The Path I Walked (Part 5)

(Minghui.org) Ms. Li Li was a native of Heilongjiang Province. She had a difficult life, losing her mother to an unknown illness in 1992, and her brother to a brain tumor in 1994. She got married in 1981 and was a victim of domestic violence through most of her marriage. Her husband had extramarital affairs, eventually divorced her in 1996, and soon married the widow of her late brother.

Despite the hardships and heartbreaks, Ms. Li held to Falun Dafa’s principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, and even her ex-husband protected her after the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began the persecution of Falun Dafa in 1999. A TV reporter, a friend of his, intended to interview him and have him blame Falun Dafa for breaking up his marriage with Ms. Li. He firmly turned down his friend's request for an interview. While Ms. Li was being detained for her faith, he kept her Falun Dafa books in a safe place. After she was released but forced to live away from home to avoid further arrests, he took good care of their son.

Ms. Li later died as a result of the persecution. This 10-part series was her own account of her story.

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Although I experienced misery and unhappiness, I remained cheerful, and was kind to those that mistreated me.

(Continued from Part 4)

Facing Interference: Master’s First Lectures

It was difficult when Master first spread the Fa, especially there was great interference from demons. Ever since Master began his teaching, all kinds of messy qigong practices showed up. People had not heard of them, nor knew their names. Followers of those practices were like drunk people, moving unsteadily from side to side. The situation in the parks was even messier. Sometimes, I went to Shengli Park in Changchun to take a look. Some were walking in circles, and some were collecting qi. The atmosphere was unbearable. 

There were two people I knew, who attended Master’s class in the early days: Liu Fengcai and Zhao Jiemin. They appeared to be very sincere in the beginning. Later, they told practitioners about their supernormal abilities. They talked and talked, and displayed a very strong pursuit of supernormal abilities. Then, they claimed to be better than everyone else. 

They exhibited demonic interference, and badmouthed Master. They appeared to be after supernormal abilities, which they hoped to get from Master. All that was for monetary gains. They asked for abilities from Master. When unable to achieve their goals, they maligned Master everywhere. I knew these people were not righteous, so I did not interact much with them. However, other practitioners told me about the bad things they had done. 

Introduced to Buddhahood

After Master left, I had a feeling of loss and did not know what I should do. I had not understood what true cultivation was, and had forgotten some things Master had discussed in his lectures. At that time, there was no audio or video recording, nor a Falun Dafa book.

My coworker in the same Teaching and Research Office who was responsible for my obtaining the Fa took me to another family. They said that this family was practicing some kind of qigong, and it was a good practice. 

I went to see them to find out what it was all about. I could not understand what they were mumbling. They claimed that it was a message, but in reality it was the cosmic language Master had mentioned. I was a little curious about it, but did not develop an interest in it. 

Next, we bought a bronze Buddha statue at a large temple in Changchun. I had little knowledge about Buddhism, and had no exposure to any religious information. When seeing a Buddha statue in a temple, I did admire it. I wanted to cultivate Buddhahood, but how to cultivate it, and where can I find a Buddha? At that time, I still treated Master as a qigong Master – the best, most righteous, and the one I respected the most. But, I considered this different from cultivating Buddhahood. 

My coworker had converted to Buddhism, and agreed to take me for conversion at a temple. I asked her when that would that happen, and we decided a date. On that day I was about to leave when a teacher surnamed Wang, director of the Teaching and Research Office approached me.

“Li Li,” he said, “today our Teaching and Research Office will have a spring outing where we have a group picture taken. You must attend, and we have to leave now.” I told him that I already had other plans. But, he insisted that I come along.

I interpreted this as interference of my desire to cultivate Buddhahood. The more resistance I experienced, the more I would go after the issue, So, I decided not to join some kind of spring outing or picture taking, instead I went for my conversion in the temple. However, Master already gave me a hint to stop me, which was related to the principle of “no second cultivation way.” I should not go for conversion. But, I did not know this at the time, and ended up doing something terribly wrong. It was a very painful lesson. Whenever thinking of this, I would regret it and was sad. How silly was I, because I failed to see the truth?

Old Forces’ Interference: Blocking Practitioners from Obtaining the Fa

Master came back from Beijing. We heard about this and hurried to see him. That time we took several taxi cabs. I was in the same car as Master, and sat next to him. Master was very serious and did not say a word. I felt I might have problems. Master seemed a little sad. After a long time I asked, “Master, what is main consciousness and what is assistant consciousness?” Master did not answer my question. At that time, I lowered my head like a child who had done things wrong. I knew Master was not satisfied with all of us. Seeing Master like this, I felt bad in my heart, but I did not know where I had done wrong. We did not know what a difficult situation Master was facing at the time.

Recalling that time, we know the vicious old forces had been interfering since the beginning of Master spreading the Fa. They had made arrangements from top to bottom, at all levels on everything and everyone. Their way of interfering and damaging was blocking practitioners who had obtained the Fa from becoming genuine practitioners at the time. They had tried all means and taken advantage of practitioners’ unclear state of mind as well as attachments. A more vicious method they exploited was stopping practitioners with predestined relationship from obtaining the Fa on the issue of “no second cultivation way.” Because of serious problems many practitioners had at the time, Master was holding more classes in Changchun. I also decided to continue attending the classes for better understandings of Master’s lectures.

Not long before Master’s classes, I received a letter in early April 1993 telling me that my mother-in-law had come down with a serious illness, possibly throat cancer. She would come to Shenyang City for surgery and asked me to prepare some money. Because Lu was in school, I had to handle this. I took out all the money I had in my checking account, about 3,000 yuan, for my mother-in-law. When thinking about this again, however, I was planning for my mother-in-law to attend Master’s class. It was a great opportunity and her illness could be cured as a result. 

I was attending a class when she came, so she and her oldest daughter were sitting on the stairs on the sixth floor waiting for me. When getting back after my class, I saw my mother-in-law sitting there crying and saying, “How come I came here?” Hearing her saying words of nonsense, I suspected she had spirit possession, because I knew she worshiped all kinds of things. 

I took them to the Shengli Park on the following day. There was a practitioner with celestial eye open who could remove spirit possession, so I asked her to take a look. After seeing my mother-in-law, this practitioner said to me in private, “It’s two yellow weasels, one wrapped around her neck and another crawling on her back.” After she removed them, the two yellow weasels were crying. The manifestation on this side was that my mother-in-law was also in tears. 

In late April 1993, Master held another lecture session in Jilin University auditorium. My mother-in-law, my son Lu Lu, and myself attended this lecture, Master talked about “no second cultivation way.” He explained the seriousness in great detail and repeatedly emphasized it. I immediately understood: Wasn’t Master talking about me? Now I knew my problem actually came from here. I listened to Master’s lectures attentively and was really clear this time. This is the Fa that guides one’s cultivation. Then, isn’t Master a Buddha? Where else do I need to go and search? 

Excited and regretfully, I discarded the conversion certificate and said to Master in my heart, “Master, I understand now. I will never repeat this mistake again. This is a serious lesson that I will never forget. One must remain dedicated in cultivation practice. I will definitely keep in mind ‘no second cultivation way.’” After this lecture session, I wrote a short summary of my cultivation experience, “Master, I am dedicated to Buddhahood and I will cultivate Buddhahood.” 

After taking in Master’s lecture, my mother-in-law was like a different person. She had been having difficulty speaking earlier because of throat problems. Now everything was normal and she felt no pain. She used to be overweight, and had difficulty breathing. After the 10-day lecture seminar, her stomach flattened, she became skinnier, and was energetic.

The tuition for Master’s learning session was the lowest. It was 40 yuan for new practitioners 20 yuan for veteran practitioners. This had made some qigong masters jealous and unhappy. They would make less money because of this. The China Qigong Research Association would collect some fee, so did the Changchun Qigong Association. There was hardly any money left after deducting the facility charge. When Master went to other cities to hold classes, the budget for material expense was very tight. And there was no money to publish books, which I witnessed. When book publishing was blocked because Master had no money, I felt very bad. Looking at Master with tears, I thought: how I wish I had money so that I could help Master. It was too difficult for Master! I could sense the challenges Master faced at the time. 

Decision: To Cultivate Solidly

A person surnamed Xu from Changchun and his family also attended this learning session in 1993. They began to practice and Xu later became a coordinator of the Changchun Assistants Center. Later on, I often visited Xu’s family because of the practice. Other than this session, I also joined another session given by Master later on. When walking out of the auditorium, I was clear-minded with a firm thought: I will cultivate solidly. 

As Master continued holding classes, more and more people joined the practice. Group practice sites were established at parks in Changchun. On the west side of Jilin University, there was an empty place like a garden outside the Science and Technology Building. The sidewalk was paved with stones. Together with a rockery flower pond next to it, it was very beautiful. Master went there in person cleaning up the field and surroundings. Then we established our practice side at that location.

(To be continued)