(Minghui.org) I am a new Falun Dafa practitioner from southern Taiwan. I started the practice a year ago on November 1, 2023.
After running a business in mainland China for 25 years, I experienced all sorts of absurdities and difficulties. By the age of 50, I had a liver tumor, a spinal bone spur, and dizziness if I stood up too fast. Both my physical and mental conditions seemed to have reached their limits. I began to ponder, “What’s the purpose of our life?” To find the answer, I explored all kinds of cultivation ways, but those so-called teachers or masters could not answer my question. I switched to a different cultivation way almost every three years.
There is an old saying, “It is unfortunate for a person to reach great success at a young age; it is never too late to become a late bloomer.” I was in the former situation.
I built a factory in southern China in 1997. At the time the clothing fashion industry in China had not yet developed and there were few designers. There was also a lack of relevant technology and the fashion industry was still in the primitive stage. The wholesalers competed by lowering the profit margins, and many businessmen saw that as a disadvantage. I, on the other hand, found it to be a great business opportunity. In a short time, with some strategies, the sales boomed after the factory started running. In six months, I sold over five million sweaters and made over 100 million yuan (USD $14.1 million). I smiled in my sleep back then.
The money came too fast and I was too young. My clients made a lot of money too, and they courted me all the time and I became arrogant. I ate at the best restaurants, got into bad habits, and lived a promiscuous lifestyle.
In less than ten months after the factory started running, the government came to audit my tax. I later had a business dispute with a forced labor camp in Wuhan City, and I filed a lawsuit against the authorities. I lost the lawsuit and a lot of money. A few years later the government came to audit the business again. Bad things happened one after another.
I had a brand-name chain store in Shanghai at the time. The night before the opening ceremony, I had a car accident and ran into a utility pole because I was drunk. My collarbone and my left arm were broken, and I was hospitalized for a year. My business partners encroached on the 70 percent stock shares I had. At the same time, three of my export clients went bankrupt; this was the last straw that crushed me. After I sold my real estate in the United States to pay for the debts, I hid in a place where no one knew about me and thought about where to go from there.
Three years ago, after talking to my father, I went back to Taiwan to spend time with my elderly parents who did not have much time left. I ran into a Falun Dafa practitioner one day and she lent me a copy of Zhuan Falun, the main book of Falun Dafa. I read one chapter a day, and after I finished reading the book, I attended a nine-day Falun Dafa workshop. There seemed to be an invisible hand leading me to the practice. The first day at the workshop a practitioner told me that there were over 50 Falun Dafa books that could help me better understand Zhuan Falun. I asked the practitioner to help me buy all of the books.
On the first day of the nine-day workshop, we finished reading Lecture One. When we shared our thoughts, I talked about my understanding of the teaching based on the various cultivation ways I practiced years ago. A practitioner said to me, “You will know the answer after you study the Fa more.” Indeed, Master said in Lecture Three, Zhuan Falun, “If you put your feet on two boats at the same time, you won’t get anything.” I went home and cleaned up the shrine I had at home, threw out all the books from other cultivation ways, and sent out messages to the masters I used to follow to tell them that from then on I only practice Falun Dafa.
After the nine-day workshop, I received the books I ordered. I brought one book with me to work every day and finished reading Zhuan Falun and the 50-plus books in two months. The more I studied, the more I learned, as Master explained the highest principles of the universe with the most simple language. The questions asked in the lectures around the world were also my questions, and Master’s answers not only solved the confusion I had regarding the purpose of life but also broadened my mind. My faith in Master and the teachings became stronger. I believe that Falun Dafa is the only cultivation way I will follow in the future. It’s the greatest treasure I could find!
A friend I knew from practicing other cultivation ways came to visit. He was surprised that I cleaned up my shrine and put up Falun Dafa pictures. I told him that I only practice Falun Dafa now, and shared my understanding of the teachings with him. He seemed interested. We talked a few more times after that. Later on, I heard that he also began to practice Falun Dafa. I was really happy for him.
Because of my flexible work hours, I studied the Fa at night and exercised at four in the morning, and then sent righteous thoughts. Every now and then I’d watch Master’s exercise-teaching video and read The Great Way of Spiritual Perfection. I tried to do the exercises the way Master did.
Four months later, I saw Master’s Fashen (law body) correct my movements when I exercised one morning. From that day on, my arms moved like described in The Great Way of Spiritual Perfection, “...your arms they automatically return, by themselves.” The rhythm of my movements matched the music and the commands in the audio, my mind felt calm, and I was at ease and not worried about counting numbers.
Constant Fa study made my heart more pure.
Master said,
“Let me tell you: The particles composed of molecules—not to mention those composed of atoms—and even the matter made up of those particles that are composed of molecules and one layer smaller than the particles most surface to us, are already invisible to humans.” (“Fa Teaching Given in New York City,” Teachings at Conferences in the United States)
One day when I was doing the first exercise, it felt like my body expanded to the point that the stars in the sky became a part of my body. Amazed by this experience, I felt more confident and was determined to progress more diligently.
One day my back hurt after I finished doing the fourth exercise. The pain got worse the next day. By the third day the pain was excruciating and I couldn’t lay on my back. A few days later I couldn’t stop thinking about seeing a doctor. Though I knew that it wasn’t sickness but eliminating karma, I couldn’t bear the pain and sought help from folk remedies. The person told me it wasn’t a big deal and gave me some anti-inflammatory herbal paste to put on. It didn’t work, and I went back the next day, the person said that I just needed to keep applying the paste.
Master’s words about eliminating karma appeared in my mind. Knowing that I needed to push out the karma, I studied the Fa and exercised more frequently. Sometimes it pained me so much I sought Master’s help in my mind. A month later the pain went away. After that, I was able to pass sickness karma more easily, as I have stronger faith in Master and the Fa.
I had to work in a national forest recreation park on a mountain during the day and rush to a nearby town to work the night shift. This July a typhoon brought a large amount of rain, causing instability in the land structure in the mountains, and the park closed down. The park reopened in August and I went back to work. One morning a coworker said that he was taking the afternoon off to see a foot doctor. He called me around noon saying that the road that we took to leave the mountain was closed. I was planning to leave work at around 4:30 p.m. that day but had to stay in the park that night. Later I heard the news that there was a mudslide on the road at 4:45 p.m., the exact time that I’d be on the road had I left at 4:30 p.m. that day. I knew Master saved my life and eliminated the karma for me.
Benefiting so much from the practice, I began to think about what could I do for Falun Dafa. I learned that some practitioners had quit practicing or stopped coming to the Fa study group. The half-day Fa study session we had every week was canceled. With a practitioner’s help, I resumed the session. In an attempt to improve the local cultivation environment, I visited the practitioners who stopped coming to the Fa study group, trying to persuade them to come back.
I am trained in art and gardening and was invited to teach a bonsai course in a nursing home. I went there with a practitioner and received good reviews. The nursing home referred me to a local community classroom, where my teaching also got good reviews. The two of us thought that it might be a good opportunity to introduce Falun Dafa to the local community through bonsai teaching. I could clarify the truth, and promote Shen Yun and Gan Jing World.
Master said,
“You are Dafa disciples, and countless beings above, beings simply limitless in number, envy you. If today I were to offer any high-level god, no matter his greatness, the chance to come and be a Dafa disciple, he would leap at the opportunity in a split second—the instant my words reached him he would come. He would be simply elated, for everyone who is aware knows that this way he could not only save himself, but also the countless sentient beings of his world. That is simply the most extraordinary thing in the future cosmos.” (“What a Dafa Disciple Is,” Collected Teachings Given Around the World Volume XI)
I was so touched and grateful upon reading this. Despite that the Fa-rectification was approaching an end, Master did not give up on me, a person full of karma. I had to work harder to catch up to repay Master’s compassion.
Thank you, Master! Thank you, fellow practitioners!
(Presented at the 2024 Taiwan Falun Dafa Cultivation Experience Sharing Conference)