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An Elderly Professor's Story By a European practitioner
(Clearwisdom.net) It was late 1999, after the persecution of Falun Gong in China had begun, when I met an elderly
professor who had come to Seattle, USA, to attend a Falun Dafa conference and to visit relatives as
well. In a mini-experience sharing discussion, we listened to her experience of Fa-rectification, of
when she went to Tiananmen Square on 22nd July 1999. She was arrested after returning
home from Tiananmen Square. Since then, she has been blacklisted by the local police, and whenever
any dates considered as being sensitive by the government approached, there were police stationed
nearby to watch her. She was so buoyant when she was talking about these things that we could see
neither the persecution that she had suffered, nor the perilous environment in China. I was touched
deeply, as I truly saw this Dafa practitioner's selflessness, as well as her intrepid nature
cultivated from Dafa. She went back to China three months later, and I also went back to join the Fa-rectification in
China in April 2000. Since we contacted each other very often, I got to know her better and better.
Before she had practiced Falun Gong, she had suffered from severe heart disease, and had slept on an
inclined wooden bed. Otherwise, she would have felt short of breath. She had also suffered from
severe cataracts, which made her unable to read. However, after she practiced Falun Gong, she has
become free of illnesses, and her body is distinctly younger. She had also regained her menstrual
period. She said that she believed in Dafa solidly, since what Teacher Li taught in Zhuan Falun
about changes to practitioners' minds and bodies had manifested in her. This practitioner was trained as a professor of Art, and she knew nothing about computers, but
she bought a modern desktop for promoting Dafa. She learned how to access the internet and download
articles from Minghui Net, and started to distribute Dafa truth-clarifying materials to other
people. She also distributed Teacher Li's new articles to Dafa practitioners in surrounding regions,
despite extremely difficult conditions. After Falun Gong was banned in China, a lot of Falun Gong practitioners started to practice the
exercises and study the Fa at home, while playing the exercise music at a low volume. When I went to
this practitioner's home for Fa study several times, I found that she always kept the volume loud.
In the beginning, I wanted to remind her to be careful, but it also had occurred to me that she
always had been doing things like this, so there must have been some attachments in my mind which
led me to have these kinds of thoughts. This practitioner's husband had been in a coma. Initially he
needed to be fed by a tube through his nose, but after listening to Teacher Li's lectures, it was
possible to feed him with a spoon, and he could understand the taped greetings sent from the U.S. by
his daughter. I thought through this carefully: This practitioner had been blacklisted by the local
police, but she played Teacher Li's lectures in her husband's room without pause. If anyone knocked
on the door, she didn't even consider turning off the player, because she was not afraid and
remembered Teachers words, "If you are not afraid, the factor that would make you afraid will
cease to exist." ("Eliminate Your Last Attachment(s)," Essentials for Further
Advancement II) At the end of 2000, she again went to Tiananmen Square to appeal, and was detained in a police
station located in a nearby county. She resisted the persecution solidly and told the police the
truth about Falun Dafa the whole time. Later on, even their superintendent came to listen. The
following evening, she was released. Just before she left, the police pointed to her and two other
practitioners, and said: "These people are not afraid of death." In this way, they stepped
out of there in an upright and dignified manner. On her way of home, when police checked the bus to
see if there were Beijing-bound Dafa practitioners on it, she found herself sitting under the
police's stare, but was not detected, and she successfully returned to the mighty current of Fa-rectification. In May 2001, this practitioner had to become destitute and homeless, since she was wanted by the
police. Initially, she could go to the U.S. to visit relatives; however, soon she was unable to
travel because her passport would expire, and she could not go to the police station to renew it. In
July, just before I left China, I went to see her. At that moment, she was living in a small room
with two other Dafa practitioners. They continued to insist on practicing the exercises, studying
the Fa, clarifying the truth of Falun Dafa, and sending forth righteous thoughts together. She was
still buoyant as well! After arriving in Europe, I still think about her all the time. I often hear some information
about her. At one point, she had to leave her small room because of an informant turned her in.
Afterward, her wages were suspended and her life became very difficult. The latest news is that she
continues to be homeless, but that she persists in doing the three things encouraged by Teacher Li
for Dafa practitioners during the period of Fa-rectification: to study the Fa well, to clarify the
truth, and to send forth righteous thoughts. I would like to wish her well on her path. Finally, let
us encourage each other and read Teacher Li's poem, "Righteous Thoughts and Righteous
Actions:" Righteous Thoughts and Righteous Actions A Great Enlightened Being does not fear hardship Having forged an adamantine will And with no attachment to living or dying He walks his path of Fa-rectification openly and nobly Posting date: 12/12/2002 |