(Clearwisdom.net) I was once very strong-willed and ambitious. I had many illnesses at a young age, such as stomach problems, rheumatism, and sinusitis and I suffered from depression.

In 1997, my mother, a practitioner, told me that Falun Gong could remove all my illnesses and suggested that I should practice. However, I did not want to at the time. I would occasionally read the Dafa books at home, and I knew that the purpose of learning Dafa was for cultivation and not to cure illnesses.

I went to college to study music in 1998, and noticed the students who wore fashionable clothes were very popular, but students who had more traditional values were not. There were many things that I wanted to fight and compete for, but I also knew that it was meaningless. I began to wonder what the meaning of our existence was.

Master said in Zhuan Falun, “Zhen-Shan-Ren is the Sole Criterion to Discern Good and Bad People” (Zhen-Shan-Ren is Chinese for Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance). Through these principles I saw hope and learned a lot about life. I decided to practice Falun Gong in the summer of 1998. Without medication my illnesses soon disappeared. I felt at peace in the company of fellow practitioners, and my problems would soon be quickly resolved once I shared them with practitioners.

Validating the Fa

I overheard the propaganda on TV slandering Falun Gong during the summer of 1999, when the persecution started. I thought: what's wrong with teaching people to be good? Why shouldn’t people be allowed to practice? Even though I did not have a deep understanding of the Fa, I knew that what they said on TV was not correct! I did not waver in my belief, and continued to do what I thought was right.

When I returned home after graduating in the winter of 1999, my elder sister told me that because of the persecution, the local practitioners there were not diligent anymore. We then planned to hold a sharing to help the practitioners gain a better understanding of the Fa. However, we were reported to the authorities and arrested. We were taken to a detention center and ordered to write a guarantee statement promising to give up our belief. We did not cooperate, and instead wrote about how we have benefited from Falun Gong. We were released a month later.

I later went to Tiananmen Square with an elderly practitioner to let people know the facts about Falun Gong. My heart was very pure and I had no fear. It was early in the morning when we got to Tiananmen Square, so we waited until there were more people there. I unfurled a banner and shouted, “Falun Dafa is good!” Suddenly, someone from behind pushed me to the ground and took away my banner. We were arrested and taken to a nearby police station, where there were many more practitioners already there. We recited the Fa and had a sharing. Practitioners who refused to give their names to the police were taken to different prisons that night.

Once we arrived at the prison, we were forced to stay in the courtyard for a long time. It was the end of December and very cold. I covered my mouth and nose with a scarf, but a guard saw me and called me over to him. He ordered me to give him my name and address, but I refused. The guard then whipped me. I fell to the ground. When I tried to get up, he pushed me back down and began hitting me. Another guard came over and told the other guard to leave, then he politely asked for my address. Without thinking I told him; however, he could not remember it when he had to write it down and asked me again. I suddenly realized Master was protecting me, so I did not tell him this time. He then took me to a room filled with electrical wires. He said, “I will shock you if you don't tell me your address.” I was not scared, and replied, “I will not tell you even if you shock me.” He did not know what to do, and took me to a prison cell. We later heard that because so many practitioners had been arrested in Beijing, the prisons were full, and so we would be transferred somewhere else.

More than ten buses were used to transport people from the prison. We were taken to a stadium in Shijiazhuang City in Hebei Province. Many vans from various towns and districts were already there. We were put into different groups and dispatched to various places. The guards in the prison that we were sent to still tried to get our personal details, and they interrogated me every day. I did not cooperate and kept clarifying the facts to them.

The third time, they interrogated me all day and did not take me back to my prison cell at night. I was handcuffed and forced to sit on a chair for the whole night. Later that night, I heard someone shouting from outside, “A Falun Gong [practitioner] escaped, go get someone.” I suddenly realized that I should not be there. I had a strong righteous thought: They cannot persecute me like this. I need to leave!

There was a balcony outside the room, but the door was usually locked. I thought that it would be great if it were open. A guard came to check on me the next morning, and took me to the bathroom. He was going to handcuff me again, when I said, “My wrists are red and raw, don't put the handcuffs on too tight.” He then put the cuffs over my jacket sleeves and left. The door to the balcony was open, so I took the handcuffs off and went outside. The balcony was facing the back of the building and was on the second floor. There was a ladder below the balcony, with a wide wooden board connected to one end of the ladder leading to the outside wall. Everything looked well planned out! I climbed out the window and held on tight to the window sill. I asked for Master's help in my mind as I dropped to the ground. The ladder was right next to me. I quickly climbed the ladder and crawled on the wooden board to the outside wall. I then jumped from the wall and landed on a pile of soft garbage. It was a miracle how everything had worked out!

I ran to a village and saw a middle-aged woman on the street. I asked her if I could wash my hands in her home, as they were very dirty from landing on the garbage. She agreed and took me there. I washed my hands and rested a while. It was not until I was ready to leave that I felt pain in my leg. I was not a local there and must have looked suspicious to the family. They seemed like good people, so I told them what had happened. They said that they used to practice Falun Gong and showed me their copy of Zhuan Falun. I could barely walk because of the pain in my leg, so they let me stay there for a couple of days. They took very good care of me and even carried me to the bathroom. I tried to give them some money when my family members came to collect me, but they would not take a cent. My leg healed completely within a month, without any medication.

My home environment

When I got married in 2003, my in-laws treated me very well. But conflicts soon arose when I had my baby, and they noticed that I interacted with other practitioners and had truth clarification materials at home. The whole family then turned against me. My in-laws took away my Dafa books while I was out and said: “You can only stay in this house if you stop practicing Falun Gong. You must leave if you continue to practice.” I tried to talk to them, but they would not listen. When I thought there was no hope, I decided to get a divorce. But then they changed their attitude as they did not want me to divorce.

Whenever my husband saw me sitting with my legs crossed, in the meditation position, he would move them. But then I would put my legs back in the meditation position. He gradually stopped doing this and told me to go to another room to meditate. I couldn’t understand why my husband got so annoyed when he saw me meditating.

Master said in “Teaching the Fa at the Conference in Switzerland:”

“Buddhas’ take on things is completely different from that of human beings. Ordinary people think that Buddhas or Gods are compassionate to people if they let them enjoy ordinary, human fortune. They complain to heaven and earth when they suffer, “Oh, God, why do you forsake me? I’m a lost soul!” By having you pay for karma, God is taking care of you so that you may return. How wonderful it is to return to a place where there is no birth, annihilation, or falling downwards. That is true compassion.”

I smiled when I read this, and did not get upset at my husband anymore when he got angry at me. I became more considerate and caring towards him. Slowly, he stopped cursing at me when he saw me meditate and did not mind my reading Dafa books anymore.

Through Fa study, I came to understand that my in-laws mistreated me because they did not understand Falun Gong, and would only come to understand when I treated them with compassion. My complaints slowly changed to sympathy and forgiveness. I always tell my husband to respect his parents. My in-laws are now nice to me and compliment me often.

Validating the Fa through my work

I teach people to play the piano, and try my best to do my work according to a practitioner's standards. I would often help my students when they needed to buy a piano or books for music lessons, and would often receive commission from the piano store. I was happy for the extra income, as it could be quite a substantial amount. But when I started practicing, I realized that this was not the right thing to do. After some deep thought, I realized that acting in accordance with the Fa is good for myself and others, and no longer make money from helping others.

Clarifying the facts and saving sentient beings

I have only handed out truth clarification materials since the persecution, and have not spoken to people directly. But I have been trying to improve myself in this regard.

When I took a taxi one time, I saw the taxi driver hang a picture of Mao in his car and he started to talk about the history of the CCP. He said hung Mao's picture in his car so that he could curse at him every day. He said Falun Gong was good and he has watched Falun Gong DVDs. I said: “It is good that you know the facts, but you should take down the picture so you can drive safely.” We had a nice chat and I was very happy. I felt Master was encouraging me! During another taxi ride, I told the driver about Falun Gong. As I was getting out of the car, I asked if he would like to withdraw from the CCP. He agreed to it right away.

I have also started to clarify the facts by telephone. Initially, the person on the other end would hang up within a few minutes. I was a little discouraged. During a sharing with fellow practitioners, I was told that when they phoned people, the other person would sometimes listen for a long time. I thought that I should keep trying, as my phone calls would not be wasted even if only one out of a hundred people I called listened.

I sent forth righteous thoughts before I began making phone calls one time. The first few calls lasted several minutes each and one person listened for nearly ten minutes. I felt that as long as I had strong righteous thoughts, the result would be good. However, I did not give up on the people who hung up on me before and would call them again later. I want to save more sentient beings.