(Minghui.org) There's a family who lives in Heilongjiang Province, where all three generations, from the grandparents down to the grandchildren, practice Falun Gong.
The practice of Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a mind-body discipline based on the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.
Below is their story, as told by the family's matriarch, her husband, her son, and her grandson.
The Grandmother's Story
My Grievances Towards My In-Laws
I was spoiled growing up and did not do any housework before I got married. My husband had three younger brothers and one younger sister. We moved in with his siblings and parents after we got married.
My mother-in-law woke me up early the first morning after my wedding and told me to prepare breakfast for the entire family. I didn't know how and messed up the meal.
Everyone was upset. My mother-in-law started to scold me, saying that I should have learned how to cook, as I am the oldest child in my family. She then told me to sit next to the door so that I could serve rice for everyone.
The seeds of my resentment toward the family were planted on that first day.
Resentment Intensified
My days did not get better in this family. My mother-in-law often reprimanded me for not doing things well, thinking that I messed things up on purpose. One of my younger brothers-in-law got so angry with me that I was afraid of seeing him. Another younger brother-in-law insulted me when the food I made was not to his taste.
Because of my attachment to saving face, I never complained about this mistreatment to my own family.
On one occasion, they all verbally abused me so harshly that my father-in-law had to step in and stop them. I felt very bad and complained about the unfairness to my husband that evening. Not only did he not comfort me, he slapped me, knocking me to the floor. I was so mad that I started twitching, and then passed out.
I was diagnosed with ovarian cysts when I was three months pregnant. But nobody in the family cared. I took sick leave from work to recuperate at home. I used much of that time to knit sweaters for my parents-in-law and brothers-in-law, but nobody appreciated my efforts.
My resentment deepened further and I started to quarrel with my husband more often. On one New Year's Day, I fought with him so badly that I wanted to commit suicide. Since there was no medicine that I could overdose on at home, I downed an entire bottle of hard liquor.
I almost died, but as soon as I thought about my child, I woke up.
At my workplace, everyone acted fake and fought with each other for personal interest. The interpersonal relationships between my coworkers were complicated. I felt helpless every day; it was like living with a boulder pressing down on my chest.
The resentment at home and the pressure at work stressed me out and slowly ate away at my already not-so-good health. I started to suffer from various diseases including cysts on my liver, kidney, and spleen; high blood pressure; and high cholesterol.
My heart disease was the worst of it all. It was so bad that I could have a heart attack at any time, putting me on the verge of a mental breakdown.
Every day to me felt like a year. I often looked up in the sky and wondered if my life would end amid all this suffering.
Taking Up Falun Gong
My parents-in-law gave me a copy of Zhuan Falun, the main book of Falun Gong, in July 1999 –– right on the eve of the persecution that would begin on July 20 that year.
I read it once and only remembered the words “Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance.” I learned how to do the Falun Gong exercises. but stopped practicing when the persecution began.
The wife of my second brother-in-law died in the hospital on April 30, 2005. It was an unforgettable day for me.
She used to be healthy. Because of the family grievances, she became very ill. Tortured by her illness, she was reduced to little more than a skeleton in just six months. Looking at her corpse and thinking of my resentment, I felt very sad and my mind started to wander.
I wondered why people live. I thus decided give Falun Dafa cultivation practice another try and return to my true self.
I took out Zhuan Falun from the shelf right after I came home from the hospital. I started to cry as I looked at Master's photo in the book.
Master said,
“One should return to one’s original, true self; this is the real purpose of being human.” (Lecture One, Zhuan Falun, 2014 Translation version)
This profound teaching awakened me. Yes, this was the path that I'd been looking for! I knelt with the book in my hands and said, “Thank you Master! I will cultivate diligently and go home with you.”
Grievances Resolved
Through cultivation, I began to understand some Fa principles.
I realized that the family members who had mistreated me have actually helped me eliminate my karma. I should not be resentful but instead I should be thankful to them. I started to treat my mother-in-law with filial respect from the bottom of my heart. I helped my brothers-in-law whenever they needed me to.
I often clarified the facts about Falun Gong to my brothers-in-law. But the second younger brother-in-law was stubborn and did not want to listen.
One day, he came to my house with the third younger brother-in-law to see their mother, who lived with us. He insulted Master; I chastised him severely for it. He stormed out with his brother and badmouthed me at the door.
I could not sleep that night. I looked inwards and found that I had spoken to him with resentment. I had to admit my mistake.
I called my brother-in-law the next morning and apologized for my poor manners. He was surprised at my call and happily accepted the apology.
Later, he had a coronary stent installed. My husband and I went to keep him company during a heavy snowstorm; he was moved by our visit. When we told him the facts about Falun Gong, he raised his hand and said loudly, “Falun Dafa is good. Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good.”
Since then, he has told his friends about the goodness of Dafa. He even asked me for a copy of Zhuan Falun.
Now, my big family is very harmonious. It is compassionate Master who has given us all what we have today. It was Master who saved me from physical and mental collapse and who showed me the way back home. To thank him for his compassion, I must cultivate diligently.
The Grandfather's Story
I am a 72-year-old retiree. Before my wife became a Falun Gong practitioner in 2005, her health was very frail. She had serious heart disease and had to be resuscitated in the hospital emergency room three times.
One month after she took up the practice, her heart disease suddenly acted up while she was at work. I was at her workplace at the time. At her request, I took her to the home of a fellow practitioner, who sent forth righteous thoughts for her. She recovered a mere thirty minutes later.
I was surprised at this miracle and started to think about her changes after she became a practitioner. She had become healthier. She did not seek personal gain. She always considered other people before herself. Moved by her changes, I decided to follow suit and cultivate with her.
Before taking up the practice, I enjoyed drinking alcohol. The nature of my job provided me many opportunities to drink, making my drinking problem worse. Even after I began practicing Falun Gong, I still couldn't give up alcohol for a long while.
One day, I repeatedly read the passage about drinking in Lecture Seven of Zhuan Falun. I realized that I had to remove my attachment to alcohol in order to be a true practitioner.
Master said,
“Drinking alcohol is definitely addictive. It is a desire and stimulates one’s addictive nerves. The more one drinks, the more one becomes addicted to it. Let us think about it: As practitioners, shouldn’t we give up this attachment? This attachment must also be removed.” (Lecture Seven, Zhuan Falun, 2014 Translation)
I tried hard and finally quit the drinking after New Year's Day in 2007. Since then, I have not drunk any alcohol, under any circumstance. All my friends said that only Dafa could have changed me.
I have also endured several bouts of sickness karma. During the New Year holiday in 2016, I had a high fever and developed a lot of red spots on the right side of my chest and all over my back. It was so painful that I could not raise my right arm.
“You have got shingles. You are eliminating a lot of karma,” my wife said.
“I'll make it,” I replied.
I sent righteous thoughts to eliminate all interfering factors, studied the Fa, and practiced the exercises every day. The shingles disappeared three weeks later.
My relative have witnessed the miracle of Dafa once again. My younger brother said that anyone without medical treatment at the hospital might not have been able to survive what I went through.
I became healthier after the incident. We went to meet old friends in Xi’an City in 2018, and went to climb Mountain Huashan. I was the only person in the group to complete all five peaks. I also finished it in less than four hours, at least two hours shorter than an average healthy person would take. I did not feel tired at all.
Everyone in the group was in their seventies. They admired my physical state. I told them the facts about Falun Dafa, and many of them, along with their families, quit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Son's Story
My name is Tianlong and I am 44 years old. I am the eldest son of my family. I have been interested in stories about kungfu, cultivation, and mythology since I was a child, and have picked up several qigong practices for a few months at a time.
Falun Gong was very popular in 1998. Out of curiosity, I started to learn it, but did not practice it diligently. Because of the deceit of the CCP and a lack of strong righteous thoughts, I stopped the practice when the persecution began in 1999.
During those years, I was selfish and lived only for my own interest. I indulged myself in drinking and other “fun” activities. But the drunken debauchery could not dispel the emptiness in my heart. I was in a lost state, feeling that something just wasn't right.
I did not like to study and did not have good grades. As a result, I could not find a satisfactory job on my own; I had to rely upon my parents' connections to find a good one. To meet the entry requirements for this job, I even forged a fake undergraduate certificate.
Becoming a Dafa Practitioner
My mother had suffered for years from the diseases she inherited. Her condition became worse after she stopped the practice in 1999 because of the persecution. Her health further deteriorated so much after 2003 that she even secretly arranged for her own funeral.
In that period of time, I developed renal cysts, which grew very quickly and seriously impacted my health. Though I was only about 30, I had to take breaks once or twice when walking up stairs to the seventh floor.
One day in the spring of 2005, I arrived home and was surprised to see that my mother had come by for a visit. I was stunned at her improved physical and mental state.
I said, “Mom, you have changed so much in just two months. Have you practiced Falun Gong?”
She said, “Yes. Can you tell? I contacted a previous co-worker who was fired for practicing Falun Gong.”
“Do you have the book? I want to read it.” I asked eagerly.
“Yes. I can give you a copy.”
With the book in my hands, I felt at ease. At that moment, there's no way I could have known, but Dafa must have taken root in my heart since 1999, because even back then, I had been able to discern that Dafa was good.
I eagerly studied the Fa and practiced the five exercises every day. After each lecture, I felt that my world was changing and everything around me was not the same as before. My outlook on life has also undergone tremendous changes with the progress of Fa study.
When I read Zhuan Falun a the second time, my xinxing underwent a substantial change. I became kind to people and fair in my dealings with others. I no longer lost my temper. Everything seemed to be going in the right direction now. Although it was still very far from meeting the standards of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, I had improved.
No Loss, No Gain
I worked for a road construction company. The culture of drinking is very strong in China, especially in the construction field. A person who does not drink will encounter tremendous hurdles at work.
I used to be a big drinker and often fraternized with my friends and colleagues. After taking up the practice, I decided to quit drinking. It was really a big challenge for me. When I announced my decision, it wasn't just my coworkers who gave me the side-eye––my closest friends also made things difficult for me.
While my persistence finally earned me the understanding of my colleagues and leaders, it cost me a promotion. As most of our business decisions were made during social interactions at drinking tables, these opportunities have drifted away from me because I no longer drink. The distance between me, my colleagues, and my superiors gradually widened. My opportunity for promotion was basically at a standstill. I could only rely on my own ability at work to keep my position as a deputy in the unit.
In this universe, there is a principle that says, “no loss, no gain.”
Although I have lost many opportunities for career advancement, I have gained the true Fa of this universe. What I have lost are only human things, but what I gained are a healthy body and the improvement of my xinxing––and an elevation of my being as a whole.
Dafa Resolves My Grudge
I have changed after the practice. I do not bribe my superiors with gifts, flatter them to get ahead, or socialize with them to curry favor. To my colleagues, I seemed a little out of place.
I was not close to our superiors, and was not really appreciated by them. Since I quit drinking, I have never been given the role of project manager. Because of my business and management skills, I have instead been assigned as a deputy to assist other people in charge of their own projects.
Before I began the practice, I had been a project manager for a while. A retired veteran was assigned to my section at the time. He was a director in the army. He had a short temper and, because of my young age, often refused to listen to my orders.
Once, when he was drunk he made for trouble and insulted me. I got into a fight with him and severely injured him. I was not punished very harshly for the fight, but left a bad impression on some of our superiors. This veteran left my section not long after this incident and we had not had any contact for years.
This veteran's professional skills were average, but he was good at communication and coordination. Also, he was very social and got very close to the leaders. A few years later, he became a project manager. In order to strengthen the business ability of his project team, a manager appointed me to become his deputy.
I was a little conflicted, as a deep rift from the fight still existed between us. I never made a formal apology to him and did not know how to face him. But as a practitioner, I knew that I should face these things righteously and resolve this grievance. I resolutely accepted this assignment.
He did not give me the work that I was supposed to do. Instead, he let me do some managerial work with another person. I did not reject the arrangement. I managed the work in an orderly manner and made the best use of my business abilities.
I was able to handle several major issues effectively. This not only established a good image for myself but also helped this veteran carry out his project smoothly. He appreciated my help. We gradually got along better and better through work, and finally became good friends.
The grievance was truly resolved through the mighty virtue of Dafa.
The Grandson's Story
I am a ten-year-old elementary school student. As soon as I was born, I watched Master's lecture videos with my grandma every day. I could recite the poems in Hong Yin when I started to talk, at a little older than one. I started to read Zhuan Falun and Master's lectures at four. At the age of five, I learned the Falun Gong exercises from the video and then practiced them with my grandparents.
A miracle happened to me when I was four years old. I rode a train with my grandparents to another city. When we arrived, I fell down through the gap between the train and the platform as I tried to get off the train. Everyone was worried that I might be hurt badly.
When my grandpa pulled me up, the train conductor asked if I should go get an examination at the hospital. But I was fine. Nothing happened. I knew that Master had protected me.
On another occasion, my mother took me and my grandpa to visit a relative. I was six years old at the time. Our car was hit by a bigger car that ran a red light, speeding toward us from the left side. The front end of our car was completely smashed up and we were sent to the hospital. My grandpa and I were not hurt at all and my mother only had a minor wound on her arm. Though she was not a practitioner, Master also protected her.
One day, I was taking a book out of the bookcase. I shut the bookcase door too hard and knocked its glass out of the frame. The broken glass was strewn all over the floor, but I was not hit at all. Master protected me again.
I often went out to hang up Dafa banners with my grandparents and watch how they clarified the truth to people. At a family gathering last year, I clarified the truth to my cousins. The adults asked me how I learned to do this at such a young age. I said that it was Master who gave me the wisdom.
