(Minghui.org) I started practicing Falun Dafa (also known as Falun Gong) in 1997. I still remember how excited and happy I was when I first found the practice.
Practicing Dafa without Interference
In 1997, my husband was talking with a friend, who suggested to him, “You ought to practice Falun Gong, it is very good.” They were talking about trilobites and other things mentioned in Zhuan Falun. At the time, I didn't understand anything they were talking about, but the name “Falun Gong” stuck with me. I then saw people meditating in a park one day and found out they were practicing Falun Gong. That's how I took up the practice.
I am of Hui ethnicity, an ethnic group that is mostly Muslim. Many Hui people hold a strong prejudice against Falun Gong. Some friends even asked me directly, “You are a Muslim. How come you are practicing Falun Gong?” Some would even whisper behind my back, and others would turn away as I passed by, not wanting to make eye contact.
A friend saw me taking out some plastic sheets one time and asked what I was doing. I told her that I was taking them to the practice site so other practitioners could sit on them during the meditation. She responded, “Look at you, so pretty. Why are you meditating with a bunch of old people? It's so humiliating!”
I didn't pay attention to them. Once I made up my mind about practicing Falun Dafa, I never had any doubts about Dafa or Master. I practiced the exercises and studied the teaching daily, and I told others about the practice. I felt that I was improving quickly.
In less than two months, I went through karma elimination. It was just like Master said in Zhuan Falun, “as if you’ve come down with a heavy cold.” My whole body ached, all the way down to my bones. I had a high fever, swollen lymph nodes, and blisters around my neck. I couldn't sleep or eat.
My husband wanted to take me to the hospital. My mom told me, “You will die from the blisters on your neck.” I told them that I was undergoing bodily cleansing, but they didn't understand. I refused to go to the hospital and they couldn't do anything about it.
After half a month of doing exercises and studying the Fa, I recovered. I have not needed to take any medicine in the past 20 years and am very healthy, thanks to Master Li, the founder of the practice, and Dafa!
Family Destroyed by the Communist Regime
I didn't understand why the government banned Falun Gong when the persecution started in 1999. I told other practitioners, “Master teaches us to be truthful, compassionate, tolerant, and good. There is nothing wrong with it. I am going to keep practicing this and follow Master forever.”
I went out every day to tell people the facts of Falun Dafa. I posted banners and passed out information about Falun Dafa from door to door. I always asked Master to strengthen and protect me whenever I went out. One time, my daughter and I went to a middle school to pass out flyers. The moment we walked out the gate, we saw police cars coming toward us. But we were able to leave safely.
Master said,
“Validate the Fa with rationality, clarify the truth with wisdom, spread the Fa and save people with mercy—this is establishing the mighty virtue of an Enlightened Being.” (“Rationality” in Essentials for Further Advancement II)
Because I was busy telling people about the facts of Falun Dafa, I neglected to study the Fa well and raise my xinxing. In 2001, I was detained twice. The police came and searched my home again in September 2002.
My husband was under pressure from his workplace to divorce me. He asked me to choose between our marriage and Falun Dafa. I said I wanted both.
“I don't care what others say about me. But you must know how I am at home. I am not doing anything wrong by following the principle of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance,” I said to him.
He wouldn't listen and insisted on getting a divorce.
Less than a month after we divorced, I was arrested for the third time. The police broke into my apartment through my door and windows and confiscated all my Dafa books. My niece was home with me at the time. They threatened her so she would give them so-called evidence.
My daughter came home for her school break only to find out her parents were divorced and her mother had been arrested. She was devastated. My mother, who was 95 at the time, cried every day.
I knew the old forces were taking advantages of my attachments, such as showing off, validating myself, jealousy, a competitive mentality, etc. Nevertheless, it was ultimately the Chinese communist regime that destroyed my family.
Sent to Forced Labor Camp
I was sent to Nanmusi Forced Labor Camp for two years. The persecution there was brutal – practitioners were often not allowed to sleep, wash themselves, or use the toilets. One guard, Zhang Xiaofang, was particularly cruel. She ordered other inmates to use our jackets to clean the floor and then throw them away in the middle of the winter. We shivered in the cold.
One day, Zhang ordered me to swear at Falun Dafa and Master. I refused. I told her that my mother had taught me to be a good person and that I didn't swear at anyone. She was very angry with me and had me stay out all night long without a jacket in the freezing cold.
Another time, I was summoned to her office and she beat me viciously for no reason. When I told her that she was wrong to treat me that way, she ordered other inmates to beat me almost every day.
I couldn't study the Fa teachings in the labor camp. Fortunately, I held on to one thought, “Master, I believe in you. I believe in you and Dafa!” With this thought, I survived two years of living hell.
Dutifully Telling People about Falun Dafa
Everywhere I go, I try to tell people the facts of Falun Gong and advise them to withdraw from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). When I tell them about the forced organ harvesting and the persecution of Dafa practitioners, people often say, “That's so terrible—the Party is really bad!”
When I advise people to withdraw from the CCP and its organizations, most of them agree, but not always. One time I spoke with a woman about Dafa, and she thought I looked too young to practice it.
She said, “I cannot believe you are doing this.”
“There are people of all ages practicing Falun Gong,” I replied. “I am over 60 years old and I only look young because I practice Falun Dafa.”
A Near Miss
In July 2017, I was walking past a construction site. Suddenly I heard a loud noise and a piece of steel plate whizzed right past my eyes, only a few steps away. Everyone in front of me and behind me was stunned.
Some said, “You are so lucky today.”
Others said, “If you were walking just a little faster, that steel plate would have hit you.”
But in the moment, I was very calm because I knew that Master would protect me and I would be fine. Afterwards, however, I did feel a little scared. I knew Master had protected me and resolved this tribulation for me.
Master said in Zhuan Falun,
“Nobody will dare to rashly do anything to you as long as your practice stays on track. And besides, you have the protection of my spiritual bodies. So no harm will come to you.”
“Another feature of Falun Dafa is that our students will be protected. This takes some explaining. The falun will protect those who genuinely do our practice. My roots are planted in this universe, and so someone would have to be able to harm me in order to harm you, which means that they would have to have the power to harm this universe.”
During the past 20 years, I have become even more clear about the purpose of life and the responsibility Dafa disciples shoulder. There are many areas that I need to improve on in my cultivation, and I will be more diligent and do better in the three things in the future.
Thank you, Master!
