I am 77 years old from China. I have never heard Teacher lectured in person. I am a practitioner who has obtained the Fa twice. The first time when I obtained the Fa was at the end of 1998. I began to practice cultivation with the encouragement of my overseas relatives.

At that time, many factors greatly affected my cultivation; such as my old age, limited ability of understanding, various notions that had formed throughout my life in ordinary society, and various attachments such as playing mahjong, drinking liquor and watching television. My understanding of Falun Dafa was at a very low level that of limited to healing and fitness. Shortly after ten thousand practitioner's appealed on April 25th, 1999, I gave up cultivation because of my fears in the belief about the negative reports from the official media.

On the second day when I arrived in Singapore in November 2000, I was fortunate enough to attend the 2000 Singapore Falun Dafa Cultivation Experience Sharing Conference. After listening to the practitioners' excellent speeches and their dramatic physical and mental changes, my heart was shaken. I also learned that Falun Dafa had spread in more than 50 countries all over the world including Singapore. Falun Dafa is not only legal but also gained recognition and respect in all these countries. People are free to practice in the open environment. The practitioners with different nationalities and races study the Fa and practice the exercises together. The harmonious and peaceful environment forms a striking contrast to the controlled environment in China that is filled with false propaganda. I once again felt the solemnity and magnificence of Falun Dafa from the bottom of my heart. So, I finally returned to the road of cultivation practice in Falun Dafa.

Over the past one year, because all my family members are practitioners, I gradually understood many principles through constant study of the Fa and taking part in experience sharing activities. My understanding of Falun Dafa has been upgraded from the perception to rationality. I have truly experienced Dafa's profundity and immensity.

Shortly after I began to practice cultivation, I experienced the rigorous test of life and death. On one evening at the beginning of this year, when I was taking a shower, I suddenly felt my chest suffocating, and lots of blood gushed out of my mouth. I vomited and had diarrhea. I immediately fainted and tumbled on the floor. After a long time, I came to my senses. My head had minor wounds, I felt dizzy. My limbs had no strength, and I could not stand firmly. From then on, it was very difficult for me to take food. If the food was slightly hard, my stomach would suffer severe pain. Sometimes, I felt my whole chest was very painful; I could only have one meal per day. I could not relieve my bowels easily, and only moved my bowels once a week or once every 10 days, which made my lower abdomen protrude prominently. Because I ate little and often spat blood, I was very weak and lost more than 10 kilograms. My relatives in China were all worried about me and persuaded me many times to see a doctor or to go to back to China for treatment.

During this period, when I suffered from severe physical pains everyday, my mind wavered. Sometimes, I wondered if Teacher still took me as his disciple who once departed from Dafa, and I also thought that I was so old and the time for me to cultivate would not be enough. It would be better for me to go back to China to have a treatment. However, my relatives around me are all practitioners, they repeatedly explained to me from the perspective of the Fa. Finally, I realized the reason why I suffered a lot was to eliminate the karma that has been accumulated during my previous lives. My relatives also encouraged me to practice and study the Fa with them everyday, and read other practitioners' experience sharing articles to strengthen my righteous thoughts.

Teacher said in his article, "Sickness Karma," "Why does a new student who has just begun studying the practice, or a veteran student whose body has been adjusted, experience physical discomfort in his cultivation, as though he were seriously ill? And why does this happen once in a while? I told you in my Fa lectures that this is to eliminate your karma and to improve your enlightenment quality while eliminating the karma from your different previous lives. Besides, this is also to test whether you are determined in following Dafa; this will continue until your cultivation reaches Beyond-Triple-World-Law. This is putting it in general terms.[Essentials for Further Advancement]

This tribulation lasted for half a year. It is hard for me to describe how much I have physically and mentally suffered. After that, my health began to recover little by little. Then another test set in. I slipped on the floor and fell. The cut from the concussion on my head was 2- centimeters long. But I recovered soon. If this had happened to an elderly person who did not practice cultivation, one would suffered from the side effects of cerebral concussion. Ten years ago, my stomach had a massive hemorrhage, I was sent to the emergency center in the middle of the night. At that time, I had to stay in the hospital for one month. I had suffered everyday. I was on medication, and required daily transfusion and gastroscopic examinations. These made me feel very painful. After I left the hospital, I continue with the medicine and physical checkups. Why? Because at that time, I was only an everyday person. An everyday person will suffer from birth, old age, illness and death. But this time, I could eliminate the root of my illness. All this is attributed to Falun Dafa. Dafa saved me and gave me a second life.

Another miracle was that my hemorrhoids, lowerback and leg pain also disappeared. One loose tooth became tightened and I felt no pain any more. I had become healthier and more agile than before I studied the Fa. Falun Dafa is very good, and I hope all the people get to know it.

Once the test on my physical body was over, the heart nature test began. All six members of the family practice Dafa, four of us are retired. A series of conflicts occurred one after another among us four elderly people. On the surface, all the conflicts resulted from trivial everyday matters. Two members of the family have different backgrounds and habits. Conflicts or unhappy things sometimes occurred. This has already affected our work for Dafa and our cultivation environment. Teacher teaches us: "Without conflicts arising or opportunities to improve your xinxing, you cannot make progress. If everyone is nice to one another, how do you practice cultivation?" (Zhuan Falun)

When I recalled the whole process, I find that actually, I did not act as a true practitioner. When the conflicts arose, I always found fault with others, seeking external reasons but not searching inside of myself for the reason. When I had failed to pass the previous test and my xinxing had not been improved as it should be, the next test came up. The tribulations became bigger and bigger. So I have a deeper understanding of that Teacher said:

"While one is in a conflict, the clashes between each other even surpass the physical pains. I would say that the physical pains are the easiest things to endure, as they can be overcome by biting the teeth tightly. When a conflict takes place between one another, the mind is the hardest thing to control." (Zhuan Falun)

I have realized passing the xinxing test is more painful than eliminating karma, you cannot eat or sleep well because of it, and you cannot swallow and endure it either. You become distressed the whole day long. While passing these xinxing tests, I again thought of going back to China to avoid this environment. But the fellow practitioners often pointed it out to me, "Escaping from conflicts and difficulties is not a practitioner's behavior. We should make a good use of this environment to improve our xinxing. What we suffered cannot be compared with what the practitioners in China undergo in the forced labor camp, in the detention centers or in the jails."

Through studying the Fa and looking inside for the reason, I found that each time the conflict arose there was something I needed to improve in myself and there was a need to let go of my attachment. The major reason was that I could not tolerate. The second was I had the attachment to fame and self-interest. I enlightened to that only on following what Teacher said, " When you take a step back in a conflict, you will find the seas and the skies boundless" and looking inside for the reasons, can we pass the test on xinxing. Now our family environment is gradually improving.

Teacher said, "When human beings come to this world, they come with nothing.... when you leave, you still leave with nothing. What last forever? Only when you give the Fa to others can it last forever. So that is the most precious thing. ... engaged in spreading the Fa is most sacred." (unofficial translation of Lecture at the US East Coast Conference)

Clarifying the truth is to offer salvation to people, and clarifying the truth to people in China is Dafa practitioners' most important thing to do. I would like to share some of my understandings of doing this work.

Part I.

At the beginning of this year, I went to places where there were many people to distribute Dafa calendars. I passed out calendars one by one to people I met. Generally speaking, people would accept it with thanks. I also met some kind-hearted people who asked for more calendars, so they could help me distribute them. Therefore, several hundred calendars were soon passed out. But when I saw some calendars were thrown in the rubbish bin, I was very upset.

Part II. Some of my ways of clarifying the truth to the public

1. Door to door visit to residents to clarify the truth about Falun Gong.

   The average residential building in my neighborhood has about 150 households, with people of different races and nationalities. In the daytime, there are not many people I meet; in the evening, there are more people at home who I can meet . Though we speak different languages and have different beliefs, many people thank me after accepting Dafa materials. I always said, "Good luck!" in the end. Though only one sentence, it builds up our friendship and deepens our understanding. I handed out many Dafa truth-clarifying materials this way.

2. I also go to public places with other fellow practitioners to distribute Dafa materials. I met many different people. Some accepted the materials, some refused it with thanks, some others threw the materials away, but I would pick them up and hand it out to others.

3. The best place to clarify the truth is the famous tourist sight where tourists visit from all over the world. Among the tourists are many from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and people all over the world and other countries in Southeast Asia. They see the real environment of Falun Gong practice in Singapore. Some asked us for more information about Falun Gong, some took Dafa materials initiatively to spread the information all over the world. Many tourists carried cameras and video cameras. Many took pictures of us practicing the exercises, and some had their pictures taken of the practice as the background. Some of them stare at the practitioners' Dafa T-shirts with various patterns and characters. We could always explained their questions patiently, thus, eliminated their fear about Falun Gong and saved them from the deceitful lies.

4. I also make long-distance calls to my friends and relatives in China, send fax and mail truth-clarifying materials to them. More often, I would mail materials or make phone calls to the addresses of the people published on MinghuiNet. I told those vile people the heavenly principle of "Good is rewarded with good, evil is met with evil," and asked them to stop persecuting Falun Gong practitioners.

Part III. Making friends with local people

There are many elderly people from China visiting Singapore. Most of them came to visit their relatives or look after their grandchildren, or to do short-term travel. Their life here is rather dull in the unfamiliar surroundings with no one to socialize. So it is easier to approach them and make friends with them. While chatting with them, I always brought up Falun Dafa and clarify the truth to them. This approach is easier to accept and express what I expect them to know. For example, one elderly lady from China became interested in learning Falun Gong after she read our Dafa materials. I sent her the book Zhuan Falun. She felt the book was very good after she read it once. Her spirit felt higher and her disease has recovered to some extent. Also, I met people who said Falun Gong was good but was afraid that their daughter-in-law would not let them learn; or people who were afraid of being persecuted if she learned Falun Gong here. I felt so long as these people do not harbor hatred towards Falun Gong, we have achieved the results of clarifying the truth.

While doing Fa-spreading and clarifying the truth to the public, I felt that if we study the Fa well, have deeper understanding of the Fa, and at the same time are kind and considerate, and use true and vivid examples to answer others' doubts and questions, the results would be better. At present, clarifying the truth is the top priority, as clarifying the truth is to provide opportunities for people to be saved, and at the same time to establish our mighty virtues.

The above is some of my understandings and experiences. Please point out to me if anything is incorrect.

Thank you everyone.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2001/12/28/22152.html

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