By Jia Yu

1. Plagued by Sickness before Cultivation

Mrs. Lai is 76 years old. She has practiced Falun Dafa for 3 years. Every time I see her, I notice significant differences in her. I discovered that she is growing younger and happier. It's very difficult for people to believe that 3 years ago she was plagued by sickness, debt, and that she wanted to commit suicide.

Mrs. Lai has suffered much during her life. She worked all her life, and by the time she grew old she suffered from various diseases. The most severe were heart disease, vertebra deformation, degenerating arthritis, and osteoporosis. Since midlife, she wore belt-like braces to protect and support her lower back and knees--without them she couldn't even stand.

After Mrs. Lai's daughter started practicing Falun Gong, she introduced it to her mother. Mrs. Lai initially refused to try it, saying that she was too old, her body was no good, and that she couldn't read. Soon afterward, she was taken advantage of by someone running a scam and she not only lost all of her savings, but she ended up in a few million dollars debt (in Taiwan currency). She was very upset and cried all day. Her depression worsened and she considered committing suicide on numerous occasions. Seeing how her mother was suffering, Mrs. Lai's daughter continued telling her about Falun Dafa. She told her cultivation stories and read to her from Zhuan Falun. At first, Mrs. Lai didn't listen to any of it because of she was too depressed. Yet, her daughter persevered. One day, while reading Mrs. Lai the first paragraph in "Loss and Gain" in Lecture 4, Mrs. Lai said, "This phrase is wonderful." The more she listened the more sense it made to her. Mrs. Lai kept commenting on how the principles made sense. Her daughter, seeing that Mrs. Lai was interested, encouraged her to practice.

After listening to her daughter read the 9-day lecture, although she didn't completely understand the principles, Mrs. Lai decided to practice.

Mrs. Lai's knees had been deformed for many years, making walking far or prolonged sitting very difficult. After hearing many practitioners' miraculous cultivation stories of having their sicknesses healed, Mrs. Lai became very confident. She thought that she should practice the exercises for as long as possible, and would practice every minute she could. Practitioners encouraged her to come to the practice sites. She had a weak body, but she would last until the exercises finished. The physical pain made her want to cry every time she practiced. This went on for a month.

After a few months, all of her sicknesses vanished. Her skin became smooth and her freckles disappeared.

Mrs. Lai only had a few years of Japanese education. She didn't know any Chinese. She went to Fa-study sessions to listen to others read. But everyone read in Mandarin, and she couldn't understand. However, she was very focused. When she read Zhuan Falun she would read in Mandarin as well as Japanese. One day she started to think that this was not a good idea, and it was disrespectful toward Dafa. Teacher Li uses Mandarin, so she wanted to learn Mandarin. She diligently studied the Fa. Within a few months she was able to read about 70 to 80 percent of Zhuan Falun. Never in her life could Mrs. Lai imagine herself reading at her age. She felt Teacher was very compassionate.

Mrs. Lai would go to the library to study the Fa in her free time. She would also promote Dafa and give out materials there.

Once, two students seeing Mrs. Lai read without her glasses became curious and asked her, "How old are you? How do you read without glasses?" Their mother was in her 50's yet she couldn't read without her glasses. Mrs. Lai said, "I am in my 70's." The students were speechless because Mrs. Lai looked like she was only 50. Mrs. Lai continued, "I practice Falun Gong, so my sight gets clearer the more I read this book." The two students immediately bought a copy of Zhuan Falun from a bookstore, and later came to the park to practice the exercises.

Falun Dafa 12th Anniversary Exercise Performance at the Mother's Day Gathering in Taidayuan

Mrs. Lai Volunteers in Taiwan City Library

Group Practice in Zhongzheng Memorial Hall

Mrs. Lai benefited mentally and physically from practicing Falun Dafa, and she felt that since her health improved, she should go and help others. Because she frequents the library, she noticed a flyer the library posted saying they were seeking volunteers. She signed up and helped organize books. She is quite busy, but books in hundreds of languages and in thousands of categories didn't make her get frustrated and quit. What's more amazing is the fact that Mrs. Lai understands the languages and never puts them in the wrong sections. Many people thought she was a retired teacher who knows a lot. Mrs. Lai took this chance to promote Dafa, saying that all her abilities came from Falun Dafa. Many became interested because they liked what Mrs. Lai said about Falun Gong.

Knowing that the persecution in China was severe, and the media was controlled to defame Falun Gong, Lai saved all her phone cards that her son gave her so she could call people in China to tell them the truth about the persecution.

Mrs. Lai's Mandarin isn't fluent, so she would say very simple things: "Don't believe everything you see on TV," "Falun Gong is very good," "I welcome you to Taiwan." Some Mainlanders were very curious about why Mrs. Lai would call them, so she would reply, "Taiwanese become very healthy after practicing Falun Gong. Your TV lies to you." Some Mainlanders were moved and felt that practitioners from Taiwan were very friendly. A farmer's wife was very happy to receive Mrs. Lai's call. She said that they were very poor and life was hard. Mrs. Lai told her that she was scammed and lost her life-savings, and she is now broke as well, but since practicing Falun Gong she has become healthy and happy. The farmer's wife thought Mrs. Lai was a very young woman because she felt that Ms. Lai's voice was young and kind. Mrs. Lai shocked her by saying that she is in her 70's. She then understood that Falun Gong must be very good.

Posting date: 7/29/2004
Original article date: 7/28/2004
Category: Personal Cultivation
Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.cc/mh/articles/2004/7/3/78551.html