(Minghui.org) Greetings, Master! Greetings, fellow practitioners!
I was 45 years old in the summer of 1997 when I attached a flatbed cart to my horse and put a cushion and a thick cotton quilt in the cart. I was going to my younger sister's house in the city to bring my mother back home.
My mother was 66 years old. She had a lot of ailments, including rheumatism. Her finger joints were misshapen, and she couldn't fully extend her elbows or her knees. If there was a cornstalk on the ground, she couldn't step over it. Always cold, she wore a hat and leggings even in the summer. She was so sick the year before, she nearly died.
She had lived with my younger sister for 28 days. When I got there, my mother walked out of the house by herself, her arms and legs straight. Her face glowed. She got up on the cart easily. Then she said, “I don't feel cold. I don't need the quilt.”
I was so surprised and asked, “Mom, what elixir did my sister give you? How come all of your ailments disappeared in less than a month?”
She replied, “I didn't take one pill. I just practiced Falun Gong.” (Falun Gong is also called Falun Dafa.)
I couldn't believe my ears and asked, “Really? No pills at all? A qigong practice can cure all your ailments of decades in 28 days? If that is true, I want to practice it, too.”
Giving up Bad Habits and Becoming a Good Man
As soon as we got back to our village, I asked Mom to teach me the exercises.
She told me that Falun Gong was a cultivation practice of the Buddha School, that its students don't go to a temple and can practice at home. “But you smoke cigarettes, drink alcohol, and gamble. You have to quit these bad things first,” she added.
“No problem. Falun Gong is amazing. No matter what, I have to learn it,” I said.
Master Li said,
“Buddhists make a point of not drinking alcohol. Ever seen a Buddha holding a wine jug? Never.” (Zhuan Falun)
I could quit alcohol, but it was more difficult to quit smoking. Every few days, I couldn't bear it and would pull out my pipe to smoke.
Master said,
“Smoking doesn’t do the body one bit of good. If a person has smoked for a long time, when a doctor does an autopsy he’ll find that his trachea is all black, and even the insides of his lungs are black.” (Zhuan Falun)
One day, I made up my mind to quit smoking, so I threw the pipe in its bag onto the roof. A few days later, I had the desire to smoke again, so I stood in the yard and looked at the pipe in the bag longingly.
My mother saw my desire and said, “If you can't do a small thing like this, how can you cultivate? If you are truly my son, make up your mind and quit smoking!”
I remembered Master's teaching:
“Aren’t we practitioners trying to purify our bodies? We want to keep purifying our bodies, and keep moving up to higher levels. So what are you putting that in your body for? Isn’t that the opposite of what we’re trying to do? Besides, it’s another strong desire. Some people do know it’s bad, but they just can’t quit. I can tell you that it’s actually because they don’t have the right thoughts guiding them, so it’s not easy for them to just up and quit. See yourself as a cultivator, and treat it as an attachment today and try to quit, see if you can quit. If you really want to cultivate I urge you to quit smoking today, and I guarantee you can quit.” (Zhuan Falun)
When I truly made up my mind to quit smoking, Master helped me to clean my body. My throat had a taste of bitter tobacco. Even my excrement smelled like tobacco. Finally, I no longer had the desire to smoke.
I used to love gambling so much that I went out to gamble shortly after my honeymoon. My ex-wife was so upset she decided to divorce me. No one in my family could control me when it came to gambling. I lost most of what we made from our crops gambling. One Chinese New Year, I only had enough money to buy two pounds of meat for the whole family.
Once I was arrested for gambling. A villager told my family to bail me out. They were so upset with me, they said, “We don't care. It's best for him to be locked up. He deserves a beating, too!”
Money was everything to me. After my younger sister married, she often came home to visit us. I would warn her not to eat with us because she had married and no longer belonged to this family. Because I behaved like this, my elder brother and younger sister didn't like me at all.
Master said:
“I’ll tell you a truth: the whole process of cultivation is a process of constantly getting rid of human attachments. Out in the ordinary world, people fight each other, they deceive each other, and they harm other people just to benefit themselves a little. The thoughts behind that all have to go. And this is especially true for us folks learning the practice today—you have all the more reason to get rid of those thoughts.” (Zhuan Falun)
After I started to practice Falun Gong, I quit gambling and became considerate of my siblings and truly cared about my younger sister.
I knew a lot about farming and was good at it, so I looked down on other villagers. I often made fun of other people and swore at them.
After I practiced Falun Dafa, the situation changed. Once, a villager humiliated me by saying I was a bachelor and would have no child to pass down my family name to.
I didn't swear back. Instead, I smiled and let it pass. I was thinking that, even though I didn't have a child of my own, I had so many sentient beings and lives in my world. I must follow Master's teaching, “You did not hit back or swear back.” (“Lecture in Sydney”)
I dug a well and installed a motor to run the water pump. I let other villagers water their seedlings first. The head of the village came to my house when several others and I were watching a video of Master teaching the Fa. He said to me, “You should come water your own seedlings first.”
I replied, “Let others water theirs first. I will do mine last.”
He said, “Ever since you took up Falun Gong, you've completely changed! Falun Gong is really amazing!”
Clarifying the Facts and Escaping Arrest
The Chinese Communist Party started the persecution of Falun Gong in 1999. All the state-run media defamed Falun Dafa and poisoned people's minds. I am a Falun Dafa practitioner, so I have a responsibility to clarify the facts to people. I contacted practitioners in the city to provide me with printed materials to do that.
For this purpose, I kept my bike well-maintained, making sure the tires were inflated. I didn't let anyone borrow my bike, so I could ride to the city to pick the materials as soon as I got the phone call.
Sometimes the phone call came when I was working in the field. I would drop the shovel, get on my bike, and pick up the materials. Although I didn't have time to take good care of my farm, I had a good harvest every year. I sometimes forgot to feed the horse, but it didn't seem to lose any weight.
My understanding is that all of these matters are related to my cultivation. If I do the three things well, I should have a bumper harvest.
The first time, I took 130 fliers explaining the facts of Falun Dafa and handed them out. After that, I would pass out at least 400 copies every week, rain or shine. The ride to the city was more than 30 km round trip. I would go four or five times a month. I thought, “I will do this until Dafa's reputation is restored.”
The county government tried to intercept the fliers. Once, two young policemen stopped me with a big bag of fliers on the back of my bike and two small bags hanging on the handle. They grabbed my arms. I pretended to start to put down the bike. When they loosened their grip, I jumped on the bike and rode as fast as I could. They ran after me. I prayed, “Master, please don't let them catch me. I can't let them confiscate these materials that can save lives.”
There was a foot of snow on the road and my bike was very heavy. I was very tired so I thought, “You two guys freeze.” But my thought seemed to have no effect on them. I had to ride very hard and finally put some distance between us.
Arriving at my village, for safety, I hid the fliers in the field before entering the house. My mother asked why I didn't have any fliers. I told her the whole story.
When I thought about the encounter again sometime later, I realized that Master was helping me. Otherwise, how could I have ridden a heavy bike in the snow and escaped two young men chasing me?
I took different routes to and from, but the police followed me once. They chased me in a jeep. So I rode off the road onto the dirt path between the fields. I carried my bike over ditches and continued. The police had no way to catch me.
I was in dangerous situations many times, but with Master's protection, I always come home safely.
When the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party was published, I could go to villages in the mountains and pass out 500 copies in a night.
Later, practitioners shared with me that I should help more practitioners get involved. “Don't just distribute them by yourself. All practitioners are one body. If more practitioners participate, more people can be saved,” they said.
I talked to practitioners in the village, some of whom were afraid at first. So we went out in teams, and they were able to hand out three to five copies. Gradually, every one of us could pass out the book individually.
Another practitioner and I rode our bikes to eight villages in one night and distributed 4,000 fliers.
Fellow practitioners thought that riding a bike was getting to be too much for me so they gave me a motorcycle. I was very happy. One day, I rode the motorcycle to bring some fliers to a practitioner in a neighboring village.
Leaving his house, I made a quick turn and fell into a big pit. He pulled me and the motorcycle out and said, “You told me that the motorcycle was fast. I was watching you and thought it really was faster. But I didn't expect you to ride into a big pit.”
I managed to ride home, but I couldn't even climb into bed that evening. My mother had to help me. I looked inward and realized that I'd developed an attachment to showing off. I have to rectify myself in the Fa-rectification process, too.
Setting up a Printing Site at Home, Overcoming Interference with Wisdom
I was illegally sentenced to two years of forced labor in 2002. I met another practitioner who had been persecuted for printing truth-clarifying materials. I told myself that, if I could survive the forced labor and return home, I would learn how to use a computer and a printer. So many people had not seen any truth-clarifying materials yet.
I was tortured in many ways. All my teeth were broken in the repeated beatings. I also had vitiligo that covered most of my body. But nothing could change my determination to be Master's disciple.
After I returned home, with Master's help, I learned how to use a computer and how to print. Three local practitioners joined me, and we set up a home printing center, a “small flower.” Four of us shared different duties, and we could provide enough materials for the activities in our area. So we didn't need to request materials from the practitioners in the city any more.
One night in July the moon was very bright, and two older practitioners and I went to a village to pass out truth-clarification materials. I would follow the wide main streets, and they would walk the small streets. They were scared and said, “The moon is so bright, can we do it?”
I prayed to Master in my heart, “Master, your disciples want to distribute truth-clarification materials. Please cover the moon for an hour. Uncover it after we have finished.”
Then a patch of cloud covered the moon. We completed our task in about an hour. After we met again at the other end of the village, a practitioner said, “It was strange tonight. The moon was always hidden behind a cloud while we were distributing the fliers. Now we are finished and the cloud has disappeared, too.”
One day, I went to a village in the mountains and saw a house with its gate half open. I walked in and put a truth-clarification brochure on the windowsill. I turned to walk out and ran into a young lad coming home. He grabbed my clothes and asked what I was doing.
I said, “I am delivering truth-clarification material. You will be blessed after you read it.”
He asked, “What is truth-clarification material?”
“It is on the windowsill. Please read it. You can understand what it says,” I said.
He picked it up and read under the moonlight. I told him to go inside and read. “If you have any questions, I will come back in a couple of days.”
Since I said I would go back, a practitioner cannot lie. So I returned to this family the following night. When I entered the house, I met the father of the young man. I realized that I knew the older man. He asked me why I was there, and I said I came to answer his son's questions.
We were talking about the facts of the persecution when his son returned. He saw that I had indeed come back and was waiting in his home.
One spring, I spent a whole night distributing materials. I came home at dawn and immediately fell asleep. Shortly thereafter, five policemen came to my house with a bunch of fliers they'd collected.
One pulled my leg to wake me up. Another one said, “Look at his eyes. They are red. He must have not slept the whole night.”
A wise thing to say popped into my mind: “This is a good day for me. People say you can't open your eyes if you look at a welding light. I can see today!”
They Turned and Left after Listening to Me
The mayor of our county also worked for the 610 Office, which is responsible for persecuting Falun Dafa. One morning, he came to my house with a bundle of truth-clarification materials and asked, “Did you print these?”
I said, “Mayor, you are funny. Why do you always report to me whenever there is anything about Falun Gong?” He left without another word.
Another morning, I was checking to see who was tearing down the truth-clarification stickers and ran into the mayor. He said, “I knew it was you who put up these stickers. How dare you come back?”
I knew I couldn't lie. If I admitted it, they would persecute me and commit yet one more crime. If I denied it, I was not being truthful. Master gave me wisdom. I said to him slowly, “You said that I did this. Sky, please hear me. Earth, please hear me.”
He thought I was swearing by the sky and the earth and left me alone.
After that, for the sake of safety, I often disguised myself a bit when I was distributing materials nearby.
In July 2017, the police substation told the head of our village to detain me before the 19th Communist Party Congress because I practiced Falun Gong. The village head stood up for me and said, “Don't harass him. He only works in his fields and has made no trouble at all.”
But the former captain of the police substation still came to my house to threaten me. I told him, “You violated the law when you came to my house and harassed me. I gave you many chances and didn't submit your name to the international evildoers' list. I want you to learn the facts and treat Falun Gong practitioners fairly. Then you will be blessed.
“Jiang Zemin has committed unpardonable crimes. Falun Gong practitioners in over 30 countries have filed lawsuits against him. If you continue to follow him, you will be exposed on the Minghui website and an international organization will investigate and bring you to justice no matter how long it takes.
“Just like that Nazi prison guard who was sentenced to jail when he was over 90 years old. There is no excuse for persecution. Everyone will be held responsible for what he or she does.
“Today is your last chance to quit the Party. If you come back, you must quit the Party.”
I held his arm and asked, “Are you ready to quit? I can help you quit the Party now!” He never harassed me again.
Master said:
“Why should you, a Dafa disciple, fear the evil ones when enduring persecution? The crux of the matter is that you have attachments. If not, do not endure passively, and face the evil people with righteous thoughts at all times. No matter what the situation, do not cooperate with the evil’s demands, orders, or what it instigates. If everyone does this the environment won’t be this way.” (“Dafa Disciples’ Righteous Thoughts are Powerful” from Essentials for Further Advancement II)
Master also said:
“Clarifying the facts and saving sentient beings are what you need to accomplish. There is nothing else for you to accomplish. There is nothing else in this world that you need to accomplish. (“Fa Teaching Given at the 2015 New York Fa Conference”)
Thank you, Master!
