(Minghui.org) I am 68 years old and started to practice Falun Dafa in 1998. Prior to that, I was a lay Buddhist and studied the teachings of Tantrism and Pure Land because I was tired of the complicated relationships between people and seeing everyone fight for personal interests. However, I didn't find what I was looking for, so I was still searching.
A Falun Dafa practitioner gave me a copy of Zhuan Falun one day. I was astonished after reading the first page. I read the book in one go and felt extremely happy because I had finally found what I had been searching for.
I gave up everything I had studied before and began to cultivate solely in Falun Dafa. The monks from Wutai Mountain and some Lamas tried to persuade me not to practice Falun Dafa. I told them that I had made my decision and that nobody could ever stop me.
Turning Into a Better Person
My hometown was surrounded by woodland, and my parents were local government officials. Growing up, I was a tomboy, unrestrained, and had a straightforward temperament, upholding justice whenever I could. I had four younger brothers and a younger sister. I looked after them and would do anything to protect them. I was not afraid of anyone. My father often took me with him when he went hunting in the forest. He had a big gun, and I had a small one.
My father was labeled an “anti-revolutionary” during the Cultural Revolution and was paraded on a truck and publicly humiliated. I followed the truck, holding a large pole, shouting that I would die for my father if anyone dared to touch him. I couldn't understand why he was being persecuted because my father was a good person. So I became suspicious of Communism. I was 16 years old at the time.
I was also competitive. After I had my own family, I wanted to own the things that other people had. Because my friends had large houses, I thought my house should be large too. I stored many construction materials at my home, which I took from my workplace. However, they burned when the street I lived on had a fire. I had already started to practice Falun Dafa and realized that I should not have taken those things home.
I changed my attitude and behavior completely after I started practicing Falun Dafa. My wildness and aggressiveness were actually far from Dafa's requirements.
I rectified myself according to the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. My friends and colleagues said that I became gentle and easygoing. They were amazed by how Falun Dafa could change a person for the better.
Master Gave Me a Second Life
I stayed with my son overseas for some time. I was busy with my daily life and became lax in my cultivation. After some time, I was diagnosed with late-stage cancer with a complication of sepsis.
In a near-death experience, my soul departed my body and hovered on the ceiling of the hospital ward. I heard my daughter crying and shouting, “Mom, we cannot live without you!”
At that moment, I remembered that I practiced Falun Dafa and had Master to protect me. I didn't want to die, so I asked Master to save me. With this thought, my soul went back into my body. I sat up and said to my children, “Mom is all right now. Let's go home. I want to practice the Falun Dafa exercises.” I recovered quickly.
Sending Strong Righteous Thoughts
The communist regime’s persecution of Falun Dafa was severe at the time, and many practitioners went to Beijing to appeal for justice. As a Dafa practitioner who had gained a second life from Dafa, I knew that I should step out to let people know the truth about Falun Dafa.
I went to Beijing to appeal in November 2000 but was arrested on Tiananmen Square. I was taken to the backyard of a police station, where I saw an officer beating an elderly practitioner. I rushed over and grabbed his electric baton. “How dare you beat this lady?! She is probably older than your grandmother!” I shouted at him.
I was later taken to the Miyun Detention Center. I was not afraid at all and told the people there how Falun Dafa had saved my life. The guards there demanded that I give them my address, but I refused because I was worried that my local police officers would be implicated and lose their jobs.
An elderly guard was moved by my concern for their fellow police officers and asked a young guard to buy me a train ticket and send me home. He told me not to go there again. “It's too evil here,” he said.
I was put under house arrest, and four police officers came to my home to monitor me. I did not cooperate with them and instead told them about Falun Dafa. They eventually left my home after 19 days.
Facing Tribulations Without Fear
I went to visit my son overseas again and stayed with him for nearly ten years. I went out to tell Chinese people about Falun Dafa and the persecution, and I distributed informational materials about Dafa every day.
Meanwhile, the state security department in China put me on their wanted list, and I was to be deported back to China. At the time, my son was wrongly accused and facing a lawsuit. I was experiencing multiple tribulations. I sent forth righteous thoughts constantly and asked Master to strengthen me. Other practitioners also helped to send righteous thoughts for me.
I was told that my son's lawsuit had been withdrawn on Christmas Eve. I had two choices: either stay in America or go back to China. I decided to go home because China is the main battlefield for Fa-rectification, even though the persecution is still severe.
My son comforted me and told me not to worry when he saw me off at the airport. “I have Master,” I told him, “Master will protect me.” He agreed.
I arrived home safely at the end of 2009, but state security agents kept harassing my family for three months before they found me at the end of the following spring. I decided to stay and wait for them to come to me at home.
Master said:
“Wherever there's a problem, that is where you need to clarify the truth and save people.” (“Teaching the Fa at the Washington, D.C. Fa Conference” from Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. II)
A large team of officers soon came to my home. One of them said, “Falun Dafa practitioners are all very smart.”
I said to them, “Will smart people do silly things? I won't sell my soul even if I were given the whole world.”
I explained Dafa and the persecution to them, and in the end, they invited me to dinner and drove me home in their car. One of the officers even wanted to be friends with me.
I noticed that my phone was being tapped in 2010, and the state security bureau in another province arrested me. I said to Master that I would pass this test and let go of my attachment to life and death. I was at ease when they interrogated me, and I recited Master's teaching in my mind:
“Whether you can let go of ordinary human attachments is a fatal test on your way to becoming a truly extraordinary being.” (“True Cultivation” from Essentials for Further Advancement)
I said to the person interrogating me, “I used to have late-stage cancer and was going to die. Our Master saved me, and Falun Dafa has given me a new life. I have lived an additional ten years because of this. I am not afraid of death.”
I continued, “But we cannot be bullied either. Falun Dafa practitioners are all good people. You bully good people and are committing crimes. You harassed my daughter and her husband to the point that he became frightened and wanted to divorce my daughter. You behaved like bandits. I haven't come to you about this matter yet. Do not interfere with our lives. Why should I cooperate with you? To become bandits like you?”
I thought that I should make them unable to move. They indeed became still and couldn't move. I found an excuse to go out, and with the help of a kind police officer, I managed to leave there. I knew that Master had helped me again. I haven't been harassed since then.
That November, I brought some Dafa books back with me from overseas and was held up at customs at the airport. I said to myself that Master has the final say. I talked to the airport police about Dafa for about seven hours. When the evil in other dimensions was eliminated, the officer in charge released me, saying that they hadn't found any truth-clarification materials on me.
Master helped me again.
“One only needs to worry about putting in the effort of practice, and the rest is in the hands of one’s teacher.” (The First Talk, Zhuan Falun)
Cooperating with Other Practitioners
I tried my best to participate in Dafa activities. The local coordinators knew that I am courageous and have no fear, so they asked me to coordinate projects that required interpersonal skills and were risky, such as rescuing arrested practitioners and clarifying the truth to lawyers and officials in government departments.
I had to provide my ID card to postal workers to send materials to governmental and legal departments. I didn't have fear and kept sending the materials to those departments. Some practitioners asked me to post materials for them because they were afraid to do so. I didn't feel comfortable at first, thinking they should break through their attachment of fear.
Through studying the Fa, I realized that I shouldn't set standards for other practitioners and should accept them as they are. I then posted the materials together with them and encouraged them to let go of their fear.
One winter I brought two boxes of Dafa materials with me when I went back to my hometown by train. I began to hand them out as soon as I got off the train and finished distributing them in one night. Word spread the next day that I must have returned home because people saw the materials everywhere.
When I was distributing Falun Dafa calendars one time, a police officer asked me what I was giving out. I asked him if he wanted one. He took one and left. He then turned around and asked for another one.
Several passersby gave me a thumbs up, and one said, “Falun Dafa practitioners are very courageous!”
I have been practicing Falun Dafa for 20 years, and I have no fear. I stay calm no matter what situation I am in. Because I don’t have fear, I know what I should do from the perspective of the Fa.
A practitioner told me that I was put on a blacklist after I submitted my criminal complaint against Jiang Zemin, the former head of the Chinese Communist Party who ordered the persecution of Dafa. She said that I'd better hide, but I wasn't afraid and didn't go anywhere. I clarified the truth to whoever came to my home.
I told myself that I must pass the test well if I come across any hardship or tribulation. I believe that Master will strengthen me if my xinxing is up to par and I study the Fa well. I told myself that I must become worthy of Master's salvation. Actually, Master does everything for us and bears for us in other dimensions. In this dimension, I have to do my part well.
