(Minghui.org) I have been a Falun Dafa practitioner since September 1995. Today, I would like to share my experiences of how I picked myself up to move forward when I fell in my cultivation.
I had been locked up for a long time and tortured because I would not give up my belief. The prison guards put me on the tiger bench, cuffed my hands and shackled my feet.
By October 2010, I couldn’t endure the torture anymore, so I pretended to succumb to their demands and agreed to renounce my belief in Falun Dafa.
I was full of remorse afterward and went into a state of deep depression until I understood more of Master’s Fa.
Master said:
“I don't acknowledge things like "being transformed" or "not being transformed." It's what's in people's minds that should be looked at.”
“It doesn't matter that you fell down, it doesn't matter! Quickly get up!” (Teaching the Fa at the 2003 Lantern Festival)
I wanted to quickly get up, but how do I pick myself up?
I decided to devote all my time to reciting Master's Fa from memory, and slowly, my righteous thoughts returned. I made a firm determination to return to Dafa no matter what, and begged Master to grant me the opportunity.
Before long, more than a dozen guards descended on me, wanting to gloat at their “achievement” in getting me to renounce my belief.
Little did they expect that I would stand in front of them and declare with calm dignity, “Falun Dafa is good! I rescind everything I said and wrote before.”
I was soon transferred to another prison. I didn’t know what to expect, but I was not afraid. In fact, I didn’t think much of anything. I merely put my trust in Master, believing that he would protect me.
I continued to recite the bits of Fa that I had memorized, whenever I had the chance. I also declared with calm dignity to those around me, “Falun Dafa is good!”
My new environment was an improvement to the previous one, and I seemed to have many opportunities to talk to people about Falun Dafa and the persecution.
Master said:
“The Fa can break all attachments, the Fa can destroy all evil, the Fa can shatter all lies, and the Fa can strengthen righteous thoughts.” (“Drive Out Interference” from Essentials for Further Advancement II)
My trust in Master and Dafa intensified.
A month before my sentence was due to end, the guards threatened to send me to a brainwashing center.
I did not let their threats affect me, and was not taken to a brainwashing center after my release.
The prison authorities gave me the mandatory release form to fill out two days before my release with just one uncompromising stipulation - that I must admit my guilt on the form.
Instead, I wrote, “I am not guilty.” I practice Falun Dafa and have no guilt.
Master said:
“Dafa disciples, you are golden light in the mortal world, the hope of the world’s people, Fa-disciples who help Master, and future Fa-Kings. Keep diligent, Awakened Ones that walk the earth: Everything of today will be the glory of the future.” (“Congratulatory Message” from The Essentials of Diligent Progress Vol. III)
To become a Dafa practitioner is the greatest honor. We are not in this world to be persecuted or looked down on. And so, I will look for opportunities to let everybody know - I am a Falun Dafa practitioner!
I had to look for work after my release from prison, as I had been laid off by my former work unit because of my belief.
When I attended an interview at a property management company, the chief executive wanted to know about the years that weren't unaccounted for on my résumé.
I thought that this might be his only chance to hear about Falun Dafa, so I told him honestly, “I spent those years in prison.”
His face clouded over. So I was quick to tell him, “I am a Falun Dafa practitioner…”
I told him about Dafa and the persecution, and how it had improved my health, life and family relationship.
The chief executive proceeded to hire me.
I use every opportunity, no matter how short a time, to let people know that I am a Falun Dafa practitioner. My intention is to let people see how I behave and compare it to how the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) portrays Falun Dafa practitioners.
This past March, several young associates came to our office to promote their properties. They handed out gifts to potential customers.
My colleagues all went over there to get some, and were just helping themselves. The associates were unhappy since they were aware my colleagues had no interest in their properties.
The day before they wrapped up to leave, one of them handed me the remaining five samples, and said, “You must be a good person. You didn't come grabbing them. We hope you will accept these.”
One of the cleaners happened to pass by and said to them, “He won’t accept them because he's a Falun Dafa practitioner.”
One of the associates turned to me in shock, and said, “Falun Dafa is very bad, and you practice it?”
So, I told him and the others, “Yes. I used to be like a whole lot of others, always looking for personal gain and seeking nothing but my own profits. But after I started practicing Falun Dafa, my worldview changed and my sense of morality was uplifted. I follow my Master’s teaching to be a good person, a better person.”
I also informed them of how the CCP has created lies and propaganda about Falun Dafa to instill public hatred against the practice.
This past May, I found a wallet. Inside was a driver's license, an ID card, a social security card, several bank cards, and over 2,000 yuan in 100 yuan bills.
I told many people around to spread the word that I had found a wallet, in the hope that the owner may show up.
That evening, the owner contacted me. He said that he was only interested in his cards and driver’s license, and that I could keep the cash as a token of his appreciation.
“No, I won’t keep anything.” I replied. “I will return the wallet to you intact.”
He was very grateful and admitted that he had believed that Falun Dafa practitioners were bad. But he soon changed his mind, and even decided to quit the CCP.
He offered me several hundred yuan for my reward, but I refused. He then wanted to take me and my wife out to dinner. I thanked him for the offer, but declined.
The news soon spread throughout my company, and some came to ask why I didn't take the person up on his offer. I found it a great opportunity to talk to them about Dafa.
At the very least, it will let people see and reexamine their thinking about Dafa, so that they can decide for themselves what is good and what is bad.
Master said:
“Also, with those people that you run into by chance, who you run into in daily life, and the people you run into at work, you should all clarify the truth to them. Even when in your daily life you pass by people so quickly that you don't have a chance to talk to them, you should still leave them with your compassion and kindness” (“Teaching the Fa at the 2003 Atlanta Fa Conference” from Teaching the Fa at the Conference IV)
My wife and I filed a lawsuit against former dictator Jiang Zemin who initiated the persecution in May 2015 and sent it to the Supreme People’s Procuratorate and the Supreme People’s Court.
We sent forth righteous thought to eliminate any interference from the old forces before we went to have copies made. At the print shop, the clerk asked us what the documents contained. We told him honestly that they were complaints against Jiang Zemin, and took the opportunity to tell him about Falun Dafa and the persecution.
We mailed off our complaints via express delivery, but two days later, we were informed that the documents had been rejected.
We were not deterred by this and were determined to continue.
We found another print shop and another express delivery service on June 10. We told another group of people about the complaint letter, Falun Dafa and the persecution, and sent out our complaints a second time.
We received another rejection notice two days later. So, we did it a third time, believing Master has everything under control and must be providing us more opportunities to save more people.
We then received an acknowledgment of receipt of our complaint letter two days later.
We sent a copy of the letter to the Minghui website for publication, and soon after, received a phone call from the chief of the local 610 Office.
We had told the chief about Dafa many times before, and took the opportunity to talk to him again.
People from the local 610 Office, police department, and the local police station, kept showing up at our home four months later.
My wife once sat in front of them with both legs crossed in the meditation position to send forth righteous thoughts. One of them remarked, “You guys are getting more and more brazen. You dare to sit like this in front of so many of us.”
My wife said, “I practice Falun Dafa. Of course I will sit in this position.”
From a young age, I behaved differently from my siblings. Whenever I believed that our parents were in the wrong, I would refuse to follow their instructions, even when they beat me for my disobedience.
So, I ended up being the one who received the most discipline. I was also the one my parents worried about the most.
My father several times sought out fortune-tellers to find out what lay ahead of me.
They all said similar things, such as “Don’t underestimate this child. Great wealth awaits him in the future. You can’t find a match for his great fortune.”
When I came out of prison, I didn’t have much money. My son was going to a university, and only my wife was working. Life was hard. My work unit had dismissed me a while back and had threatened several times to take away our apartment.
My human attachment took a strong grip on me. I was already over 40 years old but the fortune-tellers’ prediction still hadn’t been fulfilled. Great wealth was supposed to come my way. When will it happen? Moreover, Master has never said practitioners should be poor. And so, I developed a strong attachment to money.
That attachment eventually became a big loophole for the old forces to use to persecute me.
I was tricked by a person from my hometown in September 2013 to go to Ningxia for a job that allegedly would pay me more than 3,000 yuan a month. I got on the train to travel a great distance, only to find out that the ideal job was but a pyramid scheme.
I had picked up some computer skills after I was released from prison and believed that I was good with technology. A year later, I started checking online for my dream job. I ended up being tricked out of thousands of yuan.
I was too ignorant to realize my mistakes. Why would I put my trust in people who knew nothing but the deceitful Party culture? Why would a Dafa practitioner be attached to fortune and gain?
Master said:
“This applies to each and every Dafa disciple: if you were not a Dafa disciple today, you would have been one of the world’s big tycoons, with loads of money. That’s because if you weren’t a Dafa disciple, your mighty virtue—the massive virtue that you brought with you—could have been exchanged for a large amount of wealth. And that holds true for all of you. But you gave up that wealth when you made a conscious decision to be a Dafa disciple. You wanted to be a Dafa disciple, and you gave up those things.” (“Fa Teaching at the 2015 West Coast Fa Conference”)
All of a sudden, I got it.
I stopped feeling helpless and hopeless. I know how lucky I am to be a Dafa practitioner in this lifetime. That is my greatest wealth and my greatest blessing!
During these past 20 plus years of my cultivation journey, I never gave up. No matter what happened, I have always held Master and Dafa close to my heart.
I tumbled, I got up. I tumbled again, I got up again. I tumbled yet again, I got up yet again.
I have Master. I have Dafa. I will definitely follow Master home.
Thank you, Master!
Thank you, fellow practitioners!