I Found the Most Precious Book

(Minghui.org) I’m a young Falun Dafa practitioner. I feel so fortunate to have found Dafa, a cultivation path that enables me to rise above this corrupt world and return to my original, true self. I would like to share my story of obtaining the most precious book Zhuan Falun and being safeguarded by the Fawhilegrowing up. I hope this serves as a testimony to how wonderful and extraordinary Falun Dafa is.

Early Exposure to Dafa

I still have vague memories of learning the five exercises along with Master Li’s phrases such as “Chong’guan” (up-and-down arm movement) and “Suiji Xiazou” (downward movement of the hands following the energy mechanisms) from when I was only four years old. I lived with my grandparents at the time and did the exercises with my grandma. She played the exercise music on her boombox.

When I was in elementary school, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) banned the practice and launched the nationwide persecution of Falun Dafa. Grandma no longer practiced and stopped mentioning Falun Dafa altogether. As the persecution grew rampant, the CCP’s lies and propaganda slandering Dafa made their way into our school textbooks. My aunt, however, remained resolute and continued to practice despite it all. She was regularly harassed and arrested multiple times. One time, she dropped off a big sack of Dafa books and asked us to keep them safe for her. I sometimes read those books.

There was a Buddhist temple built in the Ming Dynasty near our home. I often visited and burnt incense to the Buddhas. From the time I was young, I often looked up into the night sky and wondered if there was a way for humans to become higher beings and ascend to the heavens. I knew we didn’t evolve from monkeys—we were created by the gods. I believed there must be gods, Buddhas, and higher beings in other realms.

Starting to Practice Falun Dafa

While visiting my aunt in May 2005, I was reintroduced to Falun Dafa. My aunt told me about Dafa and cultivation and clarified the facts surrounding the persecution to me in depth. With her help, I quit the Young Pioneers, a youth organization affiliated with the CCP. I asked her, “Can Falun Dafa keep people from dying?”

She smiled and said, “Dafa can lift one beyond life and death, and you won’t need to enter the cycle of reincarnation. It also helps one return to his or her original, true self and ascend to the level of a Buddha.”

I was delighted. Dafa could help one achieve Buddhahood! “I want to learn Falun Dafa,” I declared. “This is what I’ve been looking for!” And just like that, I started practicing Falun Dafa. I was 11 years old at the time.

Copies of Zhuan Falun, the main text of Dafa’s teachings, were very scarce back then. I was often at my aunt’s house, listening attentively as she read the Fa. Master’s teachings on how one should cultivate one’s character to become a better person by applying Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance in our daily lives deeply resonated with me. It was exactly what I was looking for. I made up my mind to live up to Dafa’s standards, cultivate to higher levels, and return to my heavenly home.

My aunt only had one copy of Zhuan Falun, and it was not convenient for me to go to her house all the time. To help me study the Fa, she gave me a set of audio recordings of Master’s lectures and told me it was the same as reading the book. After finishing my homework each day, I listened to two lectures and cherished that time.

Seeing how much I eagerly wanted to study the Fa and cultivate, an elderly practitioner from my village gifted me a copy of Zhuan Falun. I was so excited and studied the Fa with that book every single day. I washed my hands before I touched the book and never dared to run my fingers across the lines of printed characters. When I turned the pages, I tried to be as light-handed as possible so I didn’t crease the paper. When I was done, I wrapped the book in a cloth and carefully put it away.

Protecting the Cherished Book

Because of the relentless persecution, my practitioner family members were repeatedly harassed, arrested, and detained. My father was worried when he learned that I’d decided to cultivate Falun Dafa and tried to stop me from following that path.

While I was reading Zhuan Falun one night, he came into my room and demanded that I give him the book. When I refused, he flew into a rage, pushed me onto the bed, and punched me. He tried to grab the book, but I held onto it tightly and wouldn’t let go. He then grabbed my neck and squeezed until I passed out.

The moment my father took Zhuan Falun out of my hands, I came to. I instinctively reached out and tried to get it back, but it was too late. Being much smaller, I couldn’t overpower my father. He stomped out of the room, ripping the book apart, and threw both halves into the wood burning stove. I dashed to the stove, reached in without any concern for the flames, and grabbed what was left of it. I was only able to save the first half of the book.

Heartbroken, I hugged the remaining part of the book and cried the entire way to my aunt’s house. The next day, my eyes were so puffy that I couldn’t open them. My neck was red and swollen, and it was difficult to eat and drink. But strangely, I didn’t feel any pain. I knew that Master had endured it for me.

A practitioner later gave me the remaining half of her Zhuan Falun that she had saved during a police raid. I stayed up late that night, hand copied the one lecture plus several pages that were missing from both halves and sewed everything together with a needle and thread. That copy of Zhuan Falun became my most cherished treasure. To protect it from my father, I hid it in a different place every day.

Gaining My Family’s Support

Every day after I got home from school, I took my copy of Zhuan Falun and went into the hills behind our house to study the Fa. I read until the sun went down and it was too dark to read before heading home for dinner.

Each night, I waited until my parents were sound asleep to do the exercises in the courtyard. I didn’t have a device to play the music, so I kept track of the movements myself. When I held my arms in the Law Wheel position during the second exercise, I counted the minutes. I did the exercises outdoors even when it was snowing, but somehow my entire body felt warm, enveloped in a benevolent energy field.

I continued to study the Fa and enlightened to higher principles. I understood the my father’s opposition was interference from the old forces. The evil factors were using my family to commit crimes against Dafa. When I completely relinquished my sentimentality for my parents, I saw them as sentient beings waiting to be saved. The moment my mindset shifted, I gained a deeper understanding of the Fa. I knew Master was always by my side, guiding and helping me improve in my cultivation.

As my understanding of the Fa elevated, the tension at home began to ease. One day, my father found the hidden copy of Zhuan Falun while looking for something. “What’s this?” he asked. I looked him in the eye, “It’s my copy of Zhuan Falun. You are welcome to read it. If not, please give it back. If there is no place for this book here, then there’s no place for me in this family.”

I had made up my mind to take my book and go live on the streets if I had to. “I don’t want to read it,” my father replied, as he casually put the book down and left. I knew that I had passed the test. The tribulation was over! It was time for me to cultivate in an upright and dignified manner so Dafa would be respected by my family.

I openly studied the Fa and did the exercises at home after that. With a practitioner’s help, I obtained another copy of Zhuan Falun with a short biography of Master. I cherished it very much. Sometimes after studying the Fa, I purposely left it out, hoping my father would read it. My mother once mentioned, “Your father flips through your book sometimes.” I was happy to hear that.

Little by little, my father opened up to Dafa. He watched and read many truth-clarification materials such as the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party, Traveling Through Wind and Rain, and Minghui Weekly. He also talked to our friends and family about the Tiananmen Square self-immolation hoax.

After my two years of forced labor for clarifying the truth, my father picked me up on the day I was released and simply said, “Be more careful from now on.” My parents knew, in their hearts, that Falun Dafa was a righteous Fa.

Making Copies of Zhuan Falun

With the help of practitioners from the city, I set up a material production site at home. I installed software to bypass the internet firewall and regularly logged onto the Minghui website. I downloaded, printed, and produced a variety of flyers and leaflets. During my visits to the city, I learned how to make more complicated truth-clarification materials such as DVDs and multi-page booklets, as well Dafa books. I also brought back copies of Zhuan Falun for the local practitioners. I always wrapped them in thick paper for protection before delivering them.

As the demand for Zhuan Falun increased, a practitioner in the neighboring village established a production site specifically for making books. I often rode my bicycle more than 10 miles each way to help out.

One night, I left the practitioner’s home with a box filled with copies of Zhuan Falun and the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party tied to the back seat of my bicycle. The box was secured with only a thin strip of cloth.

As I rode past an intersection in a small village, a motorcycle hit me from the side and knocked the handlebar out of alignment. I flew off and landed several feet away. Blood oozed from a deep gash on my little finger. It didn’t occur to me to wipe off the blood when I got up. I just ran to my bike and picked it up. The box tied to the back seat hadn’t fallen off—the thin strip of cloth had kept it secure. I breathed a sigh of relief. I knew Master was helping me.

I re-adjusted the handlebar and was ready to ride home. The motorcyclist was scared to death and insisted on contacting my family and taking me to the hospital. I told him, “I’m fine. Don’t worry about me. You can go now.” I remembered what Master taught and wouldn’t cause trouble for anybody. I also had no time to waste, as an elderly practitioner was waiting for the books, and I already made plans to help distribute copies of the Nine Commentaries that night.

I parted ways with the motorcyclist and rode home, where I loosely dressed the cut with a clean cloth and called it good. It healed in a few days.

Sentenced to Forced Labor

After middle school, I went on to high school in the nearby city. There were over 40 students in my class. I clarified the truth to all of them and helped them quit the CCP and its youth organizations. After learning about Dafa, some students from another class wanted to know more, so I brought a few copies of Zhuan Falun for them.

During our military training, we camped at a military base on the outskirts of the city. I snuck in a copy of Zhuan Falun and studied the Fa at night after the students and officers went to sleep.

I once finished my assignments early and was told I could use the rest of the class as free time. I took out my copy of Zhuan Falun and read it. Before the bell rang, the teacher appeared next to me and asked, “Is that a Falun Dafa book?”

“Yes. It’s called Zhuan Falun. It is the main text of the practice. It teaches people to cultivate their character by following the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance to become better people.”

She asked to borrow it, and I agreed. The teacher returned the book a few days later. After that, whenever I had free time in her class, I read Zhuan Falun. A few of my classmates also read it.

A school administrator came looking for me during recess one day. I was taken to the office and questioned because I “promoted Falun Dafa” in class. The security team went to my dorm and searched my belongings. When a roommate heard that security was coming, she hid my copy of Zhuan Falun. But she didn’t know that I had another copy in my locker, along with the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party and other truth-clarification materials.

The Zhuan Falun in my locker was for a student in a higher grade who wanted to learn more about Dafa. I did not have the chance to give it to him. I also kept a few copies of the Nine Commentaries to give out to people on my trips to and from school.

The school administration confiscated everything and threatened to suspend me. I clarified the truth to them and argued that I didn’t do anything wrong. The school authorities offered to return what they took under one condition: I had write a guarantee statement promising to neither bring Dafa literature to school nor talk to other students about Dafa again. I couldn’t agree to their unreasonable demands. I explained that freedom of belief is a human right and there is nothing wrong with teaching people to follow the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance.

I wrote truth-clarification letters to the principal, the deputy principal, and the school Party secretary. In the letters, I told them my story and how I has benefited from Dafa cultivation. I wanted them to see what a wonderful practice Dafa is. But instead, they chose to get the local 610 Office and Domestic Security Division involved. I was detained and, a month later, sentenced to two years of forced labor.

Re-creating My Cultivation Environment

I resumed my cultivation after I was released. Many practitioners were implicated by my arrest because their contact information was on my cellphone. They were harassed, and some moved away and some were sentenced to forced labor. It was a great loss to our body of practitioners and caused major disruptions to our truth-clarification efforts.

Many practitioners had a negative opinion of me and distanced themselves. Some even said I was a spy. Only my aunt and an elderly practitioner from the neighboring village trusted me. They brought me copies of Master’s new articles and helped me get back on track with cultivation.

Needing a change of environment, I moved to a different province to look for work. With Master’s compassionate arrangement, I quickly got in contact with the local practitioners. After I introduced myself, the coordinator’s first reaction was, “How is your aunt? I heard what happened to you. We’ve followed your case closely. When you were illegally detained, we took turns sending righteous thoughts for you.” His words brought tears to my eyes—practitioners from a thousand miles away, whom I had never met, selflessly supported me. All Dafa practitioners form a powerful one body!

Without my asking, the practitioners brought me an entire set of Dafa books. I was excited and used all my free time to study the Fa. As I went through Master’s teachings systematically, I became more and more clear on the Fa principles. When I read a passage from Essentials of Diligent Progress III, I was struck by the idea that each practitioner should have the entire set of Dafa books. Only when we study the Fa systematically can we enlighten to the higher meanings of the Fa principles.

I immediately set out to return to my hometown. I visited the elderly practitioner in the neighboring village and told her my idea of making Dafa books. She was very supportive. I used my savings, and practitioners from the other province also chipped in to buy a laser printer, binding machine, a cutter, and paper. I ended up staying with the elderly practitioner. Besides studying the Fa and eating, I hardly slept and used all my time to make Dafa books.

With Master’s strengthening and my fellow practitioner’s help, I produced 20 sets of Dafa books in less than a week. Each local practitioner received a set, and they were very grateful. We studied all of Master’s Fa teachings and lectures together, one book at a time. Practitioners in the neighboring villages and towns also set up more truth-clarification material production sites. As we cultivated and improved together, all past resentment and doubts about me dissolved.

As the demand for Dafa materials steadily increased in my hometown and the neighboring counties, I officially took on the project. During the past few years, I’ve made more than 4,000 Dafa books, including Zhuan Falun and over 1,000 copies of the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party and The Ultimate Goal of Communism.

When the latest Dafa books were published, I worked tireless to make copies to meet the demand. The practitioner I lived with once brought me an apple. She handed it to me and said, “Look what I have here? I don’t even remember buying it. But here, you can have it.” I took the apple. It was a vibrant bright red that was almost transparent. Tears streamed down my face as I knew it was a gift from Master.

I took a bite and it was so sweet. I had never eaten an apple so sweet. I pressed my palms together in front of my chest and thanked Master from the bottom of my heart.