A Physician Discovers True Compassion and a New Perspective

(Minghui.org) Well respected by patients and his peers, Dr. Cheng Yuan-yu is an attending physician who specializes in infectious diseases. He works at Taipei Veterans General Hospital and Kinmen Hospital, two top hospitals in Taiwan.

Dr. Cheng realized long ago that death is inevitable. He always wondered who decides when it's time for a person to cross the line between life and death. He knew that physicians were not in control.

He said, “Working in hospitals, I have seen patients from all different social and economic situations. Some suffered illnesses for many years with tubes attached to their bodies.” It made him reflect. “Watching my patients suffer, I began to wonder: If there are gods, why would they allow this? I was angry at gods. I wondered why some people were so miserable. I was not happy… I was more angry than compassionate.”

Modern medicine has its limitations. Often times, surgery and treatments can only prolong someone’s life for a few more months.

“I started to have doubts. It seemed like everything depended on the person’s own fate. The person would suffer if his fate was bad. The patients’ fear and my unanswered questions cast a shadow over my life,” Dr. Cheng said.

Faced with the inevitability of death, Dr. Cheng wondered what the most important things in life were.

He began working at Kinmen Hospital in 2010. “My life got better after I moved to Kinmen. I have beautiful children, my salary doubled...all the luxury things… everything was good, and yet, I had the thought: this is not right. Not that I didn’t want my job or my family, but if I were to die, these material things were surely not the goal I had spent my entire life pursuing.”

Dr. Cheng’s Sister

The first time Dr. Cheng heard of Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, was from his sister.

In 2009, Dr. Cheng’s sister had surgery for appendicitis. When she woke up from the anesthesia, she was nearly paralyzed. She could not open her eyelids or move her mouth. The diagnosis was pituitary gland atrophy. Her body could no longer make thyroxine and epinephrine. Steroids and thyroid drugs were her only option to stay alive.

In 2012, Dr. Cheng’s sister developed a case of severe cellulitis.

Dr. Cheng found her cellulitis strange: “I spent many years treating cellulitis. From the perspective of a medical professional, her case was different from any other patient Id’ treated before. For instance, both of her feet experienced pain, which was unusual, and then the pain dramatically decreased within a few hours, which was unheard of. After the cellulitis subsided, the edema from taking high doses of steroids went away. She was stronger and in better spirits than before.”

He was confused. His sister told him she had started practicing Falun Gong a few months earlier and stopped taking steroids for a couple of weeks.

“As a physician, I could not explain my sister’s recovery.”

Professor Yang Shuohing at Sun Yat-sen University recommended Dr. Cheng look into Falun Gong.

For Falun Gong practitioners, physical fitness is only one component. Their goal is to become kind, compassionate people. Dr. Cheng saw that elevating himself through cultivation is exactly the “destiny of life” he had been looking for.

“The evening of the first day I practiced Falun Gong, I had a fever. It lasted until the next morning. It was similar to the body purification described in Zhuan Falun. I used to get sick a lot, but that day, I felt good. My mind was clear, and my chronic joint pain was gone! Falun Gong is amazing. As a doctor, I could not explain how or why someone can feel so refreshed after having a fever.”

When he was in college, Dr. Cheng suffered from asthma and was diagnosed with palindromic rheumatism. It is an autoimmune disease that has no cure.

“Whenever I was under pressure or did not get enough sleep, the rheumatism in my hands and feet would flare up. When that happened, I’d be in so much pain that I could only lay in bed and not move.”

To improve his health, Dr. Cheng used to jog and enjoyed it very much. However, once he began practicing Falun Gong, his views about modern medicine changed.

“I realized supernatural phenomena exist. From the purification of the body in the beginning to the meditative states, I could not achieve these through any other means. They are beyond modern science. What I experienced by practicing Falun Gong may sound a bit dramatic, but the changes are real. I feel refreshed and elevated. I found my inner peace and calmness–far exceeding anything I knew in the past.”

For Dr. Cheng, Zhuan Falun is the most important book

Beyond Physical Change

With the elevation of his mind, Dr. Cheng became more optimistic, sincere and generous.

“When we try to console people, we usually say, ‘When you lose something, you gain something.’ However, the resentment was still there. When I helped patients with kindness but they responded with hostility and accusation, after a long time, I could not help having negative emotions. After reading Zhuan Falun, I now have a completely different reaction to conflicts.

“I no longer become upset because my feelings are not hurt. I’m not suffering silently either. In fact, I’m not angry at all. My tolerance has truly expanded. Faced with difficult patients and stressful situations, I remain calm and think from the other person’s point of view. Practicing Falun Gong has given me a new perspective.

“Before I began practicing, I was a calculating person. I had a sense of entitlement and constantly pursued material things. I thank Falun Gong’s founder, Master Li Hongzhi, for leading me onto the most worthy path, a life of cultivation. His teachings are a constant reminder of my life’s mission and responsibilities. I have now experienced the true beauty of life!”

Dr. Cheng with his wife and children. They hope that everyone will know how amazing Falun Gong is.

“I sincerely recommend the book Zhuan Falun to everyone. Falun Gong is high-level cultivation discipline, and anyone can practice. Regardless of what your initial goals are: to improve health, relieve stress from everyday hardship… as long as you follow Falun Gong’s principles, you will benefit far beyond your expectations. You may reach a level you never would have imagined!”