(Minghui.org)
Stepping into Cultivation During Tribulations
I first learned about Falun Dafa in the fall of 1996. However, I was not serious about practicing at that time because I was busy with my restaurant business. I became a diligent practitioner after a series of disasters brought chaos to my life.
My disabled husband broke his leg when he went to our restaurant to prepare breakfast in September 1997. In June 1998, before my husband recovered, our child was injured by someone, who then refused to pay his medical bill. We filed a lawsuit and won, but the person refused to pay, even after he was detained.
I had to temporarily close my restaurant because I could not handle going daily to the hospital, the court, and restaurant. During the Chinese New Year, my friends and family gave my child 900 yuan. I wanted to use the money to remodel the restaurant before I reopened it. However, I accidentally dropped the money into the fireplace and it all burned away.
Life was so devastating that I wished to die. One night, I opened the main book of Falun Gong Zhuan Falun by chance.
Master said:
“How should we practitioners deal with loss and gain? Not like ordinary people do. The only thing ordinary people think about is their own gain and how to live well and comfortably. But we practitioners aren’t like that, we’re just the opposite. We don’t seek the things ordinary people want, but what we gain is what ordinary people can’t, even if they want to… unless they cultivate.” (Zhuan Falun)
After reading that, I was determined to practice Falun Gong. I diligently studied the Fa and lived by the Falun Gong principles of Truthfulness-Compassion- Forbearance. When there were conflicts, I didn't face them like ordinary people. Troubles in the restaurant were always miraculously resolved.
Our restaurant gradually became the most popular one on the street. Our annual income tripled. We even regained the 900 yuan that I lost. We happened to find money left in the restaurant and returned it to the owners that we could identify. The money that we could not return added up exactly to be 900 yuan.
I firmly believed in Master, and so I withdrew the lawsuit that we had ongoing. But, another miracle happened. The family paid the medical bill.
Despite many obligations and being extremely busy, I never stopped studying the Fa or doing the exercises. After closing the restaurant at midnight, I studied the Fa for one hour, and did the meditation for one hour and sometimes for two hours.
Diligent Practitioner Experiences Miracles
I experienced the mighty power of Dafa in 1999, when I went to Changchun City to appeal for the right to practice Falun Dafa after the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) started the persecution. I was illegally arrested. However, I saw several big and extremely beautiful Falun in the sky, which shook me to the core.
After I was released from detention on Feb. 29, 2000, I left town to escape being arrested by local police. I went to a suburban area and opened another restaurant.
I remembered that it was very difficult to study the Fa while in detention. I swore that I would memorize the Fa, so that I would have it deep inside of me. During the cold winters, when my child was doing homework, I sat next to him and copied Zhuan Falun in neat handwriting. I carefully wrote every stroke so that I would calm down and be enlightened to the Fa. I copied Zhuan Falun daily until late at night.
My middle finger was callused, which was a little painful, so I decided to take a rest. However, immediately after laying down, I felt a Falun rotating on my right palm, nine times in each direction. I realized that it was Master encouraging me, so I sat up and started to meditate.
During the 2010 Chinese New Year, I was out of town for two weeks. Upon my return, I found that the water faucet was frozen. The restaurant could not open without a water supply, so I decided to heat the faucet. My neighbors said that it would not work since the entire water supply system was frozen. But I firmly believed that it would work.
After one hour, water started to drip, then stopped. I studied Zhuan Falun and when I read aloud, the water dripped fast. When I stopped reading, the water stopped dripping. I stopped worrying about the water and simply read the Fa aloud. Suddenly the water came out normally. I kept saying: “Thank you Master!” My neighbors said: “You are amazing!” I told them that it was the power of Falun Dafa.
Husband Change d His Attitude Towards Dafa
My husband was badly deceived by the CCP propaganda against Falun Dafa. He stopped me from going to Beijing to appeal for the right to practice Dafa. Despite being disabled, he walked into a local police station to report on me. He also burned lots of Falun Dafa books, and my family went through a lot of tribulations because of the crimes that he committed.
During meditation, I asked Master in my mind: “Master, I was not righteous enough to save my family. My husband is not a bad person. All the pains that he suffered would be in vain if he cannot obtain the Fa. It may not be appropriate for me to ask you to do this. Would you show a little miracle to him? Thank you Master!”
Two days later, when my husband was working during a rainstorm, he looked up in the sky and saw two dragons swimming. Their colors were like those of carps. He was so excited that he asked passersby to watch with him. About 20-30 people saw the miraculous scene.
He was then shocked by news reports in 2004 that told of the rock in Guizhou City that displayed the Chinese characters “The Chinese Communist Party Perishes.” He published a statement to apologize for his actions against Dafa. He told his friends and family during a banquet that: “Falun Dafa is indeed good,” and criticized the CCP. Since then, he has become very supportive and has studied Master's new lectures.
Compassion Resolved Conflicts
Master said:
“All the professions out there should exist, it’s only that people are short of integrity. It’s not about what type of profession you are in. There was a saying in the past, "Nine out of ten merchants are crooks." That’s what ordinary people say. But I’d say it’s a problem of integrity. If the people have integrity, and people do business fairly, the more effort you put in, the more money you should make.” (Zhuan Falun)
“In different social classes you can all show yourselves to be good people, and all of you can cultivate in your own social classes.” (Zhuan Falun)
I bought the restaurant in 2004. Because we had been honest and diligent, our business did quite well, which made another restaurant owner jealous. His sister hired thugs to destroy my restaurant.
When I was studying Master's new lecture at 1 a.m., I heard the men breaking the restaurant's glass door with bricks. My husband stopped me from going out and told me that it was too dangerous. The thugs left in a car after several minutes.
The restaurant owner's wife came to comfort me the next morning, pretending not to know what happened. After she left, I did not get a single customer for a whole day. Even our close neighbor stopped coming to us. I was very puzzled, so I decided to call a friend of my husband, who had connections with the local police department. But I suddenly remembered:
Master said:
"He does bad things to me, I’ll do bad things to him. He has people on his side, but I have people on my side, too. Let’s fight." Around ordinary people, if you do that, ordinary people will say you’re strong. But for a practitioner, that would be just awful. If you fight and struggle like an ordinary person, you are an ordinary person. And if you did it with more gusto than him, then you’re not even as good as that ordinary person.” (Zhuan Falun)
I understood and did not make the phone call. Instead, I cleaned up the mess. After three days the village reserved my restaurant for three days during an election. We earned quite a bit more than normal.
Because my husband could only work while sitting, I decided to let him make high quality dumplings in 2008. Our dumplings were nutritious and delicious, and sold at a reasonable price. Therefore, our business went very well. We also took the opportunity to clarify the truth about Falun Dafa to our customers.
Workers from afar came to buy our dumplings, even during heavy rain. There were over 20 construction sites around our restaurant. The construction workers told each other that Falun Dafa practitioners' restaurant made delicious and inexpensive dumplings.
A neighboring restaurant owner, out of jealousy, broke our restaurant's sign. While I was upset about it, a customer told me: “Don't worry, we would still come without the sign. Look at the broken part of the sign. Doesn't it look like a long stick lifting up your business? You should thank him.” I suddenly realized that Master was using his mouth to enlighten me. I replied: “Yes, I really should thank him.”
During all the years of cultivation, there were also moments that I did not pass cultivation tests. But I always believed that as long as I firmly believed in Master and Dafa, and did the three things well, I would definitely be able to return to our origin with Master.
Please compassionately correct me if there is anything inappropriate.
