From a Lay Buddhist to a Steadfast Falun Dafa Practitioner

(Mingui.org) I have been practicing Falun Dafa since August 1997, and with Master Li's protection, my cultivation has been relatively smooth over the past 20 years. At 63, I continue to feel grateful to our teacher. 

My mother was a lay Buddhist who influenced me to believe in gods and Buddhas when I was a child. I often went to the temple to offer incense and make wishes. I also set up a shrine for Guanyin at home. 

The reason I believed in Buddha at the time was to protect my family. My child was weak and frequently ill; my husband injured his back and could not do heavy work; and I had many illnesses and lacked energy most of the time. The more issues I encountered, the more I begged for Buddha’s protection, but my family continued to be sick. 

In the spring of 1997, my aunt introduced Falun Dafa to me. I was moved when I heard Master Li teaching his Fa. I thought the principles were so good that I immediately wanted to learn them all. But my mother told me that I should not believe in anything other than Buddhism, which became an obstacle to my starting Dafa cultivation.

A while later, my aunt told me that a video of Master Li lecturing was going to be shown and asked me to accompany her, so I went. I sighed as I watched, and thought, “This master explains things so clearly. It would be a pity to not learn such a good Fa.” I then made up my mind to begin cultivation practice in earnest.

Every day, I went to the place in the village where Dafa practitioners met to study the Fa and do the exercises together. Not long after, I donated my statue of Bodhisattva Guanyin to the Buddhist temple, burned all my Buddhist scriptures, and tossed away the censer bowl. At first, I felt a little scared but nothing untoward happened.

As I continued to live by Falun Dafa's principles, Master cleansed my body. I became healthy without being aware of it and was happier than I had ever been. I felt that I was the luckiest person in the world! Master said, “ … with one person practicing, the whole family benefits … ” (“Teachings at the Conference in Australia”).

Both my husband and child also became healthy. 

Steadfastly Cultivating Dafa

In July 1999, Jiang Zemin started a bloody suppression of Falun Dafa practitioners, which seemed to change everything. The government used the media to spread lies to everyone in China and around the world, to slander Dafa and practitioners, and to poison all sentient beings with mistruths. Practitioners were no longer allowed to get together to study the teachings and cultivate.

After careful deliberation, I decided to continue following Dafa steadfastly. I did not worry about any potential danger that lay ahead. All I knew was that nothing was wrong with following Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance (the core principles of the practice) and being a good person. I paid no attention to how I was viewed at work by my manager and colleagues. All I knew was that cultivating in Dafa was the best thing in my life. 

Two other colleagues also cultivated Dafa. When the manager threatened them for holding onto their beliefs, one switched to a religion, and the other gave up practicing. On the other hand, the manager never harassed me for following my faith. I thank Master for protecting me.

Being a Responsible Dafa Practitioner

I learned from studying the Fa that once a person thinks that Falun Dafa is not good, he may face being eliminated by Heaven in the future. I felt sorry for the hundreds of millions of people who were deceived by the communist regime's lies, but I didn’t know what to do. 

One day, someone handed me a leaflet about Falun Dafa. I made copies of it to distribute, and wrote my own messages to clarify the truth about Dafa and gave them out as well. I wrote “Falun Dafa is good,” “Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good!” on telephone poles with chalk and affixed slogans on colored paper onto posts. I also sent letters to the police department, township, village leaders, and other government departments explaining the facts about Falun Dafa. I wanted to wake up as many people as possible so they would not be poisoned by the propaganda and lies.

When I went out at night, my husband worried about my safety and did not want me to go. He said angrily, “If you go, don’t come back!” I was not frightened, but when I got home I found the front door locked. I knocked hard but he would not open it. I then knocked on the back door; but he refused to open that either. I just kept knocking until he finally let me in. Eventually, he gave up when he saw that he couldn't stop me. 

A dozen practitioners in our village continued to cultivate. We needed someone to coordinate the group, so I took on the task. The persecution was so severe in those days that everyone was scared. Sometimes, I went to practitioners’ homes to deliver messages, only to be greeted with the stern faces of their family members. I didn’t let it bother me and just did what I needed do. I have persisted this way for more than 20 years.

Master asks practitioners to tell people the truth about Falun Dafa and save sentient beings who have heard and believed the lies. An older fellow practitioner in our area worked very hard. He rode hundreds of miles on a motorcycle to find the villages in which there weren't any Dafa practitioners. 

He drew a map and divided practitioners into three groups, each of which was responsible for 10 to 20 villages. This way, a group of 12 people rode motorcycles to the villages and distributed materials at night. I went along, barring special situations, to places that were dozens of miles away. Along the way, we recited Master’s Fa and sent righteous thoughts. There was no fear in our hearts. We only thought about saving sentient beings.

At the time, I only helped by distributing flyers. Another practitioner coordinated the group. Later, this practitioner was arrested, leaving no one to coordinate the dozen or so villages we were responsible for. So I found the necessary supplies to make and distribute flyers to people in these places. I have lost count of the number of times we distributed Dafa materials in the past years.

We were very anxious when the COVID-19 outbreak began last year. After talking about what we could do, we decided to make a pamphlet called “Secrets to Avoid the Plague” and other related materials as soon as possible and distribute them to people. 

We went out in two groups at night. Villages closed the roads and blocked the entrances with large mounds of dirt. We got off the motorcycles and slowly pushed them around the mounds. There were also patrols in the villages, but we didn't worry about them catching us. In this way we delivered the message on how to avoid the pandemic to each home in every village.

We are Dafa disciples in the Fa-rectification period who help Teacher to save people, and are the hope for salvation of all beings. Over the years, I feel that I have a responsibility to do these things. In 2015, I finally cultivated away the attachment to depending too much on others and relying on external help. Fellow practitioners and I established our own materials production site. I learned how to surf the internet and download information I could use to make flyers and be self-sufficient.

After all the years of ups and downs, I deeply feel that Master is always by my side. When we posted information at night, I sometimes got separated from the other practitioners. But I was not afraid of being alone; it felt like I was just in my own backyard. We always returned home safely with Master’s protection.

Over the years, I have done so little compared to diligent practitioners. Notably, I still have a lot of attachments. I will study the Fa more, look inward, and do the three things well in order to be worthy of Master's benevolent salvation.