(Minghui.org) I was very fortunate to start practicing Falun Gong in 1996. I was very diligent in my cultivation back when we still had the freedom to practice openly with other practitioners in China.
Things began to change however, on July 20, 1999. Threatened by Falun Gong's popularity all over China, the Chinese Communist regime began persecuting Falun Gong and running slanderous propaganda against Falun Gong to justify and sustain its persecution of the practice.
I had no choice but to cultivate alone after I lost contact with other practitioners due to the suppression. I posted flyers and hung banners on the streets with important facts about Falun Gong for a while, but I stopped doing so when I slacked off in studying the Falun Gong teachings. I eventually stopped studying altogether.
My husband and I subsequently opened a restaurant. I met people from all walks of life every day and I became one of them – completely lost in the secular world. I fought with my husband constantly until I divorced him and moved to another city.
Teacher Did Not Give Up On Me
I had planned to start a career in the beauty industry when I moved to another city, but I still felt that something was missing. Life was meaningless without Falun Gong. When I thought about how badly I had behaved after I stopped practicing Falun Gong, I shuddered to think what kind of fate awaited me. I wanted to start over again, but I was afraid that Teacher would not want me as a disciple again.
One night Teacher gave me a hint in a dream. I saw a large group of runners, and I was compelled to join them. I then saw that they were running to jump into a large, seemingly endless pit. I woke up terrified. I think Teacher was telling me that I would drop to the lowest level with no chance for redemption if I continued to act like people in secular society. But it also meant that Teacher was still watching over me!
With renewed hope, I again started practicing the Falun Gong exercises and studying Falun Gong's teachings. However, at the time I couldn't find any other practitioners with whom to share my understandings and experiences.
I married again in 2004 to a man who owns a small factory. My husband promised to introduce me to a neighbor he knew who practiced Falun Gong. We ran into him in the stairway in 2011. My husband introduced me to him and said, “Hi, may I introduce my wife? She practices Falun Gong as well.”
I had finally found another practitioner. He brought me many Falun Gong books and articles, as well as Falun Gong truth-clarification materials, including important facts about Falun Gong and about the Chinese Communist regime, which violates many articles in the Chinese Constitution in its persectution of Falun Gong. He also introduced to me many more practitioners.
I was no longer alone.
Another practitioner then asked if I would like to produce truth-clarification materials at home. I gladly agreed.
Practitioners brought me a computer, a printer, and a DVD burner. After they taught me how to use them, I started producing materials on my own. I also learned to send text messages and make phone calls to clarify the truth and persuade people to quit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its affiliated student organizations.
I spent most of my income on rescuing incarcerated practitioners and producing truth-clarifying materials. I paid for attorney fees, transportation, and accommodation expenses for practitioners who were trying to free other practitioners. I also bought office supplies for practitioners, repaired their computers and printers, and installed satellite dishes to receive the New Tang Dynasty Television (NTD) signal. [Note: NTD is a TV network that brings truthful and uncensored information into and out of China, including uncensored reports on Falun Gong.] I do whatever I can to save Chinese people from the slanderous lies that the Chinese regime has fabricated to cause public resentment toward Falun Gong.
There are several employees at our factory, and I cook for them every day. I play Teacher's lecture videos, New Tang Dynasty programs, and Shen Yun performances for them in their spare time. I have also persuaded them to quit the Chinese Communist Party's affiliated student organizations that they once belonged to.
There have been dozens of new Falun Gong practitioners, and practitioners who have started cultivating again in our area. I brought them Falun Gong books, bought MP3 audio players for them, and installed Teacher's lecture audios in the players. I also bought them mobile phones that could be used for truth-clarification work.
After I heard that a practitioner had been arrested in 2012, I drove to her home. I managed to move her printer, computer, supplies, and Falun Gong's truth-clarifying materials before the police arrived. The police were unable to find any evidence against her.
[ Note: The state and the police have violated the Chinese Constitution to arrest a Chinese citizen for her religious belief in Falun Gong or for handing out materials with a different view on China's Falun Gong policy from the ruling political party, and to unlawfully enter her home and conduct a search. The state and the police have violated the following articles of the Chinese Constitution in this case:
Article 35. Citizens of the People's Republic of China enjoy freedom of speech, of the press, of assembly, of association, of procession and of demonstration.
Article 36. Citizens of the People's Republic of China enjoy freedom of religious belief.
Article 37. The freedom of person of citizens of the People's Republic of China is inviolable.
Article 39. The home of citizens of the People's Republic of China is inviolable.
Article 41. Citizens of the People's Republic of China have the right to criticize and make suggestions to any state organ or functionary.
All the reported violations of the Chinese Constitution, Chinese laws and international laws against people who hold a religious faith in Falun Gong have been documented and will be used for legal prosecutions. ]
Tests in Marriage
My husband used to be a reckless man. He got into brawls, drank a lot, gambled, and hired prostitutes. He would do foolish things for his buddies in the name of loyalty. He was hot-tempered, very stubborn, and did not listen to different opinions. He had not seen his mother for over twenty years because she reproached him for his vices. He also rarely talked to his brothers and sister.
He promised me before we married that he would change and start a new life with me. However, after a year of being married to him, he reverted back to his old ways. He even had extramarital affairs with other women and didn't come home some nights.
I endured and treated him the same as I always had.
One day we had friends over. He was cooking in the kitchen when his mobile phone rang. I glanced at the phone and saw a text message. “Sweetie, are you coming over tomorrow?” I called back only to hear a woman answering the phone. I hung up without talking to her. I decided to have a talk with him after our guests left.
Teacher said,
“The Fa is merciful to all beings, but at the same time it's solemn and dignified.” (“Fa-Lecture During the 2003 Lantern Festival at the U.S. West Fa Conference”)
“Take a look at the text message on your phone,” I told him.
He blushed in embarrassment. He said the woman is the cousin of a buddy. He claimed that she was attached to him, but he did not return her feelings. I gave him an ultimatum with a smile, “Do you remember the promise you made? I will divorce you if you don't end the affair. I will pack immediately.” He panicked. “I will change. I promise. We will start over again. Please don't leave me.”
I told him I would give him just one more chance.
I looked within myself at the same time. I had met a mid-level government official through work. He kept calling me, even though he knew I was married. He kept asking me out for dinner. I kept refusing him, but he kept calling. One day I finally remembered that I should clarify the truth about the evilness of the Chinese Communist regime and persuade him to quit the Party. He stopped calling me after I talked to him about it. It must have been a test on lust which I had passed.
My husband changed once I passed the test on lust. He started coming home every night and spent more time with me. He refused when the woman called and asked him out again.
Teacher said,
“Cultivation depends on one’s own efforts, while the transformation of gong is done by one’s master.” (Zhuan Falun)
None of these transformations would have been possible without Teacher. Teacher did not give up on me. Teacher scooped me out of the secular world and cleansed my soul. I have witnessed in both my husband and myself that Falun Gong is capable of rectifying everything and everyone.
My mother passed away shortly before the Chinese New Year of 2012. After the funeral, my daughter from my first marriage decided to spend the Chinese New Year with me because she was worried about me, but my husband did not like it. He started cursing her while she was sleeping in the guest bedroom. I gave him a look and that was it. “What are you looking at? You don't like me calling your daughter names?” he shouted.
I didn't talk back. I remembered Teacher's words,
“Forbearance is the key to improving one’s xinxing . To endure with anger, grievance, or tears is the forbearance of an everyday person who is attached to his concerns. To endure completely without anger or grievance is the forbearance of a cultivator.” (“What is Forbearance (Ren)?” from Essentials for Further Advancement)
I woke her up and took her back to her father because she would not feel welcome here. I was not upset with my husband at all. I began to prepare for the Chinese New Year. [ Note: The Chinese New Year is the biggest family holiday for the Chinese people, comparable to Thanksgiving and Christmas in the United States. ]
My mother-in-law and my husband's older sister spent the Chinese New Year with us that year. When my mother-in-law learned what had happened, she picked up a broomstick and wanted to hit my husband with it, but I stopped her in time.
She broke into tears and reproached my husband. “You are a fool! It is a miracle your wife has not divorced you! To think she is willing to spend the rest of her life with a man like you! She has been so good to us! You will never find anyone like her if you lose her!” I had to spend the next two hours comforting her.
His second older brother had dinner with us on the second day of the Chinese New Year. He reproached my husband as well when he heard how he had treated my daughter. He praised me and said, “She never retaliates or talks back. Can you do that? She has been so good to you, to our mother, and even to us. Think about how our family relationship was like before you married her. Haven't you noticed?”
This was the very first time my husband listened to criticism. He admitted he was wrong and promised to change.
Falun Gong Changed My Husband
My husband and I met after I started practicing Falun Gong again. We met at a beauty salon that I worked at when he came for a beauty service in 2004. He said I stood out as a very kind person. When he proposed the first time, I refused him right away.
One day he called me for help. He had a fight and injured his intestines. He needed surgery right away, but he didn't have any money or friends who would help him. As a Falun Gong practitioner, I could not bear to watch him die, so I paid for his surgery and other medical expenses. He had no one, so I looked after him after the surgery. He proposed again after he recovered. He said I was the only person in the world who had the power to change him.
“It must be fate,” I thought to myself. I agreed to marry him.
I have been a loving and caring wife to him since we married. But I tell him often about Falun Gong. I talked him into quitting the Chinese Communist Party affiliated student organizations, of which he was once a member. He thinks the world of Falun Gong. He trusts me to manage the factory. I run both our household and our factory because he trusts me entirely. The compassion he felt from me has changed him little by little. He has improved his temper significantly.
His family was very touched that I looked after his father even before we got married. My husband has two older brothers and one older sister, but none of them took on the responsibility. My father-in-law was old and needed a lot of personal assistance with activities of daily living, including eating, personal hygiene, dressing, grooming, and mobility. I took good care of him until he passed away.
My husband hardly talked to his family at all before we got married. I changed that as well. I invited his mother, brothers, and sister over to spend important family holidays every year after we got married. He now has a very good relationship with his family.
My husband constantly praises me in front of people. “My wife practices Falun Gong. She is the kindest woman who has ever lived.”
His sister is married to a man who works at the Public Security Bureau. One day he came over for dinner and found Teacher's photo at my house. He took the photo with him when he left. I asked him for it when I found that the photo was missing, but he refused to give it back to me. My husband went to talk to him. “Even the 610 Office has not interfered. It is none of your business.” He managed to get the photo back. He has it respectfully displayed on the second floor.
I was cooking at home in the fall of 2012 when my husband called and warned me that the police had found out that I had been handing out truth-clarification materials. He asked me to hide the materials right away. The police showed up at the factory the next day. The employees came to warn, “Run! The police are here!” I immediately drove away. The police searched the factory, but they didn't discover where I kept the materials. Teacher must have been watching over me.
I spent the next two nights away from home. I dreamed of demons grabbing madly and trying to take me down with them. I struggled to touch Zhuan Falun on the table, and the demons immediately released me in fear. As soon as my hands left Zhuan Falun , the demons grabbed me again. I touched Zhuan Falun again and the demons released me again. I realized after a few repetitions that the demons were afraid of touching me as long as I had Falun Gong and Teacher with me. It dawned on me that I should return home and cultivate myself in an upright and dignified manner. No one can harm me as long as I walk on the path Teacher has arranged for me with righteous thoughts and actions.
Teacher said,
"Should you have fear,
it will seize upon you
If thoughts are righteous,
evil will collapse
The cultivator’s mind
is loaded with Fa
Send righteous thoughts,
and rotten demons explode
Gods walk the earth,
validating the Fa" ("What's to Fear?" from Hong Yin Vol. II)
I returned home and continued to practice Falun Gong, send forth righteous thoughts, and clarify the truth about Falun Gong. I have not been in any danger.
Would I have become the person I am today without Teacher watching over me? No, I would have become degenerate in the secular world. I must thank Teacher for saving me. Falun Gong is wonderful! It is capable of transforming a depraved man into a good one. Falun Gong can change your life too if you open your mind to it.
