(Minghui.org) I hail from a rural area in China, and attended school for only a few years. I became a Falun Dafa practitioner in September 1998. Before learning Dafa, I could not lift my right arm nor move my left leg. As I could only walk with my right leg dragging my left leg along, everyone in the village knew me by my nickname, “mopping cloth.” Despite intensive efforts to treat my condition, nothing worked. As my condition worsened, doctors gave up hope of ever being able to cure my illness.
I started practicing Falun Dafa largely in hope of curing my serious illnesses. Fellow practitioners welcomed me warmly and allowed me to sit and listen as they read Dafa books. When they practiced the exercises, I sat nearby and observed them.
Even though I diligently listened to the Fa teachings at first, I could not understand the meaning behind the words, much less the concept of “attachment.” A fellow practitioner told me, “This cultivation practice is extraordinary. As long as you practice sincerely, Master can help you!”
I visited the practice site daily and read silently alongside the group as they read aloud from the books. After three or four days, the practitioner in charge of the practice site asked me to stand up and perform the exercises with them. At first I was assisted in lifting up my immobile leg and arm. I soon asked to try on my own, however no matter how hard I tried, I still could not lift my limbs. With encouragement, I finally managed to lift my right arm halfway. Although I could only lift it that much, my clothes were drenched in sweat by the end of the session.
A week passed by with no visible improvement. One day while reading the book, I suddenly encountered these words,
“And so I have to stress that we will be powerless to help you if you are set on getting healed and can’t get past that idea.” (The First Talk, Zhuan Falun)
I suddenly understood. I had not given up my quest to treat my illness. Now Master had pointed this out and I had to meet this requirement!
After understanding this principle, I told the practitioner in charge at the practice site, “Let me try it on my own!” When I started to raise my arm, a firm force pulled my arm upwards. The practitioner-in-charge was surprised, “Master must be helping you!”
That night, my body started the karma elimination process. As though suffering from a bad cold, my body alternated between feeling extremely cold, and hot. I had a headache, runny nose, sweated profusely, and was coughing. My husband wanted to take me to the hospital, but I declined. “I’m not sick. This is a karma elimination process.” On seeing my confidence, my husband let me be.
The following morning, my husband returned from his morning jog and was shocked to see breakfast already prepared. My immobile arm and leg hampered my efficiency in the past, and I needed more time to prepare food. I said to him, “Dafa is a supernormal, higher science! With this evidence before you, can you still say it is false?” My husband replied, “With this iron-clad evidence, I dare not deny it!”
I once spent an entire night eliminating karma. By the time I passed this life-threatening test, it was almost dawn. The next day, I was still coughing when fellow practitioners told me they planned to go out and distribute Dafa truth-clarifying banners and materials that night. When they invited me to accompany them, I said, “I want to go, but I am coughing badly. Doing this requires stealth and quiet. What should I do?” Practitioners reassured me, “It doesn’t matter, Master will take care of it!”
I accompanied them, and amazingly did not cough even once that entire night! Moreover, my body felt increasingly comfortable as we progressed. I suddenly remembered Master’s words:
“As long as you’re able to cultivate yourself, I can use whatever means are necessary.” (Teachings at the Conference in Europe)
This incident, which proved the miraculous powers of Dafa, is firmly etched in my memory!
A few days later, fellow practitioners planned another trip to a distant place to display truth-clarifying signs, and invited me along. We met after dark and set off. We sent forth righteous thoughts as we walked and painted the signs, clearing away all interfering evil spirits and rotten ghosts.
While walking past a large dam at around midnight, a car suddenly came out of nowhere. At that time the persecution was at its peak, with the Chinese Communist Party frantically suppressing and persecuting Dafa practitioners. We desperately looked around for a place to hide but could only see a ditch behind us. Despite not knowing how deep it was, we unhesitatingly rolled down to avoid being seen.
The other two practitioners emerged unharmed, but as I was rolling downhill, I heard a cracking sound from my ankle and a mild pain. I wondered what had happened, but the other two practitioners reassured me. “It’s okay. We are here to help Master with Fa-rectification. We just need to focus on the job.” I agreed, “Yes! Let’s go! Everything is okay!” With this thought, all feelings of pain vanished. We continued to display truth clarification signs until dawn.
After returning home I removed my socks to wash my feet. Unexpectedly, I discovered my ankle had swollen to the size of a ball and my feet had turned purple and black. After much effort, I managed to remove my socks. After washing my feet, I tumbled into bed and fell asleep.
After half an hour, my husband woke me up to help set up our stall at the marketplace. I deliberately wore a longer pair of pants to hide my ankle. I also made sure to avoid walking abnormally in his presence. As we slept in different rooms at home, he only noticed my injured ankle two weeks later. By then, the healing injury only showed a peeling layer of skin. When asked, I reassured him that this was just a normal phenomenon and nothing serious. As my husband did not notice anything out of the ordinary during our earlier interactions, he did not pursue the matter.
I was wearing a new pair of pants the night we set out to paint the truth clarifying signs. Although they were now completely covered in paint, I could not bear to throw them away. Yet fellow practitioners and I did not know where to obtain the gasoline needed to wash out the paint. We decided to ask Master for help. Amazingly, we succeeded in washing away the paint with ordinary laundry detergent.
A fellow practitioner and I went to a distant place to hang truth-clarifying banners. We hung our banners until we reached the foot of a large mountain. After finding a good spot at the mountain’s base to hang our banner, we proceeded to climb up the mountain. At the top, we hung more banners before stopping to rest for a while. Night soon fell, catching us by surprise. It was so dark that we could not see our hands in front of our faces, much less find our way down the mountain.
As we could not stay until dawn, we began the slow trek down, walking slowly while feeling for the path in the dirt. I thought, “If only I had a flashlight on hand, we would not be so lost!” In an instant, we saw a little firefly emerge from the darkness. It flew before us, circled a few times, then flew close to the ground away from us. Perhaps this firefly was showing us the way home, so we both slowly felt our way in the same direction it was flying. When we reached the spot where we last saw it, the firefly appeared again, directing us to a new location by flying some distance away. In this way, the firefly led us along the mountain path as we slowly worked our way down. When we finally reached the base of the mountain, we saw the banners we had hung there earlier and the entrance to the main road.
It was almost dawn. I arrived home in ten minutes, just in time to prepare breakfast. I felt very moved by this experience. Master is truly watching over and protecting us at all times. Upon seeing we could not find our way, Master arranged for a firefly to lead us safely down. Words are insufficient to convey our thanks to Master!
Of course, while cultivating I have experienced many tribulations and lessons. I was persecuted by the old forces and unjustly imprisoned for four years. After my release, I stopped cultivating for approximately two years. Under Master’s guidance and with help from fellow practitioners, I resumed my Dafa cultivation path.
Because I failed to cultivate well in certain areas, my husband started complaining. Not only did I fail to realize the truth, I even felt aggrieved at his perceived hinderance, which prevented me from doing Dafa things. After looking within, I realized my own attachments had caused this conflict. After resolving to be tolerant toward others and reflect upon my own thoughts and actions, and not others, my husband’s attitude improved drastically, to the point that he felt like a changed man!