Living by the Standards of Falun Dafa

(Minghui.org) One night in 1995, shortly after I started working, my classmate in the same dormitory was putting his things away. He took out a special book that had Falun Gong written on the cover. I picked it up, took a look, and I couldn’t put it down. I read from cover to cover that night.

I said to my classmate the next morning, “There is no other qigong that is higher or better than this one. This book talks about it at the highest level. I’ve decided to practice it. Do you want to join me?” He said he would. Two days later, we found a practice site about 100 meters (about 100 yards) from the company.

Returning the Rolling Pin

After cultivating in Dafa for three or four months, I began to realize that cultivation has standards and that cultivators must use the principles of Dafa to evaluate themselves and maintain their xinxing.

I recalled something that had happened not long before. Soon after I’d started working, we had lunch in an empty house that workers from a chemical plant had vacated. I found a rolling pin and thought, “No one would ever want this. I’ll take it and keep it.” I put the rolling pin in my bag.

But I am cultivating now, and it is not right to take other people’s things without their permission. What if someone forgot it and came back to look for it? He wouldn’t be able to find it. I decided to return it over the weekend because the chemical plant is located over a dozen kilometers (about six miles) away, and it is usually dark after work.

That weekend, it started to snow heavily in the morning, and the winds were very strong. As I rode my bike, I thought, “Maybe this is a test of whether I can keep my word. If I do something that I shouldn’t do, I have to pay a price to make up for it.”

When I got there, the courtyard gate was locked and I couldn’t get in. I originally thought I would put it back quietly when no one was around, so I wouldn’t lose face. Now I had to ask the neighbors to let me in. I knocked on one door, and the neighbor came out and asked what was going on. I told him the purpose of my visit, and I handed him the rolling pin and said, “Please help me. I should give it to someone in his family or put it in his house.” He smiled and agreed.

On the way back, I told myself that I needed to remember that I am a Dafa disciple and not to do things I shouldn’t do.

Enduring Illness Karma for Five Days

As my practice advanced, I had all kinds of cultivation experiences. For example, I felt the difference between sickness karma and getting sick. Several times I had the symptoms of what I formerly thought of as a “cold:” a cough, runny nose, or fever. I usually just ignored it, and I would be fine in a day or two.

I had severe symptons one winter. There was no work at our company in the winter, so we just stayed in the office. One day I felt weak and couldn’t hold it together any longer, and I put my head in my arms and rested on the desk. A coworker next to me got concerned and said, “You need to take medicine.” I said, “No, it will be fine.” She looked disdainful. After about 20 or 30 minutes, the uncomfortable feeling was gone, and my colleague was surprised.

The most serious and miraculous episode lasted for five days. I had a fever in the dormitory after work and was so weak that I couldn’t stand and had to lie down. It felt like the world was spinning and the bed was tilting, and I was about to fall on the floor. I held onto both sides of the bed tightly, knowing that the bed wasn’t really tilted. When I had to go to work at 7:30 a.m. the next morning, all the bad feelings suddenly disappeared, and I felt strong, and everything was normal. I went to work as usual.

I wouldn’t have paid it much attention if it was only for one day. But the same thing happened five days in a row: As soon as I entered the dormitory after work, I would feel so exhausted that I had to quickly find my bed and fall into it. I would be unable to move all night. When it was almost time to go to work the next morning, I would again be fine and go to work.

The Test of Money

In the first year of practicing, especially when I went shopping, I often got too much change, ranging from a few yuan to more than 10 yuan, and at most 50 yuan. At that time, 50 yuan was not a small amount for me. Of course, I returned the overpayment to the sellers.

Once in a large shopping mall, the clerk gave me over 50 yuan extra. I’d bought a watch that cost 146 yuan, paid the salesperson 150 yuan, and got 54 yuan in change. I said, “You gave me too much. I gave you 150 yuan.” She was stunned for several seconds before she realized what she’d done. She said in a panic, “I was thinking about something else, and I made a mistake. Thank you. Otherwise, I would have worked for nothing today.”

Getting extra change once or twice when shopping is a coincidence, but getting extra change seven out of 10 times is not. I thought to myself, “Why do people give me more change so often? It seems that I am still not completely at ease about money. Otherwise, I would not encounter this test repeatedly.”

I was also given counterfeit bills. At first, I would look for the person who’d given them to me. If I couldn’t find the person, or if the person wouldn’t admit it, I would just burn them. Later on, I would just burn the counterfeit bills without bothering to find out who’d given them to me.

Turning Down Bribes

I worked in an engineering supervision company between 2004 and 2006, and I was responsible for supervising more than a dozen large and small new construction projects, renovation projects, and tractors. At the start of each project, a supervisor like me would be typically given money or gift cards. On holidays, it was even more important for people to give gift packages such as wine, seafood, and so on.

I knew one thing: I didn’t want any money or gift cards. Sometimes it was inconvenient to turn them right away, and in such cases, I would return them to the boss later. I would try to refuse any personal invitations to a meal.

Some contractors didn’t understand, so I would explain, saying, “I believe in the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance, and I should behave and do things accordingly. You make money because of your efforts. I am happy for you, and there is no need to give me anything. I will have to point things out if there are issues on the job, but as long as the work meets the requirements, I will approve it. I will by no means make it difficult for you.”

I got along very well with the contractors. I kept reminding myself that I was a Dafa cultivator, that I needed to use Dafa’s standards to guide myself, and that I would strive to do my job well, be kind to others, not care about fame and fortune, and stay away from sensual activities.

Helping Strangers

Due to the decline in morals in China nowadays, few people dare to help someone who falls. Looking back over the years, I’ve helped elderly, sick, or drunk people who’ve fallen three or four times. Every time I helped someone, I did not think about whether they would blackmail me, just that I should help them. Of course, before I did, I first communicated with them to better understand their situation.

The most memorable time was in the winter of 2017. There had just been a heavy snowfall that night, and I was riding an electric bike on an urgent errand. I saw a man struggling in the snow on the road, trying to get up. But the snow was so slippery that he couldn’t. Vehicles and people passed by, but no one stopped to help him.

I stopped the bike and ran over. It was a man in his 60s or 70s. As I helped him up, I said to him, “It’s snowing so heavily today, try not to go out. Are you hurt?”

He cried and said, “Look, no one cares about me. No one cares about me.” I said, “Sir, I am a Falun Gong practitioner. Our master, Master Li, tells us to be good people and to help others when they are in need.”

As I helped him back onto the pavement, I asked, “How far away do you live? Can you get home by yourself?” He pointed to the building in front of us and said, “Yes, I can.” Then he said loudly all of a sudden, “Falun Gong is good! Falun Gong is so good!”