(Clearwisdom.net) My father started practicing Falun Gong in 1997. During the persecution by the Chinese Communist Party, he personally experienced and witnessed six family members being illegally detained 11 times, one family member being illegally sent to a forced labor camp, and two family members being forced to leave home. He was threatened, deceived and had money extorted from him. He suffered tremendously both physically and emotionally. He was over 80 years old and had gotten rid of many diseases because of practicing Falun Gong. However, as a result of all that he went through in the persecution, he suffered angina pectoris and passed away.
Between 1996 and April 1999, 12 people in our family started practicing Dafa, one after another. Before, my father had suffered a stroke, but he recovered and became very healthy after he started practicing Falun Gong. My mother, who was almost 80 years old, looked like someone in her 50s. Her diseases, such as emphysema, heart disease, and tracheitis disappeared. My sisters became more even tempered. My sister-in-law's temperament became much better, and she seemed like a new person. My eldest brother was over 50 years old. He had been bothered by arthritis ever since he was a kid. Every year in October, he has to start putting on his winter pants. On August 1, 1997, he started practicing Falun Gong. Two months later, all of his diseases, including arthritis, heart problems, lower back pain, gastritis, and neurasthenia, disappeared. He was so thrilled to be healthy again. The whole family was very happy, which encouraged my nephews to start practicing Falun Gong as well. Falun Gong brought our family happiness and harmony.
The inhuman persecution against Falun Gong started in 1999. In order to validate Dafa, my family went out to tell people: "Falun Dafa is good! 'Truthfulness, Compassion, Tolerance' is good!"
In October 1999, my oldest brother was detained illegally for practicing Falun Gong. In March 2000, my oldest brother and his wife, my second oldest brother, his wife, and my nephew were illegally detained due to going to Beijing to appeal for justice for Dafa. In October 2001, my oldest brother was illegally detained while he was distributing truth-clarification materials. After my second oldest brother and his wife went to Beijing again to appeal, they had to leave their home to avoid further persecution. While my second oldest brother and his wife were gone, my 80-year-old father and mother supported our broken family. My father told his two grandsons while in tears, "Your father and mother have not done anything wrong by being good people and following the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance. It is bad people who have broken up our family." The evil frequently harassed the family, and sometimes they even broken into our home in the middle of the night. My father and mother were scared and suffered insomnia. They became weaker and thinner. The two children cried for their parents. The whole family was suffering.
My father worried about his son, who was beaten and suffered broken ribs in the forced labor camp. He worried about his daughter-in-law and his grandson, who were illegally detained. The authorities hired people to listen in and watch the family all the time. My father suffered tremendously.
While my oldest brother was illegally detained in the forced labor camp, the police ransacked his home and confiscated items worth over 2,000 yuan. The police fined him and extorted 15,000 yuan from him. When my second sister was illegally detained, they extorted 12,000 yuan from him. My second brother and his wife were extorted out of 5000 yuan. My father witnessed all of these shocking facts. He suffered greatly emotionally.
The night my father passed away, we held a funeral for him, and below is part of the memorial service speech that we wrote for him:
Dear Father: Today, we memorialize you with the highest human ceremony. At this time, you must be very happy to look at the human world from other dimensions because we, "with no discontentment or hatred, take hardship as joy." We "quietly observe the people of the world deluded by illusions." You completed your life in the human world successfully.
During the days of persecution, you worried about your children and endured the burden for the family.
Throughout your life, you were diligent and candid. You were always truthful, trying to be a better person and walking on the cultivation path.
In your life, you never took advantage of others. You taught your children not to do bad things to lose virtue. You were a kind-hearted person, and everybody respected you.
While being persecuted, you endured. But your tolerance was not unlimited, and you cried when it was beyond your endurance.
Dear Father, you can set your heart at rest! We will cherish this once in a thousand millennia opportunity. We will cultivate diligently until we reach Consummation.
Family and friends knelt down in front of his spirit tablet. We pressed our hands together in the heshi gesture and said goodbye to Father.
On the seventh night after my father passed away, we put out the incense burner table and the offerings. A bundle of incense and two candles were lit. We put a sheet of paper with a picture of a big lotus flower on the floor. A little ladder made of straw stood on the lotus flower, and a drawing of auspicious clouds was put on the ladder. When we tried to light up the paper on the floor, the spark surprisingly jumped up onto the drawing with the clouds. All of a sudden, the auspicious clouds lit up, became ashes, and rose up. People were shocked by what they saw. Right after that, the ashes of the incense in the incense burner formed the shape of a lotus flower, with some of the incense ash as petals. The petals formed a layer of the lotus flower. It was amazing and beautiful. My sister shouted suddenly: "Look!" In the sky, there was a spectacular scene. Seven lines of clouds were going in a parallel fashion towards the southwest, like a ladder. Right above us, there was a huge circle formed by the clouds. It looked like a huge Law Wheel. There weren't too many clouds in the circle, and it seemed empty. Perhaps because father didn't clarify the truth much before he passed away, his world was relatively empty. The scene of the blue sky with the white clouds was so beautiful.
Father persisted in practicing Falun Gong even when the persecution was very severe, because he had benefited from Dafa and he knew deep in his heart that Falun Dafa is good. He always believed in the principle that good deeds will be rewarded with good, while evildoings will meet with due karmic retribution.
