(Clearwisdom.net) May 13th is Falun Dafa Day. This year was the eleventh time this day has been celebrated. It is a day we Falun Dafa practitioners must eternally engrave in our hearts. This day is also our great Teacher's birthday. As a practitioner who has been blessed by Dafa, I must sincerely thank Teacher: "Teacher, you have given us so much! Thank you!"
It may seem a bit strange, but it was my own narrow-mindedness that set me on the path of becoming a Dafa practitioner.
That was nine years ago, when the persecution of Falun Gong was at its fiercest. I had never understood Falun Gong before. My older brother was a practitioner, and before that, he was just a qigong enthusiast. When my brother was young, he suffered a severe injury to his leg, which the hospital was unable to treat. Because of this, he tried qigong treatments, but they didn't completely heal him. He would usually go practice in the park, where he eventually met many Falun Gong practitioners. After a while, they introduced the practice to him. Perhaps it was because of a predestined relationship that he began practicing back then. Not long after he started, his leg completely healed.
At the time I was just a girl, living with my brother and sister-in-law. My sister-in-law didn't like me much, and I was constantly agitated by her attitude towards me. I was never able to look past the things she said to me, and they always upset me. My brother said to me, "Your sister-in-law isn't an educated person. It's impossible for her to change, so you must change!" But how could I change myself? And why did I have to be the one to change? But I didn't want to make my brother's life difficult by putting him in the middle of the conflict between me and his wife, so I told him I would try to change. He told me that, to practice Falun Gong, one is guided by Truth-Compassion-Forbearance. We should always put other people's interests ahead of our own. It isn't that other people are mean to us, but, rather, our narrow mindedness makes us intolerant of others. Come to think of it, it made sense. The conflicts between my sister-in-law and me, weren't they all over trivial things? And so, under my brother's guidance, I started to practice Falun Gong. At the time I did it out of curiosity, without true purpose, but little could I have realized that miraculous things would start happening to me.
I had had back problems for as long as I could remember. I always felt my muscles straining when I bent over. It didn't hurt terribly, but it wasn't comfortable, either. If I bent over for any length of time, I'd have difficulty standing up straight. It was only after my second day of doing the sitting exercise that my back pains went away and never returned. I didn't know at the time whether it got better because I practiced or because it just went away on its own. It was just unexpected. Also, Zhuan Falun mentioned the dangers that practitioners may encounter. Several times motorcycles came at me at high speed and knocked me down, but I was never injured.
Teacher has also taught us "with one person practicing, the whole family benefits" (Teaching the Fa at the Fa Conference in Australia) This was something that I experienced very deeply as well. I have been practicing Falun Dafa since before I was married. My husband and my mother-in-law went from disapproving to approving and even supporting me in practicing Falun Gong. It's also because they have personally experienced the magnificence and benevolence of Dafa which brought about this transformation.
I married only a few months after I became a practitioner. Because I hadn't cultivated my heart very much and because I wasn't a particularly kindhearted person at the time, I ran into problems with my husband's younger sister. After reading Teacher's books more and more, I understood that this was all due to preordained relationships. After that, I no longer argued with my mother-in-law. I stopped quarreling with her for living with us and interfering with raising my child. I just thought that it was natural for everyone to have their own share of difficulties in life. Although a bad thought comes to my mind every now and then, isn't this just an attachment a cultivator needs to discard? The old narrow-minded me, who wouldn't back down from a fight, had undergone a complete transformation. When my mother-in-law nitpicked my problems, my husband would say to her: "Why don't you go out and look around? See if you can possibly find any other woman who would make a better a wife?" My mother-in-law couldn't say anything after that.
Because my husband supported me in practicing Falun Gong, he, too, benefited and was promoted at work. I would always say to my husband, "Kindness starts with filial respect." Even if what our mothers and fathers say is wrong, we shouldn't go against them or lose our temper. No matter how terrible the things they say are, they never mean harm to their children. After a while, my husband began to pick up some of what I told him. He no longer lost his temper when his parents criticized him. When he encountered problems at work, he would also tell me about it. I would share with him what I learned from studying the Fa, something Teacher always taught us. Don't make a fuss over the bad things others say about you, and always approach a situation with a heart of compassion. No matter what the consequences, always be conscientious in what you do. Never take money that doesn't belong to you (he once had an opportunity to take some extra money from work, but it wasn't something he had earned). Under my subtle influence, he was gradually also able to use Truth-Compassion-Forbearance as the criterion to live by. Because he didn't fuss over losses and gains at work, his boss and coworkers all liked him very much. He received more bonuses from work, although he didn't pay much attention to them. He would say, "When one always speaks the truth and improves himself, everything is great in life." It's just as Teacher said in Zhuan Falun: "If something is yours, you will not lose it. If something is not yours, you will not have it even if you fight for it."
Teacher not only taught us to be good people in society, but also to be good people at home. Hence, I got rid of all my premarital expectations, such as that my husband should always be nice to me and that everything must be done my way. It was through Dafa that I understood that a person should be gentle, educate her children with reason, be kind to others, be just as kind to her own family, etc. I was really moved every time I reflected on this. Because my parents had passed away when I was young, no one really taught me how to conduct myself as a good person. It was Teacher who taught me how to truly become a good person.
Today I understand that it is because I practice Falun Gong, and with Teacher's help, that I have been given good health and a harmonious family. Today I am a mother. It's been over nine years since I first became a cultivator. I've never taken one pill and have never been ill once. Although I am over 30, my skin is still soft and smooth like that of a young girl. When I take my daughter out to play, many people are surprised that I have a child of that age. I know I have Teacher to thank for everything. Of course Teacher would never require any compensation in return, only that we abide by the teachings in his book to improve ourselves to be good people. Now I must tell everyone that, from my own experience, Falun Dafa is good, our Teacher is the best person there is, and please don't listen to or believe the slander of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). In reality, lies will have no effect on a person of wisdom. If one would take the time to glance at the main book of Falun Dafa - Zhuan Falun - every lie that the CCP built up would collapse.
Practitioners of Falun Gong cultivate Truth-Compassion-Forbearance. When we approach our friends and colleagues, we are more genuine and more willing to help others, because every one of us strives to be good to every person. At work we strive to work hard and accept criticism, because we don't worry about what we have to lose or gain. We regard the problems and responsibilities at work to be our own. Because we are compassionate, we treat each member of our families better, and we are more generous and tolerant. Looking back, had I not practiced Dafa, I would not have listened to my brother, and I would have fought with my sister-in-law endlessly. What a dark and gloomy life it would have been. I would have haggled over every little thing in life and tried to amass all sorts of ill-gotten gains. I would have wanted to step on other people to get what I wanted. What would that kind of life have been like?
I really must rejoice in having had the good fortune to know such a virtuous Dafa, Falun Gong, to have been granted such a healthy body, a heart full of hope, and a joyful attitude toward every new day in life. I believe what I wanted to express is the same as those thousands upon thousands of other Dafa practitioners. I read an experience sharing from another practitioner some time ago. It was written by a boy a little over ten years old. He said, "Ever since I started practicing Falun Gong, I always found myself to be the most joyful person in this world." Isn't it so? That is exactly how I feel, too. I am also the happiest person in the world! Although I am not wealthy, my heart is at peace, full of light and hope, and full of compassion. I eagerly await the day that Dafa will be cleared and its good name restored so that we who believe in Truth-Compassion-Forbearance can live freely under the blue sky and no longer be discriminated against, no longer be suppressed.
My sincere wish is for all kindhearted and compassionate people of this world to come to know Falun Gong and have a happy future!
