(Minghui.org) I started to practice Falun Dafa in 1997. I was happy to find a cultivation practice in which the principles were clearly explained in simple language. I was also delighted with the beautiful movements of the exercises.
In the early stage of the persecution of Falun Dafa, I was repeatedly interfered with by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). I firmly believed in Teacher and the Fa, but at the time, I thought it didn’t make sense that good people were being persecuted and imprisoned. If I bowed to the pressure, I would have a negative impact on those who wanted to learn Falun Dafa, and I didn’t want to walk that path. I am thankful to my teacher, Mr. Li Hongzhi, who helped me get through many difficulties.
I would like to share some of my experiences from my years of practicing Falun Dafa.
Beginning Cultivation
I still remember the first time my husband and I read Teacher Li’s lectures. It was quite late at night when we finished and we were about to go to sleep. Suddenly, we both heard a roaring sound and saw bright lights. We knew we were so fortunate to have found Falun Dafa and that this good opportunity was not to be missed! As it says in Journey to the West, “It's not easy to have a human body, to be born in China, and to live in a period of time when there is the righteous Fa.” From then on, we cultivated without any regrets.
We read the teachings and conducted ourselves according to the Dafa standards according to what Teacher said,
“Examine how each and every thing measures up—Achieving these is cultivation” (Hong Yin, Translation Version C)
We resolved all of our conflicts and grievances with our relatives and neighbors. People saw how good Dafa was, and many joined the practice. My home eventually became a practice site. Most people ate supper early, got their families settled, then came over to do the exercises. The courtyard was full of practitioners. Once the music started, people of all ages began doing the exercises. It was such a solemn time. There was never a need to maintain order.
As time went by, we noticed that our health and moral standards improved a great deal. As for me, I had a stubborn chronic stomach problem and took a lot of medicine. I tried all sorts of cures and took whatever was being advertised. I avoided this and that food and was very thin. It was impossible for me to do any physical labor. Shortly after I began practicing Falun Dafa, my gastric ulcers, acid reflux, bloating, and other stomach issues went away and have never recurred. Sinusitis used to make my nose stuffy and cause dizziness and panic. Then there was also frequent constipation. But they all disappeared after I began Falun Dafa cultivation.
We bought the officially published Dafa books, paid attention to our conduct, tried to always be considerate of others, and did not make personal gain a priority. We became open-minded and cheerful, and our lives were simple and happy.
My daughter went to a university in a rural county. Every year, the government gave some of the students at that institution living allowances. One year, it was my daughter’s turn to get one. The allowance was about 3,000 dollars, which is a large amount for a rural family and sufficient to meet a student’s needs for one semester. My daughter called me and said there was a classmate from a poor family who cried because she didn’t get an allowance. My daughter, however, had already been given several. So I suggested that she give the subsidy to her classmate. She agreed gladly and gave it to the other girl. I was happy that she made the right decision, and our family expressed our appreciation to Teacher Li for teaching us to be good people. My daughter later became a respected member of the community.
Believing in Teacher and the Fa in the Midst of Tribulations
In July 1999, the CCP launched a vicious campaign to slander Teacher and Dafa. Practitioners were being illegally arrested right and left. Officials from the 610 Office often came to my home and interfered with my family. They wanted us to give up practicing Falun Dafa and betray our fellow practitioners. But we refused to cooperate. People in our town have been left in peace ever since.
During that time, we always treated these people sensibly and rationally. I often recited the Fa and looked straight into their eyes to send forth righteous thoughts. They never uttered a word disrespectful about Teacher or Dafa. My home was left in peace.
Last year the CCP carried out a “knocking on doors” campaign. They came to my town to visit me. But the village officials who already knew the truth about the persecution came to tell us ahead of time and took them to another family that didn’t practice Dafa, so we were able to escape. The family that was visited was angry and threatened to sue them.
Clarifying the Truth to Save People
Dafa was being defamed and many practitioners were arrested, imprisoned, and tortured. As a result, a great number of ordinary people were deceived and formed opinions that were not based on the truth. I began clarifying the truth to people I knew to let them know it was wrong for the CCP to persecute Falun Dafa. I also drafted letters and hand-copied them to distribute. Practitioners took the materials I produced to give to people they knew.
Unfortunately, the materials we gave out were very limited. We didn’t have enough. I thought about setting up a truth-clarification station at home, but my financial circumstances didn’t permit it. Teacher saw my intention, so he arranged for a practitioner I had never met to supply me with what I needed. Then another practitioner gave me a black-and-white photocopier. Because the materials I had were in color and couldn’t be copied, I had to trace every single word in black ink, then use it as my master copy to reproduce a large number. Sometimes I could even reproduce more for those practitioners that were in need.
I was especially delighted when the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party came out. The topics in the book were explained in detail and could guide people on how to return to traditional culture. I thought it would be wonderful if I could hand them out, but I didn’t know where to find a practitioner to get more copies. I later realized that I could take the book I had apart, photocopy one page at a time, fold the pages, drill holes, and use a thin wire to bind the book. Every day after work, my husband and I were busy making the book. We worked till past midnight and each night we were able to produce five to six copies. We gave them out in the morning in a matter of minutes!
One day I took the books to a building where teachers lived. It was a new school year and many people were going in and out. I placed a book at each door. I saw a teacher take the book, flip through it, and then check to see if anyone else got a copy. She took her copy inside. Seeing how excited she was to have received the Nine Commentaries, I gained more confidence when it came to producing truth-clarification materials.
Teacher Sent a Practitioner to Help Me
Teacher soon sent another practitioner I did not know to help us. From then on, I hooked up with a practitioner who took care of truth clarification. First I asked a practitioner to help take care of my child. Then I got a job as a babysitter in the neighborhood where the truth-clarification site was. I learned how to establish and run the site while working as a babysitter. After producing the materials, I bundled them up to take to practitioners in various locations. Soon I mastered all the necessary skills and was able to produce beautiful materials in color. Then I decided to quit my job and return home to run my own site.
When I left, the family I babysat for tried to convince me to stay because they liked how independent and responsible I was. I cleaned the house well, made food that the kids liked, helped to tutor the kids after school, and bought things that they ran out of without being told. We got along very well. I also helped the family and their relatives to quit the CCP, and some of them even read Zhuan Falun. We became close friends.
Practitioners Cooperate in their Truth Clarification Efforts
Practitioners at our material production site cooperated with each other and produced many different kinds of materials. Although some practitioners were interfered with and got arrested, after they were released, they were able to break through many difficulties and return to the task of saving people once again. The material production site has been in operation for more than ten years now.
Over the years I have tried to maintain a balance and not be affected when certain practitioners were interfered with. When they were not available to help us, we ended up having too many materials in stock because they couldn’t distribute them. I looked inside and saw that I was too attached to “doing Dafa work.” I sent righteous thoughts to eliminate my attachment as well as the evil substances that interfered with the whole body of practitioners. It was indeed like Teacher said,
“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)
As long as we do things according to the requirements of Dafa, Teacher will help us with everything.
Ever since I started making materials, I reminded myself not to have any negative thoughts about anything. The materials we produced were very good resources that helped people understand the truth. As long as they read them, they would change. Nowadays, people are busy and not many of them listen carefully to what we say to them. However, they can take the materials home and read at their leisure. Sometimes we met people who said that they read the materials over and over again. Others said they missed certain handouts from a series and asked if we could give them the missing ones.
I noticed that in some areas practitioners seldom gave out materials. In one particular area practitioners only made one package a week. Some only made phone calls and didn't do face-to-face truth clarification because it was safer that way. I think this kind of mentality is not right. These practitioners need to look within to see if it is because they have some notions, the attachment of fear, or if perhaps they are not willing to endure hardships. These are things we need to get rid of.
Practitioners in our area were cooperative. Every day we went out to different places to give information to people.
One time practitioners went through a big door and wound up at a waste recycling station. They clarified the truth to the manager who invited them in. They saw a copy of the Nine Commentaries sitting on a table. The manager said, “This is what I picked out of the recycling bin. It's a good book! So I saved it and plan to give it to someone else to read.”
Another time, a practitioner was out walking when she came upon two people working. She gave one of them a truth-clarification magazine. He put down his tools and started turning the pages. When the practitioner started to clarify the truth to the other man, he asked, “Aren’t you afraid I’ll report you to the police?”
She said, “If I was afraid, I wouldn’t have come out to do this. I'm doing this for your sake.” Suddenly, the person tensed and said, “A police car is coming this way.” He walked over to stand next to his companion so that the police couldn’t see him. He did not want them to see his companion reading the Falun Dafa materials. The car drove by. The practitioner then helped the two men quit the CCP. Reflecting on her day, the practitioner said she believed that the person that shielded his companion from the police would certainly be rewarded for his good deed!
