(Minghui.org) I began practicing Falun Dafa in 1997. I’ve experienced many things during these 20-plus years of cultivation. In particular, 2023 was a very special year.
I am a retired government employee in my 70s. I was illegally sentenced to two years in prison and was incarcerated from 2012 to 2014. My employer learned of this 10 years later, in January 2022. They decided to revoke my pension benefits and have me pay back the funds that I had received over the past 10 years, totaling more than 500,000 yuan.
At the time, this really made me think about something that Master said: “In Buddhism, it is said that every phenomenon in human society is illusory and unreal.” (Lecture Two, Zhuan Falun)
This tribulation targeted my attachments. The evil wants to manipulate sentient beings to persecute practitioners so as to destroy them. I had to completely negate that, walk the path that Master has arranged, and seize this opportunity to save sentient beings.
I asked other practitioners for help and quickly sent a letter to the department in charge of pensions, citing the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) laws to clarify the truth. I wrote that it is legal to practice Falun Dafa in China; that it is also legal to print, disseminate, and own Dafa books and materials; and that the court’s verdict was illegal, so any accusations against me were invalid.
I wrote a second letter immediately after that, arguing that there was no legal basis for withholding my pension.
In my third letter, I shared my personal experience to describe the amazing effects of Falun Dafa in terms of curing illness and keeping fit. I explained how, after I began practicing, I never took anything from work that didn’t belong to me, nor did I take advantage of others at work, plus, I refused bribes offered by business partners. I cared little about personal gain and was willing to suffer losses. This was the result of my moral improvement from cultivating in Falun Dafa.
I sent out three letters in all. My tone was very calm. Compassion and sincerity lay between the lines, disintegrating the evil and awakening the conscience of those who read the letters.
After the letters were mailed, I put my mind to studying the Fa, put a lot of effort into looking inward, sent righteous thoughts intensively, and fundamentally eliminated my attachments to self-interest, selfishness, being stingy, and always trying to save money.
When I conformed to the Fa’s requirements, all of us practitioners formed one body that was selfless and altruistic. The power of the Fa was then able to display itself, the evil was eliminated, and my pension was resinstated. Our collective power overcame the evil.
After a while, I started to slack off in my Fa study and sending righteous thoughts, and attachments began to show up. Without noticing, I thought that I was very capable. I became arrogant, and I began to look down on others. But I didn’t realize it at the time.
Over a year later, in March 2023, my pension was suspended again. At the same time, the practitioner who hosted our Fa-study group was arrested for talking to people about Dafa. As a result, I lost the group cultivation environment and couldn’t get in touch with other practitioners. In addition, practitioners who used to help me had moved to another city. I had to take charge, defend my legal rights and interests, demand my pension, use legal means to clarify the facts, and save sentient beings.
Following legal procedures, I went to the Provincial Social Security Bureau to apply for a government information disclosure. I was required to show my ID, my registered address, and contact number at the window.
I adjusted my mentality, treated the person at the window like I would a family member, greeted them warmly and politely, eased the atmosphere, and explained my situation calmly. I hoped that they would understand, assist in handling the matter, and report to their superiors or forward my letter.
During the limited time to apply for the information disclosure, I wrote to all the civil servants I knew: deliverymen, staff, directors, deputy directors, directors, and deputy presidents of certain bureaus. I wrote to all of them.
I received a letter with this response: “Ma’am, please don’t bother us. We have read the letters you wrote. You are trying to brainwash us, but you’re the one who needs rehabilitating.”
I don’t know the name of the young man who wrote me this letter. I hadn’t written him, but he obviously read my letter. From what he wrote, I gathered that they were passing the letter around. And having them understand the truth was exactly what I wanted.
I submitted an application for government information disclosure on April 3 and got a reply on April 25 that my pension could not be reinstated. I was dissatisfied with the reply, so I went to the provincial government to apply for administrative reconsideration on May 5. Two months went by, and there was no response. The provincial government did nothing, so I decided to sue the court, but the court refused to accept the case. Given that, I really had nowhere else to go.
After I returned home, I turned the issue over in my mind and looked inward, wondering, “What exactly went wrong? Revoking my pension and cutting off my livelihood was a big deal for me! If there was nothing the evil could seize upon, would it dare to persecute me?”
I could only ask for Master’s help to let me see through this. It really worked! In my mind, a certain practitioner appeared in front of me. I somehow knew she had just been released from a forced labor camp. She said to me, “I didn’t sign anything. I managed to make a breakthrough and escape.”
Then she left. Soon enough, I heard that she’d gone out again to hand out informational materials, was arrested and held in the police station, and was beaten to death overnight.
This image shocked me all the way to my most microcosmic parts. Being arrogant and thinking one is so good is a deadly sin. When the evil sees it, it will persecute someone to death. Wasn’t I the same way? Due to Master, my pension was reinstated the first time. However, I thought that I’d done well, that I’d made the breakthrough, forgetting that it was done by Master. I was arrogant and took the credit, which wasn’t mine.
Tears came to my eyes, and I said, “Master, I know that I was wrong; the most microcosmic parts of me also know that what I did was wrong. The layers and layers of my body know that I did wrong as well. I don’t want any arrogance, never, ever. I want to correct myself and eliminate it.” I begged for Master’s forgiveness.
After that, Master arranged for a practitioner to come to my place and give me a hint: A practitioner whom I never had any contact with before suddenly showed up. She had been arrested for talking to people about Dafa, and had been in prison for three years. As soon as she came in, she began to talk about why she was persecuted, which came down to lust. From seven p.m. to midnight, she kept talking about the danger of lust and the lessons she learned, which left a deep impression on me.
After she left, I began to look inward and realized my attachment to lust. Whenever I clarified the truth, in order to break the ice, I always praised the other party by saying that she was so pretty. When I saw someone’s children, I also commented on how nice looking they were. Paying attention to appearance—doesn’t that come down to lust?
When Master saw that I didn’t enlighten, he gave me a hint in a dream: A movie star was lying on my bed and wanted to marry me. The bed covers and the whole room were pink.
After I woke up, I began to look inward. Right then I realized: By holding onto the demon of lust with one hand, I was giving it energy even as I was trying to eliminate it by sending forth righteous thoughts with the other hand. This didn’t work, because they cancelled each other out. It took me over 20 years to realize that. When Master gave me that hint, it was eliminated immediately. I couldn’t express my gratitude enough. Every step forward in his disciple’s progress is the result of Master’s hard work and kindness!
Enlightened by Master, I was able to eliminate two major attachments. I adjusted my mindset and was ready to try again to get my pension reinstated. I recited deep down, “When it looks impossible and is said to be impossible, give it a try and see if it is possible.” (Lecture Nine, Zhuan Falun)
I applied for a government information disclosure, as well as administrative reconsideration again. The reply I got was: “The provincial Political and Legal Affairs Committee issued a notice that people like you will not be registered, your materials will not be accepted, and you will not be allowed access to government information. You can sue wherever you want.”
I was at a loss, so I consulted the online Justice Forum, and practitioners there suggested that I file a complaint with the State Council. Forum practitioners drafted a complaint document for me. Now that the case had reached the highest level, I calmed down and thought over everything. If I were to sue the provincial government, would I be retaliated against or arrested? Some practitioners had been arrested and sentenced for demanding their pensions. Should I take this step? After some struggle, I decided to let go of life and death and take the last step. I mailed the “Application for the State Council to Order the Provincial Government to Accept Administrative Reconsideration” on January 12, 2024.
While waiting for a reply, and looking back on my experiences while trying to protect my rights in 2023, I’ve visited multiple agencies, including the Provincial Department of Human Resources and Social Security, the Provincial Law and Regulations Department, the Provincial Appeal’s Office, the Provincial Committee on Old Age Pension, the Provincial Women’s Federation, and other departments. All I encountered was shirking of responsibility, non-acceptance, and inaction. If they didn’t accept the materials in person, I mailed them. Being rejected again and again, my heart was upset again and again, and my spirit was challenged again and again. My attachments were worn out by this hopeless and fruitless effort.
Of course, practitioners all know that trials and tribulations are the ladder of ascension. What gets washed away are one’s attachments, what gets hit upon is one’s karma. It is all good in the end. “Eating bitterness treated as joy.” (“Tempering One’s Heart and Will,” Hong Yin)
In fact, the most difficult thing was to prepare all the materials, write articles, and study the law. I felt overwhelmed during the process.
After my attachments were tempered and removed, my former employer contacted me and gave me a minimum living allowance of 1,185 yuan on January 24. The medical insurance was changed from civil servant treatment to ordinary treatment. I received the following text message reply from the State Council on February 7: “Your case was transferred to the Provincial Appeal Office.” On February 9, I received another text message that read: “Your case was further transferred to the Appeal Office of the Provincial Department of Justice.”
Everything went back to square one. I had no further recourse at this point, so I stopped going through government channels and started to inform the general public about Dafa and the persecution.
During the entire process, I did my best to do what I should do with the abilities I possessed. In the face of all kinds of unreasonableness, unfairness, evasiveness, rejection, and hurdles, what helped me stick to the very end was Master’s words:
“When it looks impossible and is said to be impossible, give it a try and see if it is possible.” (Lecture Nine, Zhuan Falun)
Thank you, Master, for your compassionate saving grace!