(Minghui.org) I began cultivating in Falun Dafa in 1996. Before that, I had been ill for many years and took medicine all the time. My life was tiresome and bitter. I was confused and didn’t know if my life would ever change. After I learned Falun Dafa, Master Li Hongzhi, the founder of Falun Dafa, cleansed my body, and all my illnesses went away. I have not taken a pill over the past 24 years. I am more energetic than most younger people, and never feel tired no matter how far I walk when I am out clarifying the truth.
Master saved me from my suffering. I became optimistic and cheerful. Relatives and friends praised my tremendous changes. I follow Falun Dafa’s standards of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, and I am bathed in the grace of Dafa. I live happily, and I can’t say enough about my gratitude to Master.
Jiang Zemin, former head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) used the Party to frantically persecute Falun Dafa, and the land of China was shrouded in terror. I was depressed. My husband begged me, “The CCP is more vicious than a snake. For our family, for me, and for our child’s future, please give up cultivation practice!” I looked at him seriously and said, “You want me to give up my practice? That is absolutely impossible!” He pounded the table and asked me, “Between Falun Dafa and me, which one do you choose?” I replied, “No problem. I choose both.”
My workplace forced me to hand over my Dafa books and insisted that I write a guarantee statement promising that I would no longer practice. I declined. My husband and my workplace joined together to pressure me. I was driven to a desperate situation and felt oppressed and miserable. I asked myself many questions: “Why does the CCP persecute such an upright Master and a good Dafa? What should I do? Shall I be a defender of the truth of the universe?” My answer was clear, I want to defend Dafa. Dafa is the root of my life, and it is absolutely impossible for me to give it up. I must follow Master closely and never get lost!
Master said,
“By studying the Fa you gain the Fa yourself, but do you only want to gain—to gain the benefits of Dafa? In other words, if, while Dafa disciples are being persecuted and Dafa is being maligned, you won’t stand up and say a few words of support, are you worthy of gaining the Fa? That’s the idea.” (“Fa Teaching Given at the 2010 New York Fa Conference,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. XI)
I felt comforted reading these words that Master said ten years ago, and recalling what I decided to do to when the persecution started.
I adjusted my mentality, let go of human attachments, and joined the torrent of Dafa disciples validating the Fa and opposing the persecution. I began going out at night to put up posters and distribute Dafa booklets from house to house.
After the publication of the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party, I went out during the day with fellow practitioners to distribute them and clarify the truth to people face to face. After we did this throughout the whole city, I bought a battery-powered tricycle and carried four or five fellow practitioners to the countryside to clarify the truth. We pushed the tricycle up steep hills when necessary, and rolled up our trousers to wade across rivers.
The battery-powered tricycle was no longer suitable when the days got cold. I withstood all kinds of pressures and bought a car at my own expense. Practitioners and I traveled to more than 20 towns and hundreds of villages. We visited some villages more than two or three times. We clarified the truth from house to house and gave out truth-clarification materials to save people. Every day we persuaded many people to quit the CCP and its affiliated organizations. Year after year we went out and told people the truth of Dafa so that they could be saved.
Before going out to clarify the truth, I asked Master for support and help in eliminating all evil beings and factors that interfered with people’s understanding of the truth.
Heilongjiang winters are very cold and snowy, and the roads slippery. Some road sections are as smooth as a mirror. My car would go into a skid in spite of the anti-skid tires. It almost slipped into a deep ditch on the side of the road a few times.
We always brought about a thousand booklets and Minghui calendars with us if we were going to far away villages. The round-trip distance to some of them was more than 125 miles.
On hot days, some villagers who understood the truth enthusiastically invited us into their homes to cool off. Some picked cucumbers and melons to treat us, but we politely declined. On bitter cold days, simple and warm-hearted farm women asked us into their homes to warm up.
I encountered many touching stories during those years. Below I will share just one example.
I clarified the facts about Falun Dafa to a woman I met. She listened intently and agreed to quit the CCP using her real name. I said, “In past political campaigns the CCP persecuted the Chinese elite. I knew a teacher that both students and parents respected. Just because she was a volunteer Falun Dafa assistant, she was targeted by officials after the Jiang Zemin regime began persecuting Falun Dafa on July 20,1999. She was listed as a so-called “key figure” and they tried to force her to give up her faith. She refused and went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Dafa. As a result, she was expelled from work, arrested, detained, and her home was ransacked many times. Her husband could not bear the repeated threats and danger and died in grief and anger. She was forced to stay away from home, and her child became homeless. Her family was destroyed just because she wanted to follow Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance and be a good person.”
The woman wiped her tears and said angrily, “The CCP is inhuman! They persecute good people unscrupulously. Heaven will not tolerate it!” She added, “I have to find a way to help her.” I thanked her but I was suspicious at the time and thought to myself: Who would dare speak out for Falun Dafa now? When this teacher was arrested and her family went through back channels to attempt to rescue her, but the response was, ‘We can help murderers, but not Falun Dafa practitioners.’ Now that you are an ordinary person who has no power or influence, how can you help? I thought this woman just voiced her support for someone suffering an injustice.
I subsequently forgot about the matter, but unexpectedly, a couple of weeks later, the school restored this practitioner’s position and compensated her for all lost wages since July 20, 1999.
I carried a large bag of Dafa pamphlets and entered a food store in a village to clarify the truth to people I met. A dozen or so people were in the room, some playing mahjong and some chatting. I said with a smile, “Hello, folks! The New Year is almost here, and I am bringing you some good stuff.” A group of people gathered around. I took out the New Year pictures, couplets, and Minghui desk calendars from the bag, and everyone rushed to get what they liked.
At this time, one middle-aged man yelled, “All your things promote Falun Dafa. Take out your ID card!” I smiled and said, “Falun Dafa teaches people to be good. You will be blessed if you treat Dafa disciples kindly. You have been deceived by Jiang Zemin. If you read these pamphlets, you will understand everything.”
He didn’t listen to me and kept shouting. At this time, a man of his age said loudly, “What’s wrong with Falun Dafa? This lady has brought us good things from a long distance. She didn’t ask you for anything. It’s fine if you don’t want it. Don’t do some bad thing to her.” He helped me put things back in my bag while he was talking, and said, “Go quickly!”
I thanked him and hurried out of the door. I called the driver to pick up the other three practitioners and myself quickly. A police car drove into the village just as we left. Master always protected us.
Master said:
“At present, the most important thing is to save sentient beings, save more people! That is the most important thing.” (“Fa Teaching at the 2007 New York Fa Conference,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. VIII)
The coronavirus raged in China in early 2020. Our building was sealed for more than 40 days, and one person from each household was allowed to go out to shop once every two days. I wondered if this was the beginning of the elimination of humankind. Time was running out to save people. I am a Dafa disciple. It is my duty and mission to save people. Going out only once every two days would delay my saving people. What should I do? I asked Master to help me so that I could go out every day.
I exited the building casually at around 8:00 a.m. every day and said to the guard with a smile, “My brother, sister, relatives, and friends all stored cabbage, potatoes, and radishes in my bungalow outside. I need to light up the furnace daily, otherwise all the vegetables will freeze and these families would have nothing to eat.” This way, they let me go out once or twice a day. I also got the chance to take up the responsibility of conveying messages and delivering materials among practitioners.
A lot fewer people were in the streets and alleys than usual. Even so, I could persuade three to five people to quit the CCP and its affiliated organizations each day; sometimes I could persuade a dozen people.
I have met all kinds of people during the past years of clarifying the truth. I often met people who asked, “How much are you paid for doing this on such a cold day?” Some said, “Don’t you have better things to do?” Others said, “You are against the Party. Aren’t you afraid of me reporting you?” and so on. I was never swayed by the situation. I was kind, tolerant, and understanding to people. They were poisoned badly by the CCP. Their knowing sides are awaiting salvation.
Saving people requires compassion, kindness, wisdom, and righteous thoughts, and we should avoid touching on people’s negative things. Many people could accept what I told them, agreed to quit the CCP, and thanked me. I once persuaded four middle school students to quit the CCP’s youth organizations. One of the boys happily replied, “Grandma! I wish you good luck and a long life.” A girl said, “I wish that you will always be happy.” On another occasion, a middle-aged woman shook my hand and said, “You are my savior.”
Although the process of saving people is difficult, I felt infinitely grateful to Master for the opportunity to save people when I saw the joy in their faces. Dafa disciples know that only Dafa and Master can save people, and Master is doing everything. We disciples do the physical work of finding someone who is predestined to learn about Dafa!
In order to do the three things well, I overcame various difficulties and learned to use a computer. I learned to download and print the truth clarifying information from the Internet, help fellow practitioners to upload the lists of people quitting the CCP, and print Dafa desk calendars. I logged onto the Minghui.org website every day to read articles about fellow practitioners’ experience sharing. I progressed together with fellow practitioners all over the world on the road of cultivation.
Over the years, I was reported and kidnapped several times by people who did not know the truth. Thanks to Master’s compassion and protection, and the cooperation of fellow practitioners, I was released after clarifying the truth about Falun Dafa to the police.
Master said:
“After all, however trying hardship may be, it's over after you get through it, and at that point things are clear to you. Rather, to quietly cultivate in bleak loneliness, unable to see hope, is the hardest of all. Doing any form of cultivation entails undergoing a trial such as this and a path with such features. Only if one can persevere and continually forge ahead does it amount to true diligence. It's easy to talk about, but putting it into action is tremendously difficult. That is why it's said that always cultivating as if you were just starting will surely result in achieving your ultimate rank.” (“Fa Teaching at the 2009 Greater New York International Fa Conference,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. IX)
“As I just said, this kind of cultivation setting, where one cannot see what lies ahead and one is immersed in prolonged loneliness, is the hardest to endure, and it is most apt to lead a person to slack off. This is the greatest test in cultivation.” (“Fa Teaching at the 2009 Greater New York International Fa Conference,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. IX)
Through studying the Fa, I realized that this is the road to heaven that Master arranged for us. It is also the road that we must walk through to reach heaven. From this, I cultivated away my attachment to ease, fear of hardship, and time.
It has been more than 10 years since my husband passed away. I live alone in good conditions. I have a full schedule every day. I wake up at 3 a.m. to do the exercises, send righteous thoughts, and recite the Fa. I go out to save people in the morning and have not missed a day without good reasons in 10 years. I study and recite the Fa in the afternoon, and go online to Minghui.org to read fellow practitioners’ sharing articles. I sometimes write articles to contribute to Minghui.org. I helped rescue fellow practitioners who were illegally detained, and hired lawyers to defend them. I sent righteous thoughts for practitioners who were suffering with sickness karma, and I coordinated well with other practitioners.
In order to save time, I eat two meals a day and listen to Minghui broadcasts while cooking and eating. I dissolve my whole body and mind into the Fa. I never forget my mission, and strive to be a qualified Dafa disciple of Master Li Hongzhi. Cultivating oneself well is always the first thing. I will be diligent and finish the last step in Fa-rectification until I follow Master home and reach Consummation.