(Minghui.org)
Greetings Master, Greetings fellow practitioners.
I have walked the path of cultivation under Master's protection for 17 years. Here I would like to share several stories from my cultivation.
I started practicing Falun Gong in 1997. In my cultivation I always constrain my behavior and speech according to the Fa, and always remind myself that I am a cultivator and that I should validate the Fa through my behavior.
In 1999, I retired and found a job at a wholesale market. I worked very hard, and never complained about how heavy or dirty the job was. My boss and co-workers regarded me highly. My hard work boosted my boss's business.
The owners of other stores at the market often said to me that my boss was lucky to have me, and that they were jealous of him. They asked me to help them recruit other workers: “We want somebody just like you.” The customers also trusted me. When they didn't know which product was better, I gave them suggestions. They said, “Everything you've recommended to us is good. We trust you.” When I was not in the store, they would rather come back later or wait a while, so that they could make the deal with me. My co-workers asked me what my secret was. All of these experiences laid a solid foundation for me to clarify the truth about Falun Gong to them in later years.
After the persecution of Falun Gong was launched, the police often harassed me, and I had to quit the job. The local 610 Office asked my original workplace to stop paying my retirement stipend. They tried to force me to quit cultivation, but failed. In those most difficult days, I broke through all the obstacles with my solid belief in Master and the Fa.
I had to make a living and also take care of my parents and children. I asked my former boss at the wholesale market if I could get some products from his store every morning, and pay him back at night after I sold the products on the street. He agreed. During that period, I spent a few hours every day selling items on the street, and took every opportunity to tell the buyers about what Falun Gong really is. Once I got enough money to buy food for my family that day and pay back my former boss, I stopped selling anything, and focused on telling people about Falun Gong. I never let earning a living get in the way of doing the three things.
One day, I found that my former boss forgot to charge me for two boxes of items. I gave the money back to him, which touched him. After that he didn't even bother to write down what I picked up in the morning. He said to me, “I've had many employees. You're the only one who hasn't played tricks on me. Other workers always try to make money for themselves when I am not in the store. But you've never done that.” I said to him, “I am a Falun Gong cultivator. Of course I wouldn't do that.”
Everybody at the wholesale market knows about me. Once, a group of policemen tried to arrest me. The owners of the stores all helped to hide me.
In order to meet more people and tell them about Falun Gong, I often change jobs, and clarify the truth at every new workplace. A few years ago, the job market was lean. While most people had difficulties finding a job, I got many offers, and some employers even fought over me.
One day, a former co-worker told me that his boss was looking for somebody reliable and capable, and he recommended me. Since the job didn't interfere with my clarifying the truth, I said yes. I told the boss the truth about Falun Gong. He also told his family and friends about what he learned from me.
Later, I told my boss, “I must spend one day every week on studying the Fa, so I cannot come to work that day. You don't have to pay me.” He insisted on paying me every day: “Don't worry about the work. I understand what you need to do. When you need to leave, just leave.”
Once, I talked to my boss and his wife about Falun Gong for three hours. The next day, he said to me, “After talking to you, I shouted 'Falun Dafa is good' in my dream last night. Why did that happen?” I told him that it was a great thing for him. In my heart, I knew clearly, it was the sentient beings in his world cheering for their salvation.
At the beginning of the persecution, many policemen were deceived by the Chinese Communist Party's propaganda, so they refused to listen to practitioners. When I tried to talk to them, they cursed at me. To let them know what Falun Gong really is, I decided to write to them, instead of talking face to face.
I wrote the police officers letters with respectful salutations and in a peaceful tone. Although I had been mistreated, I didn't complain about it in the letters. After reading the letters, many policemen said that I was compassionate. In the letter, I told them what Falun Gong is, the spread of Falun Gong in the world, and how we benefit from it.
Some of the policemen conducted investigations at my workplaces. They found that my supervisors had written high evaluations of me. I took this opportunity to tell them about Falun Gong's principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. I also told them that Falun Gong has received many proclamations throughout the world.
I wrote to the policemen periodically, telling them true stories about Falun Gong practitioners in our area, and gave them different materials every now and then. The policemen spread the materials among their co-workers. Many of them stopped harassing practitioners. Here are three stories I told the policemen in my letters.
Story 1. I knew a practitioner who is a college teacher. Before she started practicing Falun Gong, she had many difficulties, and had thoughts about committing suicide. On the day that she planned to end her life, she had a chance to read the book Zhuan Falun. She finished the book in one day, and said to her friends, “Now I know the value of life. I will never think of killing myself.” She deeply thanked Falun Gong and Master Li for saving her life.
Story 2. I was once jailed in a detention center, where I had a roommate who was a murderer. I told her the principles of Falun Gong. She regretted her prior behavior and said to me, “If somebody had told me all this before, I would have not committed those sins. If I have a chance in the future, I will ask my whole family to practice Falun Gong.”
Story 3. In the detention center, one of my cellmates could not stop the hiccups. I asked her what happened. She cried when she told me that her 7-year-old daughter had been raped. She'd tried to bring the rapist to justice, but the local government officials refused to help her. Due to the intense anger and disappointment, she developed chronic hiccups. Over the past few years, she'd spent a lot of money trying to stop the hiccups, but nothing was successful.
A few days ago, she came to the police department, requesting once again that the police take action against the rapist. Instead of arresting the criminal, they sent her to the detention center. When I told her about Falun Gong, she wanted to learn it. After reading the Fa and doing exercises with me for a few days, her hiccups stopped. She said me excitedly, “My bad luck has led to something wonderful. Falun Gong healed my hiccups in a few days, which have cost me so much money over the last few years. Thank you, Master Li Hongzhi!”
Many policemen changed their attitudes towards Falun Gong after reading my letters.
Once, the city 610 Office and police department had a conference, discussing how to push the persecution forward in our area. One of the chiefs from my local police department attended the conference. When somebody talked about taking action against me, he stood up and said to everybody, “I know her. She is a good person and has never broke any laws. I am strongly against persecuting her in any way. I am not afraid to tell you all this, because everything I've said is true.”
Due to his help, nothing happened to me during that period.
A few years ago, since I didn't pay enough attention to sending forth righteous thoughts, the old forces took advantage of my loophole. I was arrested and sentenced to three years of forced labor. A policewoman in the labor camp, who had learned the truth about Falun Gong from me and other fellow practitioners, always tried to do what she could to protect me.
One day, two police officers from my hometown came to the camp, and asked the policewoman, who was on duty, to take them to my cell. I walked by her office, and heard her yelling at those policemen: “The 610 Office in your area is really horrible. What law did she break? Why do you guys persecute her? You are committing the real crime.”
She continued until I knocked on the door. Those two policemen were speechless, and left.
After talking to me and other practitioners in my area, many guards at the labor camp stopped abusing and torturing us. Some of them even secretly helped us.
One day a group of policemen were assigned the task of arresting me and several fellow practitioners. They set a trap for us. One of them had already learned the truth about Falun Gong from us, so he was in a dilemma—his conscience urged him to help me, but he was afraid that he might lose his job.
After struggling in his heart, and decided to alert us. That day, we experienced an adventure that usually only happens in movies. Under Master's protection, we all escaped eventually.
The most painful thing in the labor camp was that I could not read the Fa. I cannot describe in language my longing for the Fa. My fellow practitioners and I tried many things to obtain a copy of Zhuan Falun, but failed.
Perhaps Master saw our sincerity. One day, somebody told me that there was a copy of Zhuan Falun in a guard office. I asked Master for his help—I must get the book.
The next day, the guards decided to clean their office, and moved a filing cabinet outside. A thought jumped into my mind—that copy of Zhuan Falun is in the cabinet. However, they moved the cabinet to a different room.
I waited for my chance. One day we were forced to work at night, but there was not enough room. So, we were rearranged to room where the filing cabinet had been moved. “How can I open the filing cabinet when so many people are around?” As I was thinking of this, a guard shouted from outside, asking for manpower to help him with something. Everybody left but me.
When I opened the cabinet, the book Zhuan Falun was right there. How happy I was! I hid it right away. After that, I got up very early, so that I could finish reading one lecture before my cellmates woke up. At night, I lent the book to a fellow practitioner. She hand-copied the book with pen and paper, so that every fellow practitioner in the camp had a chance to read the Fa.
Since then, we created a cultivation environment, in which we read, memorized, and recited the Fa. We know that all of this was Master's arrangement. Master is always with us, protecting us, and guiding us. There is no language to express my appreciation to him.
Here is another miracle.
One day, a fellow practitioner and I went to a remote area, to talk to people about the truth of Falun Gong. The locals told us that there was no bus after 12 p.m. That town is far away from the urban area, and we didn't have any other transportation.
We decided to walk back and talk to people on the way. That day, we convinced many people on the road to quit the communist party. After sunset, we were still walking in the mountainous area, far from home. It would be after midnight when we got home.
However, a car passing by stopped ahead of us. A man got out and asked us if we needed a ride. Usually, no cars drive on this road after dark, not to mention offering a ride. We know that this was also Master's arrangement.
Master has given us so much. The only way I can pay him back is to do the three things well. I will not betray Master's salvation.
Compared to many practitioners, I am not diligent enough in cultivation. I will cherish the precious opportunity of cultivating Dafa, read the Fa more, and save more people.
My level is limited. Fellow practitioners, please correct me if I have said something that is incorrect.