(Minghui.org) Greetings, esteemed Master and fellow practitioners!
Thank you, Master, for protecting me and helping me walk steadily through tribulations.
Reciting the Fa to Overcome Tribulations
I started to practice Falun Dafa in 1999 and was illegally arrested two years later. Although I did not study the Fa teachings well and had lots of attachments, my belief in the Fa was firm. My employer, the detention center, and my family members tried everything they could think of to get me to write a guarantee statement to renounce my faith. I firmly refused. I told them I would never give up practicing Falun Dafa. In the depths of my soul, nothing can replace Falun Dafa.
My family told me that I would be sentenced to at least five years if I didn’t relent to the authorities’ demands. I started to memorize the Fa. During my six months in the detention center, I memorized Hong Yin and some of Master Li’s recent teachings. I seized every moment to recite the Fa. I always thought of a fellow practitioner when I recited Hong Yin: she memorized Hong Yin sentence by sentence with me in the detention center and was persecuted to death while in prison.
When I was on a hunger strike in the detention center to protest the persecution, other practitioners taught me to memorize some of Master’s recent articles. I was unclear about the Fa principles and didn’t know how to deny the persecution arranged by the old forces. However, I still felt Master’s compassion and blessings. There was always a diligent fellow practitioner who came and helped me during that challenging time.
Master also encouraged me to be diligent when I encountered tribulations in dreams and hinted that I needed to eliminate attachments. Once in a dream, I was holding three metal bars on the detention center's barbed wire fence. I realized that I needed to get rid of my attachments to fame, gain, and sentimentality.
Master said,
“Whether you can let go of ordinary human attachments is a fatal test on your way to becoming a truly extraordinary being. Every disciple who truly cultivates must pass it, for it is the dividing line between a cultivator and an everyday person.” (“True Cultivation,” Essentials for Further Advancement)
I told myself that I wanted to be a true disciple of Master. “True Cultivation” is one of the articles that I have recited over and over again. Memorizing the Fa has made me feel the wonder of Dafa. Whenever I had to improve my xinxing, Master’s Fa would appear in my mind to guide me forward.
Once, a group of people came to brainwash me in a cell. One of them had been a practitioner who had done well in the past. However, she was “transformed” after the persecution began. She then assisted the evil forces to have hundreds of practitioners give up Falun Gong. She assured the prison that she could get me to give up my faith. I ignored her while she tried to brainwash me and sent forth righteous thoughts to ask Master to save her. Her throat began to hurt.
The afternoon was like a battle between good and evil. A guard listened for a while and said, “I couldn’t tell who was ‘transforming’ whom.” The next day, the jail did not let her speak to me anymore. I guess she must have changed. I hope she will wake up and resume her cultivation.
After that day, the prison no longer tried to “transform” me. I knew Master was helping me.
In prison, I did not stop reciting the Fa even when I was tortured. One day, they hung me up in the air with the weight of my entire body on my wrists and hands in the handcuffs. But they didn’t hurt. A prisoner said that my hands had turned black and purple. We all knew that, without blood circulating for a long time in the hands, they might have to be amputated. People around me suggested that I beg the guards to let me down. I refused. I just kept reciting the Fa, sending righteous thoughts, and asking for Master’s help. A few hours later, they let me down. My hands turned out to be fine. I know that it was Master who protected me again.
On another occasion, my hands were twisted behind my back and handcuffed to the ground day and night for several days. It was in winter, but I was only allowed to wear a few clothes. It was freezing. I insisted on reciting the Fa.
A few days later, I was transferred to another cell. I memorized Master’s article “Fa-Rectification Period Dafa Disciples.” During the last ten days before I was released, another practitioner and I were tortured. On the tenth morning, the other practitioner said, “I had a dream that an old sow was lying on the ground, dying. I stepped on it. The evil in another dimension must have been eliminated. We will leave this cell today.” They indeed stopped persecuting us that day.
The night before I was released, a fellow practitioner told me she dreamed that many sentient beings in other dimensions were seeing me off. I knew Master was encouraging me. After I realized the importance of memorizing the Fa, Dafa gave me strength. It was Master and Dafa that helped me overcome the huge barriers and difficulties.
Reciting the Fa to Eliminate Attachments
Not long after I was detained, a prisoner who went out to do chores came back and told me that my husband had tried to visit. It turned out that he was not allowed to see me in the detention center and sat on a nearby mountain all morning, where he could see the detention center yard. I had mixed feelings after hearing this. My husband and I started our family from scratch, we had just moved into a new house, and our son was still young. I recited the poem “Dafa Breaks the Illusion” from Hong Yin the whole morning. After letting go of my sentimentality, I calmed down.
When I was tortured by being left to freeze, I kept reciting Master’s article, “Further Understanding” for an entire morning. I found my demon nature when I recited the Fa. After I found my attachments, the guard allowed me to wear sweaters.
A few years ago, I had a conflict with a coordinator. I knew I was wrong, but I still could not let go of attachments such as jealousy, resentment, and other notions. I recited Master’s article “Who’s Right, Who’s Wrong” for a few hours and felt that a lot of bad substances had been cleansed by Master. I went to the coordinator’s home to communicate with her about how I had looked inward and improved. She also looked inward, and we resolved our misunderstanding.
When I could not let go of my sentimentality toward my son, I recited a paragraph in Zhuan Falun and another one:
“Aren’t you attached to a pursuit if you think too much about it?” (Lecture One, Zhuan Falun)
“At this great moment in history, every steady step is a glorious historic testimony, and is incomparably-magnificent mighty virtue. All this is being recorded in the history of the cosmos.” (“ The Disciples’ Magnificence”)
How can I follow a righteous and steady path of cultivation in the future? I learned a lesson from being persecuted in prison. I did not study the Fa well. I thought distributing materials was cultivation, and I did not pay attention to sending righteous thoughts. I started to study the Fa often and systematically.
Gradually, the principles of the Fa became clearer. I was able to tell how to deal with problems I encountered, and I could see more clearly the cultivation path that Master had arranged for me.
Sending Forth Righteous Thoughts
When I was persecuted in prison, a fellow practitioner was taken to a small cell and tortured. I sent righteous thoughts for her. She was soon released. When she saw me, she said, “I knew you must have sent righteous thoughts for me because I dreamed you pushed me up.” Master used her dream to enlighten fellow practitioners and also to encourage me to send righteous thoughts.
A practitioner from another city and many other practitioners were arrested. We sent forth righteous thoughts from 8 a.m. until noon. I felt lots of obstacles at the beginning, but in the end, I saw a beautiful scene. The practitioners were released.
For a period of time, the local police went to practitioners’ homes to search for and confiscate Dafa books. We formed a small group to send righteous thoughts in turn every day for more than a week. The day we started, the police stopped searching for Dafa books for a long time.
Not long after returning home, I was followed by a plainclothes officer and was afraid. I looked inward and found many attachments. I studied the Fa a lot every day and sent righteous thoughts often and for a long time. Three or four days later, I felt that many bad substances had been cleaned up by Master. I continued to explain the facts about Dafa to people.
When I reached retirement age, my retirement documents weren’t processed. I asked Master for help: “Master, I want to retire because I need more time to do the three things.” This process was also one of cultivation. For more than six months, I looked inward and kept sending righteous thoughts. One day, I asked Master to strengthen me, and I sent forth righteous thoughts for more than half an hour. Then my phone rang. I got my retirement notice. I once again felt the power of Dafa.
Master said,
“I have already told you that cultivation depends on one’s own efforts, while transformation of gong is done by one’s master.” (Lecture One, Zhuan Falun)
I once went to a party in another city. I sent forth righteous thoughts in advance before I went out of town. On our way back, we learned that we had to switch trains, so we had to go through security again. I still had some truth-clarifying materials with me. Others in our group had truth-clarification materials I’d given them. I asked Master to protect all of us. I sent intense righteous thoughts. We passed through the security check without a hitch and returned home safe and sound.
When my state of sending righteous thoughts was good, I felt that my whole body was surrounded by energy. I felt that the power of my righteous thoughts could split a mountain.
Letting Go of the Attachment to Comfort
After I started practicing Falun Dafa, I realized that the suffering I endured when I was young was a precious experience. It not only eliminated my karma but also helped me develop a strong will.
When I was just released from prison, I had financial difficulties. I ate cold steamed buns with the cheapest vegetable and sauces to save money and time. I worked on Dafa projects as I ate. When my situation improved, I ate steamed buns and fruit and sometimes even biscuits. When my husband did not eat at home, I simply ate whatever I could find.
In the past few years, I had no time to memorize Zhuan Falun, so I recited the Fa sentence by sentence when I cooked. In order to eliminate the attachment to comfort, I moved my bed nearly half a foot away from the wall. I did not put the folded quilt on the bed so that there was no chance for me to lean against the wall or the quilt. I realized I would lean back on the sofa and sometimes take long breaks, so I sat on the floor when I studied the Fa.
The Purpose of Life
No matter how many hardships I came across, Master always encouraged me. Sometimes I became too busy and felt I was going to collapse. At times like that, I said in my heart, “Master, please strengthen me. I will definitely make it.”
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,” Essentials for Further Advancement II)
I declined the opportunity to make money out of town. I chose to work part-time so I could have more time to do the three things well. I came to this world to obtain the Fa, so I always put Dafa before anything else.
When I was just released from prison, I wanted to attend a reunion party to tell my classmates about Dafa. But I did not have enough money for the trip. I begged Master to help me because I really wanted to clarify the truth to my classmates. Surprisingly, I was able to go in the end, and I did tell them about Dafa. Some of them agreed to quit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its youth organizations.
It was a difficult decision for me to decide to take a part-time job instead of making money at a job out of town. My son was at university, so I had significant expenses. In the end, I chose to stay. I believed that Master would arrange the best for me if I were on the right path because everything Master arranges for us is the best. It turned out that my son made a good income after he graduated and purchased his own house and car.
Sometimes when I validated the Fa in tense situations, the old forces put on illusions and made me think that I would be persecuted if I continued. I faced the choice of moving forward or giving up. But when I put saving people as the priority, I always had Master’s protection. I always recited the Fa and denied the old forces’ arrangements. Master helped me eliminate my fear and selfishness in these cases.
Master said,
“'After passing the shady willow trees, there will be bright flowers and another village ahead!'” (Lecture Nine, Zhuan Falun)
Thank you, Master! Thank you for helping me walk steadily on my cultivation path.
