(Minghui.org) I started cultivating Falun Dafa at the end of 1996. After more than a dozen years of cultivation, I came to understand how invaluable the Fa is and I experienced Master’s compassionate guidance and protection. In this article, I want to report to Master how my family changed in this persecution and to share my experiences with fellow practitioners.
After the persecution started in 1999, my cultivation environment changed dramatically. In 2000, my sister (a fellow practitioner) was persecuted and sentenced to four years of imprisonment. I was also arrested several times. Because of the intense pressure and stress, my husband lived in fear and my parents-in-law tried to convince him to divorce me. My husband first tried to make me give up practicing Falun Dafa by using emotion. When he saw that I would not give up my practice, he got angry. Although he did not physically abuse me, he did not talk to me for about a year and that made me feel even worse.
During that year, my competitive mentality and my attachments to personal interest, fame and sentiments strongly surfaced. However, I firmly kept in mind that I would not give up cultivating in Falun Dafa for any reason.
My husband runs several businesses. He bought two stand alone houses in a big city in the early 1990s and he owned assets worth millions of yuan.
Some wicked people suspected that I was helping truth-clarification materials production sites by donating money, and they threatened that if they found any evidence they would arrest me and my husband. When my husband found that I was telling his friends the truth about Falun Gong and advising them to withdraw from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its affiliated organizations, he was furious.
My husband was usually very kind and he knew that Falun Dafa is good. He did not cultivate and he was busy all day long running his businesses, but he was constantly worried about me. I knew he was under huge mental pressure but I also knew that he is a being that came for Dafa. I begged Master to save him and I sent righteous thoughts to eliminate all the evil factors that interfered and kept him from understanding the truth so that his true self, the side which understood the truth, could guide him.
My husband had a friend who lives far away. He was a professor of Chinese Medicine and he was a devout Buddhist. One day, this friend came to visit us. He gave me a string of prayer beads and asked me to wear it. I held the beads in my hand, but I didn't do anything. My husband courteously told him that I cultivate Falun Dafa. I explained to him the truth about Falun Dafa. He said, “Your Falun Gong people distribute leaflets against the Communist Party."
I shared my understanding from cultivating Dafa with him and told him that we hand out flyers to save people. My husband interrupted me and tried to stop me. The professor said, “Don’t stop her. What she said is very reasonable.” When the professor found out my actual age he was even more surprised. He turned around and said to my husband, “That cultivation way is great. You should support her practicing Falun Gong."
From then on, my husband was not as afraid as before of my clarifying the truth. I also often reminded him that our traditional Chinese culture is passed on by divine beings. I talked to him about stories that happened in our traditional culture and talked to him about the beauty of Dafa. He was very receptive to what I said and he even told his friends who work in the police department not to take part in the persecution.
My daughter started dating a young man. When his parents came to visit the first time, my husband told them, “We've met because of our children. We need to know each other. My wife is a good and easy-going person because she practices Falun Gong. She benefited a lot from the practice and I hope everyone supports her.” His parents all agreed.
Nowadays, young people are unwilling to live with their in-laws. Although we had several houses, if I had not cultivated in Dafa I wouldn't have wanted to live with my in-laws either.
My mother-in-law had a negative opinion about Dafa before. I followed Master’s teaching and treated her kindly. My parents-in-law were moved and they told everyone they met that I was a good-hearted person. Four years ago my mother-in-law was hospitalized. I explained to her the truth of Falun Gong and read the poems in Hong Yin to her. She was very receptive to them. She told me that she felt very comfortable while listening to me read. She was moved by practitioners and accepted our truth clarification.
My father-in-law was poisoned deeply by the CCP's lies. Before, when I was persecuted, he felt that he lost face and he was afraid that his son’s career might be jeopardized because I practiced Falun Gong. Although he withdrew from the CCP and its affiliated organizations some time later, he did not accept the truth about Falun Dafa after he withdrew. He was diagnosed with liver cancer later and the doctor said that he had only three months to live. I was very anxious, thinking that I had been telling the truth to save lives. However I was still not able to save my family members who I lived with. I felt helpless because as soon as I mentioned anything about Falun Dafa he got angry.
My father-in-law had a friend who was a director in the municipal Procuratorate before he retired. He had already come to understand the truth. When he saw my father-in-law’s attitude, he told me, “Your father-in-law held leading positions in the wicked Party’s organizations throughout his career. In his later years his son also got rich. He has been pushing his thoughts on others all his life. I know that you are thinking only about his own good. But with his character it is impossible for him to accept your truth clarification. You don’t need to be bothered anymore and you don't need to explain the truth to him anymore.”
I thought, “I'm a Dafa practitioner and it must be predestined for him to be a family member of a practitioner. He should have a great opportunity to be saved by Dafa.” I then looked inside to see if I had some attachments that blocked him from being saved. I found that I had a strong resentment against him.
I often thought, “If I did not practice Dafa I wouldn't have wanted to live with you. You parents-in-law are not friendly to my fellow practitioners when they come to visit me, and when my husband bought houses for his two sisters I supported him although we lived a simple lifestyle. I have been bearing all that for the family for more than a dozen years, why don’t you make an effort to accept me?” After I understood my attachment, I was determined to discard this resentment. Watching my father-in-law’s condition deteriorate day by day, I suddenly felt that he was pitiful. He had been living a life high above other people. However, in just one month he was tortured by this illness into such a tragic condition.
Because my father-in-law only listened to my husband in his later years, I told my husband, “Your father still does not know the truth about Dafa. Why don’t you explain it to him? Letting him know the truth will save him and it's the best thing a son can do for his father. Otherwise, we will all have regrets in the future.”
Before long, my father-in-law sudden had a heart attack. While he was still conscious, my husband said to him, “Dad, your daughter-in-law asked me to tell you to remember that ‘Falun Dafa is good.’ Falun Dafa teaches people to be good. You should know that your daughter-in-law is a good person. Her telling you the truth is for your own sake, to help you. Dad, please support her!” My father-in-law said loudly, “Ok!” and then left the world peacefully.
My daughter often asked me, “Mom, you don't seek an easy and comfortable lifestyle although you have plenty of money. You don’t go traveling, don’t go shopping and don’t go to beauty salons. You spend all your time clarifying the truth to people. Are you happy?” I told her, “I'm the happiest person on earth because no one is happier than a person cultivating Dafa.”
Now, my husband often asked me what I need. He bought an expensive car for me and bought expensive jewelry for me. I told him that I don't need them. He said, “I know you don't need them. I bought these for you just let you know how good I am to you.”
I told my husband, “It doesn’t mean much to me even if you give me a mountain of gold. I will be very happy if you could practice Falun Dafa with me. Then you will know what real happiness is. There is no end to making money in this world. Money can bring people moments of satisfaction and happiness but it doesn’t last. Even if you are the richest person on earth, you still cannot escape the cycle birth, growth, illness and death. You are fortunate to live in this period when Falun Dafa is being introduced to the world. Please treasure this opportunity!”
He said thoughtfully, "Let me finish the business at hand and I will then come to learn Falun Dafa.”