(Minghui.org) I am a 78-year-old female Falun Dafa practitioner who lives in a small village in Jilin Province. As a former Buddhist, I started Falun Dafa cultivation practice in 1996 and have not looked back.
I would like to share some of my experiences in overcoming life-threatening tribulations.
While walking home from the market on August 17, 1999, I was hit by a speeding motorcycle. I have little recollection of the actual incident, though I remember floating skywards in the immediate aftermath, surrounded by warmth and comfort without fear or pain. Suddenly, I found my path blocked. In the blink of an eye, I felt myself falling to the ground. When I awoke, I found myself lying in a hospital bed.
Fellow practitioners informed me that I had been in an accident. Unable to move, I instructed them, “I am a Falun Dafa practitioner. I will not exploit the motorcyclist to pay compensation.” I drifted in and out of consciousness while doctors tried to save my life. As my injuries were too severe, doctors quickly rushed me to a larger city hospital for further treatment.
Doctors at the city hospital performed further diagnostic scans before concluding that my condition was too severe to risk further treatment. I was transported back to our local hospital for further observation. I woke up the day after unable to move. My left side was severely injured, with bruises covering the left side of my face and internal bleeding in my left eye. All my teeth had been knocked loose and I had shattered my left sternum. Doctors wanted to administer a blood transfusion, but I decided against it. I spent the next three days in a haze, reciting the Falun Dafa teachings from memory whenever I found myself awake.
Eight days after the accident, doctors pronounced that the worst of my wounds had recovered and I was discharged on day twelve. Once home, I studied the Fa and practiced the Dafa exercises daily. Within a week, my fractured left sternum was healed.
After the accident, I recalled from my childhood a fortune teller’s pronouncement that I was destined to live until the age of sixty. If I had not been a Falun Dafa practitioner, my life would have been over. However, my life was saved because I practice Dafa and my body was completely healed - truly a miracle on earth!
While carrying my trash to the roadside dumping area on March 31, 2000, I was hit by a speeding motorcycle. The collision sent me to the ground, fracturing my left leg and tearing a large gash on my head. Passersby apprehended the motorcyclist and tried to call an ambulance. I managed to stop them. “I am a Falun Dafa practitioner. I will not hold him accountable. Please let him go.”
I found a private clinic to bandage my bleeding head wound before heading home to study the Fa and practice the exercises. My life again was saved by Falun Dafa.
Ten days after my second motorcycle accident, the Municipal Police Department detained me and I was sent to the Heizuizi Forced Labor Camp for one year of detention. Prior to admission, I was examined by a doctor at the labor camp. My fractured leg made walking difficult and my head wound continued to ooze blood. The labor camp refused to accept me and I was returned to the Municipal Police Department. I mulled over this surprising turn of events. If I had been admitted to the labor camp with injuries so severe, I might not have survived. I was again protected by Dafa and was guided out of this danger.
Although my admittance had been rejected by the Heizuizi Forced Labor Camp, the Municipal Police Department refused to release me from detention. The detention cell had no basic amenities and I was forced to sleep on the damp concrete floor. Besides my unhealed injuries, itchy pustules began to appear along the entire length of my right leg. I tried to relieve the itch with daily washings, but my condition did not improve.
The pain, itch and suffering finally drove me to contemplate suicide. I decided to end my life by going on a hunger strike. One night, two days after I began, I dreamed of a mountain so high that it pierced the sky. The mountain was covered in flowering peach trees and a multitude of petals drifted in the breeze. As I admired this scene, a voice resounded from above. “You have only cultivated seven or eight flower petals. If you die now, you will not reach consummation and your cultivation will have been in vain. Only when you have cultivated ten petals will you reach consummation. You cannot die now!”
I woke up abruptly and began to search inwards. Despite surviving two deadly vehicular accidents, three rounds of detention, imprisonment and persecution, I was seriously contemplating suicide. My life had been saved time and again in order for me to fulfill my promise and awaken sentient beings. Where was my perseverance? How could I have forgotten my mission? I was determined to strengthen my faith in Dafa and cultivate with renewed diligence.
I resumed eating the following day and began diligently studying the Fa and practicing the exercises every day. The injuries on my legs and head gradually healed and I found myself able to walk with ease. On July 20, 2000, I was unconditionally released and was given a fourth chance at life.
A fellow practitioner lived directly opposite my house. She was a few years younger than me. After the death of her husband, she subsisted on a small pension given by the local government. As the former director of a medium-sized factory, I received a larger retirement pension than she did. On three previous occasions, this fellow practitioner had asked to move in with me. Because she had signed agreements while in prison to “stop practicing Dafa” as well as written essays criticizing Master Li (the founder) and Dafa, I developed a slighted view of her. My refusal of her repeated requests further drove a wedge in our relationship.
I went over to this practitioner's home in July 2002, coincidentally meeting another male practitioner who happened to drop by. She poured us each a cup of tea, putting a spoonful of sugar in mine. I downed the entire cup but tasted no sweetness. Within less than three minutes, I felt severely ill and was forced to rush home. I vomited twice before stumbling outside to throw up for the third time. It was only then that I noticed a large amount of blood in it.
Shocked, I ran back to the fellow practitioner’s home and demanded to know what she had placed in the tea. She instantly told me that it was sugar and the male practitioner also said the same thing. They remained silent when I told them my stomach was hurting. Back home, I asked Master Li for help and kept drinking water in an attempt to cleanse my stomach. This cycle of drinking and vomiting continued until the middle of the night when I finally drifted off to sleep in a daze. I woke up at dawn the following morning, with my body feeling light, relaxed and pain-free.
I later shared my experience with another fellow practitioner, who commented, “You and that particular practitioner might have shared a grudge in your past life and this tribulation may have been used to resolve this issue and purify your body and improve your level.” I was protected and saved for the fifth time.
Afterward, I worked to erase the grudge I held against my fellow practitioner, taking the initiative to visit and communicate with her with a heart of compassion.