83-Year-Old Practitioner: Understanding What It Means to Be a True Dafa Practitioner

(Minghui.org) I began to practice Falun Dafa in 1996 and am now 83. I once had all sorts health problems but I became a healthy old lady who is full of energy and who has been saving people for the past 27 years.

Now, four generations of my family live together happily. My son and daughter-in-law support me in my cultivation and Master has blessed them.

Following Master at All Times

Master rescued me from hell and gave me a new life, which led me to what I am today. If Master hadn’t saved me, I would have left this earth long ago, so I do the three things and whatever Master asks or wishes us to do.

In a hallway of a residential building, I was posting fliers exposing the atrocity of the government harvesting organs from Dafa practitioners when a man spotted me. He grabbed my elbow and asked, “Who is harvesting organs?” I said it was true. He said, “Stop where you are,” and began dialing a number on his cell phone to report me.

I silently begged Master for help. I asked Master to stop him from calling. Indeed, he was unable to get through, so he let go of me. I thanked Master as I walked away.

Master wants us to study the teachings together, so I established a Fa-study group in my home. With Master’s help, it has been going smoothly. The city installed video monitors throughout my neighborhood, but none on the street outside my home.

Master wants us to clarify the truth, so I go out to tell people the facts about Falun Dafa face-to-face and distribute Falun Dafa informational materials. I do it in my neighborhood and beyond, at the market, and on buses. I have also gone to the surrounding villages with fellow practitioners to talk to people and give them Dafa materials. I made many Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party DVDs for practitioners to distribute.

One time, I saw three women just leaving a house and I gave them a Dafa booklet. Just as I was to speak, one of them said, “You are so brave, coming to the door of our house.”

I said it was for their own good. She took out her cell phone and began dialing a number to report me. I begged Master to stop her from getting through. She failed to make the call.

The other two women said, “Let’s go,” and they left. Such things happened many times over the years, but we have always been safe given Master’s protection.

I have been clarifying the truth in person and saving people for so many years. I typically go out in the morning and then study the Fa and sent forth righteous thoughts at home in the afternoon. Over the years, I have held the thought that saving a few is not too few and saving dozens is not too many. I did not develop an attachment to zealotry.

I thought, “If I save fewer people, it’s because I haven’t learned the Fa well. I have to look inward and learn lessons and do it better the next time. If I save more people, it’s Master who is doing it. It’s just that I have this wish. Master has given us mighty virtue to help us succeed in our cultivation. If we don’t try our best, we will be unworthy of Master’s saving us.”

Amazing Things I Encountered

Distributing Truth-clarification Materials

A senior practitioner and I went to put up posters and hang banners on an autumn night in 2020. We took out a banner and tied it to a rock. As I tossed the rock to hang the banner on a tree, I fell backward. My right hand hit the ground and I heard a crack. I thought I might have broken my wrist at first, but then I corrected myself right away and thought it was fine.

I have no idea how I got up. I asked Master to help me after I got up and recited “Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good.” I lost count of how many times I repeated this. I said to Master, “Please help me. I am right-handed. Please help me so that I can finish distributing these materials.”

I then threw the rock with my left hand and it went well. I put up posters wherever I could reach. I felt clearly Master was doing it for me. My right hand later swelled and I had difficulty moving it. I grit my teeth and recited “Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good.” I also repeated the phrases for sending forth righteous thoughts. Some people came over to see what I was posting. I wasn’t worried.

I met the fellow practitioner on my way home after I finished. I asked her to come home with me because my husband was hard of hearing and he would not hear me knocking. But, she would not come. I did not tell her why I’d asked her. I thought, “Never mind. Master will help.” So I went home.

My younger son opened the door before I even knocked. When he asked what was wrong with my hand, I told him. He didn’t say anything because he knew I would not go to the hospital. He suggested making a sling with ribbon and cardboard to hang around my neck and support my wrist. I agreed and did this for a few days.

Master gave his practitioners a powerful cultivation weapon long ago. That is, to look inward. My saving people should be the most righteous thing; no one can be against it. My running into trouble must be because I had a loophole in my cultivation and the old forces got hold of it. I looked inward to search for my loophole and found it.

Our neighbors all planted vegetables at the open space in front of their building. There was open space in front of my building, too, so I planted some leeks. They were removed later when the property management stopped us.

This showed my attachment to self-interest. Ordinary people can do it because they are ordinary people. But by doing this, I put myself on the level of ordinary people. It showed that I was selfish. I was embarrassed that I’d tried to gain this little bit even after so many years of cultivation. I have to eliminate my selfishness if I want to reach consummation.

The swelling in my hand went down slowly. I went out and distributed desk calendars five days later and had recovered by the 12th day.

I did not feel any pain from the beginning to the end of this wrist injury. I knew that Master suffered the tribulation for me. I feel bad that I caused Master trouble and am very grateful to him.

Suffering and Eliminating Karma

Four generations got together and celebrated the Lunar 2022 New Year’s Eve. I washed my hands and hair before lunch and then suddenly had a bad stomachache. I leaned against the washing machine and could not move. I used all my strength to yell. My granddaughter heard it and rushed over. She carried me out. My son also came to help. Two of them took me to the bed and had me sit.

The upper half of my body was in extreme pain. I couldn’t tell where I ached. It actually ached everywhere. My children gathered around. They were all scared to see me like this. My first daughter-in-law did not practice Dafa but she knew Dafa was good. She held me in her arms and said, “Mother, don’t be afraid. It is going to be fine. Master will take care of us.” She kept reciting “Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good.”

I wanted to lie down, but I felt something stabbing me when I was down half way. It hurt so badly that I could not sit or lie down. It was so painful that I could not breathe. No words could describe the extreme pain I felt. I had never in my life suffered so badly. I was exhausted, and my clothes were drenched in sweat.

I leaned on my daughter-in-law. She dared not move. The big table was filled with dishes but no one ate anything—they all gathered around me. I yelled, “Master, please save me.” The children were all scared and knelt in front of Master’s picture and asked for help. After a while, I was able to lean on my daughter-in-law to sleep for a couple of minutes. I was able to sleep a bit longer after a little more time passed.

I was still in serious condition the next day. My children’s uncles and aunts all came from far away. I told them I was fine, that Master would take care of me, that I was eliminating karma, and that I would be fine in a few days. I wanted them not to worry and to go home. So they did.

I calmly thought over when it was that my pain had lessened. The practitioners around me all contracted Covid-19 but they recovered in a few days. Why was my situation so serious? Where was the problem? After looking inward, I found it was because my thoughts were not righteous.

The pandemic got more serious when the government gave up the zero tolerance policy. The rate of infections exploded on February 10. The speed the infection spread was appalling, and 95% of the people in all workplaces and neighboring small districts contracted the disease. My eldest son feared for me and my husband and strongly opposed fellow practitioners coming to our house to study the Fa.

I tacitly agreed with him and complied with what he wanted. I moved the Fa study group to another practitioner’s home. I went there once, but then I came down with the disease and so did my husband. He recovered the next day, but I was ill for over two weeks.

A few days later, I invited the practitioners in the Fa study group back to study the Fa. We exchanged views about the pandemic. All the practitioners in my area had been infected and had mild or severe symptoms. I wondered how Dafa practitioners could also be infected. Some said that there were those who were infected twice, and some even passed away.

I was afraid after I heard this. It was precisely this thought of “fear” that led to my being infected the second time. Although on the surface I moved the Fa-study group because of my son’s objection, I tacitly accepted his view of fearing the virus.

For a period of time, I had not been able to study the Fa with a righteous heart and had only gone through the motions when sending forth righteous thoughts. I had lost righteous thoughts on key issues and not regarded myself as a practitioner. I hadn’t been thinking of myself as a person walking on the path of the divine.

Under the gaze of countless gods, the old forces are jealous of Dafa practitioners and don’t want them to succeed. How can they not seize this opportunity to persecute us? After going through ups and downs for more than 20 years, we stumbled due to this pandemic. I am really ashamed.

Realizing my problem, I sincerely confessed to Master and was determined to correct myself, study the Fa more intensively, and send forth righteous thoughts. Master helped me again. I got better day by day, and I returned to normal without realizing it. I was busy saving people again. The whole family once again witnessed the extraordinary power of Falun Dafa. Thank you, Master, for saving me.

What I have realized from cultivatimg for the past 27 years is this: When faced with any problem, the first thing one should think is that you are a Dafa practitioner, and then you will know how to handle it. No matter what difficulties or obstacles we encounter, our first thought should be to seek Master’s, because Master is by our side at all times. Master cherishes his practitioners and does not remember their mistakes. As long as one sincerely corrects his mistakes, Master will definitely be able to clear the obstacle for him.

Of course, the Fa has standards. One cannot take Master's mercy for granted. One must have high standards and act like a true Dafa practitioner. Therefore, in the remaining time we have to cultivate, we must follow Master's words and study the Fa more, save more people, look inward, and cultivate our xinxing, so that we can reach the standard required of a Dafa practitioner.