(Clearwisdom.net) Before practicing Falun Gong, both my husband and I were full of disease. In one year, my husband was hospitalized four times. I suffered from vasculitis and chronic headaches. Doctors told me that these conditons were incurable. At that time, the muscles in my feet were stiff and I had necrosis and some other problems. As a result, I got headaches easily and was unable to walk. I felt miserable everyday but had to take care of our business and cook for seven to eight people. I could hardly make it and was wondering what I should do--I did not want to live anymore. Seeing my situation, my daughter told me to practice Falun Gong, but I did not believe it would help. I said, "The doctors don't know how to cure my diseases. You think practicing some exercises can?" My daughter replied, "Just give it a try." That's why I obtained Dafa in January 1999. After practicing the exercises at the group practice site for a week, something amazing happened. The hard lumps on my feet began to disappear and their bright red color also faded. I was very excited, so I practiced the exercises everyday while my husband watched TV beside me. A few days later, he also felt a comfortable feeling that he had never felt before. He asked me why. Our daughter replied, "Dad, you've also benefited." From then on, my husband started to cultivate in Dafa.
On July 23, 1999, our practice site was destroyed. After that, the local police gathered us together to make us watch the videos that slandered Master. That did not shake my firm belief in Dafa, and I continued to do Dafa-related work. During the day my daughter and I would go out to distribute truth-clarifying materials to people and in the evenings my husband printed the materials non-stop. Later, a practitioner from out of town was arrested and reported on my husband. As a result he was sentenced to two years of forced labor and I was also confined in the detention center four times.
On July 14, 2002, my husband was released. At that time our store business was so good that we had no time to study the Fa but only practiced the exercises every evening. We were worried that we did not have time to share with fellow practitioners. In 2003, after sharing with a practitioner from out-of-town, we thought that maybe we should not keep our business anymore and instead organize a Fa-study group. By doing that, we would be able to put fellow practitioners together as one body. Then we would be able to improve in our understanding of the Fa so that we would all be able to catch up with the progression of the Fa-rectification. This is the foundation and essence of doing the Three Things well and the salvation of sentient beings. Fellow practitioners all agreed with us. Thus, we rented our store to someone else.
After our study group was organized, we studied the Fa for two hours and practiced the exercises for one hour everyday. At first there were only four of us, but quickly more and more practitioners joined. Quite a few practitioners joined us from out-of-town. We studied and practiced but hardly ever shared our experiences. We did not improve in our understanding of the Fa. Gradually our study group changed into a site for practitioners to come to have their problems solved. Some came because they did not feel comfortable physically or they wanted to get through their tribulations or because they felt that our group's energy field was strong. We failed to enlighten to the profound meanings of the Fa, so we were not able to improve and raise our xinxing. We were unable to solve the fundamental problems because we used our human hearts to deal with problems. As a result, the evil forces found our loopholes.
On May 19, 2006, a fellow practitioner had a fight with her husband who then reported our study group to the local authorities as revenge. That same day, over 30 government officials from the the village, township, and county came to my residence to ransack it and confiscate our printing materials. Our site was destroyed. The loss was heavy. My daughter and I, along with two other practitioners, were arrested. Refusing to cooperate, we constantly sent forth righteous thoughts and recited the Fa. Fellow practitioners in the nearby areas all sent forth righteous thoughts for us. They called the local police station and exposed them on the Internet. In addition, overseas practitioners also called the police to clarify the truth them. With Master's help, we were released in 28 days. After returning home, we made the best use of our time to study the Fa and Master's lectures to look for our loopholes. We also sorted out our state of mind so that we could be more mature in cultivation. Gradually, our Fa-study group resumed its daily activities but fewer practitioners joined us this time. There were only eight of us altogether but five to six came on a regular basis.
Practitioner A is in her 50s. She joined us in 2004. At that time she was an "end stage" cancer patient. She had lost all her hair due to the chemotherapy and she looked awful. When she came to us, fellow practitioners told her how to cultivate and elevate her character. She accepted everything we told her, so she practiced the exercises with us everyday. One day when she did the Falun Standing Stance, she saw the Law Wheel. She understood that Master was encouraging her and she was all in tears. In only four days, her body already felt light. A week later, her life was returned to normal. A month later her hair started to grow out. When she first started studying the Fa, she did not know to search inside herself, so her family that consists of four-generations always had conflicts. When conflicts occurred, we would help her to use the Fa to ponder the issues so that she could rectify herself from the perspective of the Fa. She was then able to improve. Gradually she began to understand how to search inside herself when problems occurred. She could do the Three Things quite well, and everyday she would go out to distribute the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party and other materials and clarify the truth to people.
Practitioner B came to us in 2007. She was only in her 30s and did not have a good education. When fellow practitioners clarified the truth to her, she believed everything and then became a practitioner. She did not shy away because of the fact that she could not read well but came to study the Fa everyday. She firmly believed in Master and Dafa, but her family put pressure on her. Her husband did not support her at all, her teenage son tried to "transform" her, and her teenage daughter threatened that she would commit suicide if she did not stop practicing. One night the daughter threatened that she would jump into a river to force her to stop practicing. Thinking of Master, she decided that Master would make all the decisions for her, so she was not moved at all. As a result, nothing happened and her daughter only walked around outside for a while and finally came home. In addition, her sisters and mother did not understand her either and they isolated her. She was not deterred and continued doing what she was supposed to do. She sells daily necessities on a bike to make a living. She tells everyone she meets the truth of Dafa.
A practitioner over 70 years of age came in 2004. When she first came she was diabetic and had never read Zhuan Falun before. She was illiterate, but that did not stop her from coming everyday to study the Fa with us. Each of us read one paragraph. She would listen attentively and point at every single character that we read with her finger. She would read by herself when she went home. At first she could only read a few lines even though she spent many hours every evening trying to read. Gradually, she could read a few pages a time. Now she can read more than a lecture a day, and she can read with us now. Whenever conflicts occur, we will search within the Fa and look inward as well. We are all in a very good state of mind and nobody has any illnesses.
This we can say about our Fa-study group: From not stepping out to clarify the truth to eventually stepping out, we have all understood that this is the cultivation path that Master has arranged for us. The benefits of group study have helped us all and we have all seen the changes in ourselves. However, as one body we still have a long way to go from the goal that Master has set for us. We will constantly rectify ourselves and do the Three Things well.
Written on October 15, 2008