(Clearwisdom.net) Greetings, Master! Greetings, fellow practitioners!
Taking this opportunity of the Eighth Internet Experience Sharing Conference, I would like to report to Master and fellow practitioners about my 15-year journey of cultivation.
Starting the Practice
One day in 1996, a neighbor gave me a copy of Zhuan Falun.That night, I finished reading the whole book. The next night, I went for a walk and passed by a garden in a small district. There was a group of people doing the exercises. I was strongly attracted to the exercise music, and after returning home, the music kept playing in my ears the whole night. The next day I went to the exercise site, and a practitioner taught me the movements. Back at home, I did the exercises again. At night in my dreams, I saw three huge Falun fly out from the Falun paradise and onto my body. It was magnificent. Right then, I resolved to practice Falun Gong right to the end.
Later on, the assistant at the practice site organized a 10-day study class where we watched Master's taped lectures. Every day my body felt so light, it was as if I were flying. For six months, I felt Falun rotating continuously in the spot where my celestial eye was. I used to be strongly competitive and attached to winning all the time. Consequently, I suffered from many illnesses. After reading Zhuan Falun, I felt like I understood everything. Master showed me things in my dreams. When I did the Falun Standing Stance exercise, I saw the three characters of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. They were enormous and shining gold. I saw the white substance “De” drift to the top of my head. And in my dreams, I saw Master giving lectures on the Fa at many levels. I realized that Master showed me these scenes to strengthen my faith in cultivation.
My husband discovered he had cancer in 1996. When he was in the hospital, the patient next to him was able to submit a claim and got reimbursed for buying medication. Out of sympathy, he offered to help us process the claims, too. Master taught us:
“Nobody should blame others for it, as everyone has added fuel to the flame. Consequently, everyone will come across tribulations in cultivation practice.” (Lecture Seven in Zhuan Falun)
Driven by the pursuit of gain, I asked the patient to make a claim for me when I bought medicine. Yet at the same time, I repented in my heart, “Master, I am wrong again.” That night, I dreamed that Master was going to take away my energy mechanisms. I kept kowtowing to Master and begged him not to take my energy mechanisms away. I awoke crying and my forehead was still aching. Through this incident, I understood that cultivation is a very serious matter.
From then on, I behaved like a practitioner. Whenever I took my husband for medical treatment and had to stay in a hotel, I took that opportunity to introduce Dafa to other people. Whoever I came into contact with, I let them know about the beauty of Dafa. Consequently, many predestined people started to practice Falun Gong through me.
Whenever I had the time, I copied the teachings. In two years, I copied two books. When I first started to practice, I read three lectures in Zhuan Falun and did the exercises twice every day whenever I kept my husband company in the hospital. My husband passed away in 2009, and I calmly arranged his funeral. I had suffered for a dozen years because of his illness, and upon his death, I knew that I had paid back all my debts to him. I threw myself wholeheartedly into cultivation and validating the Fa. Every day I studied the Fa, did the exercises, and clarified the truth to people. I improved my xinxing in leaps and bounds. This period of solid cultivation laid a strong foundation for resisting the persecution and assisting Master in Fa rectification.
Cultivating Steadfastly Amidst the Persecution and Spreading the Truth
After July 20, 1999 the communist regime used its state controlled media to spread propaganda about Falun Gong. My heart was inexpressibly sad. When I read this paragraph in Master's teachings:
“When some people resort to the media to criticize qigong, some students waver in determination and give up their practice; it’s as if those who take advantage of the media are wiser than Buddha Fa, and that some practitioners cultivate for others. There are also people who become scared in the face of pressure and give up their cultivation. Can these kinds of people achieve Righteous Attainment? At the crucial moment, won’t they even betray a Buddha? Isn’t fear an attachment? Cultivation practice is like great waves sifting the sand: What remains is gold.” (“For Whom do You Practice Cultivation?” in Essentials for Further Advancement)
I said to Master: “I will cultivate right to the very end.”
Later on, I met a practitioner. We decided to make some banners that said: “Falun Dafa is good” and “Falun Dafa is righteous.” At night we went out to hang them. Thus we began to step forward to validate the Fa.
At the end of 2000, a practitioner asked me to take care of a packet of brochures. After she left, I thought that I should distribute them. So at night I went out and distributed all the brochures.
The next day, police from the 610 Office came to my house. I then knew that the practitioner's phone at home had been tapped. The police looked everywhere but could not find any brochures. In the end, they took away my Dafa books and took me with them to be interrogated. I told them I knew nothing at all. The police wanted to detain me. On the way to the detention center, we got caught in traffic. The police honked the horn. I wanted to tell them to stop honking, and indeed they stopped honking. I did not know then that this was the result of using my supernormal abilities. The head of the 610 Office yelled, “We just got this new car last week, and now the horn is not working!” I said to them, “A police car should be used to arrest criminals. You are using it to arrest good citizens; of course it doesn't work.”
Gradually I managed to contact other practitioners, and we worked together to spread the truth about the persecution. Practitioners produced the brochures, then I gave them out and clarified the truth to people. On October 2, 2001, I got a two-meter long banner from another practitioner. Reciting Hong Yin on the way, I took the train to Beijing. As I was buying my train ticket, a plainclothes officer asked me why I was going to Beijing. I said I wanted to visit my daughter. He asked to see my identification. I asked him whether it was necessary to check my ID since I was just going to visit my daughter. He did not pursue the matter. Upon arriving in Beijing, I went to Tiananmen Square. Military police were stationed everywhere, and there were no tourists in sight. I went around the square twice, sending righteous thoughts. I hung the banner with the words “Falun Dafa Is Good” on the balustrade outside Jinshui Bridge. When passersby came to see the banner, I took the opportunity to slip away and got on the public bus. In the afternoon, I took the train back home.
At the end of 2001, a practitioner was illegally detained and revealed the names of 18 practitioners, including mine. Several computers and printers were confiscated. As they interrogated me, I sent righteous thoughts towards the police officer. He said he had a stomachache, not realizing that this was our righteous thoughts taking effect. Consequently, he did not obtain a shred of evidence at all from the interrogation.
The police told me to sign a document and said I would be released. I said that I could not comply and I would not give up the practice. The head of the 610 Office said angrily, “I can send you to jail just on the basis of this book.” I was detained for two months and finally sentenced to forced labor for one-and-a-half years.
In the spring of 2003, I finished my prison sentence and was released. The day after I returned home, I went to the city where my daughter was living to help take care of my grandchild. I had no book, yet every day I did the exercises, cultivated myself, and recited Lunyu and Hong Yin. When my grandchild was asleep, I cut out slips of paper and wrote “Falun Dafa is good” on them. At night, my daughter had to go to work. I carried my grandchild, who was eight months old then, and stuck the pieces of paper onto electricity poles down the road. Afterwards, I got in touch with a local practitioner who gave me Dafa books and brochures. After that, I went to residential areas every day to distribute the brochures, carrying my grandchild on my back. Although I was over 60 years old then, I did not feel tired at all.
While Distributing Brochures with Righteous Thoughts, Miracles Appear
At the end of 2004, with the publication of the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party, I began to give them out to people. Many practitioners at that time thought we were getting involved in politics and hence gave up the practice. Master said:
“Human beings are very difficult to save. There are always about five or ten percent of the people in each class who cannot keep up with the others. It is impossible for everyone to attain the Tao. Even for those who can continue their cultivation practice, it remains to be seen whether you can succeed and if you are determined to practice cultivation. It is impossible for everyone to become a Buddha.” (Lecture Two in Zhuan Falun)
Every step on the path of cultivation is a test. Master also taught in “Teaching the Fa at the Western US International Fa Conference:”
“... could you possibly reach Consummation with any faith in the CCP or the idea that the CCP, which suppresses Dafa disciples, is good? That's absolutely impossible, right?”
Many practitioners around me, including practice site assistants, gave up cultivation. Through studying the Fa, I understood that Master does not want to leave any disciple behind. Thus I went to persuade these practitioners to return to cultivation. In the end, however, they did not come back. Subsequently, a husband and wife who were both assistants in my area had sickness karma and passed away.
I encountered many miracles in every step of my cultivation. When the Nine Commentaries were published, many practitioners were too scared to give them out, and there was a pile of brochures left behind. I took along my grandchild, who was over two years old then, and every day we started from the top floor of apartment buildings and worked our way to the bottom level, giving out brochures. When my grandchild was three years old, he snatched the brochure from me and hung it on the door. On the way back home, I carried him on my back and recited Hong Yin.
A practitioner told me that no one had gone to the apartment buildings where the high ranking officials lived, so I carried a bag full of DVDs and the Nine Commentaries and set out for these apartments. From afar, I gazed at the apartments and said, “Gods and Buddhas are coming to save you.” At the same time, I sent righteous thoughts that no one could see me. As I reached the gates, the curtains in the security room fell and covered the heads of the two security guards inside. I used this opportunity to slip inside. I took the stairs up to the top level and began to give out the information, one level after another. When I walked out of the gates and passed by the security room, someone was delivering water, and the two guards were busy taking down the details of the visitor and did not see me. When I recalled the whole process of giving out the brochures, indeed, I did not bump into anyone. On the way home, I made the gesture heshi to the sky, thanking Master for his protection. When I reached my home, I looked at the clock and saw that I had only been away for half-an-hour. Although I did not know how many units there were in the building, the number of brochures I had brought along turned out to be just enough. In a period of two weeks, blessed and protected by Master, I delivered the truth to those sentient beings living in the apartment buildings and brought them good tidings.
(To be continued)
