(Minghui.org) Greetings, Master! Greetings, fellow practitioners!
I started to practice Falun Dafa in 1997. Time wise, I was a veteran practitioner, but I did not really cultivate seriously in the early years. It was not until 2016 that I was awakened from the tribulations, and began practicing steadily and diligently.
Discovering Dafa
I am 56 years old and grew up in the mountains. My hometown is on a forest farm deep in the mountains in Northeast China. The mountains are high and the forests are dense and remote. Both of my parents worked on the forest farm.
I married a worker in the forest farm, but his income was not enough to support our family. I worked very hard to cultivate three hectares of land inside the mountains. I relied on farming to make ends meet and pay for my two children to study out of town.
Although our area is remote, the blessings of Falun Dafa still reached us. In 1997, a friend told me that her husband had been practicing Falun Dafa and he felt energetic and looked much younger than his age. Her words touched me. I was working in the field all by myself, and I also had so many house chores. It’d be great if the practice could energize me and make me more capable. So my friend gave me a copy of Zhuan Falun, and asked me to read.
I worked during the day and read at night. I felt this was a book that guided people to be a good person. Since I was so buy with my work, I stopped reading the book after finishing it once. When the winter came, I went to the exercise site and began learning the exercises. Even though I did not read the book repeatedly, I was able to abide by the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance and be considerate of others.
My husband was later promoted to a manager position of the forest farm. He went to work early in the day and didn’t return home until late at night every day. It seemed as if this family had nothing to do with him anymore. In the meantime, I continued working hard every day.
But my hardworking, modesty, and kindness still could not keep my husband. In the big dye-vat of modern society, he ended up having an affair. I tried to save the marriage, but he would not listen. In the end, he abandoned me in 2014 and we divorced.
My cultivation was also on and off due to my marriage situation and busy schedule.
Master said in Lecture Nine, Zhuan Falun,
“Lao Zi said, ‘When a wise person hears the Tao, this person will practice it diligently. When an average person hears it, this person will practice it on and off. When a foolish person hears it, this person will laugh at it loudly. If this person doesn’t laugh at it loudly, it’s not the Tao.’”
I felt like an average person in cultivation.
Awakened After a Heavy Blow
The divorce devastated me, and I felt wronged, bitter, and depressed. I did nothing but cry. I hated my ex-husband for being so irresponsible to me and our children. I worked so hard for so many years for the family and ended up in such a situation. After the divorce, he got promoted again. It was very hard for me to calmly handle all the changes. I lost a great deal of weight and felt really down.
In January 2016, my mother passed away, another heavy blow. She was the closest person to me and my rock. She was always there for me, caring for me, helping me with grocery shopping, cooking, and housekeeping every day. She did all these since I had to work, and my children were out of town. When my mother was gone, I was all alone. I could no longer handle it and collapsed. I was bedridden for a month, during which time I began to ponder the meaning of life.
Human beings live and die for love, but I am a cultivator. I should eliminate the attachments to fame, profit, and sentimentality. I suddenly remembered that I am a Dafa disciple with a mission to save sentient beings. I am not alone, and I have Master.
Master has repeatedly extended the time for all Dafa disciples to cultivate well, and for those who have fallen behind to catch up. I have wasted so much time over the years, failing to cultivate solidly, getting lost in society, forgetting the purpose of coming to the world, and nearly destroying myself. I could no longer let down Master's compassionate waiting. I must let go of my sentimentality and selfishness, and catch up on the path of cultivation.
Master said:
“Clarifying the facts and saving sentient beings are what you need to accomplish. There is nothing else for you to accomplish. There is nothing else in this world that you need to accomplish. Those are the things that you need to work toward, and yet some people no longer pay much attention to even their own cultivation, and have instead made a priority of ordinary things. Haven’t you strayed from the path of Dafa disciples’ cultivation, then?” (“Fa Teaching Given at the 2015 New York Fa Conference”)
Distributing Materials
In the Spring of 2016, the local material production site was destroyed, with practitioners running the site arrested and sentenced to prison. I did not want to wait, since Minghui recommended establishing small-scale material production sites everywhere. With the help of other practitioners, I established a production site at my home. I began printing truth-clarification materials for distribution. I also provided some to elderly practitioners nearby.
At that time, I rode my bicycle to various villages and towns in the countryside, going door to door and distributing materials all summer long. I covered dozens of miles from where I live. This paved the way for face-to-face conversations with people later on and helped them to quit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) organizations.
In wintertime, I covered residential buildings. I distributed materials at every door, every floor, and every building myself. I made pamphlets which were easy to carry. I was able to go and come back safely each time with Master's protection.
Right as I was doing these things as a Dafa disciple, Master helped me financially. In August 2016, the local forestry bureau gave the children of forestry workers a chance to collect retirement, which had never happened in the past. Since my parents worked on the forest farm, I became qualified and started receiving retirement benefits in 2017. Since then I no longer need to worry about my living expenses. As a result, I am able to focus on the three things required of Dafa disciples and become more diligent on the cultivation path.
In early 2017, I got to know practitioner Mei from a neighboring village. She had been doing door-to-door truth-clarification in the countryside for a long time, and she had accumulated a lot of experiences. Where I live is an agricultural county in the northeast China, with a large rural population who had not yet learned what Falun Dafa is. So it was very important to cover the countryside. Mei and I decided to work as a team and go door-to-door to tell people about Falun Dafa or distribute materials.. To improve the efficiency of saving people, I bought a used motorcycle.
In the typical countryside of northern China, young people are all in the fields during the spring planting season, leaving only the elderly and children at home. Mei and I went to her hometown first. Through our truth-clarification, villagers there learned that Falun Dafa is good, both improving physical health and bringing blessings. We also brought some amulets engraved with the words “Falun Dafa is good” and “Truthfulness- Compassion-Forbearance is good.” They were beautifully made and everyone wanted them.
I told the villagers to keep in mind the abovementioned phrases. “I like these words and they mean a lot,” one woman said. Upon learning the facts of Falun Dafa, they cherished the materials a lot and thanked us for our efforts. Mei told them we did this because we are Falun Dafa practitioners. “Thank you, Master,” one villager called out, “Falun Dafa is good!”
The farmers were plowing and sowing on both sides of the road, and we went back and forth chatting with them about Falun Dafa. The country folks were pure and kind, and most of them were receptive to what we had to say. Some even invited us to their homes for a meal. We thanked them but declined the invitation
There were many people working in the fields during the farming season, which provided us many opportunities to chat with them. After covering the fields, we went to the village door to door, because we did not want to leave anyone behind. Within 9 days, 650 villagers in total agreed to quit the CCP and related organizations, namely, Youth League and Young Pioneers. We knew that everything was arranged by Master, and we just followed the path with a pure heart.
Master asked Dafa practitioners to improve as a whole. At the beginning, it was just Mei and me. I live in a big local town, where the provincial forestry bureau is located. There is a train track running through town, and on both sides of the track scattered homes of some local practitioners. None of them had stepped forward to clarify the truth to people though.
After Mei and I shared our experiences and understandings with those practitioners, we got two of them to join us. Mei and I showed the two new members how to do it, and they quickly caught up. The efficiency was so much higher when we worked together. The four of us split into two teams, each team having two members. This way we covered all neighboring villages and towns. Each time, we were able to collect names from 70-80 people who had quit the CCP and related organizations. Sometimes we got more than 100 names.
During the process, we also encountered interference. Some people refused to listen to us clarifying the truth, and they also tried to stop others from listening to us. One time when a person was interrupting us, I said to him, “It is OK if you do not want to listen, but you have no right to stop others from listening and having a bright future.” That person backed off.
When a person who was deceived by the CCP propaganda threatened to report us to the police, I told him, “We have not violated any law, because practicing Falun Gong is a personal choice and freedom of belief is granted by the Constitution. But if you make false accusations against us, you might be in trouble yourself.” He turned around and left.
Some practitioners could not go to the countryside like us, but they played their own roles in and around town. Some of them went out to clarify the truth face-to-face, and some put up posters at various residential buildings. We covered all the places in town and around town.
Because I focused on doing the three things well, Master encouraged me in my dream to keep up the good work. In the dream, fellow practitioners and I were racing in cars. We were in a single-file formation and moving forward at a high speed.
The Pandemic Era
The Chinese New Year in 2020 was different from the past. The coronavirus, also known as the CCP virus due to the regime’s cover-up and misinformation, suddenly broke out and swept through China and then globally. Telling people the facts to save them thus became even more urgent.
I spent the 2020 New Year at my sister's house. My sister had a family hotel in the tourist area on the mountain. On the second day of the Chinese New Year, some workers of the tourist area came to each hotel to conduct a survey: “Do you have any tourists from Wuhan?” Only then did I know that there was a serious pandemic in Wuhan.
The pandemic must have been very serious; otherwise, why would the remote mountains even be nervous? I could not stay at my sister’s house any longer. Saving lives is like putting out a fire. As a Dafa disciple, I must fulfill my mission. After I left the following day, the mountain scenic area was locked down.
Saving People During the Pandemic
Mei came to visit me the day after I returned home. We both felt the urgency to save people, but how? I looked up at Minghui and found sharing articles discussing how to save people amidst the pandemic. These articles helped us a lot.
We downloaded relevant articles, such as “Epidemics, Safety, and Conscience” and “Keep Falun Dafa Is Good in Mind During the Pandemic.” We made many copies of them and distributed them. I know that those who accepted the materials, read them, and learned to keep in mind “Falun Dafa is good” would stay safe in the pandemic.
During the lock-downs, each family was only allowed to have one person go out for two hours a day. Mei and I cherished the time very much. Whenever going out, we were able to help several people quit the CCP organizations.
A Bike Rider
I learned how to ride a motorcycle when working in the field in the mountains over twenty years ago. This has made me a very skilled rider. Although already in my 50s, I still ride fast and steadily. Since 2017, I have been taking Mei on my motorcycle everywhere. The motorcycle has become a powerful tool in our efforts to help people learn the facts and save them.
In the past, we only rode a few dozen miles a day. After the lock-down was lifted in 2020, I went to the mountains at the beginning of May to distribute materials at the request of two elderly fellow practitioners. I was in the mountains for three days. Because of the distance (more than 200 miles round trip) and the bumpy road condition, plus my motorcycle was old and worn out, I felt like my bones were falling apart all the way home. It took me four days to recover.
We are a county-level city with a large population in the countryside. Many sentient beings had not learned the real story of Falun Dafa or received such materials. Several years ago, some practitioners who went to the countryside to distribute information were arrested and detained. It was difficult to find other practitioners to go the countryside. Plus there was no transportation.
Practitioner Tao approached me hoping to work together with me to distribute material in the countryside. I was a little hesitant in the beginning, because the mountain roads could be bumpy and long. But Tao, who worked with me before, really liked my fast and safe riding style. She felt we were the best partners for the job. I realized that it was for saving people, and that I should cooperate without any hesitation. But my motorcycle was way too old. So I purchased another second-hand one, which was fast with good shock absorption. It was powerful and fuel-efficient, just what I wanted.
We rode the motorcycle on the roads of various villages. I was the driver, and Tao, who sat on the back seat, was like a pitcher. She could toss the truth materials accurately into the yard of each house on a fast-moving motorcycle. She could even do it with both hands, one left and one right, with great speed and efficiency. One village was finished in a short time.
We covered all the villages in all directions! We distributed more than 20,000 copies of materials in 2020 alone, and we could hardly believe it ourselves. Looking at the map, some remote mountain villages which showed up as blank spots, were now completely covered. Time passes quickly and now we continue this mode of distributing the newest materials.
Some practitioners asked us how we accomplished all that. I feel Dafa practitioners are the ones walking on the path with a sacred mission of saving people. With righteous thoughts, a sense of urgency, dedication, and devotion, we are carrying out our mission. Some of the trips required me to ride about 100 miles a day and I had to produce more material after returning home. It was a little tiring. But thinking of how much people would benefit from it and the power of Falun Dafa, I no longer felt exhausted. Instead I just kept up my righteous thoughts.
Safe and Sound in Typhoon
One day in late August 2020, I noticed dark clouds hanging in the sky, but I decided to still go out with Tao. We brought with us 50 copies of truth-clarification materials and headed to a town about 20 miles away. On the way there, we felt as if the dark clouds were following us. We asked Master to help us stop the rain from falling down. The whole morning, we talked to people about Falun Dafa and distributed our materials. People we talked to that day seemed more receptive to what we had to say.
We hopped on our motorcycle as soon as we finished distributing materials. Before long, it began to rain. There was no shelter and we didn’t have any umbrellas or raincoats. So we kept going. The rain become heavier and heavier, and the gusty wind was blowing hard. I kept wiping away rain water from my helmet and it was hard to see clearly. Our clothes were soaked wet and we were shivering.
We stopped at my sister’s home to pick up something. My sister asked us to stay overnight. Tao didn’t want to trouble my sister and I didn’t either. So the two of us rode back home.
We learned later on that our region was hit with a typhoon that day. Such a weather was unprecedented for our region. No wonder we felt as if the wind and rain were going to pick up our motorcycle and toss it into the air. Fortunately, we returned home safe and sound, thanks to Master’s protection.
Escaping from Danger in the Deep Woods
The southeastern part of our city is a mountainous area, and there are many forest farms in the deep part of the mountain. The mountains are high and dense, and they are very remote. After the outbreak of the CCP virus, the area was closed and the lock-down wasn’t lifted until September 28, 2020. I was very happy when learning of the re-opening. There were nine of the forest farms we had not reached yet. I was born there, and people there are the sentient beings who have deep connection with me and whom I cannot abandon.
There is also a very famous tourist site in the region there, which is located in the largest forest. During the best touring season in the autumn festival every year, tourists both in-province and out-of-province flock in. They come to watch the colorful and fascinating scenery. The large number of tourists is a great opportunity to distribute materials. In the off-season, there are not many out-of-towners around, and even one stranger will cause alarm to the locals.
Practitioner Jie lives there. I discussed with her and we planned to cover the 9 forest farms in 4 days. We left at 9 am the next morning and carried 500 pieces of materials. The first farm only took 100 copies and we finished it in no time.
Around noon, we arrived at the largest forest farm, but since it was lunch time, there were too many people on the street and not safe for us, so we went to two small farms and distributed about 150 copies of materials in total. We also finished in a short time and returned to the largest forest farm.
We started at the south side of the road. The alleys there were all connected. The north side of the road was all dead-end, so we sent forth righteous while distributing the material. When seeing a police station, we were not disturbed and continued our job quietly.
On the way down the mountain road, there was another forest farm which is even more remote. The scenery was breathtaking, but we had no time enjoying it. It was in the afternoon and we just wanted to get there. After another 6 miles, we arrived at the foot of the mountain and began distributing material. When running into people, we would tell them that these were very good materials and please take a look.
After we reached the last alley, we found it was a dead-end, which was not long and had few families. We started distributing materials from the end of the alley outward. As soon as Jie tossed the materials into a courtyard, we were spotted by a young man standing in the yard wearing a camouflage uniform and a red armband. I rode my motorcycle out of the alley. He got on a motorcycle and followed us out. He also asked another man in a car to follow us with him. I rode out of the woods and the young man caught up behind me on his motorcycle.
So I slowed down and waited for him to catch up. This way, I could explain why I was here, I thought.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“We are here to help people. Please read the facts on those materials and it would be good for you,” I replied.
His attitude softened a little bit, and he said in a low voice, “Stop, stop.”
I did not listen to him, but sped up and left him far behind.
At this time, the car caught up. When thinking about it further, I knew whoever was chasing us had no good intentions and I could not let him stop us. The car was honking the horn behind, but I did not give way to him and just raced on the road of the mountain.
Later, when I swerved slightly, he quickly drove in front of us, and made a quick turn across the road, blocking our way. The country road is narrow. I slowed down. The front of the car was very narrow and I could not pass. The side of the road was uneven and easy to fall; the rear of the car protruded from the road, but the dirt road was flat. I was not panicked. I stepped on the pedal hard twice with my left foot and used my right hand to increase the throttle. Then we leaped forward, almost like flying and speeding down the mountain. In the meantime, I asked for Master's protection “Master, Help! Master, Help! Don’t let them commit a sin!”
The driver did not expect a woman of my age could ride so skillfully. There were too many turns in the mountain. Since he could not stop us, he stopped chasing us. I was so grateful that compassionate Master helped us escape the danger.
We travelled over 140 miles round trip that day, covering five forest farms in nine hours. We did not have a chance to drink or eat the whole time. My son asked where I had been. When I told him, he did not think it was possible, and he asked again “Where?”
He suddenly realized: “Are you joking? No, you didn’t! Wow!”
He knew how far that was, and even a skilled young man would have had a hard time riding that far and going to so many places.
“I am a Falun Dafa practitioner,” I replied, “We have to do what we need to do.”
Again, I want to thank Master for the compassionate caring and salvation through the years.
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