(Minghui.org) I have been practicing Falun Dafa for 24 years now. During these years, I've experienced many joys and blessings as well as dangers and hard decisions – but I am ultimately glad that I chose to stay with Dafa through it all. I am thankful for all the miracles that Dafa has allowed me to witness, both in my own life and the lives of Dafa supporters.
I began my practice at the end of 1993. At that time, I was a 43-year-old suffering from bronchitis, rhinitis, asthma, emphysema, myocarditis, and hepatitis. My colleagues affectionately nicknamed me “the bag of sicknesses.”
One day, a colleague bought a videotape of the Falun Dafa exercises at the Oriental Health Expo and invited me to watch it with her. I was immediately intrigued by the exercises and the exercise music. I had a feeling that this was the best thing for me.
We started to do the exercises every evening. At the beginning, I had tears in my eyes whenever I did the exercise. Looking back now, it might have been my knowing side being extremely grateful for Master's cleansing.
We got copies of Zhuan Falun a few months later. We came to the understanding that in addition to the exercises, we needed to improve our moral standards and xinxing level.
I attended Master's lecture series sponsored by the Valor Foundation on May 14, 1994. Master offered to cure one disease for each attendee and asked us to put a hand on the spot where the disease was. I put my hand on my heart. Since then, my heart disease was gone and I have never had any more heart problems.
Master also asked us each to donate ten yuan ($3 USD). All of the donations were given to the Valor Foundation.
I then attended Master's Fa Lectures in Jinan City, Shandong Province from June 21, to June 28, 1994.
The local practitioners welcomed us at the train station and arranged transportation and housing for us. Master also shortened the lecture series from ten days to nine days, so that our overall stay was one day shorter. My total cost for the entire lecture series was only a little over 100 Yuan ($33 USD).
I can never forget the miracles that happened at the Jinan lectures:
The host had arranged for attendees to have their picture taken with Master on June 26. Master asked us to wait for our scheduled times and said that even if we tried to take a picture with him on our own, it wouldn't work. Undeterred, I asked someone to take a picture with me and Master anyway. Sure enough, when the picture was developed, it was blank.
The sky was full of dark clouds on the afternoon of the picture day. When Master came out for pictures, the clouds suddenly disappeared and the sun was shining. When the lecture started that evening, it was pouring outside. When the lecture was over, the rain dwindled to a light drizzle so that we could leave easily.
There was no air conditioning or fans in the auditorium, so it was very hot. Many people fanned themselves with paper fans, including me. Master said that we should not use fans because to cultivate meant to endure hardship. I put down my fan and immediately felt a wave of cool air blowing in my direction. I was surprised since we were sitting far from the windows. The next day, Master said that some students heeded his words and put down their fans, and were able to feel the breeze. I suddenly realized that Master had provided a miracle.
Two days before the lecture ended, Master said that those who had not been able yet to put their legs in the double lotus position should give it a try – they should be able to do it. I tried it right after the lecture, and indeed, I was able to do the double lotus!
All of my illnesses were gone after doing the Falun Dafa exercises. I initially thought that it was the exercises that improved my health. Later, I learned that “Cultivation depends on one’s own efforts, while the transformation of gong is done by one’s master.” (Lecture One, “Why Doesn’t Your Gong Increase with Your Practice?” Zhuan Falun, 2014 Translation). I realized then that it was Master who removed the bad things from us and suffered in our place.
Through studying the Fa, I also learned that we need to keep improving our xinxing and eliminating our bad thoughts and attachments.
My husband raised pigeons for food. They were messy and dirty and killing them was killing lives, so I didn't like it at all. But he asked me to help from time to time. One day he asked me again. I was not happy about it but still stood up on a chair to reach out for the pigeons. Suddenly, the chair tipped over and I fell solidly on the ground, smashing my elbow. But there was no fracturing or bleeding. I knew that Master had protected me. Through this incident, I realized that I should be more tolerant toward my husband.
Another time I had a 104-degree fever. I kept studying the Fa and one lecture enlightened me:
“Why does a new student who has just begun studying the practice, or a veteran student whose body has been adjusted, experience physical discomfort in his cultivation, as though he were seriously ill? And why does this happen once in a while? I told you in my Fa lectures that this is to eliminate your karma and to improve your enlightenment quality while eliminating the karma from your different previous lives. Besides, this is also to test whether you are determined in following Dafa; this will continue until your cultivation reaches Beyond-Triple-World-Law. This is putting it in general terms.” (“Sickness Karma,” Essentials for Further Advancement)
A practitioner encouraged me not to be afraid, but another suggested that I take medicine. I knew it was a test and I didn't need any medicine.
My husband, who was out of town at the time, called our daughter and asked her to mix some medicine with water and give it to me. I found out and told her that we practitioners can overcome sickness by studying the Fa. She didn't do it again.
A week later my temperature was gone, with no lingering aftereffects.
In April 1999, police from Tianjin arrested 45 Falun Dafa practitioners and told the remaining practitioners that they needed to go to Beijing to appeal for their release. The news quickly spread, and over ten thousand Falun Dafa practitioners went to Beijing on April 25 to appeal.
I lived in Beijing. After hearing the news in the morning, I joined the practitioners. We went to the Appeal Office of the State Council and quietly stood along the wall. Police came and directed us to line up. Not a single practitioner complained; instead, we all complied with the police's request.
Many police officers walked around us. As they did, fellow practitioners would flag them down and explain to them why we came and how wonderful Falun Dafa is. They smiled at us. Some of them threw their cigarette butts or water bottles on the ground, but we picked them up and put them in trash bags.
We gave meditation pads to senior practitioners so they could sit. We left enough room on the sidewalk for blind people and pedestrians to pass by. When we went to the public toilet, we let the local residents go in first, so as to not impact their daily lives.
It was a cloudy day, but many practitioners saw Faluns, big and small, spinning in the sky. Practitioners kept applauding as they witnessed Faluns.
Since that day, the police started harassing us when we would do the exercises in the park. They hosed us down with water. They also ordered park security to drive us out of the park. I had no choice but to finish the exercises outside the park entrance.
The Chinese Communist Party's persecution kept intensifying. Authorities arrested the Beijing Falun Dafa Association coordinators on July 19, 1999, and started the full-scale crackdown the next day.
We went to an appeals office at Hongluochang in Beijing. Many Dafa practitioners were already there. Police officers surrounded us.
We felt no fear. We started reciting Lunyu and Master's poems.
Eventually, soldiers put us into buses and took us to the Fengtai Stadium, where soldiers carrying automatic weapons stood outside. We sat in meditation and continued to recite Lunyu.
A while later, police officers came by to ask for our names and addresses. We politely refused. A police officer singled me out and asked me for my name, but I refused to answer him.
Heavy rain started falling at 3 p.m. Several practitioners gave their raincoats to the soldiers to wear.
After 7 p.m., a queue of buses and armed police trucks came. Armed policemen jumped out of the truck and started to drag and push practitioners into the buses. We locked our arms so that they couldn't take us away, but the policemen grouped up to drag practitioners against their will. Soon a bus was fully loaded with practitioners.
We shouted, “Let the bus not move! Defending the Constitution is our right!” The bus's engine suddenly stopped running.
But the police kept taking practitioners away anyway. Eventually, we were taken to a school. They kept asking for our names, and we kept refusing because of the regime's implication policy, whereby family members and colleagues are also harassed by the authorities. They tried to make phone calls to their superiors but their calls would not go through. By 11 p.m., the police officers were fed up. They finally let us go home.
One day, the managers at my workplace came to pressure me into signing a Guarantee Statement promising that I would not practice Falun Dafa anymore. They told me that if I didn't sign, I would be taken to a brainwashing center.
Practitioners who had gone to brainwashing centers or forced labor camps told me that those places were very evil. It was hard for people not to give in under the severe physical and mental pressure there.
I thought it over and decided that I should never give up on Dafa. I would rather give up my job than my belief.
I left my home and stayed with an uncle who lived in a village. I paid his family for my living expenses and did their housework.
My uncle was worried and asked me not to leave the house, so I ended up making fast friends with his wife. I invited her for a walk and told her about Falun Dafa's principles and the persecution. Master told us,
“Getting arrested is not the purpose. Validating Dafa is what’s truly magnificent, and it is to validate Dafa that you step forward. Since you step forward, you should try to succeed in validating the Fa—this is the real purpose of stepping forward.” (“Rationality,” Essentials for Further Advancement II)
My aunt understood the truth and was supportive of my cause. She even went with me to post stickers telling people that Falun Dafa is good. Later, she quit the Communist Party.
I left them a month later and went to stay at a cousin's home.
My cousin's entire family welcomed me. I worked at their family's convenience store. In the evening, I made flyers with positive information about Falun Dafa and distributed them in the neighborhood.
Master said,
“You must let the world’s people know about their evilness—this is saving people, as well. While eliminating the evil, you consummate yourselves and strengthen the Fa’s manifestation in the world. Did you know that everything you are currently doing has already established the most magnificent and eternal mighty virtue for Dafa and Dafa cultivators? When this page of history is turned, the people who remain will see your magnificence, and the future Gods will forever remember this magnificent time in history.” (“Rationality,” Essentials for Further Advancement II)
My cousin's eight-year-old son had many bad habits: being a picky eater, having temper tantrums, not doing his homework, and fighting with students at school. My cousin and her husband didn't have time to help him.
I spent time with him, telling him about Dafa's principles and cooking his favorite dishes for him. He became receptive to me. Gradually, he sat down in meditation with me and listened when I read Dafa books.
The boy had measles one day. His teacher told him to stay home for a week until the measles were gone. I invited him to read “On Dafa” with me. The next day, his measles disappeared. He returned to school on the third day.
When he had pinkeye a few months later, he came to me to ask if he could read Zhuan Falun with me. His eye healed up soon afterward.
He then told his grandma, “Granny, you should practice Falun Dafa!” And she did! His grandpa also quit the Communist Party.
Dafa has helped this child change into a good student. He was accepted by a top high school and later a good university. Now, he is in the U.S. for graduate study.
My cousin's business is doing better and better, too.
I have been witness to Master's compassion and the wonderfulness of Falun Dafa and want to share them through these stories. My only wish is for more people to experience the wonder of Dafa for themselves.