(Minghui.org) A retired teacher showed me a book in May 1996, and said I could borrow it for two weeks. I always enjoyed reading, although I mostly read literature. The title Zhuan Falun, intrigued me and the “Buddha Fa” mentioned piqued my curiosity. I wondered, “What is 'Buddha Fa?'” I decided to find out.
The book is the main text of Falun Dafa and talks in depth about cultivation—something inconceivable to me, as I was heavily brainwashed by the Chinese Communist regime’s atheist theories. But the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance resonated with me. I thought that this is the most righteous teaching. By the second half of the book, I wondered, “Can I truly cultivate?” Because I was always agreeable, I felt it be easy for me to have “Forbearance.” I felt “Truthfulness” and “Compassion” probably wouldn’t be too hard. The very moment I made up my mind to practice Falun Dafa, I felt a strong rotating energy in my lower abdominal area. It was incredible. The “Falun” Master talks about in Zhuan Falun, which I thought was unbelievable, was real after all.
The retired teacher was happy for me and said, “You have a strong predestined relationship with Dafa. As soon as you read Zhuan Falun, a Falun was installed for you. You must cherish it. Come join us at the exercise site.”
As she spoke, I felt a cool current pouring from my head all the way down to my toes. My body felt light and wonderful. All of this happened so quickly and unexpectedly, and the atheist thinking instilled in me was instantly shattered.
The first time I did the exercises, Master opened up all my energy channels and sweat pores. Every time I did the exercises, I sweated profusely. As soon as I was done, I rushed to use a toilet. I understood all the bad things inside me were being cleaned out.
My body became sensitive—if a person was in pain, I was able to feel it when the person got near me. When other practitioners worked through sickness karma, I could feel the cold negative energy that was emitted from his or her body. I often smelled strong sandalwood scent at our group practice. It was so strong that once during meditation practice I couldn’t help but wonder who was wearing such a strong perfume. I opened my eyes slightly and saw a few elderly men standing around me—none of them seemed like the type to wear a perfume. I asked a few veteran practitioners and they said they never smelled sandalwood. Knowing what I know now, I think the scent was emitted most likely from another dimension. As practitioners, we all go through different stages of cultivation at our own pace and therefore experience different things. This only lasted a little while and I’ve not smelled sandalwood since.
A couple months after I began practicing Falun Dafa, two incredible things happened to me.
I went out for dinner with my husband and son one day and as soon as we got back home they both started vomiting. This was accompanied by diarrhea and a high fever. They were hospitalized later that night when I started experiencing similar symptoms. I was fairly new to Dafa cultivation at this point and wasn’t sure what to make of the situation, “What to do?” Doubts cropped up as I couldn’t hold any liquid down and my temperature rose. If not treated, my condition could get a lot worse.
My husband and my college-aged son are athletes—they are usually rather healthy and rarely get sick. But this time, they both were really ill. Whatever IV fluids or medication they were given just couldn’t stop the diarrhea. They both looked pale and were so weak that they couldn’t get out of bed.
I was always the weak one in the family and prone to sickness. In the past I would have gotten sick before they did. It was a miracle that I had mild symptoms and was still able to take care of them. I didn’t show any sign of discomfort and kept it all to myself. I did the exercises whenever I had time. Without any treatment, my fever was gone in just two days⸺and all symptoms cleared up. By contrast, my husband and son were hospitalized for ten days before their diarrhea stopped.
Soon after that, while making tea at the office, an eight pound thermos bottle exploded next to me. The scorching hot water covered my legs. The big boom shook the entire building and my supervisors and the school nurse came running. The nurse wanted to treat my burn right away, but I told her not to worry and I would take care of it when I get home. I took the rest of the day off and rode home on my bicycle. Although the pain was excruciating, I knew I would be okay. Having gone through the recent sickness karma, I had great faith in Dafa. I told myself, “I will endure this pain even if it lasts three days.”
Once home, I found many tiny glass shards on my dress. Blisters were forming on my legs. Patches of skin wrinkled and looked as if they would fall right off. Despite the pain, I did the exercises. The pain eased after 10 minutes and stopped completely after a while, although the burning sensation persisted.
The phone rang, and it was my mother. I told her about my incident and she was worried, “Don’t move. Don’t move too much. I’m coming and I’ll bring someone to take care of you.” The pain became unbearable within just the few minutes I was on the phone. I couldn’t stand nor sit still as it just made it worse. As soon as I hung up, I resumed doing the exercises and the pain slowly stopped. My legs felt warm, but were no longer painful. I was able to meditate with my legs loosely crossed. When I was done, even the burning sensation was gone.
My mother arrived with a nanny and nearly had a heart attack when she saw my legs. I smiled and said, “Mother. Don’t worry. I’m fine.” I touched the raw skin on my legs, “Look. It’s dry and doesn’t hurt at all.” My mother screamed, “Don’t touch it. Don’t touch it. It will get infected.” The wrinkled skin had formed a thin dry layer on top of my flesh and there were no blisters. My mother and the nanny both thought it was incredible. My mother said, “Falun Dafa is so powerful. If I didn’t see it with my own eyes, I would never believe it.”
I figured it would hurt for at least three days, but was pleasantly surprised when the pain was completely gone two hours after I did the exercises. I faced a different predicament going to sleep at night—itchy skin. Since the burned area no longer hurt, I subconsciously reached down and scratched it in my sleep. I had to put my arms above my head when I went to sleep. The burned area healed rapidly. By the next day, the skin was no longer red but pale in color. Over the next couple of days, the dead skin scabbed and fell off. By the fifth day, I had enough coverage of new healthy skin that I was able to take a shower.
My husband was on a business trip when all of this happened. When he came back and learned about the incident he was shocked that I almost recovered. My co-workers also thought it was amazing.
After I began practicing Falun Dafa, I followed the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance. My husband is a chancellor at a prestigious university and I also work there. He is well respected for his upright conduct and excellent leadership. Simply mentioning his name would make a lot of things easier and business relations more pleasant. I never used this connection to my advantage.
When my son was discharged from the hospital, I went to take care of the bill. Before I began practicing Falun Dafa I was often sick so I knew half of the staff at the school clinic. But the cashier was new and gave me a hard time. She simply would not process the invoice and arrogantly demanded that I return later. A female doctor walked by and saw this. She told the cashier, “This is Chancellor so-and-so’s wife. Please take care of it for her today.” Hearing my husband’s name, the cashier quietly took care of my payment.
My son attended college where my husband and I worked. He didn’t want a spot at the dorm at first since we lived near the campus. But he changed his mind. However, the deadline for room and board registration already passed. When I found out the person in charge of dorms was renting out extra spots for a fee, I decided to rent an overpriced spot for my son to teach him a lesson.
I went to the person in charge of dorms but didn’t bring a bribe. He immediately turned me down. I told him my husband and I worked for the school and asked him to reconsider but he would not budge. Just as I was leaving, a colleague told him, “This is the Chancellor so-and-so’s son we’re talking about. You rent extra spots to people who aren’t even enrolled. I’m sure you have a spot for one of our own students?” The person in charge was shocked. He quickly pulled out his books and found a spot for my son.
My mother-in-law who lived with us passed away when our university was preparing to host a big event to celebrate a milestone anniversary. Many alumni RSVP’ed and made travel plans to attend. Nearly every department and every staff member was involved in getting ready for the big day. Not wanting to bother anybody, I tried to take care of the funeral myself.
I went to a print shop affiliated with the university and tried to get a picture of my mother-in-law printed in a larger format. The person behind the counter turned me away, saying that they were backed up with jobs related to the celebration. A friend popped in just as I was leaving. She told the clerk, “The chancellor’s mother passed away but he is too busy to take care of the funeral himself.” She pointed at me and said, “His wife is trying to do it all herself. Please help with this as I’m sure nobody wants the chancellor to have to divide his attention right now.” The clerk’s attitude changed and they were able to rush the job and get it ready for pickup the next day.
I knew things would get done quicker and go much smoother if I mentioned my husband’s name, at least within our school system, but I am unwilling to use the connection to get special treatment. A woman came to my office one day, and the first thing she said was, “I am the Party secretary’s wife.” I stood up and smiled warmly, “Welcome. What can I do for you?” She enjoyed the attention and felt superior because her husband holds a high position. If I didn’t practice Falun Dafa, I would have acted the same way.
Before I began practicing Falun Dafa, I received many awards for my artistic talents. I am good at dancing, singing, drawing and Chinese calligraphy. I won multiple competitions at the provincial level or higher and I was interviewed many times. There is even a documentary based on my story which was televised on the city and provincial TV stations.
I was often invited to important events by different social groups. I enjoyed the spotlight and felt pleased to see the excitement, respect and even admiration that people exhibited when I showed up. All of the attention and fame fed my ego and I wanted more of it. I became more and more self-absorbed and was sliding further and further into the big dye vat of today’s society. Fortunately, I found Dafa and started cultivating.
I follow Dafa’s teachings and hold myself to the high standards of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. I cultivate to rise above all the glitz and glamour on the surface and dig deep to find inner peace and reconnect with my true self. I stay humble and do solid work.
My department organizes a few trips each year that require support from our transportation team. Over the years, I’ve established a good working relationship with all the drivers. One year, we brought on a young driver who had recently been discharged from the military. For his first assignment as a bus driver, I was to work with him and help the passengers. Judging from my appearance, he thought I wouldn’t be able to endure hardship. After a few days of working together, however, he completely changed his mind about me. I genuinely cared about and helped each and every passenger on the bus—it truly impressed him. For his first assignment at the new job, this was a very positive experience.
After getting to know him a little better I told him about Dafa and let him borrow my copy of Zhuan Falun. He was very open minded and receptive. However, just when this young man and his wife were about to take up Dafa cultivation, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) led by then head Jiang Zemin, launched the nation-wide persecution. Due to fear of retaliation, the couple never started practicing. We remained friendly with each other and worked together on many trips.
After driving the passenger bus for a few years, this young man was transferred to a different line of service and became a designated driver for the school administrators. My husband and the young driver got to know each other really well but my name was never mentioned.
My husband was going on a business trip one time and needed a ride to the airport. The school sent this young driver to pick him up at our house. When my husband and I walked out of our building together carrying his luggage, he was shocked to learn that we were a couple, “Are you the chancellor’s wife?” I nodded.
On the way to the airport, the young man couldn’t stop talking about it, “I’ve known you for more than ten years now and thought I knew you pretty well. But you’ve never mentioned that your husband is the chancellor. If you two didn’t come down the stairs together today, I would have never found out.” In today’s society, being an official’s wife in itself is a high accomplishment that comes with bragging rights and benefits. During the many years we worked together, the young driver never saw me being treated like anyone special, and no one mentioned that my husband was the chancellor. He couldn’t tell at all by the way I conducted myself that I was married to a high ranking school official.
I’m so fortunate that I found Dafa when the temptations of society became impossible to resist, with all kinds of new and trendy ideas cropping up. Standing at the edge of a colorful world, I could have fallen into the big dye vat and lost my true self at anytime. It was Dafa, with the most pure and righteous principles of the universe, that helped me get back on the right path in life.
After I improved my cultivation, my surroundings changed. From the higher ups to regular staff members in my department, no one plays mind games. Every one is willing to put in solid work and we all cooperate to get the job done. Our department has been recognized by school officials and our colleagues. They all agreed that everyone in our department is talented and does well. We apply our talents and skills and work well together as a team. People say we are outstanding in our school.
I am forever grateful for the blessings I received from practicing Dafa. I wish that all people in the world learn about Dafa and read the book Zhuan Falun. Dafa will give new meaning to your life and lead you to true happiness.