(Minghui.org) Many people have said to me over the years, “You're so bright! If you didn't practice Falun Dafa, you'd have made a ton of money!”
As a person with no college education, I credit Falun Dafa for giving me wisdom and enabling me to excel at my work. I once solved a technical problem that baffled industry experts, and saved the factory where I worked hundreds of thousands of yuan. Many local companies fought to hire me.
I was detained on multiple occasions after the persecution of Falun Dafa began in 1999, making it difficult to keep a steady job and earn enough income. Many locals felt sorry for me and wondered if it was worthwhile to sacrifice my career for my faith.
I always responded, “Practicing Falun Dafa is absolutely worth it!” Dafa saved me from misery, and gave me purpose, health, and wisdom.
My Early Life in Poverty
I was born in the early 1950s to a poor family in a small coal mining village. My parents had a hard time putting food on the table, and I used to go with my mother to pick wild plants to eat. I dreaded the hardships while growing up.
I went to high school away from home and dreamed of a new, better life by getting a college education and a decent job.
Dreams Shattered, Health Ruined
The brutal reality of the “Cultural Revolution” in the 1960s shattered my dream. Ironically, at the age of 16 and with no higher education, I was forced to be “re-educated” in rural China, where the hardships were even worse than where I grew up.
I had to do the work of a grown man, carrying bags of wheat that weighed over 300 pounds, and doing all kinds of other routine manual labor. Four years later, I got my first job doing the same kind of hard labor in a factory.
Problems with my health soon caught up with me. I suffered from kidney stones, heart disease, gastroenteritis, and appendicitis. I had a daughter by then, and I often worried where my depressing life was headed. I said to myself, “Life is so hard. I will have to raise my daughter. But after that, I will find a temple in the mountains and become a monk.”
Warming Up to and Amazed by Falun Dafa
I looked into qigong practices for temporary relief from my ailments in 1994, and accidentally attended Master's Fa teaching lectures. I had no idea what Falun Dafa was, and was disappointed when Master said that the lectures were not meant for curing diseases. Over a year later, I read Zhuan Falun and Lunyu, and finally realized this was the Buddha Fa that I had been seeking.
For the first time in my life, my entire body felt light and I was free of illness. Routine work became much easier, and I frequently surprised my coworkers and supervisor by how fast I could easily complete tasks that required heavy lifting and were usually done by several strong men.
Dafa Endows Me with Wisdom
A client company bought a machine from the factory where I worked. After the machine was installed in another city, it didn’t work. The purchaser was furious and was getting ready to sue us. The potential loss for my company would be in the hundreds of thousands, not to mention other intangible losses.
When I was assigned to tackle the issue and arrived on site, everyone was doubtful. After briefly examining the machine, I told them I could fix it in four hours and started to work on it. Four hours later, the machine booted up and worked just fine.
One of them told me later, “You are incredibly talented. Why would you work for such an incompetent company? We would hire you in a heartbeat with a very high salary.”
No Regrets about Practicing Dafa
When I was later persecuted for practicing Falun Dafa and detained in a labor camp and brainwashing center, many people asked me this same question, “You are very intelligent. Is it really worth it for you to practice Falun Dafa? If you were not a practitioner, you would be making so much money.”
I responded from the bottom of my heart, “It is definitely worth it. I have gained so much from practicing Dafa. I wouldn't have my health or my intelligence in the first place if it were not for Falun Dafa.”
