[Celebrating World Falun Dafa Day] Following Dafa’s Teachings Made Me a Better Person and a Better Judge

(Minghui.org) I began practicing Falun Dafa in March 1999, four months before the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) launched a nationwide campaign against the Buddhist mind-body exercise based on the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. 

Working as a judge, I not only strive to live by Dafa’s principles but also help people in my workplace to understand Dafa so that they don’t aid in the CCP’s persecution of the practice.

Stay Firm in Cultivation

When I started cultivation in March 1999, I was 35 and weighed only 110 pounds at a height of 5 feet 7. I had neurosis, sinusitis, gastritis and other diseases. I suffered frequent headaches and had to take medicine every day. I felt tired easily due to poor health and stressful work.

Things changed dramatically after I practiced Falun Dafa. In a month, all my diseases were gone and I became quite healthy and energetic. I also became open-minded, quick thinking, and highly productive. Management at work praised me often.

However, my world was turned upside down four months later when the CCP started persecuting Dafa. All media, including TV, radio, newspaper, and magazines, overwhelmingly defamed Dafa via various propaganda.

My wife and I thought seriously about Dafa and whether it was righteous. We concluded that Dafa was once-in-a-lifetime cultivation teaching and that there was nothing wrong with being a good person according to Dafa’s principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. We knew we should not waver in our belief.

I started to tell my close colleagues of Dafa’s goodness and the CCP’s slanderous propaganda. I also explained it to the management. My managers and colleagues believed me since I was good at my job and kind to others.

After the publication of the book Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party and the start of the wave of quitting the CCP and its affiliated organizations in 2004, I helped many colleagues understand Dafa and quit the communist organizations.

I also submitted a request to quit the CCP to the court management. The whole leadership was shocked. They took turns talking to me, asking me to give up cultivation and threatening to terminate my job if I refused to renounce my faith.

That didn’t work. They then scheduled a meeting for the whole leadership to talk to me.

I studied the Fa and sent righteous thoughts with my wife in the evening before the meeting. The next day on my way to work, Teacher’s poem flashed in my head:

“A Great Enlightened One fears no hardshipHaving forged an adamantine willFree of attachment to living or dyingHe walks the path of Fa-rectification confident and poised” (“Righteous Thoughts and Righteous Actions,” Hong Yin II)

I stayed calm, without any panic or anxiety, in my office. Then the executive manager came and said to me, “It is fine if you want to stay as a manager or go work as a judge.” That was the end of the intimidation episode.

Shortly afterwards I was promoted to be a mid-level manager. The court leadership also received blessing for making the right decision about me, a Dafa practitioner. The court received an honor of “National Excellent Court.”

Being a Good Person

Under the CCP’s ruling, people in China pursue fame and promotion. Before my cultivation I used to do that, too. Cultivation helped me to take things lightly and I stopped fighting for those things.

Teacher told us, 

“I also want to tell you that your nature in the past was actually based on egotism and selfishness. From now on, whatever you do, you should consider others first, so as to attain the righteous Enlightenment of selflessness and altruism.” (“Non-Omission in Buddha-Nature,” Essentials for Further Advancement)

Under the pressure from the higher office, my court later removed me from the management position and put me to work on court cases. I supported three presiding judges in over ten years. I wrote year-end reports and special work reports for them and addressed administrative issues and cases issues. 

When one judge was promoted to be the Vice President of the court, he said to me, “My position was supposed to be yours.”

“I’m so happy for your promotion,” I answered.

When I retired, he told me, “Your retirement is a big loss to our court. The court owes you many things.”

A young colleague whom I trained before said to me when I retired, “Big brother, I want to cry. We will miss you. Please come back to visit us.”

Validate Dafa at Work

In addition to cultivating myself, I also helped people to understand the facts about Falun Dafa.

I handled a case where a juvenile participated in a gang robbery. The boy’s mother and brother-in-law insisted on giving me an envelope full of money. I told them, “I’m a Falun Dafa cultivator. Any Falun Dafa cultivator won’t take your money, but I will handle the case fairly.” They were impressed to hear that.

The final ruling reduced the term for the boy due to his juvenile status. His family members gave me thumbs up when the decision was announced in court.

This was the first time I told a defendant and their family about Falun Dafa. Teacher encouraged me in my dream that night. Since then, I kept doing this when dealing with defendants and plaintiffs.

An elderly woman tried to file a personal injury dispute for her disabled daughter-in-law. She thought she would receive the compensation right away, so she didn’t bring any money with her. But the court couldn’t accept the case due to insufficient evidence. The woman was desperate and cried. I bought her a return train ticket with my own money and helped her to quit the Communist Young Pioneer.

Later she received compensation from her daughter-in-law’s case. She gave money to the judge to pay me back. The court leadership heard about it and rewarded me with a bonus.

I answered the court’s hotline. A woman called and said that she didn’t understand the court’s mediation on her dispute with a neighbor. I explained the details to her. She said, “Judge, your are so kind!”

An elderly man called to tell me that water kept leaking from a neighbor’s apartment above his and he planned to shut down their water. I advised him not to create a new issue and suggested he seek help from the community management committee. “Judge, I will listen to you,” he said.

A man came to file for unpaid construction fees to him. I helped him sort out all the evidence and filed the paper. When the court accepted the case, he told me, “I will bring you a lamb for Chinese New Year.” Six months later, a day before the Chinese New Year’s eve, he called me and said that he had driven over 60 miles to bring a lamb to me. I thanked him and told him that I practice Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance and do not accept gifts.

Conclusion

The CCP’s persecution of Falun Dafa has deceived the general public and also brought many people in the judicial fields to be its accomplices. 

Some of my colleagues, after understanding the truth, changed jobs to move out of the judicial industry; and some even resigned from their public prosecutor or judge position so as not to wrongfully accuse Falun Dafa practitioners. They ended up with better jobs.

I want to tell all my colleagues: It is an unpardonable sin to persecute Falun Dafa and practitioners; don’t lose your conscience and kind heart; Dafa’s Teacher is compassionate and asked Dafa disciples to clarify the truth to the public and help them choose a better future for themselves; so please don’t miss the opportunity!

On World Falun Dafa Day, I am in deep gratitude to Teacher!