(Minghui.org) [Editor's note: Falun Dafa, also known as Falun Gong, is a mind-body practice based on the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. It has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) since July 1999. People in China have no access to uncensored information about Falun Gong unless they use anti-censorship software to break through the CCP's internet firewall.]
I studied qigong in the past and had purchased a lot of qigong books. I became interested in Buddhism after I retired, so I studied books on Buddhism. Though I was familiar with many qigong and Buddhist terms, I didn't really enlighten to any deep understandings about life. A visit to an acquaintance seven years ago, however, connected me to Falun Dafa and changed my life.
One day in 2011, I visited an acquaintance and copied several videos from his computer. After returning home and watching those videos, I found a software program to get around the firewall (the CCP's internet blockade).
A whole new world opened up to me. The software helped me access information that I had never heard before, and I learned how the CCP has been deliberately deceiving its citizens since it came to power.
Getting around the firewall also gave me a chance to read Falun Dafa materials. Out of curiosity, I read On Dafa from Zhuan Falun, the book that holds the main teachings of Falun Dafa. I thought that the article was pretty good, which made me realize that Falun Dafa was not how the state-controlled media had depicted it. I continued reading Chapter One of Zhuan Falun. I was in awe of and captivated by the book immediately after I read the first section of Chapter One, “Genuinely Guiding People Toward High Levels.” I knew at that moment that I had found what I had been looking for.
I downloaded all the Dafa books from the Falun Dafa website and converted them into audio files using special software (I learned later that Dafa practitioners are not supposed to do so). I saved the audio files in my cell phone and listened to them in quiet places or while out walking. I listened to these audio files for more than two months.
I'd suffered from stomachache since I was young. Though I had taken a lot of medicine, it only helped me feel better for a period of time but couldn't cure the illness. One day in 2012, I experienced a very bad stomachache so I took some medicine. The pain was quickly gone, only to return about five days later. I took medicine again and felt better for another five days. Then the pain came back again. I took medicine again and it helped for another five days. Then I suddenly remembered the following teaching of Master Li (the founder of Falun Dafa),
“In ordinary human society, you compete with others for fame and personal gain. You cannot sleep or eat well, and your body is in very bad shape. When your body is seen from another dimension, the bones are all black. With this body, it is impossible for you not to have any reactions when it is purified all at once. Thus, you will have reactions. Some people will throw up and have loose bowels. Many practitioners from different places have raised this issue previously in their experience reports, "Teacher, after attending your class I was looking for a toilet all the way home." This is because all your internal organs must be purified. ” (from Lecture Two, Zhuan Falun)
I understood it all at once! I've obtained the Fa! Master is purifying my body and taking care of me. I was super happy when I realized this.
As Master purified my body for a period of time, the stomachache that had bothered me for several decades disappeared completely. I came to appreciate what it means to be free of illness and to feel light all over.
In many lectures, Master stressed the importance of stepping forward to clarify the truth about Falun Dafa.
Master said,
“Clarifying the truth is something each and every one of you Dafa disciples must do.” (from “Teaching the Fa at the Washington, D.C. International Fa Conference", Guiding the Voyage)
“You need to know that clarifying the truth is extremely important for Dafa disciples.” (from “Touring North America to Teach the Fa”)
I thought that I must step forward to tell people the truth about Falun Dafa. But what's the truth? What's rectifying the Fa? What does it mean to validate the Fa? I didn't know exactly what it meant. As I only listened to audio files at the time, I couldn't tell their exact meanings as the first Chinese character of “rectify” and “validate” are pronounced the same but have different meanings.
How to rectify the Fa? How to validate the Fa? What to tell people? Do I have the guts to do so? I had no idea about it. However, I made up my mind to go ahead. Then I pondered these questions at home. Once I had some thoughts about what to do, I went out with a determined heart.
At first, I told people only briefly about how the CCP has been using deceit tactics to maintain its rule. Later as I became more experienced with talking to people, I added more examples in my conversations to demonstrate the totalitarian nature of the CCP. For instance, I talked about how the CCP recruited people, who did not practice Falun Gong, to self-immolate on Tiananmen Square and then blamed Falun Gong for their behavior. I explained that the self-immolation incident was a massive propaganda stunt contrived to demonize Falun Gong in the minds of Chinese people.
In a nutshell, I tried to fully expose the CCP's deception so that people could see its true colors.
At the very beginning of my cultivation, I read Falun Dafa books all by myself, so I had no idea of the urgency of persuading people to quit the CCP and its affiliated organizations. One day, I ran into a fellow practitioner while talking to people about the persecution of Falun Dafa. From then on, I joined the local Fa study group and learned how to talk to people about quitting the CCP.
Our Fa study group consists of a dozen practitioners. They are all veteran practitioners who started practicing Falun Dafa in the 1990s. I joined them with great respect. We study the Fa together twice a week, on Monday morning and Friday morning. The practitioner who introduced me to the group gave me the book Zhuan Falun that I had been longing for. I was so happy!
I got some truth-clarification materials from the Fa study group and distributed them to people. I also spent bank notes with messages about Falun Dafa written on them.
Now I could get a copy of Minghui Weekly every week at the Fa study group. I had seen a couple of the journals in electronic form on the Falun Dafa website before, but I didn't read them. Now I found it so nice to read Minghui Weekly because it includes articles about how practitioners are cultivating, how they have enlightened to Fa principles, and how they improve in cultivation. From the articles, I also see the gap between myself and fellow practitioners, which encourages me to catch up in cultivation.