(Minghui.org) When I look around and see corrupt officials of the communist regime that are rampant in today’s society, I really feel lucky that I did not also become a victim of their corrupt ways.
I know it is because I practice Falun Dafa. I have Falun Dafa’s principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance to cleanse me of past filth and to transform me into a good person and a conscientious law-abiding citizen with a keen sense of responsibility toward family and society.
Followed the Tide and Almost Drifted Into an Abyss
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) had instilled in me its ideologies of materialism and atheism. I stepped into the working world, believing in the theory of evolution and the survival of the fittest, and not believing in any deity or in karmic retribution. I valued fame and fortune over everything.
I was a manager of more than 700 work units. I worked amidst the organs of power and wealth. I carefully and deliberately cultivated relationships with superiors only for reasons of pursuing power and wealth.
At work, I was overbearing, constantly showing off my bad temper, and frequently picking quarrels or engaging in fights with colleagues, all the while believing my behavior was the norm and how it should be.
When colleagues turned to me for assistance, I wouldn’t look them in the eyes, convinced they were inferior. With the slightest provocation, I would even kick them out of my office unceremoniously.
Many a time when subordinates must seek me out, they would shiver and hesitate outside my door until they could summon enough courage to step inside.
It had become common practice for people, subordinates and clients alike, to offer and I to accept gifts under the pretext of special occasions and festivals, so that what I received under the table way surpassed my wages.
I had also taken millions from subordinate units to use for sleazy business deals to make dirty money.
At home, as a wife and mother, I cared little for my family or for my child, leading to my husband’s extramarital affair; so I sparred and even got physical with him, turning our home into a disaster area.
With the excess income, and to ease my pain and frustration, I would spend my off-work hours frequenting upscale restaurants, luxury hotels, and high-level public baths. I submerged myself daily in excessive eating and drinking, indulging in every form of worldly pleasures.
From Preparing a Will to Stepping Into Dafa
I believed that all the secular pleasures were what brought me happiness, and that to live that way was meaningful.
So, I muddled along, living life without aim until the winter 1998, when I turned 38 years old.
Never could I have dreamed that I would be dealt with an inexorable blow. It came like a bolt of lightning, completely without warning.
Overnight, my stomach and intestines suddenly went rotten. My weight plummeted from 130 pounds to a mere 90 pounds. No medicine could help. Doctors wanted to recommend surgery but didn’t know where to start.
The three major hospitals in Beijing diagnosed my problem as stomach ulcers and colitis. Doctors would only divulge the names but would not share any further information.
When I was hospitalized, I developed another strange disease with symptoms of a non-stop flow of saliva. The hospital’s attending physician pronounced that his institution could offer me no cure, and that what I had was probably of an anomalous nature, a rare disease.
I was very surprised. “So, there are diseases that can’t be diagnosed, that the hospital can’t figure out and can’t offer cure?”
I was completely at a loss. That sudden onslaught was something my family and I were unprepared for. From the doctor's attitude and mannerism, I knew there was no hope for me.
“So, how long do I have? Three years? Two years? Several months?...” Nobody could say. With a deep sense of helplessness, I had to allow myself to be discharged. I went home waiting to die.
When it rains, it pours. When I got home, all of a sudden, I lost my ability to walk.
I felt an invisible ruler measuring out the little time I had left. “Why? How could a person still so full of life and hope have her stay on earth end so abruptly?”
Thinking about everything that had fallen on my lap so swiftly and inexplicably, an unprecedented grief welled up to overwhelm me…I would be losing everything I possessed in my life. My child would lose maternal love. My aged parents would be mourning the passing of their child.
When I left the hospital in Beijing, my parents were resigned to the fact that they would never see me again. My husband’s work unit allowed my husband time off to prepare for my funeral. I made my last will and testimony and handed it to my mother-in-law.
My child was only seven years old. There were so many people and things I wasn’t ready to give up. Life is really but a drama on stage. We all play a part, but none knows when a personal role has been played out and that person must depart the stage.
Falun Dafa Pulled Me Out of My Misery
With all my ideological foundation, I had already strayed far away from the deities. The Party's education has always focused on atheism. Children from a young age are indoctrinated into believing that there is no heaven or hell, and no retribution or consequences for any of our actions.
However, retribution had visited me and manifested in my body. Death was bearing down on me, yet my white-haired mother-in-law did not abandon me.
She handed me Falun Dafa’s main text Zhuan Falun and said to me, “My child, you still can be saved. If you believe in Falun Dafa and do your best to be a good person, you will be saved. Why don’t you try out the practice.”
I had always considered myself a good student and a fine product of the Party’s dogmatic educational system. I belonged to the national cadres. I never identified myself as one of the bad people.
Faced with the desperate situation of hopelessness and loss, the word “deities” stirred up my heart.
Sometimes, when one is suffering an illness and feels impotent, one tends to try anything and everything for a little relief. So, I figured, “Why not? It couldn’t hurt. I’ll give it a try!”
When I was learning the exercises, I felt numerous Falun rotating in and adjusting my body. Instantly, decades of atheistic thought vanished from my consciousness.
In less than a week, I recovered from all my illnesses, including my previous heart disease, rheumatoid, and pancreatitis. Through studying the Fa, I came to fully understand what it meant by being a good person.
Being Reborn to Become a Good Person in Society
After practicing Falun Dafa, all my diseases disappeared.
There arose in me a grateful heart, so I did the first thing I knew I should: I immediately paid back all the dirty money owed, even though I knew full well what I was doing was completely contrary to the social trend and my professional status.
I worked to get rid of all my previous bad habits. I no longer blew up in anger, engaged in fights, or accepted gifts. I stopped going to karaoke bars.
I began to live in strict observance of the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion- Forbearance, and treated my customers as my loved ones, being genuinely concerned about their problems.
I turned everything down when clients gratefully and willingly tried to give me all kinds of gifts. Some old clients were moved to tears when they realized and witnessed how I had changed. They commented that my old me was no more.
Some clients not only quit the Party and all its affiliated organizations, they actually also entered into Dafa and began Falun Dafa practice.
Below are four cases in point:
"I’m only doing my job, and will not accept gifts."
Client Wang, owner of a cement plant, could enjoy an annual return of a good sum of money with my official stamp of approval.
Every year, my signature on his company’s auditing review would qualify him to receive a capital return of 20 to 30 million yuan.
Through the years, I had accepted gifts from Client Wang as a matter of course, as that was the custom and the name of the game, even though everything I did for him was nothing more than what my job required.
After I became a Falun Dafa practitioner, I refused his gift offer. Client Wang was very shocked. He couldn’t understand. He thought I was unhappy about his type of gift or its value.
I explained to him, “I’m only doing my job, and will not accept gifts. Besides, I practice Falun Dafa now. The Buddha Law I believe in and follow does not allow accepting gifts.”
Client Wang said, puzzled, “But, Buddhist temples accept gifts.”
I assured him, “What I believe and practice is not Buddhism but Buddha Law that guides us to do only what is right. “What I do for you and for others is part of my job. I’m paid to do my job. It’ll be wrong to accept gifts.”
I also took the opportunity to tell him that the persecution of Falun Dafa is an injustice, that the Tiananmen self-immolation is a hoax, and that it is imperative for him to renounce the CCP and all its affiliated organizations.
After he understood the truth, he promptly and sincerely quit the Party. His accountant even became a Falun Dafa practitioner.
“Who is committing a crime?”
Another client was owner of a private enterprise. During a year-end review, I discovered his company had not only an unaccounted-for tax of nearly a million yuan, but had also submitted a falsified summary report of an income of tens of millions yuan in order to qualify for a local appropriation.
The client was not home at the time, so I explained it to his family member, the chairman of the local People's Congress, “The falsified income alone will cost you several millions in taxes. Then the tax for the unaccounted-for income will be nearly one million.”
The chairman of the local People's Congress sought out the director of the Financial Bureau. After I explained the situation, the director became frightened. He sent his Deputy Director to offer me gifts and arranged for the chairman to pay me a huge sum to “smooth things over”.
I said to them, “I practice Falun Dafa and will not accept gifts or money.”
I reminded them, “The root cause of today's society is the direct result of decades of brainwashing education of falsehood, malevolence, and struggle propagated by the Communist Party.
Then, I related to them my personal experiences of how I follow Falun Dafa’s teachings of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance but was persecuted by the Communist Party that continues to defame and suppress the practice when the practice is bringing nothing but benefits to practitioners and non-practitioners alike.
I could see what I said had touched their hearts.
The chairman confessed, "I really have committed a crime. I have gone from house to house telling people not to practice Falun Dafa. I didn’t know Falun Dafa is good. I only listened to the CCP’s one-sided propaganda.”
Eventually, they expressed their decision not to be duped by the CCP but would renounce the Party, conduct their lives according to Dafa’s teachings, and start reading Falun Dafa books.
"I won’t bring harm to a good person!"
I have a friend who was secretary of the Politics and Legal Affairs Committee. He wouldn’t ingratiate himself to any higher-up officials nor would he give or accept gifts, so his career was basically stagnated.
He hated the corrupt Communist regime, but when I clarified the truth to him and urged him to quit the Party and its affiliated organizations, he turned me down.
Before the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, I again talked with him over dinner about the truth regarding the notion of retribution. Still, he would not be persuaded.
After the Sichuan earthquake, he rushed to give me a call and asked me to help him renounce the Party, telling me he finally believed what I had been telling was the truth.
A Falun Dafa practitioner who had been illegally sentenced to the forced labor camp was about to be released. However, the city’s 610 Office schemed to send him to a brainwashing center to continue its persecution.
For every Falun Dafa practitioner sent to a brainwashing center, it is customary for the government to pay out 20,000 yuan, of which 5,000 yuan is to be the kickback sum for the local secretary of the Politics and Legal Affairs Committee.
But my friend who understood the truth refused to be involved, saying, "I won’t bring harm to a good person! I don’t want this money. I’m doing this so my children and grandchildren will be blessed for my virtuous deeds." He also ensured the Falun Dafa practitioner was sent home.
"I’m just doing what Dafa’s Master expects of me."
Client Chen is owner of a steel company. In 2014, I discovered taxes had not been paid up for a particular sale. Client Chen and his accountant were extremely nervous because tax evasion is a serious crime.
I reassured them, saying, “I’m sure it’s because you are not aware of this specific policy. I’ll share that information with you and tell you anything you don’t know or understand.”
When the matter was settled, Client Chen handed me a large sum of money in a big red envelope to show his gratitude. I turned the red envelope down, “I practice Falun Dafa. I’m just doing what Dafa’s Master expects of me.”
I learned they originally thought I did what I did for some ulterior motives. When they realized they were wrong, Client Chen said to me, “If everybody is like you, there will be no corruption, and we will have a great country!”
Client Chen, his accountant as well as his other staff all renounced the Party
Saving Sentient Beings with a Compassion Heart
When my mother-in-law became ill, I took her in to live with me.
She had an elderly renter in the apartment upstairs. One time, water in the apartment flooded my mother-in-law’s downstairs rooms.
When he could not locate my mother-in-law, the elderly renter became so anxious that he had a panic attack and had to be hospitalized.
He was worried that he would be blackmailed and might have to pay out a huge sum of money for the water damages. Eventually, he contacted the authorities.
When he finally located us, he asked us, “How much money would I have to pay you?”
Then, he added anxiously, “It’s not been easy for me. My son had passed away. I rented the apartment to be with my grandson while he is going to school. I earn just a meager salary. Please don’t demand too much. I beg of you.”
At that time, we hadn’t had a chance to look at the damages yet, but I said to the elderly renter, “Don’t worry. I won’t ask you for any money, not even a penny.”
He looked at us in shock, “You don’t want any money?” He thought he heard wrong.
I proceeded to clarify the truth to him. I told him,“You didn’t intentionally cause the flooding. You were so worried over this that you had to be hospitalized. It’s not easy when you also have to take care of your grandchild.”
When I eventually went to my mother-in-law's house, I could detect no damage whatsoever but just a little dampness on the wall where the water had seeped through.
Later, the elderly renter talked about this incident everywhere and people’s general reaction was, “No way. Not demanding money for the damage?! There are no such people in this day and age. Stop spreading rumors. Who wouldn’t demand a load of monetary compensation!”
Since then, the elderly renter comes to visit me every year, and sometimes brings along some cabbage, mountain hazelnut, beans, corn, etc. I'll buy some shrimps and other products to return the favor. I have given him Dafa books and other writings and he has read them.
Later, he found himself a wife, and eventually, his wife’s family members all renounced the Party and withdrew from its affiliated organizations.
A junior accountant not under my management kept repeating, “What made she change like that? What made you change like that? You used to be so imperious. You used to have such a sharp tongue and speak with such harsh language. How do you become so kind and gentle? How do you become so good?”
I was considered the most formidable person in my unit, a person nobody dared to offend. I never considered the feelings of others. I never thought hurting other people was wrong. I acted as if every one owed me.
I spent my nights eating, drinking, and making merry to excess. People spoiled and indulged me, because they had need of me, and I believed that was as it should be.
After I obtained Dafa, Master not only purified my body, but He also made me keenly aware that morality is an indispensable and the most precious element in life.
I follow Dafa’s principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance as my standards to be a good person, always putting other people first, and never fight over personal gain.
Now, I just want to take advantage of my position to serve society and offer help to anyone in need. I want all who come into contact with me to understand the real meaning of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. I want to utilize the limited time we still have to save as many people as I can.