(Minghui.org) I am 95 years old and my feet were bound tightly when I was young to make them small. (Foot binding was an old custom of applying painfully tight binding to the feet of young girls to prevent further growth). I began to practice Falun Gong (also known as Falun Dafa) in 1996, and since then I’ve never stopped my practice for a single day.
I used to be illiterate, but through practicing Falun Gong I learned to read the entire book of Zhuan Falun. I cannot find any words to express my gratitude to the founder of Falun Gong, Master Li Hongzhi.
The following is a summary of experiences detailing my 20-year cultivation, which has been written by a fellow practitioner.
Because of a serious hip affliction, I could not get out of bed. However, in 1996 I had a chance to listen to Master’s lecture recordings. The more I listened, the more I wanted to listen further. I felt this was exactly what I wanted and I could spend a whole day listening to it. Soon, all of my illnesses, including joint affliction, was healed. My body felt very light—as if I could fly. No matter how far I walked, I didn’t feel tired.
I told my neighbors and relatives that Falun Gong was very good and that it could help people have healthier bodies. Some people visited my house and I let them listen to the recordings of Master’s lectures. Some of them said that they wanted to learn Falun Gong too.
In order to let my relatives and friends know about Falun Gong, I walked several miles to talk to people about Falun Gong, despite the difficulty to walk from having my feet bound. The people who began to practice Falun Gong through my help also told others about it.
A Fa study site was started at my house in 1997. There were over 20 people that joined our group in the later period. I opened my door at 3:30 am every morning to welcome other practitioners. We began to practice the five exercises at 4:00 am.
In the summertime, even when our arms were bitten by mosquitoes, no one would swat the mosquitoes away when we were doing the exercises. In the wintertime, sometimes our hands were swollen due to the cold weather, but in just a short time, our hands were back to normal. Sometimes when it was very cold, we laughed at each other because everyone’s eyebrows had a layer of frost on them.
Among the practitioners, the youngest was 14 and the oldest was over 80. Yet no matter how cold it got, we would finish practicing all the exercises. We thought this suffering from the cold weather was nothing compared to what Master had suffered for us.
We studied Zhuan Falun, Falun Gong’s major book, in the daytime, and the practitioners who needed to work would come back to study the Fa in the evening. Some of them were so busy that they would skip dinner and come directly to my house to study the Fa.
I was illiterate before I began practicing Falun Gong, but with the help of other practitioners, I was able to read the entirety of Zhuan Falun. I began to copy Zhuan Falun in 2003, and I wrote one to two pages every day, which filled over eight notebooks to finish hand-copying the book. Later, I corrected the words that I had copied incorrectly. Through this process, I got rid of many human notions including impatience, the attachment to seeking a comfortable life, zealotry, and showing off. Copying the Fa by hand also enabled me to attentively study the Fa.
Other practitioners soon began to memorize the Fa. I also began to memorize Hong Yin and Hong Yin Vol. II. I also memorized some of the new shorter articles. Sometimes,when I failed to pass a tribulation or met with conflicts, I would memorize the poems from Hong Yin to adjust my mind.
Over time, my glasses for far-sightedness were no longer needed. I removed the glasses and my dizziness and eye trouble disappeared. When my family members witnessed that, they all supported me even more.
In July 1999 the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) launched the brutal persecution against Falun Gong. Our stable cultivation environment was lost and some of the practitioners stopped coming to my house to practice the exercises and study the Fa. Yet I had no fear and continued practicing Falun Gong.
The CCP's slanderous propaganda about Falun Gong was everywhere. Tears rolled down my face whenever I saw those lies. When I could not sleep, I thought about how I would tell people the truth about Master and Dafa.
I told my neighbors and friends that Falun Gong was good. I explained how it was helping practitioners to have healthier bodies and minds. Other practitioners hand-wrote slogans: Falun Dafa is good!; Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good!; Restore My Master’s Good Reputation; Falun Gong is the righteous way!
I took those slogans and put them in people’s carts or bike baskets while I was shopping. Later other practitioners spent money to copy the Falun Gong materials and I handed them out.
One evening after I gave out over 80 copies of the materials, I found that I was standing outside the police station. I was not scared and just left and went home.
On another occasion, I stood on a stool to put up Dafa posters. A person came by and stood there waiting for me to finish, and then he passed by. I knew he was a good person who had heard the truth and was concerned about scaring me.
Master arranged some diligent practitioners to deliver new articles and truth clarifying materials to my house during that horrible time. Sometimes I opened my door in the morning and found a package of materials left in my yard. Tears flowed when I saw the materials. I did not know who had left the materials but we had no fear no matter how the CCP blocked the truth.
As soon as Master’s new articles were released, I would write them down and make copies and let one of my family members, who was also a Falun Gong practitioner, give the copies to other practitioners. If I received a new article, I would immediately hand it out to other practitioners, since I knew many practitioners were waiting to read Master’s new articles and to catch up.
The township women's association head always came to my house to harass me. Sometimes they hid behind my house waiting for other practitioners to harass. However, they never found other practitioners coming to my house because Master protected us.
Local government officials kept harassing me every day and they tried to take me to the local brainwashing center. I went to their office building to tell them the truth about Falun Gong. I climbed the stairs to the fifth floor without anyone’s help, and the official there admired my stamina. “You are over 80 years old and yet you are not at all out of breath,” he said. “You are so good.” I told him my good health was due to my practicing Falun Gong. He was speechless.
I liked to spread Falun Gong information on the streets and in the markets and to help people quit the CCP. I visited the markets in the morning and helped people quit the CCP there. I went home to write down their names and get more materials, and then I would return to keep talking to other people. Some people asked for VCDs and Dafa amulets.
I would visit the vegetable market, meat market, and then the fish market. Some people quit the CCP and were in great spirits about it. “Thank you! You're already in your 80s and you speak so well and even gave me an assumed name,” they'd say. “I will certainly receive blessings.”
I told them they needed to thank Master because Master encouraged us to talk to them about Falun Gong and the persecution so they would understand the truth.
My family members were scared by the lies told by the CCP. I told them the facts about Falun Gong and how the CCP was treating people. I firmly believed in Dafa.
Sometimes I did not eat or drink for several days. My children worried so much that they wanted to send me to the hospital, but I told them that my Master was taking care of me. I was back to normal the next morning. Thus, my family members supported my practice even more.
Our group Fa study started again in 2003 at my house, and it has continued to operate to this day.
Two police officers came to my house on March 18, 2016. They questioned me about whether or not I practiced Falun Gong. “Yes, I do,” I said. “I am 95 years old and have not stopped practicing Falun Gong since I obtained it in 1996. I cook my own meals, wash the clothes myself, and do not need my children to take care of me.”
They asked if I had sued Jiang Zemin, the former dictator of the CCP and who launched the persecution. I told them that I had and that I received the return mail confirmation after three days. I kept talking to them about Falun Gong, and in the end, both of them raised their thumbs. “Keep practicing well!” they said.