(Minghui.org) It has been 20 years since I began to practice Falun Dafa and since Master gave me a second life. I'm now 79 years old.
During my youth, my father was sick about 9 months out of a year. As my brother was 10 years younger than me, and my mother had bound feet, which made her unable to do heavy work, I was tasked to work in our family's fields.
When our village constructed a reservoir in the 1950, I was assigned as leader of 300 women. When some women didn't work hard enough, I criticized them, and the leader of our village was very pleased with me. I was made the chief of two field farms, and one forest farm. Given my good work ethic, I was placed in leadership positions and gradually got used to giving orders.
The downside of my hard work was that my health was affected and I became disabled. My husband took me to several hospitals in and outside of our town, which was quite expensive. My health did not improve, so I felt like a big burden to my husband and 5 children. There were times when I longed for death. This went on for 10 years.
Then, I began to practice Falun Dafa in 1997. Within a short time, I recovered from all my illnesses, and I could not only walk, but also do heavy labor. When I was close to 80 years old, people thought that I was in my 60s.
Master said,
“If you always keep a compassionate heart, and a peaceful state of mind, when you run into problems you’ll handle them well because it will give you space as a buffer. If you are always compassionate and friendly to others, if you always consider other people when you do things, and whenever you have issues with other people you first think about whether they can take it or whether it will cause them harm, then you won’t have any problem. So, when you cultivate you should follow high and even higher standards.” (The Fourth Talk, Zhuan Falun)
I always reminded myself to be a good person, never to do anything bad, and always think of others first. I would help the elderly when they carried anything heavy. When I noticed that people could no longer look after themselves, I took care of them. When people were starving, I gave them food, and when I saw that a public place was dirty, I cleaned it.
People witnessed my willingness to help and told me that I was a good person. My answer to all of them was, “I do all of that because I am a Falun Dafa practitioner, Master told us to be good people.”
Before practicing Falun Dafa, I hated it when people took advantage of others and often fought with them. Now, I am peaceful and don't argue with anyone. When I was out of town to babysit my grandchild, someone had appropriated some of my fields. I let him have the field, as I had other fields to tend.
When I felt faint one afternoon in December 2015, I went to an elementary school to call my daughter and son-in-law. But, I could no longer talk clearly by the time they arrived. They took me to the county hospital's emergency room, where I was diagnosed with a stroke.
When the nurse wanted to inject me with some medication, I sent out a strong righteous thought that nothing could be injected into my body. She couldn't inject the medicine. I was fully recovered by midnight.
On the second day, the doctor released me as he could not find anything wrong with me. They asked my daughter, “Is your mother blessed?” She told them that the Master of Falun Dafa took care of me.
Many people know me because I was once chief of three field farms, my husband was a village officer, and my daughter worked for the village government. Besides, I have a lot of relatives and friends. That gives me many opportunities to clarify the truth about Dafa to many people.
In addition to talking to people face to face, I often distributed informational Dafa materials. I have visited all 30 villages in the area. Most everyone listened and accepted the materials. For those that refused to listen, I sent forth righteous thoughts.
Later I decided to visit villages that were further away. As no one agreed to come with me, I went by myself. My four daughters and a daughter-in-law work in the county, which made it possible to stay the night.
However, I felt that I lacked wisdom, as I was not well educated. If more than three people quit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), I couldn't remember all the names, nor could I write. Luckily, last year another practitioner who lived in my village agreed to come with me.
We often skipped lunch, but we always studied the Fa every morning and made sure that we sent righteous thoughts. We lived a very simple and tough life, but we enriched our lives.
Master said in one of his poems,
Study the Fa and gain the Fa,Focus on how you study and cultivate,Let each and every thingbe measured against the Fa.Only then, with that,is it actually cultivation.(“Solid Cultivation, Hong Yin)
Every day, I strive to follow the Dafa principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.
After returning home, I joined a local practice site. After several sessions of studying the Fa together, I found that my fellow practitioners did not respect Master and Dafa.
When we studied the Fa, some played with kids, some talked to each other, some didn't sit up straight, and had their legs next to the book Zhuan Falun. So, one day I pointed all this out. A practitioner got angry and said, “Before you joined us, we were all fine. Now you always point out problems. Well, none of us are any good, except for you!”
This was a wake-up call. I immediately looked inside for what I did wrong. I found that on the surface I did this for their good, but actually deep in my heart, I looked down on them. When I realized this, I eliminated the attachment.
After we studied the Fa and shared experiences for a while, we were improving. Most of us now take Fa study seriously and respect Master and Dafa.
One practitioner and I, when going out to clarify the truth, had a misunderstanding with each other. If it had happened before I practiced Falun Dafa, I would have felt terribly wronged. But I remembered what Master said,
As a cultivator,One always looks for one's own faults'Tis the Way to get rid of attachments most effectivelyThere's no way to skip ordeals, big or small[During a conflict, if you can remember:]“He's right,And I'm wrong,”What's to dispute? (Who's Right, Who's Wrong”, Hong Yin III)
My attachment to arguing was gone. I apologized to that practitioner and told her I was wrong, as I had misinterpreted her intentions.
Through studying the Fa well, I eliminated my attachments to zealotry, showing off, and avoiding trouble. I feel so much joy cultivating Falun Dafa!