(Clearwisdom.net)
Greetings, great and benevolent Master.
Greetings, fellow practitioners.
I'm Yaqin. I've been practicing Falun Dafa for exactly five months.
I became aware of Falun Gong when Falun Gong practitioners appealed at Zhongnanhai on April 25, 1999. Later, The Epoch Times debuted. I read it every day. I regarded it as a very good newspaper. Occasionally, I'd miss getting the newspaper when I was busy with something else, but my husband would always bring a copy home for me. Since then I've formed a strong tie with the newspaper.
This February I had an opportunity to read Zhuan Falun. I was immediately fascinated by the principles in the book. Although there were things that I didn't understand, my feeling then was that everything I'd been searching for in my life was in the book. I liked the book very much, but I was hesitant to walk away from church to practice Falun Gong. I'd already changed religious practices four times.
On March 9 the news about how the evil CCP was harvesting organs from living Falun Gong practitioners was disclosed to the world. I was stunned. Having lived in Mainland China for 46 years I know the wicked Communist Party all too well, but I never imagined that the CCP would dare to extract organs from Falun Gong practitioners, especially living ones. This is the most brutal crime on earth. I became so infuriated that I started crying. As I cried I started telling this news to my husband. This nice American man couldn't imagine such evil could exist in Mainland China. He shook his head and kept saying, "It's so terrible"
On March 31 I went back to Shenyang seeking medical treatment. I knew there was a secret concentration camp for organ harvesting in the Sujiatun District of Shenyang City. Taxi drivers normally have pretty good information, so I thought they might know something about this. I had several conversations with taxi drivers on the subject. One driver said, "This isn't news anymore, who doesn't know?" Another said, "This stuff is many years old." A third asked me with a smile, "You must not be from Shenyang. Why do you only ask about that old stuff?" Based on what they said it's obvious that this barbaric crime has been going on for a while.
I received high-pressure oxygen therapy in a hospital for 14 days. My treatment group included eight people. Among us, one man was referred to as the "head of department at the provincial level." For some reason he said hello to everyone but me. In fact he always ignored me. One day during our brief free time before the therapy started, the person who accompanied the departmental head said, "That Falun Gong, after practice they don't even want to live anymore, and they wanted to set themselves on fire." At the time, even though I hadn't started practicing Falun Dafa, I couldn't tolerate such words. I immediately responded, "None of you should believe those lies about the self-immolation incident. The government staged that to make Falun Gong look bad." The head of the department didn't say anything after hearing my words. The next day he greeted me warmly when he came in. I asked him with a smile, "Everyone calls you 'head of the department.' Which department do you work for?" He didn't answer me specifically, but he said he was with the judicial branch. Judging from his attitude change I could tell that he must have known the truth about the self-immolation.
One day a new patient arrived. When I discovered that he was a policeman that worked at the Masanjia Forced Labor Camp I asked him about the Falun Gong practitioners there. He said, "We used to have many practitioners detained at our facility, but later they were all transferred somewhere else. "Transferred where? Do you know?" I followed him to ask more details. He seemed to suddenly think of something, "Why are you asking these questions?" I had to make up a reason. "A friend of my sister is a Falun Gong practitioner. Now no one knows where she's detained." The policeman stared at me for a while and then left without saying another word. I know many practitioners were detained there a few years before, but now there aren't any. He said they were all transferred somewhere else. Where could they be? I thought they must have been transferred to secret concentration camps like Sujiatun; many of them might have been killed for their organs.
Before I began practicing Falun Gong I suffered from serious rheumatism, hypertension, gastric disease, sleep disorder, and constipation. Beginning in 2001 I had to go back to Mainland China every year to see doctors. Some years I had to go back twice, but none of my diseases improved at all or even stabilized. This year I went to see a folk doctor. After taking traditional Chinese medicine for more than 20 days I was feeling a lot better. On April 27 I came back in good health.
Who knew that by May 7 all my diseases would recur? Moreover, they were more severe than before. This time I really experienced what it's like when people say: "Disease can strike a human with a force that can move a mountain." I was truly lost, not knowing what to do. How could I go on living like this? I asked myself while I cried, "Is there anything else left for me to do but cry?" It was then that I thought of Falun Gong, but I remembered that it was stated very clearly in Zhuan Falun, "If you come to learn the practice and this Dafa with various pursuits, you will not learn anything." I asked myself, "Isn't trying to cure disease a pursuit?" So I gave up the idea of practicing Falun Gong.
By May 18 I was tormented so badly by these diseases that I saw no way out. I called a number on the Falun Dafa website and said, "I want to practice Falun Gong." That afternoon a practitioner came to my home with many Dafa books and videotapes of Teacher's lectures. She also taught me how to do the exercises. That night, while I listened to Teacher's lecture, without any intention I found that everywhere I looked I saw Teacher's Buddha-image. The image appeared on the ceiling, the walls, everywhere. After a while they all disappeared, and then later on they showed up again. When I first read Zhuan Falun I knew that miracles could happen in the cultivation process, but I never expected they would happen to me in such a short period of time. I was so stunned by the sudden phenomenon that I almost stopped breathing I didn't yet realize that I'd already obtained the Fa.
As I listened to Teacher's lecture at 7:20 a.m. on the morning of May 29 another miracle occurred. A big Buddha-image of Teacher appeared on the ceiling; it lasted about three seconds. Because of my experience a few days before I was calmer this time, and I was more determined to cultivate.
After I woke up on the morning of May 31 I felt different than I ever had before. After I got out of bed I discovered that all of my diseases had disappeared. My body was as light as a teenager's. In the face of this earth-shaking overnight change I had to believe that everything was real, but still I pinched my arm and leg to convince myself it wasn't just a dream. Suddenly I'd become another person. I felt that I was no longer myself. Then I began to realize what Teacher had done for me. Every day for the next month I felt as though I was living in a dream. I cried and cried and cried... No words can describe the feeling when one's heart is moved so deeply.
Free from the torture of my former diseases, my heart began to calm down. I made a vow before Teacher's Buddha-image, "Teacher, I am truly cultivating now. Whatever you tell me to do, I will do it." Because I can't drive, I take public transportation to San Francisco's Chinatown to distribute truth clarification materials. The travel time back and forth can easily be two or three hours. During the first few days I only managed to distribute 50 or 60 copies. I said to myself, "How could this be acceptable? So few copies!" I started trying to shout as I distributed the papers. I shouted, "Falun Dafa is good." Meanwhile, I held the newspaper above my head. I smiled, called out, and distributed the newspapers. That smile was coming from the bottom of my heart, it was something I could never conceal. This method was quite effective. I was able to distribute many more papers.
During the rally celebrating 12 million Chinese quitting the CCP I stood up to speak. Although at the time I'd only been practicing for a month I wanted to use my experiences to validate the Fa. As I spoke, people in the square who were hostile or had misunderstandings about Dafa all listened carefully to the miracles that had happened to me. I believe that Dafa entered their hearts at that moment.
When I first began cultivation I made phone calls to my old friends and classmates in Mainland China and asked them to withdraw from the CCP. Some said they'd read the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party on the Internet, but they didn't care because they didn't think there was anything to it. Some said they couldn't do it, and some made negative comments. I certainly understood their fears, but I was still a bit irritated. One day I made a comment in front of a fellow practitioner, "No matter how many lives are to be destroyed in Mainland China, those people deserve it." Soon after I said it I regretted it. That night while I studied the Fa I read "Teaching the Fa in the City of Chicago." Teacher said, "This is what the history has entrusted you with." My eyes stopped at this sentence. Suddenly I felt I was so terrible. My words were not those of a cultivator. If an average person had heard me he would ask, "Why would a Falun Gong practitioner say something like that?" Was I a discredit to the Fa? I felt terrible in my heart. In the face of Teacher's great benevolent compassion I was ashamed.
Now that my body has been purified, my attachments are also being constantly removed. One time at a Fa-rectification booth a fellow practitioner was in a hurry and criticized me. Although I didn't show my unhappiness, in my heart I was a bit angry. I thought, "How could you treat me like that?" After I went home I randomly opened a Dafa book, and I happened to see Teacher's words about how Dafa disciples don't tolerate criticism, and suddenly all my tiredness left me. I felt like I'd awakened from a deep sleep. I almost cried and said, "Teacher, you are so compassionate. When you see me do something wrong, you point it out to me right away." This may not seem like a big deal, but it is engraved in my mind.
Another attachment I had was shopping. Whether I made a purchase or not, I enjoyed shopping very much. Normally I'd go shopping by myself. My husband is off work on the weekends and he takes me shopping, and he sits in a coffee shop. Since I began practicing Falun Dafa I suddenly lost all interest in shopping. Now, whenever my husband is off work he still takes me to shopping centers, but I no longer do any shopping; instead I pass out truth clarification materials in the parking lot. I greatly appreciate our great and benevolent Teacher, who always encourages me whenever I make a little improvement in my xinxing. Teacher has also allowed me to see into other dimensions, which makes me believe in Dafa all the more.
Thanks, Teacher. Thanks, fellow practitioners.