October 31, 1997
(Clearwisdom.net, September 8)
Editor's note: Falun Dafa was introduced to the public in Changchun, Jilin Province, in May 1992. Why did it attract 100 million practitioners during a very short seven years? Besides continuing to publish cultivation experiences and testimonial articles during the period of Fa-rectification, periodically our website will also post cultivation experience articles written by practitioners in China before the persecution began in July 1999. No matter where these practitioners are now and whether or not they are still in good heath, their cultivation experiences and articles of understanding in the peaceful period of those years should be included in history.
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As husband and wife we run a small pharmacy. After studying and practicing Falun Dafa, we know that the opportunity to learn about Falun Dafa only occurs once in a thousand years! In order to let more people obtain the Fa [law and principles], we spread the practice by making use of our special situation, which has enabled many people to walk down the road of cultivation.
Selling Medicine is not for Earning Money: Spreading Falun Dafa Within Ten Miles of the Local Mine
Usually there are many people who frequent our small pharmacy. Originally my husband was just a good person. When he encountered people who found it difficult to afford their medicine, he did not charge them anything. After practicing cultivation, he was even more willing to do this. I remember that once an old woman came to buy medicine, but she had lost her money on the road. My husband was so concerned about her plight that he took money from his own pocket and gave it to her. At first the old woman did not know what to say. Finally she said gratefully, "Are there still people as good as this in this world? To think that I am such an old woman and this is the first time I have met such a good person like yourself!"
In the past when people came to buy medicine, we were busy making up the prescriptions and calculating the fee. Now, it is different. When people come to buy medicine, we first tell them about Falun Dafa. We tell them about the characteristics of Dafa, the benefits of cultivation, and the reason why people get sick, No matter how much high-quality or imported medications you take, your illnesses are still not truly cured. The karma that people accumulate by committing wrongdoings in different lifetimes is what causes them to have illnesses or tribulations. If people want their illnesses cured, they must cultivate. To all that come to buy medicine I say, "As long as you study and practice Falun Gong and truly cultivate and follow the cosmos's characteristics of Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance, any sickness will go away." After they heard this, they all felt it very miraculous. Sometimes a large group would gather around me to listen. Some people became so engrossed in what I was telling them that they did not want to leave. Someone said. "We believe what you say. We see you are good people. Where would we ever find people like you in the current society? You downplay your business and do not care about making money. In fact, you even give us your own Dafa books to read, play the Fa-teaching videotape for us, teach us to study the Fa, and help us to learn the exercise movements. Based on your behavior, we believe and we study." Just like this, people with predestined relationships came to walk on the cultivation road one by one.
Once a couple came to our store to buy a medication to cure cervical vertebra hyperplasia. If we ran our pharmacy the ordinary way, we would hope that people would buy more medicine. However, we did not. I told the couple, "You have osseous hyperplasia, and you want to cure it by taking medicine. Two boxes of this medicine cost more than 30 Yuan RMB. How much will you end up spending? Moreover, no matter how much you spend, you cannot be truly cured. If you really want to cure the illness, you should practice cultivation. I will give you a precious book called Zhuan Falun." The couple wondered what kind of place did not take advantage of business sitting on its doorstep and who nowadays did not pursue profit. Then, they took the copy of Zhuan Falun.
There was another story about a person with a tooth that ached so painfully that he felt as if he were hovering between life and death. When he came to our pharmacy, all of a sudden his tooth did not ache at all. He thought it odd and said, "What's going on? Just a moment ago, my tooth hurt so badly I thought I would die. Why did my toothache disappear when I came here?" We told him, "Because we study Falun Dafa. You probably have a predestined relationship and came here to find us so that you could study Falun Dafa, didn't you?" So, he also took a copy of Zhuan Falun. There are so many stories like this. Many people began to walk on the road of cultivating Falun Dafa after coming to our store for medicine.
As more and more people obtained the Fa, we started to hold a Fa-study and exercise practice in the store. People within the ten miles of the local mine talked about the young couple who ran a pharmacy business, but did not push people to buy their medicine, who did not take money sitting on their doorstep, but persuaded others to study Falun Dafa, which was really inconceivable.
In the beginning, only my husband practiced cultivation by himself. Now, the number has already increased to almost a thousand. There are old people and young people, workers, teachers, engineers, and technicians, as well as leaders and officials, which has a pretty big effect in ten-mile area surrounding the local mine. Our small pharmacy is consequently seldom overlooked, in fact our business has become even more prosperous and many more people come to buy medicine. Everybody says, "The owners of this pharmacy practice Falun Gong and do business based on Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance. Their medicines are all genuine. They do not sell fake medicine or deceive people." Therefore, people are willing to buy medicine in our store. Sometimes, even when our store was closed, they did not go to other stores. They would rather wait for another day when my store was open to buy their medicine.
Studying the Fa and Cultivating Xinxing
In order to progress together with others and upgrade ourselves, we bought several VCR's, TV's, and recorders. We voluntarily helped coordinate various locations where practitioners could watch the videotapes of Teacher's lectures, listen to the lecture audiotapes, and watch the exercise videotape so that everybody could make progress in the Fa. In order to help people with economic difficulties obtain the Fa, we gave them the books for free. From studying the Fa, some bad persons became good; some immoral girls became law-abiding and well behaved.
We also organized practitioners to study the Fa, discussing chapter-by-chapter and section-by-section. With increased Fa study, we deepened our understanding of the Fa and became more steadfast in the Fa. Thus, in xinxing conflicts, we could behave as practitioners. As long as we followed the Fa, we were able to maintain our xinxing, improve our nature, get rid of human notions, and make breakthroughs to higher levels.
For example, in the mining area where I live there was a test of whether to firmly believe Falun Dafa or not. Since more and more people studied the Fa, some work units proposed to strictly prohibit Communist Party members or cadres from attending Falun Gong activities. In the mining area, some people were passing the word, "Do not allow Falun Gong study." Other practices also came to interfere. "Those who study Falun Gong will be dismissed from the Party, their membership in mining will be cancelled, and they will even be expelled" was one such warning that was passed around. As a result, some work units no longer allowed their indoor spaces to be used by Falun Gong groups as a convenience like before.
When faced with this situation, our practitioners' minds all remained calm, and we all understood that it was a test to see if we were steadfast in the Fa. We would search our inner selves and put strict demands on ourselves to be good persons everywhere; we would take this opportunity to upgrade. Since they did not let us practice in a big place, we divided into small groups and practiced at individual homes. None of the sayings and comments frightened us; instead our practitioners became more steadfast in the Fa.
One practitioner was both a Party member and a section chief. The unit secretary [the person in charge in the branch of the Party] talked with him several times and tried to prevent him from practicing cultivation. Not only did he did not stop studying the Fa and practicing for even a day, but he introduced the characteristics of Falun Gong to this secretary by using this opportunity. He said, "Falun Gong is not superstition but true science." The secretary said, "If it is like you say, you could just practice secretly in your home for the time being." The practitioner said, "I cannot stop even for one day. Cultivation is open and above-board." In addition, other leaders in the mining area also talked to him several times. They interrogated him without warning, "Do you practice or not? If you practice, you will be dismissed from your position and expelled from the Party!" He said, "I practice! You can take away any of those things; they are just organizational business, but you have no way to take away my heart to cultivate."
Another practitioner said in a meeting: "Everyone knows I study Falun Gong. Falun Gong requires valuing virtue and cultivating Xinxing, and teaches us to be good people. Everyone can see the changes in my own life, in the status of my health, in my views of the world, in my attitude towards work, and so on. If everyone were to practice Falun Gong, the social climate would improve. Falun Gong teaches people to cultivate xinxing [mind nature, moral character], to be a good wife, a good husband, a good son or a good daughter in a family, to be a good employee, a good leader or a good worker on the job, and to be a good citizen observing discipline and obeying the laws of society." After listening and reflecting on the practitioner's actions, everybody understood.
Through more than a year's cultivation, we deeply understood that as long as we firmly cultivated Dafa, take the Fa as teacher, and improve ourselves from our hearts, our xinxing will be upgraded.
