(Minghui.org) I live in the countryside close to Anshan City, Liaoning Province. I am a 72-year-old man and have benefited greatly since I began to practice Falun Dafa.
Before I practiced Dafa, I had many ailments. For one, I was diagnosed with skin cancer at the age of 46. At times it itched terribly, and I could only find relief if I scratched until it bled. I also had osteoarthritis, a condition that affects the joints.
My mother-in-law, in her 90s, lived with us, and we had four young children. I could not work, and we had no savings. In addition, we owed our village production team 80 yuan. It was a significant amount of money, seeing as how I earned less than 0.2 yuan per day. There was no money to see a doctor, and I just wanted my life to end.
True Practice
A relative lent me a copy of Zhuan Falun, the main book of Falun Dafa, in the fall of 1994. I read the entire book that night.
I was looking for a qigong practice at that time, so many people tried to convince me that their practice was better than any others. But once I came across Dafa, I decided that this was the practice I sought.
Nevertheless, I put the book aside after the first read—instead of studying it.
Then, in 1995, I heard that someone had the founder's Fa-lecture video recordings. I was able to watch them, and this time I truly began to practice Dafa.
Healthy Enough to Work
Because of all my ailments, I could not do any physical labor before I began to practice. So it even surprised me when I told my wife that I wanted to fertilize our field. She smiled and did not say a word.
Our vegetable field was located on the slope behind our house. Despite the slope's 30-degree angle, I took 25 barrels of fertilizer to the field, which truly surprised my wife.
But one month into the practice, I experienced a series of illness symptoms, such as coughing, migraine, nose bleed, and stomach problems, which went on for two months. Then, suddenly, all the symptoms were gone, and I was healthy, no longer bothered by any of my past illnesses. Not only that, I had gained 50 pounds.
Setting Up Fa-Study Groups
My family, relatives, friends, and neighbors saw how I changed over a period of two months. So they agreed to come to my home to listen to Fa-lecture recordings and learn the exercises. At times, more than 100 people watched the videos in my yard. My home was a Falun Dafa practice site.
As long as people were willing to study the Fa, I helped. For example, I gave them Dafa books and even helped them out with their travel expenses when they wanted to come to my home to learn the practice.
Being Responsible to the Fa
Members at our assistant center included the head and deputy head of our county and cadres of the hygiene bureau. We had over 50 assistants, most of them brought up and educated in the communist system. Therefore, during a meeting, people acted and spoke just as if they were at a Communist Party gathering, which wasted a lot of time. That was really not in line with the Fa.
So I shortened the introductory time and had practitioners from different places talk about their local situations. I then made sure that we provided assistance whenever needed.
After assistants complained about my methods, I turned over the position of "person in charge of the assistant center" to someone who had a solid foundation in Fa study.
Fa Conference
Just before the persecution began, we organized an experience sharing conference. More than 1,000 people attended. It was very difficult to find a venue, and, in the end, we held the Fa-conference in an open area.
We told all the assistants that we would ask everyone to arrive no later than 7:50 a.m. I reasoned that the police bureau opened at 8 a.m., so if we started 10 minutes earlier, they could not stop us.
At around 8:10 a.m., four police officers showed up. They said that they would block the entrance, but they were at a loss because everyone had already arrived.
“Please stay and listen to what the people have to say,” I told them. “The person who is talking over there is almost 80. The practitioners just tell their personal experiences.” The conference ended at noon.
Hiding Dafa Materials in a Safe Place
The secretary of the village CCP committee teamed up with police officers and arrested me, an assistant, and another practitioner on July 21, 1999. They took us to a hotel.
I remembered there were many Dafa materials at home and needed to call my wife. I told one of the officers guarding us, “I left our house key on the back window ledge. I need to call my wife and tell her.” He let me use his cell phone to call her.
My wife immediately understood what I meant when I talked about the key and transferred the Dafa materials to somewhere safe.
About seven officers took me to my home and ransacked it, but they did not find anything.
Getting Back the Videotapes
When we played Teacher's Fa video recordings in July 1999, two people from the police bureau showed up and confiscated them. More than 180 practitioners accompanied me to the Political and Legal Affairs Committee the next day. The committee returned the tapes two days later.
People complained that I did not cultivate well because I let them take the tapes without a fight. When the person in charge of the assistant center found out, he told some of them, “You people have helped Mr. Wang cultivate, but all of you failed the test.”
I value Dafa more than my life. There is no way I can fully express my gratitude to Dafa. Only by being diligent in all that I do—which means that I study the Fa, sent righteous thoughts, and tell people about the practice—can I be a true practitioner.
