The Path That My Mother and I Have Followed

By a Dafa practitioner in UK

(Clearwisdom.net) I have been a theist since birth. Even when I was little, I daydreamed about a big God who would bless me and make me clever and beautiful. In my classes at school, every time the teacher talked about believing in science and anti-superstition, I always put a big cross in my notebook and thought, "You are wrong on this issue."

In 1995, I moved away to a university. It was in this year that my whole family obtained the Fa. We were all very happy. It was also at this time that my mum gave away the big bed in my room to create more space for group Fa study and exercise practice. Some practitioners asked my mother "What will you do when your beloved daughter comes back?" Mum said, "It does not matter. She does not come home very often. Actually, it will be fine for her to sleep on the floor." Since that time, whenever I went back home there were almost always practitioners there. Once, there was a Fa study and small Fa Conference held at our house. Many practitioners attended, even some from other cities. There were so many people that we had to eat in groups. My dad, who was responsible for food and accommodation, said to my mum, "Although I have been extremely busy, you should have introduced everyone to me." Mum smiled and said, "We did not have much time. It is not necessary to do that as we are all fellow practitioners, just like one big family."

When I first read Zhuan Falun, nothing in there surprised me or shocked me and I felt very close to the book. I read it with my eyes wide open so that I didn't miss a word. Naturally, I thought that every single sentence written by Teacher was right; I knew I had been waiting for Master since my childhood. Since my cultivation started, I always saw myself as someone who is calm and flexible and no longer competing with others, headstrong or self-willed. At university, I introduced Falun Dafa with Zhuan Falun to all my classmates. There was one period when 13 out of the 30 students in our class joined our university's morning group exercise practice.

On April 25, 1999, after I heard the news from our university practice site, I started my journey to Beijing with one of my classmates. I didn't spend much time thinking or preparing. On the way to Beijing, I telephoned my family and wanted to speak to my mum. My dad was a little worried after he heard that I was on my way to Beijing. He did not want me to go and didn't want to tell me my mum's whereabouts in Beijing. I said, "Dad, I have bought the ticket. If I cannot find mum, I am worried that I may not have a place to stay." My dad told me that my mum took a taxi to Beijing the night before and he gave me the telephone number of the hotel where she was staying. Because we were too late to buy train tickets, we had to go by coach. When we reached the border of Beijing City, the driver firmly told us to get off. He said that he needed to fetch some merchandise and would not go through Beijing City. He asked us to get there on a local bus. After we got off the coach, we were not happy and thought the driver had cheated us. However, when we actually arrived in Beijing we realized that all the coaches from outside the city were being strictly checked. If we had not taken a local bus, it would have been very difficult for us to enter the city. I now realize that all this was due to Master compassionately caring for us.

On the afternoon of July 20, 1999, I turned on the TV whilst I was doing some other things. After a while, I heard an announcement that the Central Committee would ban Falun Gong. I was shocked and immediately sat in front of the screen to watch carefully. In the evening, my parents got home. We talked about this and I told them, "It is not necessary to watch any more. It is all false. I watched it earlier today." I also proudly told my mum "Even if the whole world was against Falun Gong, I would still believe in Master." Mum said, "I often think that you are lazy, but you are being very firm at this crucial time." The next day, many practitioners did not know what to do. Mum said, "We cannot wait any more. Even though none of you are going to Beijing, I must go. I will go on my own." She also said to me, "Daughter, you are the only one who understands me. If anything unexpected happens to me you must take care of your dad." Then my mum went, full of determination. Because mum went to Beijing, she was punished by her workplace. Her bonus was stopped for a year, which made her lose nearly 20,000 Chinese Yuan. Later, mum went to appeal to the governments of our province and city. Each time she came back safely. After that, around each important date, the police telephoned our family. Once mum picked up the phone and said, "I did not plan to go to Beijing this time but I would really like to go. Are you calling to encourage me to go to Beijing?" The person at the other end of the phone said immediately, "No, in fact I did not have anything special to say. I am just making a casual call." Since that time, the police hardly ever called us.

Both of my parents work for a large factory. My mum's righteous thoughts and righteous actions have rectified the environment there to a certain extent. During the most evil period, mum forbore the pressure. She wrote to the Director, Deputy Director and the Communist Party Committee's Secretary of the factory, and she delivered the letters to their homes. They were all very scared. Mum talked to the head of the factory's hospital and turned a meeting that was held to criticize Falun Gong into a truth clarification activity. After this, the head of the hospital did not dare to organize any more meetings to criticize Falun Gong. Instead they used the time to run free study sessions for the staff. My mum brought the truth of Dafa to everyone around her. She used to deliver truth-clarifying materials door to door in the middle of the night, in order to arouse people's righteousness and kindness.

One day, 2 plain-clothes policemen and 2 uniformed policemen came to our house and tried to take mum away. Many neighbors with a sense of justice came up and asked, "Where are you from? How can you arrest her for nothing? If you have something you want to talk about, go to the factory." The Director of the Political and Legal Affairs Committee who accompanied them had to say, "We only want to get some information." For the whole afternoon, mum talked to them with reason and they believed what she said. In the end the Director said, "I have never come across someone like you. In the future, when the ban of Falun Gong is lifted, I will invite you out for a drink." Mum answered, "I am very happy to see that you can understand the truth. When that time comes you will be my guest!" At 6 o'clock in the evening, mum came back home safely. Later, mum said, "At that time I never thought they were coming to arrest me. All I wanted to do was to clarify the truth to them."

Another time, the officials from a labor camp took some of the people who have been "transformed" to the factory where my mum works and tried to "transform" her and the other practitioners there. As soon as they said anything insulting about Dafa, mum would stand up immediately and rebuke them: "Do you know that you are talking absolute nonsense? When did Master say that?" Mum's words made them crestfallen. Upon seeing this, the officials wanted to take my mum away. However, the Communist Party Committee Secretary, who already knew the truth, said, "No, you cannot do that. It's already midday. All our staff need to go home for lunch."

At the factory hospital where my mum works there are several Dafa practitioners. After the former head official of the hospital watched the truth-clarification VCD, he never made any trouble for them. The current head official came from the bureau above the factory. He had already heard of my mum before and had a talk with her in private. After that, he refused to make trouble for Dafa practitioners due to 2 reasons. One is that he knows the truth and the other is that all the Dafa practitioners in his workplace have acted very righteously. The head official can say nothing bad about their work. Now all of them leave Zhuan Falun in the drawer of their work desks. Mum said to me on the phone, "During the last 4 years, the environment around us has been completely rectified." Because my mum has got an office of her own, the practitioners liked to get together at mum's office during lunch break. If anyone wants to see one of them, they would ask "Are they in the Falun Gong room?"

During the recent heavy wave of SARS in China, my mum was responsible for the hospital's emergency SARS treatment. The head official said to her, "If there are any urgent cases, let the young people go in first". Mum said, "They are still young and have a lot of living to do. You are getting old now and your ability to resist disease is getting low. You may not be able to cope with it. I can cope with it any time. I will not catch SARS because I am in good health as a result of practicing Falun Gong." Mum's words moved the head official's heart.

What mum said at one of the secretly held Fa study and experience sharing meetings at our house before I came out of China is true: she passed every tribulation nobly and did not leave any stain or regret on her cultivation path.

After July 20th 1999, my classmates who had just graduated together with me phoned me, saying that they were all very concerned for my safety. One of them said, "Because I know you, I tell everyone around me that Falun Gong is very good." I remembered one of the boys from our class passed the civil service exam and became a policeman. I went to see him. As soon as I saw him I said to him, "People who practice Falun Gong are all good people. You cannot beat them." He was nearly in tears and said, "I am innocent. How could I beat them up? I often use my own money to buy food and drink for them. In addition, how dare anyone from our class say that Falun Gong is not good?" I smiled and said, "Really? In that case, I thank you." Later, his wife told me, "He has voluntarily asked to be transferred to the criminal department, which is a more dangerous job as they deal with murderers. This is because he could not carry on arresting Falun Gong practitioners." She also said, "Now every time when he is not at home, I am very worried." I said to her, "Do not worry. Nothing bad will happen to him."

Before I went to get my passport issued, I asked mum, "What shall I say if they ask me whether I practice Falun Gong?" Mum replied, "Daughter, it is a big decision for you to go abroad. You say whatever you want to say. You make your own decision. I do not have any comments." I just said casually, "Let's forget it. I am not going to think about it any more. They won't ask me." In the end, the policeman dealing with my passport carelessly asked me a couple of questions about my job but nothing else. Later, I got a visa without any problems. Before I came out of China, I said to mum, "Mum, you know what I will like best about being outside of China? I will be able to practice the exercises outdoors again!"

Since I came to the UK, I felt I was in a peaceful environment and I haven't kept up my Fa study. Because of pressure from various sources, strong human notions and because I did not realize that I have the same large responsibility here as in China, I have not done everything that a Dafa particle should do. Recently, my mum has often said to me on the phone, "Daughter, you are one of the most fortunate children. You are so lucky that you can work for Dafa in a peaceful environment. You must always put Dafa first and join all the activities." Sometimes I asked her, "Is it possible that there are some spies who listen to our telephone conversation?" Mum said, "We are doing the most righteous things. Everything we do is for them. Why should we be scared?" Mum's words and actions always touched my heart.

At the Edinburgh Festival, my heart was deeply touched again. Listening to fellow practitioners' words and watching their actions, I could not help shedding tears. Many events during this weekend brought tears to my eyes: clarifying the truth to an old English man; a middle-aged man bowing to me with tears in his eyes; watching an infant Chinese girl aged stretching her hands out for Dafa materials and trying so hard to give them to her mother who did not want them; remembering my fellow practitioner's child holding some Dafa materials, timidly standing by a table and wanting to give them to people passing by but not knowing how and hearing the last few words of a fellow practitioner before we said goodbye to each other, "You must study the Fa well on your own." On the train back, I felt tired but I remembered what one of the Western practitioners said to me: "We are a little tired. However, we are like soldiers coming back from a battlefield after a victory. We are full of energy again." When the train was moving, I recalled the path of my cultivation and thought about the path I will take in the future. I heard the music of "Pudu" floating in the sky around the carriage. Eventually I cried heavily. I thought of Master's mercy and hints to help practitioners, his encouragement and things that I have done wrong. I thought that I have done too little in offering salvation to sentient beings, and many, many other things... I let my tears run freely. I traveled back in tears, in music and in the process of raising my Xinxing.

Let all of us, those who are particles with predestined relationships lasting thousands of life times, in this last historic period, sing praises together for the grand glory and beauty of the cosmic Dafa, sing praises together for Master's salvation with mercy through bitter suffering and Buddha's infinite grace. Thank you, Master. Thank you, fellow practitioners.

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