(Minghui.org) I began to cultivate in Falun Dafa in 1996. The Dafa principles “Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance” taught me to never follow society’s trends such as taking advantage of others.
I’m a greenhouse vegetable farmer. I don’t short the weight when selling vegetables, and I never argue with people when being bullied. If it were not for practicing Dafa, I would have followed whatever others were doing.
Prior to cultivating, I used to be narrow-minded, and I pursued fame and self-interest. Back then, I couldn’t tell right from wrong. For instance, I used to sell fruit. When someone passed by my stand and dropped 50 yuan on the ground, I quickly picked it up and put it into my pocket. I never felt that was wrong, or that I shouldn’t have done it, especially as it was more than I would make in a day.
I rented a piece of land in 2008, and built two greenhouses to grow vegetables. I didn’t know what to do in the beginning, so I asked my neighbor to help my husband and I learn the rudiments of farming. I paid a lot of attention to how people grew vegetables, and gradually learned the tricks.
One year I planted cucumbers. After I picked them, they had to be put into baskets before being taken to the market. The baskets had to be lined with plastic wrap, then the cucumbers would go on top. Most of the farmers would spray water on the baskets so that the vegetables would look fresher, before taking them for sale. Thus, the weight of the water added an extra three to four pounds to a basket. Since one truck could load many baskets, one would earn quite a bit of extra income.
This was how ordinary people increased their earnings substantially. However, I knew that as a practitioner, I couldn’t do that. I said to my husband, “We can’t do it that way. Let’s put the vegetables on the scale before watering them.” My husband wasn’t a practitioner, so at first, he wasn’t very happy about that, and said, “Other people all do it that way. If we don’t, they’ll curse us.” I said, “What other people say does not apply to us. I’m a practitioner, I can’t do this kind of thing to take advantage of others. If we follow what other people do, we will lose virtue and incur karma, then we will end up losing more. Only by possessing virtue can we accumulate wealth.” Since I have cultivated for many years, he also understood these principles, so, he didn’t argue with me any more.
We later began to sell celery. My neighbor still rinsed them with water so as to increase the weight. Each greenhouse could produce about 6,000 pounds of celery, which brought extra income for my neighbors, yet I was still not moved. The vegetable stand owners said that only our celery were never short of weight.
For the sake of profit, regular people boosted the growth of vegetables by injecting a type of chemical. It only took a few days for the vegetables to be ready for the market. In addition, for the sake of aesthetics, they injected some other chemicals as well. Someone even came to my home to try and lure me into doing that, but my heart wasn’t moved.
Many people around me said that they did not worry when eating my vegetables, which was an affirmation of my character, as well as Dafa. They all knew that I practiced Dafa and have held onto my faith for the past 13 years. Before that, since I was still learning how to farm, my income was only just enough to cover my expenses.
Five years ago I made over 30,000 yuan on cabbage. This caused quite a stir in my local area, as no one believed you could make that much money on cabbage. After I heard that, I wasn’t moved either, nor did I argue with them. I knew I had done the right thing in selling my vegetables over the years. When Master saw that my xinxing had reached the standard, he encouraged me by rewarding me with outstanding sales. I know if something is mine, I will not lose it. Through this, my husband also got to witness the power of Dafa first-hand.
I was often ill before I began cultivating, and suffered from gynecological diseases. Also, anemia triggered many problems, such as feeling dizzy, vomiting, migraine, and abdominal distention. A little bit of cold could make me feel bloated and sore. In addition, whenever I had my period, it lasted a long time and was very painful. But my parents didn’t care much about me, because I was a girl. Thus, I got very little sympathy.
At a time when I was feeling helpless in the fall of 1996, my neighbor said to me, “Do you feel bloated? Why don’t I teach you to practice Dafa? You never know, you may recover from what is ailing you.” So I went with her to the park. From then on, I began Dafa cultivation.
In the beginning, I didn’t know that this was cultivation, and only took it as regular qigong. But, since I began to cultivate, I have just kept going. In addition, I stopped feeling bloated, and my periods also became normal. I later realized that I became more energetic and recovered from all my illnesses. I truly came to feel that my body was light and illness-free. Right then, I knew that I was very fortunate.
Later on, I began to set up greenhouses for growing and selling vegetables. It was very hard to work in the field given the amount of work involved. Gradually I slacked off in doing the exercises and studying the Fa. Consequently, I experienced physical interference.
My back hurt more and more. Six months had passed, and it didn’t get better. Then I began to realize the seriousness of this matter. When I looked inward, I realized I hadn’t let go of many attachments, such as competitive mentality, show-off mentality, jealousy, vanity, lust, attachment to comfort, laziness, attachment to fame and self-interest, and so on. My attachment to comfort was especially strong.
I felt so ashamed when I located these attachments. It was as if I had never cultivated. I then made up my mind to seize the time to do Fa-study and exercises, as well as strengthening sending forth righteous thoughts. Gradually my back got better. But soon enough, I had a relapse. This time, I couldn’t even straighten my back. No matter whether I lay or sat down, it really hurt. This situation lasted for three days without getting better.
Right then, what Master mentioned about “benevolent solutions” came to my mind. I used that to communicate with the entities that were persecuting me. I said, “The beings who are persecuting me, listen: I know I must owe you. Lifetime after lifetime, we have been in delusion. With you harming me and me harming you, then taking turns to avenge in the next life. When will this end? I am now very fortunate to practice Dafa, and I am confident that I will reach consummation. If you continue to persecute me, you will have to face elimination. If you choose to stop harming me, I’ll give you blessings in the future. So that all of us receive benevolent solutions, in that way we’ll have our grievances resolved. Please remember ‘Falun Dafa is good! Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good!’”
After I recited this twice, my back stopped hurting. I knew that Master must have endured greatly for me. Meanwhile, I felt happy for those beings who had made the right choice.