(Minghui.org) Editor’s note: This article is from a letter written by a Falun Dafa practitioner to the judge in charge of her case. She wrote the letter after the local procuratorate forwarded her indictment to the judge. She hopes that by learning the facts of Falun Dafa, the judge will no longer follow the persecution policy to prosecute her for her faith.
Fate arranged for us to meet. I have been thinking about the indictment against me for my faith ever since I received it. I think it's important that you know what I have personally experienced. I have improved my physical and mental health by practicing Falun Dafa and learned to be a good person according to the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. I want to explain why I am so steadfast in practicing Falun Dafa. These are my heartfelt words and I hope that you will read them all.
When I was a teenager, I suffered from sinusitis and rheumatoid arthritis. Sinusitis blocked my nose for years, causing headaches and dizziness. I had to breathe through my mouth at night and often felt terrible after I woke up. Rheumatoid arthritis made my joints hurt on cloudy or rainy days. My studies and life in general were seriously affected.
After I started to work and got married, I developed hypertension, heart disease, and a stomach condition. Because of the stomach problem, I had poor digestion, loss of appetite, and chronic bloating. I had neuralgic dermatitis all over my neck, which caused unbearable itching when I tried to sleep. I would scratch until I bled, and the rash eventually spread all over my face.
After I retired, I ended up with serious cervical spondylosis. My left hand and foot went numb if I sat still for two minutes. Medication and herbal remedies didn’t help. To enhance blood circulation and prevent my body from going numb, I often got up early in the morning and walked around town. I walked so many streets and parks in my area that I memorized a map of the city.
I heard that there was a specialist who treated cervical spondylosis, so I went to see him. The doctor said that the numbness in my hands and feet was caused by the compressed nerves in my spine and only surgery would help. I was placed on a waiting list due to the shortage of hospital beds and continued my walks every morning.
One day, I passed by a public square and saw a group of people exercising. They were stretching and raising and lowering their arms and bending over. I thought these movements might help my spine, so I tried to copy them.
When the exercises were over, I asked an elderly woman next to me to teach me. She was very enthusiastic. When she instructed me to overlap my hands in front of my lower abdomen, I felt circles of warmth, just like an electrical circuit. I also felt something turning in my palms.
I was very surprised. I had practiced several kinds of qigong in the past but I never saw any improvement. This time, just by copying a few movements, there was such a big change. I asked the woman what qigong it was. She said it was Falun Dafa and told me that the sensation I felt was the Falun rotating and that it was adjusting my body. As soon as I heard that, I fell in love with Falun Dafa.
This unforgettable day was September 15, 1997.
When I returned home, I couldn’t wait to practice what exercises I could still remember. My joy was inexpressible.
Early the next morning, I went to look for the practitioners. They were very helpful and taught me the movements, explaining that all the Falun Dafa teachings and instructions were free of charge. They also emphasized that Falun Dafa is not just about practicing physical movements; it is more about cultivating one’s character and learning to be a good person.
As soon as I heard that, I knew that it is not an ordinary qigong, so I purchased a copy of Zhuan Falun, which is the core text of Falun Dafa, and the exercise instruction video. I decided to cultivate Falun Dafa.
It took me three days to finish reading Zhuan Falun. I thought it was a very good book and I didn’t want to put it down. I’d never felt like that about any other book. I was so amazed that Mr. Li Hongzhi, the founder of Falun Dafa, was able to convey such profound principles in such simple language. I couldn’t help reading it again and again.
From then on, I went to practice with the group every day. When I returned home, I would practice with the exercise instruction video. I felt indescribably comfortable, and the more I practiced, the more I loved it. Especially when exercising with everyone outdoors or in the park, where everything was so beautiful and the air was fresh, the energy field was very strong and the effect was even greater.
Gradually, I stopped hurting, and all my ailments disappeared. I forgot that I had scheduled a surgery. Every day I had a smile on my face, and my life was happy and enjoyable. Whenever I think of this, I can’t help but feel grateful to Master Li Hongzhi for giving us such a great cultivation way.
As I kept reading Zhuan Falun, I understood that practicing Falun Dafa is not only about physical exercises. More importantly, it is about cultivating one’s character and improving one’s moral standards by following the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. With those principles in mind, I started to improve my relationships with my family and neighbors.
In July 1999, the former communist regime leader Jiang Zemin started the persecution of Falun Dafa. Public security officers, police officers, and police cars patrolled everywhere. Residential areas were not spared, and the police knocked on doors and paid neighbors to monitor us. TV programs and newspapers vilified Falun Dafa, and we lost our cultivation environment. The authorities pressured us to give up Falun Dafa by threatening to confiscate our homes or send us to forced labor camps.
I was worried that I might lose my house, so I was forced to stop practicing Falun Dafa. My old health problems soon returned, especially high blood pressure and heart disease. I had to run around between major hospitals again, taking prescriptions and getting injections, but with little success.
One night in 2001, my chest and back hurt so much that I was sweating profusely. I thought I was going to die since I had never felt like that before. At that moment, I thought of Falun Dafa and Master Li Hongzhi. Lying in bed, I started to say Master’s name over and over again. I didn’t realize that I had fallen asleep. When I woke up, it was almost dawn. Not only was I not dead, but I could also get out of bed, and the pain was much less. I called my daughter to tell her what had happened that night, and she insisted on taking me to the hospital.
We saw the specialist, who noticed I kept touching the left side of my chest with both hands. The doctor said, “You need to get to the Emergency Room right away!” and had me admitted to the intensive care unit for monitoring.
I was told I needed two stents, which would cost 40,000 yuan. I was not well-off—40,000 yuan was all I had in savings. I thought about it and decided not have the surgery. So I told the doctor my situation, explaining that I would get by with some medication.
For many years after that, I saw Western and Chinese doctors, took all kinds of prescriptions and injections, but I was still the same. Not only did I not recover from my old illnesses, but I also developed new ones: hyperthyroidism, migratory rheumatism, and depression. The most serious was the hyperthyroidism. I ate a lot, but I was as thin as a stick and had no energy. All I wanted was to sleep and do nothing.
The depression was also very serious. I was always down, and I kept thinking about sad things from the past. I went to see a psychiatrist who prescribed a lot of medications and asked if I sometimes heard someone call my name. I said I did. The doctor said that indicated a severe level of depression. If not controlled, it could lead to suicide.
Just when I was truly desperate, I remembered Falun Dafa. With only a glimmer of hope, I picked up Zhuan Falun and started to do the exercises. After a short time, I experienced the wonder of Falun Dafa once again. All my illnesses went away. Master Li Hongzhi saved my life one more time. That was in 2013.
It has now been almost ten years and I have not been to a hospital once during that time. I no longer use the special chronic disease medical certificate I once had, nor do I need the annual government medical subsidy. My ailments are gone, and I am no longer suffering and in pain. How could I not say that Falun Dafa is good? I will soon be 80 years old, yet I feel strong and vigorous and my mind remains sharp. Not only can I take care of myself, I can also look after my son and grandson. My children no longer have to worry about me and accompany me to the hospital. How could I ever stop practicing Falun Dafa, which has benefited me so much?
Now let me talk about my marriage. I graduated from high school in 1963 and joined the workforce. I was assigned to a factory as an accounts clerk in the finance department. In those years, there were generally more men than women employees in such companies, so many men could not find a wife where they worked and would have to go to the countryside to find a spouse. Many graduates from technical colleges expressed their interest in marrying me, but I refused their offers and ended up marrying an ordinary fellow with no diploma or skills who had to do hard labor every day.
You might ask me why. The man I found was born into a landlord’s family, which in those days in communist China was considered a big negative. He was often bullied and was once beaten up in the factory. I sympathized with his situation and felt sorry for him, so I wanted to marry him and support him because my family background was considered better than his.
After we got married, his situation in the factory indeed improved. Not only was he not bullied anymore, he was officially recognized as an “advanced worker” for his hard work. Later, he was transferred to the factory fleet. He stopped doing the dirty and tiring warehouse work and became a driver. He also earned the “advanced employee” award every year. His photo and his awards were put in the window at the factory gate as a model for others to learn from.
So who would have thought that such a humble and hardworking person—as outsiders saw him—would have extramarital affairs? When I found out what was going on, I was so angry that I fainted. I started to hate him for betraying me and thought he was dishonest, heartless, and ungrateful. I was in tears every day, angry and exasperated. I felt that life was too difficult.
What made me more upset was that my acquaintances who knew him wouldn’t believe what I said about him. He also threatened me that he would write a suicide note and jump into the sea if I dared to file a complaint against him, blaming me for his death.
I had no choice but to take my children back to my mother’s home and live there. My son was still in school at the time, but my husband never seemed to care about our son and daughter. I had to live on a salary of a few dozen yuan and take care of my children. After we left him, he became even worse and would frequently date different women at the same time. The people who were familiar with him finally saw his true face and started to feel upset for me. We later divorced.
My ex-husband later ended up with a lot health issues, including cancer. He had two surgeries. If I had not practiced Falun Dafa, I would have gloated when I saw what happened him. I would think that he deserved what was coming to him. But fortunately, as a practitioner, I realized that when a person does something bad, he is really hurting himself, just as my ex-husband did. Falun Dafa taught me that practitioners do not have enemies; others can treat us badly, but we cannot treat others badly, and we must love our enemies.
I felt sorry for him. When he was rich, women surrounded him, and he spent all his money on them. But when he was sick and in the hospital, none of those women came to see him. Because he had no money left, he got our daughter to sell her house to pay for his surgery. Afterward, he needed someone to take care of him, so he moved into my daughter’s place.
I told myself that, as a practitioner, I should let go of my hatred no matter how he treated me. So I went to my daughter’s house and looked after him. I bought him medicine and the food he liked. I also cooked for him and emptied his urine bag for him. He felt guilty and thanked me with tears in his eyes.
I continued to care for him until his death. If I had not practiced Falun Dafa, I would not have done any of that. It was Falun Dafa that dissolved the deep resentment within my heart, turning me into a forgiving and kind person. I say from the bottom of my heart, “Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good!”