(Minghui.org) While helping out with my close friend Rui’s mother’s funeral in 2018, we met his brother-in-law, a retired cadre. The three of us were about the same age and had similar upbringings, so we had many things to talk about.

In one of our conversations, I mentioned that there are divine beings everywhere, watching everything we do. It’s an age-old belief, but not many still believe it nowadays.

Rui’s brother-in-law chimed in, “I believe it. When the Cultural Revolution began (around 1966-1967), I was in sixth grade. It was when temples were being demolished and statues of gods and Buddhas were being smashed everywhere. There was a large temple in our village. The main hall, ‘Mahavira Hall,’ had a very tall Buddha statue in it.

“That day, the teacher in charge told us to bring our tools to smash the Buddha statue. She instructed us to start at the heart of the statue and take it out intact, because it was said that a large heart made of copper or silver had been placed in the statue when it was constructed.

“The moment she stopped speaking, she clutched her hand to her chest, collapsed on the ground, and could not stand up. The next moment, we all felt excruciating pain in our chests. Everyone was yelling, ‘It hurts!’ The teacher was so frightened that she knelt on the ground and said, ‘No more smashing! No more smashing! Let’s all go back to school.’ After that, the pain gradually went away. How could one not believe the divine was warning us!”

“I personally experienced this, and, although it has been more than 50 years, I still remember it vividly, as if it happened just yesterday. This incident affected my worldview and my life. I dare not do whatever I want without any reservations. I always feel there is a power somewhere that controls everything in the world.”