(Minghui.org) I began practicing Falun Dafa on January 27, 2005. I would like to share some of my cultivation experiences.
Fortune Results from Misfortune
I grew up in a poor family. When my father was 25, he was fired from his job, and sent to do labor in the countryside, because his family was labeled as a "bad family" by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). My mother was raising three boys and one girl with very low income, and she was pregnant with me. In shock and under pressure from the government's punishment of my father, my mother decided to have an abortion. When she was waiting in line at the hospital, an acquaintance saw her and asked her why she was there. After hearing the reason, the acquaintance told my mother that a day earlier a pregnant woman had an abortion and almost died from a hemorrhage. Upon hearing this, my mother changed her mind and left the hospital right away.
When I was six, I often fell sick. I had acute hepatitis and chronic pulmonary tuberculosis. Because my mother needed to work, and my brothers and sister needed to attend school, I had to go to the hospital by myself every day for my shots. I later suffered a dozen more illnesses, including anemia, colitis, low blood sugar, allergic rhinitis, onychomycosis, and facial acne for more than ten years. In addition to all of these, my marriage went badly.
In order to extricate myself from my problems, I looked into Buddhism and Taoism. One day when I was meditating using a method taught by a Taoist nun, I had a vision of another dimension. I saw Laozi sitting in a wonderland above, holding a Daoist whisk. I asked which level of heaven it was, and Laozi signaled that it was the 33rd level, and the place I stayed was the 28th. I said to Laozi, “I want to go to your level.” Laozi signaled that the solution was behind me. I turned around and saw a gentleman who was a lay Taoist in the temple I often visited. The next day I went to the temple and found the gentleman. I told him that I wanted to raise my level, "Is there still something you have not taught me?" In the evening he and the Taoist nun came to my home. He asked me what I thought about Falun Gong. I said I could not comment about it because I did not know it. They saw I was not against it, so the following day they brought me the book Zhuan Falun.
I opened the book. In "Lun Yu" it says that the characteristic of the universe is "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance." I thought, “This is so right. Why did the CCP not allow people to practice Falun Gong? And it came to me... I had already practiced in other religions for many years. Should I start a new practice?” When I was trying to decide, I had a dream. I saw a giant Buddha, with blue curly hair, wearing a yellow cloth. I was like a small ant, jumping on the palm of the Buddha. I heard the Buddha laughing, shaking the world of ten directions, "My child, you finally came to the right path." I woke up and realized it was a dream. I fell asleep again, and the same dream repeated. The next morning I decided to practice Falun Dafa.
I started reading Zhuan Falun. When I read,
“…the entire cultivation process for a practitioner is one of constantly giving up human attachments.”
“Without knowing the Fa at high levels, one cannot practice cultivation. Without cultivating one’s inner self and one’s xinxing, one cannot increase gong.” (“Lecture One” from Zhuan Falun)
I understood that in other religions one seeks Buddha's protection, and only by practicing Dafa can we return to our original, true selves and become a Buddha. These practices are worlds apart.
Clarifying the Truth
Through studying the Fa and talking with fellow practitioners, I knew we were Dafa disciples and should save sentient beings. I didn't know at first how to clarify the truth. I went out on the street, hoping to meet some practitioners to see how they did it. One practitioner told me I would know how to clarify the truth after reading the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party. I finished reading it in one night.
The next day a good friend of mine, who I did not see often, called me. She said she wanted to see me and chat about what was happening at her workplace. I thought it was not accidental that she wanted to see me. She needed to learn the facts, regardless of the reason she came to see me. She came and told me there was a difficult competitive situation at her workplace. There were five positions for six people. She was not optimistic because she had worked there for a relatively shorter time. I talked about some content in the Nine Commentaries, and told her that quitting the CCP and its affiliated organizations would bring her good fortune. She agreed immediately. She took a Dafa amulet.
Several days later she called me again, "Have you heard what happened at my workplace?" She told me that one of her competitors suddenly died of heart disease. And she got promoted without spending a penny. (In Mainland China the position she got would have cost about 300,000 yuan.) I asked her, “What job did this person do? He must have participated in persecution on Falun Gong.” She said the person was the CCP secretary. It's like the old saying, good and evil have their respective rewards.
At another time, I was chatting with an old friend who worked in a police station. I told him about the CCP's falsified “self-immolation” case, and about their harvesting organs from detained practitioners. We talked for more than two hours. He said he had worked in the police station for many years, but he did not know the truth about Falun Gong. He just did whatever the officials told him. I asked him if he would like to quit the CCP, and he agreed happily. I gave him a Shen Yun DVD, and later sent him the Nine Commentaries and more Dafa materials. He told me that he read everything carefully, and asked me to bring him the Shen Yun DVD for each year.
There was a 76 year old gentleman who used to be a CCP commissioner. During the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre he helped a group of students by releasing them through customs. He has since been hiding from the CCP, living on a secluded mountain. I played a Shen Yun DVD for him. While watching the DVD, he did not move or talk for three hours. At the end he said it was so wonderful. He later read the Nine Commentaries, and said that he and his father experienced all the events mentioned in the book. I offered to help him to quit the CCP. The old man stood up, palms together, and bowed to me deeply. He wanted to thank me. I said he should thank my Master. He later became a Dafa practitioner, too.
Maintaining Righteous Thoughts
My son and his newly wedded wife had an argument in late 2010. Out of anger, my daughter-in-law cut her own wrist. Eleven tendons were broken, and she was rushed to the emergency room. I was out of town. My son called me and described what happened at home. He begged me to take a taxi home right away. My thought was, “Whatever happened, it should not bring a negative effect to Dafa. If I did something wrong, my Master will teach me. However, I will not allow others to disturb my Dafa work.
I called my son back on a public phone, and reminded him to recite, "Falun Dafa is good" and "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good." I then called another practitioner and asked her to check on my daughter-in-law in the hospital. If I were to take a taxi home, it would cost 280 yuan, while a long distance bus would cost only 22 yuan. I thought I should not waste Dafa's resources, so I chose to take the bus.
Sitting on the bus, I looked inward. I felt that I had failed my daughter-in-law. I clarified the truth to her, and she agreed to quit the CCP. But I should have realized that she came to our home to obtain the Fa. Her knowing side must be desperate! She paid so much in order to obtain the Fa. When I realized this, tears rolled down my cheeks. Upon my return, I rushed to the hospital.
The practitioner who was taking care of my daughter-in-law said to me, "You just recently told me how good your daughter-in-law was..." I said, "Master told us that in cultivation both good things and bad things are good things. Don't look at the surface. She was meant to obtain the Fa."
Three days later she was out of the hospital. The doctor said she would need another operation on her tendons six months later. I knew she did not need more surgery, and that Master would correct everything.
I took care of my daughter in law after she returned home. A week later, she suddenly said, "Mum, I would like to cultivate with you." She then started practicing Falun Dafa. Master arranges everything as long as we maintain our righteous thoughts. I am so grateful for Master's mercy!