(Minghui.org) Once upon a time I was stubborn, hot-tempered, and on the verge of death due to illness. Falun Gong (also known as Falun Dafa) changed all this.
It has been 24 years since I began to practice Falun Gong. Everyone in my village knows that the practice gave me a second life.
Everyone knew I was a “shrew.” “If Falun Gong could change her [referring to me] into a good person, it must be extraordinary!” the village Party secretary once remarked.
First, I’ll share about my health.
Before and After Practice: The Difference between Day and Night
I suffered a lot when I was a child. According to my mother, I had convulsions when I was a few months old and was diagnosed with childhood epilepsy. Every time I had a seizure, my entire body went into spasms and I foamed at the mouth. Afraid that my condition was hopeless, my mother always kept a bundle of hay nearby. She planned to carry me out in the hay when I died. Fortunately, I survived every episode.
At 12 months old, I came down with black fever, also called kala-azar. Since we lived in a village far from any urban area, it was difficult to get to a doctor. I needed injections every day as part of the treatment, so a doctor taught my mother how to give them. Two years passed, and I survived, while eight or nine other kids that had the same thing had all died. People said I was lucky.
At age 5, I had asthma and it stayed with me. In fact, I always had one kind of health problem or another. Feeling sick and having to take all kinds of medicine all the time made me sad: “Why is my life so miserable?!”
After I got married, both my family and my husband’s family had to be very frugal to save enough to cover my medical bills. At that time, we had 20 mu (about three acres) of land. Since I could not do anything, my husband had to take care of it by himself. His parents and younger sister often came to help, but everything we earned from the land ended up in the coffers of the hospital or pharmacy.
Life seemed pointless, because my health problems returned every year. My symptoms only got worse by the year, however much money we spent on them. I felt like a burden on my family and thought about suicide. But looking at my young son and daughter, I knew I could not do that. I had no choice but to carry on.
The turning point was April 10, 1997, a date I remember well. By then, I had been in bed for three months, and my family knew I was dying—it was just a matter of time.
My aunt came to visit us from another city. She told us about Falun Gong and some of the extraordinary things that its practitioners had experienced. Since I couldn’t get out of bed, she played the audio recordings of Master Li Hongzhi’s (the founder of Falun Gong) lectures for me. She also offered to teach me the exercises, but I said I could not do it. “No worries. You just need to give it a try,” she encouraged me. I knew I could not turn her down, so I gathered all my strength and got out of bed for the exercises. I could only try them for a few minutes each time.
On the third evening, I vomited a half basin of bitter, sour liquid. After that, my bloated stomach, which had looked like an upside-down wok, became normal. The next day, I started urinating a lot, almost the entire day. The swelling all over my body diminished. On the seventh day, I could get out of bed and do household chores. Within two weeks, I felt my ailments were gone. After another five days, I was able to work with my husband in the field.
My health kept improving quickly over the next three months. I was thrilled, and so was my family, especially my husband, two children, and mother-in-law. “Falun Gong is magic!” my husband told almost everyone he saw, “It cured my half-dead wife.” With that, dozens of people in the village came to me to learn the practice and how to do the exercises.
Since I no longer needed medicine, we saved lots of money. Not only that, I began to work with my husband in the fields and raise livestock, so our income increased even more. We built a new house, my son got married, and we had a lovely grandson. During the past 10 years, my husband has been going out of town for work while I take care of the land. Our family is happier than ever.
My husband knows that all this comes from Falun Gong. “Your practice has saved our family at least 200,000 yuan. I have no doubt about that,” he once said to me. “We are so fortunate to know Falun Gong and live a decent life.”
For me, I also know deep in my heart that everything I have is from Falun Gong and I am always so grateful to Master Li.
A Battle-Ax Changes
Everyone in our village also witnessed how my character changed. They said I became a really nice person after I started to practice Falun Gong and follow Falun Gong’s principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. The Communist Party secretary in the village, in particular, was impressed that I, who was considered the toughest woman in the area, could change so much.
He was serious when he said that. In the past, I had a bad temper. If anyone made trouble for me, I could go after him until he really regretted it. I often quarreled and fought with other people and would not stop until I’d won. Everyone, including the villains in the village, was very polite to me because of that.
“If you were a man and went out into the world, I believe no one could beat you down,” one of them said.
In my heart, however, I felt lonely because I always had enemies no matter where I was. Because I quarreled and fought, my health got worse. That was why I ended up in bed, waiting for death, before I was 40.
One year, we had to pay the village government money. We turned in every cent we had and were still short 50 yuan. One village official said turning in grain was also fine. So my husband and I sent over broom-corn to cover the 50 yuan. The next day, the accountant said we still needed to pay 50 yuan.
“We turned in grain yesterday. Why didn’t you record it?” I could not take it anymore and yelled.
“It’s not that I did not record it—no grain was turned in in the first place,” the accountant explained. The person next to him said the same thing.
“That’s enough!” I said. I jumped up, grabbed the ledger, and dumped the abacus on the ground. Pointing at the others waiting in the room to clear their accounts, I called out, “If we do not straighten this out now, don’t even think about going back to work here!”
The Party secretary saw that I was hysterical and dragged me out of the room. I directed my anger at him.
I punched him and kept shouting, “You know why I’m hitting you? Because you did not lead them well. Since you are not a good official, you’d better let someone else take your place!”
The secretary did not fight back and just smiled.
Later on I learned that the mistake was caused by my husband since he did not tell the accountant about our grain submission.
Another time, right after we harvested our crops, the Party secretary notified us through the loudspeaker that we had to remove all stalks from our land by the next day because the land would be dug and provincial officials would come to inspect it. He also said 20 yuan would be paid for each mu (one-sixth of an acre).
I was sick, so my husband asked his father to help, but I went to see the land anyway. When I saw my father-in-law, already over 70, stumble several times over roots and stalks, I was very upset. Fortunately, he was not injured.
After some time, we were told to pay the village money as usual while the promised 20 yuan per mu was canceled. I was furious. So I simply deducted that amount from the total when I made our village payments. After that, village officials came to us every now and then asking for what they said we still owed. I ignored them and said I would pay it only if the Party secretary showed up so that I could reason with him. The Party secretary never did come and the promised money was paid to me secretly.
At that time, I was proud of my abilities. Although I just an ordinary villager, I could intimidate the Party secretary and the other officials couldn’t do anything with me.
After I started to practice Falun Gong, I felt bad about what I’d done—as if it was a nightmare.
Master said,
“The ailments and miseries that people experience result from their karma, and karma is the product of past wrongdoings. So the ordeals that people face are how they pay for their karma.” (The First Talk, Zhuan Falun)
“In our observation, the deeper reason people fall ill or experience misfortune is karma—a field of black matter. It is negative, or yin, by nature and something bad. Evil entities are yin natured as well, and dark, and they can enter a person’s body when conditions suit them. And they are the root cause of the ailments that people suffer, the main source of illness.” (The Seventh Talk, Zhuan Falun)
A Good Person
I was ashamed of my past. As a bully, how many people had I hurt and how much karma had I accumulated? No wonder I was so sick. Right now, I am lucky to know Falun Gong and follow the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. Instead of fighting with people, I treat everyone well and have mended many bad relationships.
I once slapped a man in the face in public. We became enemies and had not talked to each other for 15 years. Now I took the initiative and apologized to him. He also forgave me.
I’d had a feud with one of my sisters-in-law that wasn’t resolved for over 10 years. Every now and then we just quarreled. After becoming a practitioner, I learned the importance of compassion and treated her kindly. Not only did our relationship improve, she also became a practitioner. We are now very close, closer than even real sisters. “Thanks to Falun Gong, you two get along so well now,” one neighbor commented.
Other people in the village were also impressed by my kindness. We get along well and they refer to me as one of the best wives in the region. Witnessing how great Falun Gong is, many of them have also taken up the practice and benefited from it.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its former leader Jiang Zemin began to suppress Falun Gong in July 1999. Defamatory propaganda was everywhere and the police came all the time to harass practitioners. The Party secretary could not take it any longer.
“There is nothing wrong with Falun Gong—it cured people in my village who almost died,” he said to the local police station director. “If you guys are bored, find something else to do. Just don’t bother Falun Gong practitioners!”
No matter how the police and higher-up officials pushed, the Party secretary never came to harass me for my faith in Falun Gong. From his own experience, he knew how the practice had changed me for the better. So he has always been against the suppression. During the time I was forced to stay away from home because of the persecution, he always protected me whenever I came back.
Blessings for the Community
Since the CCP has made up all kinds of slanderous propaganda to defame Falun Gong to mislead people, I often share with those in the village and others my own story of how I went from a life of misery to one of health and happiness.
Many people have changed their misunderstanding. They believe me and keep in mind these words: “Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good.” Their support for Falun Gong has also brought them blessings. One elderly woman’s dizziness was gone, another person’s lower back pain was relieved, and a friend’s heart disease disappeared. One elderly relative was paralyzed due to a stroke. Later on, he was able to take care of himself and was able to speak again.
A former schoolmate and friend had been poisoned by the CCP’s atheistic ideology and did not listen to what any practitioner said. When she was severely ill and all treatment had failed, I visited her and explained Falun Gong to her with my own story. She finally understood that Falun Gong tells people to be good and offers hope. After reciting “Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good” every day, she recovered from her serious heart disease and diabetes.
Another schoolmate used to have heart problems. She had once practiced Falun Gong but stopped after the persecution started. Worried about her health, I talked with her many times about resuming the practice, but she refused to. But I did not give up. From time to time, I visited her, talked with her, and gave her booklets and other materials compiled by the Minghui website. She read them and agreed with them.
During the pandemic, she had fever, coughing, difficulty breathing, and chest pain. She did not dare to tell anyone or go to the hospital, because she knew she would be quarantined if she did. When the symptoms got worse and she felt she was near death, she suddenly remembered Falun Gong. In her heart, she recited, “Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good.” Within several minutes, her breathing got easier. The fever, coughing, and chest pain were gone the following day. “It is Falun Gong that saved me,” she told me earnestly.
After the Party secretary retired, his daughter-in-law, Lan, drove him and his wife out of their shared residence. So the elderly couple had to live in an old run-down house in the village. I visited them and asked if there was anything I could do to help. They said at least six people had talked with Lan about the situation, but Lan had driven them all away.
I decided to try to help. Although some in the village told me it would be useless, I thought about how the Party secretary’s family had all understood Falun Gong and had quit the CCP. They deserved a happy family life. Plus, I had faith in the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.
I went to see Lan and talked with her for over three hours. She did not drive me away, nor did she agree to welcome her parents-in-law back. The next morning, however, the Party secretary’s sister-in-law called me and said that Lan had picked up her parents-in-law the evening before. The elderly couple was thrilled.
Later on Lan told me what happened. “After talking with you that day, I lay in bed but could not sleep. I kept thinking about what you had told me. I trusted you and trusted Falun Gong. I also knew that what you said was something I needed to hear. Since things were now clear to me, I could not wait and went with my husband to pick them [her parents-in-law] up.”
Since then, the entire family has treated me very well and has great respect for me. Lan and I became good friends. She keeps telling me how good Falun Gong is and has asked for Falun Gong materials and amulets and then passed them on to other people. We are so close that we are like family.
The amulet says, “Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good.” The lotus flower is a symbol of cultivation—constantly improving oneself in the mud of the earthly world to emerge pure and beautiful.
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