(Minghui.org) I started practicing Falun Dafa in 1996. I am 83 now and retired from teaching at a university. For more than 20 years, I have been walking on the cultivation path arranged by Master, clarifying the truth and awakening the conscience of sentient beings. I have overcome many tribulations with Master’s protection.
Early Days
When I started practicing Falun Dafa (also called Falun Gong) on September 3, 1996, I felt that the Fa was very special. Master Li said, “The gong cultivates you when you are not practicing, just as it also cultivates you when you are practicing.” (Lecture One,Zhuan Falun)
Why is this practice so amazing? It’s unprecedented for gong to cultivate us. I was very excited to have obtained the Fa in my early 60s. I practiced; read, copied, and recited the teachings; studied the teachings with fellow practitioners; watched Master's lectures video; and tried to put all the Fa into my head.
At that time, Fa conferences were held frequently. I went everywhere to attend them and took part in activities to spread the Fa in different regions. I was happy every day. When I heard the Dafa music “Pu Du” and “Ji Shi” for the first time, I couldn’t hold back my tears, and I made up my mind to cultivate diligently
Not Confused During the Persecution
Jiang Zemin and his followers in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) launched the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners on July 20, 1999, with rumors, slander, and defamation. With a heart of gratitude for Dafa and Master, I went to Tiananmen Square three times to validate the Fa.
The first time I went was in April 2000, and I was arrested. I was illegally detained five times. I was detained in an empty room in a county police station for eight days and nights. I was detained in a brainwashing center for one year and eight months, and my home was ransacked three times. My pension was withheld for 18 years.
The police put me in the trunk of a police car on the way from the Tiananmen Square Police Station to the Beijing Office in April 2000. It was stuffy in there and difficult to breathe,. I thought I was going to die, but I was not afraid. I repeatedly recited Master’s poem:
“Live, seeking nothingDie, not desiring to stayFrantic thoughts all washed awayBuddhahood not hard to attain”(“Nonexistence,” Hong Yin)
After I was taken back to my city from Beijing on April 25, 2000, a police officer in my district asked me if I was going to continue practicing Falun Gong. I started to cry. He said, “You don’t need to cry. Just promise to give up practicing Falun Gong.” I said, “How could I give up this great Dafa? Other practitioners went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong last year. I really regret that I went to Beijing so late.” The officer was shocked and turned away.
During the 20 months I was held in the brainwashing center, they tried everything to “transform” me and have me give up my belief. But I didn’t cooperate with them and was not moved by their threats, because I strengthened my righteous thoughts. I recited “Lunyu” more than a dozen times and all of Master’s lectures and poems that I could remember.
I knew very well that such a good practice could not be defamed and that it was a sin to slander Master and Dafa. So, when they had me listen to or watch videos that defamed Dafa, such as the staged Tiananmen Square self-immolation or “Suicide by Suspension,” or when they threatened me for refusing to be “transformed,” I would debunk their lies. I would never bow my head to anything evil.
When they realized that their lies had no effect on me, they tried to whittle away my confidence. Once they told me that, because I had been in a brainwashing center, Master would no longer accept me. Of course I didn’t believe such garbage. I told them that, even if Master didn’t want me anymore, I would still follow him, always. Maybe because of my firm determination to always follow Master, he helped me. They stopped making trouble for me for more than two months.
The persecution has never confused me. I know that the opportunity to practice Dafa is hard to come by, so I cannot leave a shadow of regret. I will firmly remember Master’s Fa:
“Don't leave any stain or regret on the path that you walk when you validate the Fa and during this period when you establish your mighty virtue. Those can never be erased.” (“Teaching and Explaining the Fa at the Metropolitan New York Fa Conference,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. III)
Only human beings are attached to everything in the human world. I must cherish this precious cultivation opportunity and say “No” to the evil, no matter how brutal the persecution is.
Clarifying the Truth
Master said,
“For a Fa-rectification period Dafa disciple, personal liberation is not the goal of cultivation: when you came, saving sentient beings was your great aspiration, and that is the responsibility and mission history has bestowed upon you in Fa-rectification. Thus great numbers of beings are to be saved by you.” (“Let Go of Human Attachments and Save the World's People,” The Essentials of Diligent Progress, Vol III)
“If you don't take action to save sentient beings, you will not have fulfilled your responsibility as a Dafa disciple and your cultivation will amount to nothing, for your becoming a Dafa disciple was not for the sake of your own Consummation. This means that you shoulder a monumental mission.” (“Fa Teaching at the 2009 Washington DC International Fa Conference,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. IX)
Master’s teachings helped me realize that Dafa practitioners are given immense responsibilities. Therefore, I always consider clarifying the truth to be of the greatest importance in fulfilling my sacred mission.
Before 2011, I used to go out with other practitioners to clarify the truth face to face, distribute truth DVDs, and post stickers with Dafa information. Since the end of 2011, I go out alone to talk to people and help them quit the CCP. Bus stops and vegetable markets are good places to explain the facts to people.
If people ask me for directions, I will tell them about Dafa and then show them where to go. I once explained the facts to a lady who’d asked me for directions and helped her quit the CCP. She left without getting directions. This really was a predestined person Master had sent to hear the truth!
I have met all kinds of people. Some listen, understand, and quit the CCP. They thank me and some ask for amulets. Some people admire our courage to tell the truth despite the pressure we face. Some wait for us to tell us to be careful when we are reported to the police. Of course, some people who have been deeply poisoned by the Party refuse to listen. Some turn their face and ignore me. Some are against Falun Gong and curse us. They refuse to listen and even try to report us. Sometimes we run into plainclothes officers.
I have been involved in nine risky situations over the past 10 years, and I escaped most of them under Master’s enlightenment and protection. On three occasions, the old forces took advantage of my attachments and I was taken to the police station. Protected by Master, I returned home the same day.
What should we do in the face of abuse, threats, intimidation, and so on? We should study the teachings more and use the Fa principles to guide and correct ourselves.
Master said:
“While they're clarifying the facts some students often run into people who don't want to listen, don't accept things, or are even antagonistic. You shouldn't let one person's opposition be a mental setback for you or make you lose the courage to save sentient beings. A Dafa disciple... what's a Dafa disciple? He's a being created by the most magnificent Fa, (enthusiastic applause) and he's rock-solid and as indestructible as diamond. How could a few words from an ordinary, bad person count for anything? "However evil you are, you can't change me. I simply must accomplish my historic mission, and I must do what a Dafa disciple should do.” (“Teaching the Fa at the 2003 Washington DC Fa Conference,”Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. IV)
Master’s Fa is very clear, so we should follow his instructions. We must also look inward for our attachments, such as worrying about losing face, disliking bad words, fear, a fighting mentality, bearing a grudge, and not being compassionate enough. We need to let go of these attachments so we can improve our xinxing. Then our hearts will be focused on awakening people’s consciences rather than on their appearance.
Thinking of Others First in Accidents
A few days after the 2004 New Year, I was waiting at the bus stop after visiting my old friends to clarify the truth when an electric car hit me from behind. I fell forward, landing on my hands and head. A big bump appeared next to my right eye, and my hands were bloody. I said to myself, “Master, I will be fine.” I slowly stood up and recited, “Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good.” The two ladies in the car looked at me, dumbfounded and terrified.
I thought maybe they were in a hurry and weren’t paying attention. Then I remembered what Master said: “The driver indeed drove the car too fast, but how could he possibly hit someone on purpose? (Lecture Four, Zhuan Falun)
I said, “You are lucky that you hit me who practices Falun Dafa. I am fine. Please remember: ‘Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good.” Then I let them go.
I was on a bus to a fellow practitioner’s place in a remote suburban in April 2019. As I was trying to change seats, the bus made a sharp turn, and I fell on my back with a thud, my head hitting the leg of the seat. The bus driver stopped the bus immediately and came to ask me if I was alright. I told him not to worry, to just keep driving, and I would be fine. I said to Master in my heart, “Master, I will be alright.”
I stood up and got off at my stop. After I got off, I regretted that I forgot to tell the driver about Dafa. I knew that Master had protected me or else I might have broken a bone or gotten a concussion, quite likely for an 80-year-old woman.
At the age of 83, like thousands of Dafa practitioners, I have overcome the test of life and death. Over the past 20 years, I have followed the path Master arranged for me, assisting him in the Fa-rectification. My gratitude to Master is endless. I will be more diligent in cultivation and do the three things well to live up to Master’s expectations.
