(Clearwisdom.net) In the midst of vicious persecution, Falun Dafa practitioners are going through the sixth year of Fa-rectification cultivation. Although some of us have had to endure inhumane torture and persecution, we have all become more and more mature under the guidance of our Teacher. Through the ups and downs, we are walking down a truly bright path. On this path of Fa-rectification, we have come to realize our mission in this human world. It is to assist Teacher and save sentient beings. Here I would like to tell you some stories of how practitioners around me have validated Falun Dafa.
A Young Couple
A young couple live to the east of me. They learned about Falun Dafa from their cousin and have seriously taken up practice and Fa-study. They have made rapid progress in their cultivation. When the persecution started on July 20, 1999, they went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Dafa and were arrested. They were sent back to their hometown's detention center. Their house was ransacked, they received a heavy fine, and they lost their jobs. In spite of this, the couple never forgets that their responsibility is to clarify the truth and save sentient beings.
The Story of Ms. Xiao Hua
The couple above told me about Ms. Xiao Hua, their sister-in-law, who lives in a rural area and doesn't have much education. Before the persecution started, her home was a practice and Fa-study site.
After July 20, 1999, Ms. Xiao went to Beijing to appeal for an end to the persecution. The police took her home and sent her to a detention center. They then forced her whole family to visit her in the detention center. Her mother and father-in-law, her husband who had been ill for a long time, and her not-yet-two-year-old child were standing outside the iron bars of the cell. The frightened child was crying out, asking for mommy. The head of the police threatened her, demanding, "Do you want Falun Gong or your family?" Ms. Xiao Hua said she wanted both. The head of the police was irritated and assaulted her indecently. He also beat her right in front of her family, but she didn't give in.
After Ms. Xiao Hua was released, her family had to rely on her to sell sweet potatoes and vegetables to make a living. They have no other source of income. Her mother and father-in-law are old and weak. Her husband is very ill but has no money to see a doctor. Nevertheless, the police and security personnel in her village ransack her home frequently. One day they broke into her home and saw a ten-yuan note on the table. A policeman grabbed it. Ms. Xiao's father-in-law begged him to put it back, because it was intended to pay for their meals for two days. The policeman didn't listen to him and retorted, "Why don't you all die then?" Her husband became enraged at that point and struggled to get up from his bed to fight with them. The police became afraid and went away. In order to clarify the truth about Falun Dafa and save people, Ms. Xiao Hua has been working hard for several years in all kinds of conditions. Last year when some practitioners needed money to print truth-clarification materials, she pawned the jewelry in her dowry for 300 yuan. Although it was not much, her sacrifice was truly touching.
An Elderly Couple in Their Seventies: "Hurry up. Time Waits for No One."
My cousin and his wife, both retired officials, are in their seventies. Decades of hard work has left them with health problems. Through practicing Falun Gong, they have become healthy again. They have a reputation for being honest and upright at work. Since the persecution started, however, people from the 610 Office have gone to my cousin's workplace many times, pressuring his employer not to give him and his wife their pension. They said that Falun Gong practitioners should be cut off financially. In order to clarify the truth and save sentient beings, the couple has spent their savings on spreading the facts about Falun Gong. They purchased printing equipment to reproduce materials. They work at this day and night, holidays and festivals included. My cousin often says, "Hurry up. Time waits for no one." The local 610 Office has been racking their brains for ways to "transform" him, but to no avail.
Young Practitioner: "I Am a Falun Dafa Practitioner. Teacher Is Taking Care of Me. You Cannot Beat Me to Death."
My niece's name is Chunchun. She started practicing Falun Gong with her mom when she was five years old. Several years have passed, and she is now a veteran practitioner. Cultivation has truly purified her mind and spirit. After doing schoolwork, she goes out with her mother to pass out truth-clarification materials.
The police once arrested her mother. Now Chunchun often protects her mother as they distribute fliers. She hands out fliers to people very carefully. The police have searched their home many times. She was very young and frightened to see someone smashing things like bandits. At night she had a dream in which a policeman pointed a gun at her and said, "I will shoot you if you practice Falun Gong." In spite of this, Chunchun was not at all afraid.
My younger brother's family is very poor. They have no land, as their land was taken by the village officials and sold. The government refuses to arrange work for him, and his family's basic welfare money was cut off since they practice Falun Gong. His whole family has to rely on him doing odd jobs. Even with such a hard life, Chunchun does well in her studies and ranks in the top five in her class, and she is well liked by her teachers. She often tells her classmates that Falun Dafa is good. She contributed over 200 yuan for printing truth-clarification materials. The money was from New Year's gifts from her relatives. She told me secretly that she had considered buying some beautiful clothes and hairpins for school. After thinking it over, she decided she ought to save sentient beings with her actions.
Ms. Zhang: "Cultivating Falun Dafa Is the Greatest Joy in My Life."
Ms. Zhang and her husband live to the west of me. They went to Beijing several times to appeal and distribute truth-clarification materials. The police arrested them, and Ms. Zhang was sentenced to three years in a forced labor camp. Her husband was severely tortured by the police. They tried to force him to reveal the location of the truth-clarification materials printing site, but he didn't cooperate. Seeing that he was on the verge of dying, the police released him, but he died a week later.
Ms. Zhang managed to escape from the labor camp with righteous thoughts. She only learned of her husband's death after she got home, but she wasn't defeated by the loss of her beloved husband. Wiping away her tears, she went back to the task of saving sentient beings. She has been everywhere in the city, villages, streets and alleys, delivering truth-clarification materials to people with predestined relationships. The threat of death hasn't caused her firm belief to waver.
I once went to see her. She is usually so busy that I rarely see her, even though we are neighbors. I saw that she looked different than she used to. Several years of torture under imprisonment and the loss of her husband turned her hair gray, but her spirits are high. She sold her apartment and moved to a little six-meter-square shack, (about 63 square feet) which she shares with another person. It was a snowy winter night, and it was very wet and cold in the shack. Apart from a small bed, the only thing in the room is an extremely small stove for cooking. Ms. Zhang was having her meal when I arrived. She cut a dried and frozen steamed bun into pieces and put them in water to eat with some pickled vegetables she had made herself. Though it was simple and plain, she didn't find it hard to swallow. Her roommate told me that Ms. Zhang had sold the oil and eggs her relatives sent her, and spent the money to clarify the truth about Falun Dafa.
Seeing that, tears blurred my eyes. I have lost my wife in the persecution. I asked her if she felt it was hard. She said, "If I think about how Milerepa Buddha suffered in his cultivation, I don't find it hard. On the contrary, I see that cultivating in Falun Dafa is the greatest joy in my life." She also told me that sometimes she thought about her husband and the path they walked together, and felt very happy. Teacher's words echo in her mind:
"Cultivation is hard. It's hard in that even when a terrible calamity strikes, even when evil madly persecutes, and even when your life is at stake, you still have to be able to steadfastly continue on your path of cultivation without letting anything in human society interfere with the steps you take on your path of cultivation." ("Path")
She said simply and firmly, "So I will do what I ought to do."
March 13, 2005
