(Minghui.org) Greetings, compassionate Master! Greetings, fellow practitioners!
I’m a Falun Dafa practitioner from a rural area, and I’m 59 years old. My mother-in-law and I started practicing in November 1998. Eight months later, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) launched the persecution against the practice.
The first eight months I practiced, I experienced both physical and mental transformations—it was truly the happiest time of my life. I used to suffer from bone spurs and chronic back pain. Long-term antibiotics use wrecked my stomach. I had frequent episodes of stomach pain which were so excruciating that I rolled around in bed and sweated profusely.
Then, the medication I had been taking was no longer effective. The debilitating illnesses made me feel useless and caused my family financial difficulty. We spent so much on my medical expenses that we were barely scraping by. We were the poorest family in the village. Shortly after I began practicing Falun Dafa, all my illnesses were gone. I was over the moon! My mother-in-law’s diabetes, neurosis and other health issues also disappeared.
Each day, my mother-in-law and I joined other practitioners to do the morning exercises and we looked forward to group Fa study in the evening. Not wanting to wake up late, I bought a few alarm clocks. We got up at 3:30 a.m. to do five sets of exercises before heading back home around 6 a.m. to make breakfast. Then, we worked in the fields and took care of our crops. We didn’t feel tired and we were energetic all day.
The CCP banned Falun Dafa, also known as Falun Gong, and started a nationwide persecution in the summer of 1999. I believed goodness would prevail and I felt compelled to tell people Falun Dafa is good and is righteous. I wanted to see Master’s reputation restored. I took 300 yuan, our entire savings, and set out to petition the central government in Beijing. I was quickly intercepted by the local authorities and locked up at the county brainwashing center. When my husband was notified, he showed up infuriated. He slapped me in front a room full of people and snatched the money from me. I was not intimidated, and thought, “I will practice Falun Dafa even if he beats me.”
Without any money, I had to give up my plan of going to Beijing. Instead I went to the government offices in the county seat. I went straight to the county mayor and the county Party secretary and told them, “Falun Dafa is good. It’s been slandered. Master’s reputation has to be restored.” They held me in a room upstairs without due process and stationed police cars in the courtyard in case I tried to escape.
The district chief showed up some time later and said, “Falun Gong is a cult.”
I told him, “Falun Gong is a righteous Fa. Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance are universal values.”
“You are crazy and a nutcase,” he sneered.
I fired back, “You’re the one that’s mental.”
“Do you know who I am?”
I looked him in the eye, “I don’t care who you are. You don’t say Master is no good and Dafa is no good. I am here to validate the Fa.” He turned around and left.
I was only an ordinary countrywoman and had never stepped outside of my county before, yet I was not afraid to confront the top county officials. To most people, I probably seemed crazy. Maybe it is what being selfless and fearless looks like. I took a great risk coming to this human world, thus I possess great courage and fortitude.
The second time I petitioned the county government, I was one of a group of four practitioners. We went to the mayor and told him that Dafa is good. We told him about our cultivation experiences and how much we benefited from the practice. The mayor said, “You’re reckless. Are you trying to get me fired?” He detained all of us.
I hardly spent any time at home during the first two years of the persecution. I was either held at the county detention center, the police station, or sometimes even our village production team, without any due process whatsoever.
At the county detention center, I was forced to stand or sit on a small stool for long periods of time and I was deprived of sleep. There was no heat in the winter when the temperature was consistently below freezing. In the summer, I was made to stand under the baking sun for hours on end. I was subjected to all kinds of abuse and torture—the CCP’s way to coerce Dafa practitioners to renounce our belief in Falun Dafa. With Master’s strengthening, I never fell for it and remained resolute. In fact, all the beatings might have made me indestructible.
It is hard for farmers like us to make money. My husband worked odd and strenuous jobs and was only paid 20 yuan a day. Because I passed a copy of Master’s newly published article to my mother-in-law, I was arbitrarily detained and charged 450 yuan to cover board and lodging. My mother-in-law was fined 1,000 yuan. My husband borrowed from everyone he could possibly think of and came up with just enough.
After one arrest, the police searched my home and confiscated two handwritten copies of Zhuan Falun. They left my home in disarray and fined me 3,000 yuan. As my husband tried to figure out whom he could still borrow money from, I told the county mayor, “That’s 3,000 yuan we’re talking about. We can’t even come up with 3 cents. If he [my husband] can come up with that kind of money, I would surely use it to fund a trip to Beijing.”
Afraid that I would go to the capital city to petition the central government, the mayor and the police never mentioned the fine again. If I really ended up in Beijing, they would all be removed from their positions. Knowing the CCP’s policies, none of the county officials want to get implicated.
They held me in a room with a blackboard and wrote big characters on it that said “Do Not Practice.” The officials took turns trying to convince me to copy the characters and promised to let me go home as soon as I did. I didn’t comply. The town mayor said, “I manage the entire town, but I can’t do anything about this woman.”
My mother-in-law and my son walked a long way to visit me at the detention center and brought me some flat bread. My son was only 5 years old at the time. Seeing his innocent face, my heart ached. I missed him and I was worried about him. The next day, a woman involved in a fist fight was placed in our cell. She said to me, “I dreamed of a man with a rotating wheel over his head. He looked after a lot of kids. Those kids were doing great with him watching over them.” I knew right away that Master was looking after my son and I was no longer worried.
I was released after more than two months and I couldn’t wait to see my son—sure enough, he was taller and as healthy as can be. My son loves Dafa. Knowing that I am a Dafa practitioner, his first grade homeroom teacher tried to make him write a statement to promise not to practice Falun Gong. My son told his teacher, “Ma’am, I don’t know how to write it.” The teacher wrote the statement and asked him to sign at the bottom.
He told her, “My stomach hurts,” and left.
The village production team held a brainwashing session for all practitioners in the village. My son followed me there and wrote on the blackboard in his neatest handwriting, “Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good.” He made the characters very large across the entire board. Just then, the police came in, and one of the officers kicked him. My son was afraid to go home and spent the night at my sister-in-law’s place.
The police and officials harassed me regularly, especially before the CCP’s sensitive dates, such as major national holidays, anniversaries of the persecution, or major CCP central committee congresses taking place in Beijing. They had no consideration and could show up at any time of the day, sometimes waking my entire family up in the middle of the night. The county Party secretary and town mayor all paid me surprise visits over the years. I became a “celebrity” in the county.
The county Party secretary called me to his office and asked, “Do you still practice Falun Gong? Do you still have time to practice?”
I told him, “I still do. I sell tofu during the day and practice [Falun Dafa] at night. I have to thank you for always reminding me. With you calling for me every so often, how could I ever forget? I’ll never forget and I am determined to practice.”
Before a plenary session of the CCP’s central committee in Beijing in 2012, I was called to the county Party secretary’s office again. I asked him, “What is it this time? Why do I have to come whenever there is a meeting going on in Beijing? Do you want me to go to Beijing?”
He thought I was joking, and asked, “Do you want to go?”
I told him I was serious and said, “I’ll leave tomorrow if you lend me some money.”
He shouted that he had to lock me up. I asked him, “Where? I’m all yours. Let’s go.” He left, fuming.
It was a stormy day with howling wind and heavy rain mixed with hail. At around 5 p.m., the government employees were ready to get off work. A man and a woman came into the secretary’s office where I was held. The man said, “You’re free to go home as soon as you write a guarantee statement that you won’t practice Falun Gong.”
I shook my head, and responded, “I am not going to write even one character.”
He said, “You’re joking right? It’s already dark outside. Don’t you want to go home? Just write it and go home.”
I replied, “I want to tell you guys to remember that Falun Dafa is good.”
The woman tugged on my sleeve, “If you stay here, I’ll have to stay and monitor you. Please. I just want to go home. My stomach hurts so badly.”
I told her, “If you recite ‘Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good,’ you’ll feel better.”
She said in surprise, “Is that so! Does it really work?”
I assured her, “Yes. Of course it works. Give it a try!”
“Okay, I’ll try it.” She started reciting the auspicious phrases, ‘Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good.’ After a while, she opened the door and told me, “Just go home.”
It was pitch black outside and raining. I stepped into the downpour without looking back.
My multiple arrests and detentions caused my husband much stress over the years. In turn, I’ve suffered endless verbal abuse and physical violence from him. He forbade me from reading the Dafa books. I love Master’s poems from Hong Yin and I wanted to memorize them. But I could only read them when my husband wasn’t around. I wrote the poems on my palm or on my arm to memorize them while I worked in the fields. I’ve memorized all of them.
My husband is not a bad person, but he was deceived by the CCP’s vicious lies that slander Dafa. He actually thought it was a good idea when someone told him to break my legs so I couldn’t go out and talk to people about Dafa and get arrested again. To make me give up cultivation, he beat me almost daily.
Sometimes, he attacked me from behind while I was cooking. I was frying fish one time, when he kicked me so hard from behind that I almost fell forward into the hot oil. When he insulted me, I didn’t say anything. If I were to even suggest “please stop,” he’d throw his fists at me. I was always covered in bruises. He wasn’t embarrassed to slap me in front of village officials and police at detention centers or the county government offices. But nothing changed my mind. I held on to my belief, “Even if you beat me to death, I wouldn’t give up Falun Dafa.”
My husband once locked the gate to our courtyard, closed all the doors in our home, and beat me for over an hour. He threw heavy punches at me without holding back. It was as if he had decided to kill me that day. I already had bruises layered on top of bruises, injuries after injuries all over, thanks to his daily beatings. I just couldn’t take it anymore.
I told him, “Let’s get a divorce. I don’t want anything except for my Dafa books. I am not going back to my parents either. I’ll be homeless and beg for food.” I looked for the village official in charge of domestic affairs to file for divorce. He was not home. His mother was in bed, moaning from excruciating back pain like I used to. I felt bad for her so I said, “Why don’t you practice Falun Dafa? I used to have chronic back pain but it’s completely gone after I took up Dafa cultivation.”
She said, “Sure! I want to learn Dafa.” She started practicing that day.
Master said,
“Forbearance (ren) is not cowardice, much less is it resigning oneself to adversity. Dafa disciples’ Forbearance is noble; is the manifestation of beings’ magnificent, indestructible, and diamond-like solidity; is tolerance for the purpose of upholding the truth; and is mercy toward and salvation of beings who still have human nature and decent thoughts. Forbearance is absolutely not the limitless giving of free rein, which would allow the evil beings who no longer have any human nature or decent thoughts to do evil without end.” (“Beyond What Can Be Forborne,” The Essentials of Diligent Progress II)
Master’s words awakened me. Simply tolerating my husband’s abuse and violence is not true compassion. The universe is being rectified and my husband’s attitude toward Dafa will decide his future. I had to divorce him so that he would no longer help the evil in persecuting Dafa practitioners. The funny thing is, when he realized I was serious about getting a divorce, he backed down and refused to move forward with it. As life went on, my husband benefited a lot from my cultivating, but also shouldered a lot pressure from the county and village officials, which I appreciate.
One time, he started ranting and cursing again. I tried to think of how to put a stop to it. My eyes landed on the hot water thermos, so I poured a glass of water and offered it to him, “Would you like some water? You’ve been ranting for quite some time and must be thirsty.” He couldn’t hold back and laughed. I said, “You’ve done enough cursing and beating.” He has not hit or insulted me ever since.
Everywhere I go, I clarify the truth to people. While distributing truth-clarification calendars in a neighborhood one time, I met a woman and said, “Here is a calendar,” I handed her a copy. “It says ‘Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good.’” She grabbed it and threw it on the ground. I burst into tears. It is so hard for us to make these, as we poured our hearts into it. I quickly picked it up and reminded myself not to resent her. Many Chinese people are deceived by the CCP’s lies.
An older woman who just happened to walk by said, “If she doesn’t want it, I’ll take it.”
She turned to the younger woman and said, “She didn’t charge you anything and gave this nice calendar to you for free. If you don’t want it, just give it back. Why would you take it and throw it to the ground if you don’t want it?” The young woman sneered and left.
The older woman asked me for another one to give to her daughter. I told her, “Falun Dafa is the most righteous. We stayed up all night, night after night, to make these calendars. You can have as many as you want and we don’t want anything in return. All we want is that you remember ‘Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good’ so that you and your family will stay out of danger.”
I saw a young man standing in the street and wanted to give him a calendar. He seemed to work for the police, but that didn’t stop me. He stared at me when I offered him the calendar and I thought, “I’m doing something very righteous and it will eliminate the evil that’s manipulating you.” We stared at each other for a few minutes. Then I said, “Young man, this calendar is for you. It says ‘Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good.’” He laughed as he took the calendar and left. I knew Master must have removed the bad substances behind him.
Local practitioners and I distribute Dafa fliers at the farmer’s market and the surrounding villages regularly. I always tell people, “Don’t throw this away when you’re done. Pass it on to someone else like your neighbor. It’s good for you. Dafa’s Master is here to save people and he told us to save you. If you believe ‘Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good,’ you’ll avoid disaster.” Most people were receptive.
I’ve practices Falun Dafa for more than 20 years, and Master has given me a new lease on life. I was once a sickly countrywoman, but I became a well known, proud Dafa practitioner in the area. I feel extremely blessed. Many people around me have learned the facts and started reading Dafa books. My family no longer struggles to make ends meet and has achieved financial stability. We even bought a home and a car, and live a harmonious, happy life.
I will strive to be even more diligent and cultivate like when I first obtained the Fa. I will fulfill my sacred vows and repay Master for compassionately saving me.
Thank you compassionate Master. Thank you fellow practitioners.
(Selected submission for the 22nd China Fa Conference on Minghui.org)