“I Came Here for Dafa” (Part I)

(Minghui.org) Among the hundreds of thousands of Falun Dafa practitioners worldwide, several generations in the same family took up the practice at around the same time. That is the case for me—my maternal grandmother, my mother, and I all practice Dafa.

Since the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) launched the persecution of Falun Dafa in 1999, we three have remained steadfast and resolute in our cultivation. Besides applying Dafa’s principles in our daily conduct to improve ourselves, we also clarify the truth about what Dafa truly is, as opposed to the regime’s propaganda and lies that claim the practice is a dangerous cult.

I have been arrested and detained with my mother. While she was detained, held in a forced labor camp, and incarcerated, I endured tremendous pressure and ordeals unusual for my age. But I didn’t let them harm me and remained optimistic. I kept up my grades and was always at the top of my class. My grandmother, who lived in the U.S., seized every opportunity to raise awareness of the persecution taking place in China in an effort to rescue my mother.

The three generations of Dafa practitioners in my family eventually reunited in the States. As we celebrate the 29th anniversary of the practice being introduced to the public, I look back on my experiences cultivating in Dafa since I was a small child and am filled with gratitude for our compassionate Master.

Obtaining the Fa at Age Five

My grandmother first started to practice Falun Dafa in 1997, and my mother at the beginning of the following year. I, naturally, started practicing when my mother did. I was five at the time and often proudly told people, “Master started teaching the Fa to the public in May 1992 and I was born in May 1992. I came here for Dafa.”

I listened to audiotapes of Master’s lectures every day and soon memorized all of them. I also memorized all the poems from Hong Yin. Dafa became an integral part of my life and its roots went deep into my soul. To me, cultivating and constantly improving myself according to Dafa’s moral standards is so matter of fact that I never think twice about it.

Suffering losses in self-interest never bothered me, and I am always willing to lend a helping hand. When kids at school bullied me, I didn’t care and just smiled at them. My peers and the adults around me all liked me.

I was able to cross my legs in the full lotus position for the meditation exercise right from the beginning and quickly increased the amount of time I could do it. I still remember the day I meditated for an entire hour. At the 55-minute mark, my legs hurt so much so I asked my mother how I could endure and finish the exercise. She said, “You can recite, “When it’s difficult to endure, you can endure it. When it’s impossible to do, you can do it.” (Lecture Nine, Zhuan Falun)” I recited those two sentences over and over again and didn’t take my legs down until the music ended.

I was a sickly child until I was five. I often had colds and high fevers. I was also allergic to pollen. When spring came around and the flowers blossomed, my eyes were red and itchy. It was horrible.

After I started practicing Falun Dafa, Master cleansed my body and made me stronger. I don’t get sick anymore. Even when I occasionally experience symptoms of sickness, they rarely last. With my allergies completely gone, I was able to be in nature whenever I wanted and for as long as I wanted and to do what I loved most—draw. I drew the flowers, the grass, the birds, and people.

With Master compassionately looking after me, I grew up without a worry.

The Persecution Begins

As wonderful as Falun Dafa is, Jiang Zemin, the then leader of the CCP, launched a nationwide persecution targeting Falun Dafa in 1999. Like other practitioners, my mother and I kept up with our cultivation and clarified the truth about Dafa to people deceived by the Communist regime’s lies.

We didn’t have printed truth-clarification materials at first, so Mother and I made handwritten fliers. We wrote “Falun Dafa Is Good,” “Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance Is Good,” “The World Needs Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance,” and “Restore Master’s Reputation,” on large sheets of paper and posted them in public places. We left our footprints on Tiananmen Square, big streets and small alleys, stores, train and bus stations, as well as residential apartment buildings.

My mother and I worked as a team to clarify the truth when we ate at McDonald's, KFC, and other restaurants. We took turns when we talked about Dafa and the wrongful persecution, so others could hear us clearly and learn the truth. When my mother or father’s employers organized employee outings, we always brought our adhesive fliers, posted them wherever we went, and spread the truth far and wide.

When printed Falun Dafa fliers became available, Mother and I covered the entire community of a government agency where we lived and delivered fliers to each household. We also took buses to other communities to distribute fliers.

If it was a high-rise building, we took the elevators to the top floor and made our way down, leaving a flier in front of each door. In older residential buildings without elevators, Mom and I split up—I went up to the top, usually the sixth floor, and made my way down while my mother covered the bottom floors halfway up.

Be it the bitter cold of winter or the sweltering heat of summer, wind or rain, weekends or holidays, even as major as Chinese New Year's eve, nothing stopped us and we never took a day off. When we later bought a printer and a CD burner, I became Mother's little helper in making truth-clarification flyers and CDs. We made more than we needed and gave some to other local practitioners.

Mother Sent to Forced Labor Camp

Shortly after I entered middle school, my mother was arrested and sent to a forced labor camp. It was right before the Chinese New Year holidays. Mom had visited a co-worker and was distributing truth-clarification fliers on her way home. It was way past the time she told me she’d be home and I had a bad feeling about it. I called my grandmother, and with her and my father's help, we moved all our Dafa books and truth-clarification fliers to a safe place before the police showed up.

As we had suspected, Mother was reported to the police for distributing fliers. The police turned our place upside down and even combed through our dressers. But they only found a few handwritten Dafa posters that we didn’t get around to hiding.

Mother was first held in the police station and later transferred to the detention center. The wind howled all night and it was freezing—to me it sure felt like the coldest day of the winter. My father was taken to the police station late at night to be interrogated and my grandmother stayed with me. I cried until I fell asleep, cried some more when I woke up, and cried myself to sleep again. In fact, that was how I spent my nights while my mother was detained.

We received a notification a month later that Mother would be sent to a forced labor camp for two years. I knew at that moment that I had to learn how to take care of myself. Although I still had Father and Grandmother, they were just as sad as I was. I couldn’t add to their burden.

The strange thing was that, even without Mother waking me up in the mornings, and without remembering to set the alarm sometimes, my alarm clock went off at the right time—I was never late for school. I knew it was our compassionate Master watching over me.

I could only visit Mother twice a year, once during winter break and once during summer break. For most of the year, we only communicated through letters. In my letters, I told her about school and my life in general. In her letters, she reminded me of the principles of Dafa and to be a good person. Another reason we wrote these letters was so that the guards inspecting our letters could learn more about Dafa and what Dafa practitioners are like.

Persistence

During my second year in middle school, my homeroom teacher told the entire class to apply for membership in the Youth League, a youth organization of the CCP. Only one person didn’t turn in an application—me.

My homeroom teacher called me to her office and asked why I didn’t turn in an application. I said, “The CCP is not good. My mother has been sent to a forced labor camp only because she believes in Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.” I told my teacher about Dafa and why the persecution is wrong.

She listened and said, “I see. I understand now that your mother is a good person.” After that, she never asked me to join the Youth League. I am so grateful that Master strengthened me that day so that I could clearly communicate and clarify the truth to my teacher. Because she learned the truth about Dafa, she chose a bright future for herself.

I did really well on my high school entrance exams at the end of 8th grade and was accepted to advance to the higher grades at my school. It was a 7-12 school with an excellent college preparatory program to which many parents were willing to pay a high “sponsorship fee” to get their children accepted. However, with high enough scores, I was exempt from paying the sponsorship fee. Everyone told me, “Wow, you’ve saved tens of thousands of yuan for your parents.” I knew it was Master who helped me.

Mother was still at the forced labor camp at the time and she worried that, as a teenager going through puberty, I would slack off in my cultivation and let Master down. I told her, “Don’t worry. I am like grass—I will survive and grow anywhere I am.”

My workload more than doubled in high school, but Master was always strengthening me and giving me wisdom. Before the college entrance exams in my senior year, I decided to pursue art as my major. Because of the added exam on basic art knowledge and skills, my overall score stood out above the national average. I received the Certificate of Achievement in Art from two excellent art schools and was accepted by a prestigious university.

Guided by Dafa’s principles, I am strict with myself in maintaining my xinxing and am willing to take losses and help others. I strive to live up to the standard of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance and always have an optimistic attitude. During my studies in middle school, high school, and college, I maintained a friendly relationship with all my teachers and classmates. During the past 20 years of the persecution, no one discriminated against me or bullied me for being a Dafa practitioner.

(To be continued)