned.”
Ms. Chen continued, “I never gave up practicing Falun Gong, whatever persecution I faced. Now I am in Canada. I feel the preciousness of time. Besides studying the Fa and practicing the exercises, I clarify the truth using the Internet and telephone. I go to Chinatown to practice the exercises and display posters to let people know the truth.”
Master Saved Me from Danger Many Times
Falun Gong practitioners respectfully refer to the founder of Falun Gong as Master. They can feel their Master’s care and guidance in cultivation. Many practitioners have experienced miracles in their cultivation practice. Ms. Chen narrated three of her personal experiences:
1. In 2004, I lived in the Haidian District of Beijing. One weekend in July, it was very hot. My younger daughter was taking a nap at home. I was cooking lunch and went out to bring in the clothes from the clothesline. Suddenly I smelled that something was not right. As soon as I opened the door, thick smoke and heat billowed out. I ran into the kitchen and saw flames along a whole wall. I was terrified because there were a gas line and meter, power cord and electrical outlet in that wall. I recalled the horrific scene of an electrical fire in a big shopping mall in Shenyang, which required several days to completely extinguish. My daughter said, “Mom, let’s throw water on it!” I said, “No! Grab a blanket instead.” I was clearheaded, but was almost in despair.
I beat the flames blindly with a curtain which I'd just brought in off the line. By now, the flames had spread to the roof. While beating at the flames, I kept shouting: "Master! Help me! Do not let the fire keep going!" I do not know how many times I shouted. Then a miracle happened: I saw that the flames just suddenly disappeared. I was shocked. My daughter stood there holding the blanket, stunned. My tears fell, as I knew that it was merciful Master who saved us. If the fire had caused an electrical fire or a gas explosion, how many people would have been hurt? My daughter cried too.
Later, I found out that the power lines, gas line and meter were safe. The electrical fuse box had automatically shut off. After the fuse was reset, everything was back to normal. It was a miracle. I would not have believed it if I hadn't experienced it personally.
2. In 2010, I came to Canada. In one day in late May, I went to the local kindergarten to pick up my little grandson. On our way home, while walking, I taught him to learn and identify the color of cars in Chinese. Without realizing it, we'd gotten to the backyard of our residential building. I still continued to teach him to identify the color of cars: "This car is white; that the car is blue ..." I remember the scene very clearly.
I did not know how, nor had I the slightest memory of being struck by a truck (a white truck used for building repair and maintenance). I just remembered when I opened my eyes, that I was lying down below the rear end of the truck. I firmly held the child, who was crying. I slowly turned around and placed him on the ground. At this time, the driver (a local person) nervously ran over to pick up the child. While I did not understand his words (I didn't know the language yet), I understood what he meant. I smiled, waved my hand and said to him, "I'm all right, I'm all right." I slowly stood up, and waved to an elderly local couple standing beside the building. I entered the residential building from the rear entrance. The couple stood there aghast at having witnessed the accident.
The next day, my son-in-law asked me, "Mom, were you hit by a car yesterday?" “How did you know?” I asked. He answered, “The driver told me. He said he would take full responsibility." I said, "There's nothing wrong. I'm not hurt at all. Bear what responsibility?” Later, when I saw the driver, he said in awkward Chinese, "Hello!" I answered in Chinese, “Hello.” I also told him, “Falun Dafa is Good! Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good!" I taught him these words, word by word, in Chinese. He learned the words carefully, word by word. Since then, whenever he sees me, he shouts in Chinese, "Falun Dafa is good! Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good!"
3. One day in late October 2010 (I remember it was October 23), some time after 6 p.m., I went to a nearby practice site. From afar, I saw a big garbage collection truck grabbing a big trash container to dump the garbage into the truck. Seeing that the process of picking up the dumpster was very slow, I did not think much about it, but continued straight ahead. The operator did not try to stop me either. When I got to the front of the location where the dumpster had been picked up, I was terrified as I saw the trash container rapidly falling down. It was too late to escape it. I just heard a "bang" as the container hit my right shoulder. A powerful force pushed me out to a distance two or three meters away, and I found myself leaning against another trash container.
Then four or five people came running up. Among them was a friend of my son-in-law. He hurried to ask, "Auntie, are you all right?" I said, "No problem. I am a Falun Gong practitioner. Nothing bad can happen." He said, “No, I have to find the operator to write down his license plate number and phone number." As I could not stop him, I went on to the practice site.
I went home later in the evening. As soon as I opened the door, my daughter hurried over to me and asked, "Mom, are you OK?" My son-in-law also came over. I said, "Never mind. Nothing bad would happen to a practitioner.” My daughter wanted to take a look at my right shoulder. She said there was a slight redness, as if something had rubbed against me. But she asked me not to ignore it and said that she would take me to a doctor if I started to feel uncomfortable. No matter what I said, she was not convinced. She said that internal injuries would not be felt right away.
The next day, I still got up early to study the Fa and prepare breakfast for the family. At the breakfast table, my son-in-law whispered to my daughter. Then my daughter asked me, "Mom, what clothes did you wear yesterday? Let me see what the clothes look like." I took out the jacket I had on the day before. The jacket had a slightly worn, shiny spot in the area that had been hit.
Later, each time the friend of my son-in-law saw me, he would ask, "Are you all right?" I told him, "There is nothing wrong.” I took the opportunity to explain the facts of Falun Gong to him.
Ms. Chen summed up her experience, "I personally experienced the three incidents above. They were real demonstration of our great Master’s compassion and virtue. Three times, Master rescued me from serious danger. I am sincerely grateful to Master. But truly, there is no human language that can express my sincere appreciation. I will do well on my future cultivation path. "
