(Clearwisdom.net) I had the great fortune to begin practicing Falun Gong in 1996. Looking back on the Fa-validation cultivation path, my greatest realization is that only by believing in Master and Dafa can we attain righteous belief and righteous enlightenment, and only by being selfless and altruistic can we attain righteous thoughts and righteous awakening.
1. Obtaining the Fa Finally after Having Waited for an Extremely Long Time
When I was little, my family found that I was different from other children. At the age of six I began to wonder why people repeatedly did the same things for their work and family day by day. I didn't see the significance of it all. One day, I finally raised my question with my parents and grandparents, but their answers didn't satisfy me. In the end I said disappointedly, “If my life is also like this, I would rather not live! I can see my future life after seeing yours. Why take the same trip again? If I hadn’t been born, I wouldn’t have these troubles.” It scared my family a lot. How could they image that such a little child had such thoughts?
I still remember the thoughts I had while watching mythical movies from that time. Whenever I heard heavenly drums beating, to urge people to return to heaven, I could never help thinking that a heavenly drum would come to urge me one day. Afterwards when I enrolled in high school, I felt that human beings did have different lives. No book could answer me. I was looking for answers everywhere.
In April 1996, I obtained a copy of the book Falun Gong. It touched my soul. Soon I had a copy of the more comprehensive text, Zhuan Falun. My mind was completely open to it. I believed everything that Master said. I even wished I could finish reading the book in a flash. Every word dispelled my doubts. I didn’t want to finish it - I wished the book were endless so that I could read it every day and keep on reading it my whole life! Then I had to control myself - to read only two or three pages every day. Just like this, I walked onto the path of cultivation; the path of practicing Falun Dafa.
Many practitioners praised me for my never-wavering belief in Dafa, even though I had been detained in the detention facility for quite a long period. Looking back, I realized my unwavering belief was because I never doubted Master and the Fa since my first day of cultivation practice. No matter whether I suffered persecution or experienced other tribulations, my first thought was always that Master and the Fa were righteous. It was only because I didn’t follow Master’s words well that I encountered various troubles. I realized that belief in Master and the Fa is the most important. The essence of cultivation is firm and righteous belief.
After beginning the practice, my mind and body greatly benefited. Although I was just in my 20s at that time, my health was poor before practicing. I had many illnesses such as nervous headaches, rhinitis, pharyngitis, gastritis, rheumatoid arthritis and anemia. But when I first attended the exercise group I got up at 3:30 a.m., which amazed my family. Before that, for the more than 20 years I never saw a sunrise. But that day I had learned all the five sets of exercises before dawn. I felt alive and refreshed the whole morning. Happiness beyond words came up into my heart, and I have enjoyed great clarity in life ever since.
2. Showing the Wonders of Dafa to Sentient Beings
Since I began the cultivation practice I kept Master’s words in my mind at every moment. “You should follow a higher and higher standard for yourself.” (Zhuan Falun)
Before I practiced Dafa I was an introverted and uncommunicative. Strangers sensed I was not easy-going. After I practiced Dafa I became relaxed and settled. I felt a hopeful and uplifting power leading me. I was always smiling and pro-actively greeted strangers.
At work, everyone paid attention to me. I thought that I should validate the Fa from little things. Falun Gong is a pure land. I needed to let people see and feel it.
In China, most people take it for granted that they can take things home from the workplace. There is also a saying among people, “If I don’t take something today, I would feel that I lose something; feeling very upset.”
I first corrected my own bad habits. I no longer took anything from the company, even an evenlope or piece of paper. Before that, everyone used company phones for personal calls. (cell phones hadn’t yet become popular) I bought a calling card from the accounting department, which shocked many people. Seeing my actions, some colleagues who needed to make frequent personal calls also bought calling cards. One day the company distributed office supplies. The employee in charge gave me more supplies saying, “You may take more supplies home for your children.” I told her that I was a cultivator and let her know doing this would generate karma. After that, this employee didn’t give away company property to gain favor with others. She later began to practice Falun Dafa herself.
I arrived early to work and left late. Whenever I had free time I helped my colleagues. Once we worked overtime until after midnight. Everyone was so tired and sleepy, but I still did things very quickly. The following day, my colleagues returned home for a rest while I kept on working until 4:00 p.m. The manager asked me, smiling, the following day, “Is this related to your cultivation practice?”
Because I validated Dafa according to the Fa, three of my four colleagues at work later began to practice Falun Dafa.
After the persecution began in 1999, I went to Beijing several times to validate the Fa. Once I was arrested in Beijing and then transferred to the Shandong Liaison Office in Beijing and extorted 400 yuan. While I was detained there a police head asked me, “Do you have the English version of Zhuan Falun?” When I shook my head he said proudly that he got one by ransacking practitioners’ homes. He told me his experience taught him that this book the Communist regime prohibits would become a treasure in the future. He collected many. I told him, “Keep them well. But don’t waste them. Take a look at them when you have time.” I also told him not to persecute practitioners. He agreed.
At that time I clarified the truth about Falun Gong to the police with another two practitioners. One policeman said, and I still remember exactly, “I have never met your Master. But from your words and deeds I can feel he must be a great person! The Communist regime already persecutes practitioners so harshly. But you still come out, regardless of the danger, to appeal for your Master. He must deserve your doing so.”
The following day the police ordered practitioners’ companies to pick them up. My company didn’t send anyone. I rode in the car of another practitioner’s company. Her company sent three officials, including the security section head and two political officers. On the way we kept on clarifying the truth to the officials. The other practitioner and I paid attention to our deeds and thought of the captors first. Therefore the truth clarification went very well.
Ten years have passed since then and I almost forgot it until I met that practitioner last month. She told me happily, “The security section head in my company still remembers you. He asked me for news about you in previous years. He said you are a very good person. Now he has quit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its affiliated organizations.” I felt really happy hearing that.
The day I returned to the company after I had been arrested, detained and brainwashed, many colleagues shook my hand. Some had tears in their eyes. The company doctor said, “I cannot accept that you, such a good person, were arrested!”
An executive official told me, “In the past, I only knew that our executives had a good impression of you. We thought your work and ethics were pretty good. Not until the police came to investigate you did I get to know that your reputation in the whole company is so praiseworthy. Everyone praised you. The police couldn’t find anything bad about you.” The security section head told me, “In the past I only had contact with you for the work related issues. I didn’t know you well personally. But this time following the investigation, the police told me many of your good deeds, making me admire you very much.”
People saw the wonders and nobility of Dafa through my deeds. Once I broke out of the detention facility after going on a hunger strike. I went to my mother’s house in another town and lived there for a while. During that period I felt the cooperation with the practitioners there was pretty good. I decided to continue living there and not return to work. I called my boss, telling him that I wanted to resign. The boss said, “How will you live after you resign? Do you have other income? How do you pay for your pension insurance?” I asked him to stop paying for the insurance. He said, “Since you want to resign I cannot stop you. But my company is forever open to you. We welcome you whenever you want to come back.”
Even though I resigned, the company still kept paying for my pension insurance.
One year later I was arrested again. The boss sent an officer to visit me, bringing me 2,000 yuan and asked me to return to the company after I was released. I asked the officer to return the money to the boss and relay my appreciation. Several years later I returned home. One of my colleagues told me that the boss still paid attention to my pension insurance. He urged officers in the personnel department to be sure to pay my pension insurance.
This is an example of the positive effects working together with Dafa practitioners can bring. This man seems to have a predestined relationship with me, and I do care about him. I will return to check whether he has quit the CCP in the near future.
… To be continued
