By Xiaofang, A Practitioner from Mainland China

(Clearwisdom.net)

I went into Christianity with the intention of seeking the Dao to better myself. However, during 8 years as a Christian, I was saddled with illnesses for 5 of the 8 years and my health had grown worse, and eventually medicines and injections were of no avail. I spent nearly 20 thousand yuan on treatments, all my family savings. The medicines also made me sick. I vomited them all out, and vomited so much that I was often in a stupor. I was diagnosed with the most severe form of ulcerative gastritis.

My elder sister practices Falun Dafa. She had tried to persuade me to cultivate Dafa many times, but I always refused because it was prohibited by the government. In addition, I even sternly forbade my husband from learning Dafa. By 2004, I was bedridden. Unable to ingest anything not even water, and after four days without intake, I could only wait for my end to come.

At that point, I had no way out. My husband paced anxiously about and said to me in a serious tone one day, "You know that all our savings have been used up and we have no money left. I cannot bear to see you suffer so terribly. Besides, you cannot even swallow medicine, and I really don't know what to do. We have two choices in front of us: one is that you learn Dafa from your elder sister, and the other is that I end my life first if you are still so stubborn. You choose." With these words, he took a rope and started to walk out...... Only then did I become anxious and hastily stopped him: "Please don't. I'll learn Dafa from my sister, ok?" It was then that I began to soften my stance. I thought, "why don't I give Dafa a try than to lie in bed waiting to die."

So I phoned my elder sister and asked for help. She immediately came to bring me to her home. The relatives gathered around me. The mood was somber. The neighbors saw me off to the edge of the village, sighing quietly for me and worrying that I might not come back. The weather at the time was such that people only wore one layer of clothing, but I had on a full set of winter clothes, winter cap on my head, warm shoes on my feet, and gloom and grief on my face. On the way, children who knew me called me "granny." In fact, I was only 38 years old. Upon hearing "granny," I could not help but feel very sad.

That afternoon I arrived at my sister's home and started to study the Fa. Because I did not settle down, I could not study the Fa attentively. In the evening, I ate a little food and dry-retched, but I did not vomit it up. This was the first time that I had ingested a little food in several days.

The next morning, I learned the exercises. I was feeling depressed and had misgivings about studying Dafa. I wanted to give it up, so I called my husband and told him that I wanted to go back home. He was extremely anxious and persuaded me to calm down and learn the exercises in earnest. He also told me that otherwise there would be no way out. My sister asked a veteran practitioner to share experiences with us. She told me, "As long as you genuinely cultivate Dafa, Teacher can and will take care of you. If you are not firm or are indecisive, even Buddhas cannot help you; but soon as your mind changes, your state will also follow immediately and the miraculous power of Dafa will manifest in your body."

I was moved by her words and lightened up. Then I studied the Fa together with her, and gradually I calmed down. I also started to understand the Fa principles taught by Teacher. Teacher said in the beginning,

"We will straighten out all these matters and, by preserving the good part and removing the bad part, ensure that you are able to practice cultivation later. However, you must be here to genuinely study this Dafa. If you hold various attachments and come to gain supernormal abilities, have illnesses cured, listen to some theories, or come with some ill intentions, that will not work at all.

"I do not talk about healing illness here, and neither will we heal illness. As a genuine practitioner, however, you cannot practice cultivation with an ill body. I will purify your body. The body purification will be done only for those who come to truly learn the practice and the Fa. We emphasize one point: If you cannot relinquish the attachment or concern for illness, we cannot do anything and will be unable to help you. Why is this? It is because there is such a principle in the universe: Ordinary human affairs, according to the Buddha School, all have predestined relationships. Birth, old age, illness, and death exist as such for ordinary people. Due to karma resulting from past wrongdoing, one has illnesses or tribulations; suffering is repaying a karmic debt, and thus nobody can casually change this. Changing it means that one would not have to repay the debt after being in debt, and this cannot be done at will. Doing otherwise is the same as committing a bad deed." (Zhuan Falun)

After studying the first lecture, I was determined to persevere with my cultivation. The principles taught by other religion are not comparable with the Dafa principles. At lunch that day, I ate two small bowls of rice porridge in one go. This was the first time I had a full meal in several days, and I did not retch or vomit; it was like a normal meal. I immediately called my husband and told him about it, and said that I decided to stay on and to study the practice seriously.

My husband was quite excited and hurried to my sister's home to see me. He encouraged me to cultivate Dafa whole-heartedly and advised me not to worry about things at home. He said that he also decided to cultivate Dafa after he went back to take care of some things at home first. So I learned Dafa at my sister's home for one week, and my illness subsided and I became healthy. After learning the exercises, I joyfully went back home accompanied with the precious book Zhuan Falun.

As soon as I arrived at home, my husband and neighbors saw the complete changes in me: I only had light clothing on and did not wear my winter cap and clothes. My cheeks were pink, and my worried look had changed to smiles. I became prettier and younger as if I had never been ill. Everyone was happy for me.

The miraculous power of Dafa that manifested in me quickly spread. Whenever people met my husband, it was inevitable that they asked him something about Falun Gong. My husband told everyone he came across the wonderfulness of Dafa. As a result, people came to learn the practice one after another, and embarked on the path of cultivation.

Now, I walk the path of Fa-rectification cultivation more steadily. I have gone through the tests of sickness karma and xinxing, and eliminated all kinds of interference from the evil elements, whether visible or not, one by one. With my firm belief in Dafa, and with Teacher's compassionate care and my righteous thoughts and actions, I have passed one test after another, and gradually become mature.

I almost lost my life had it not for Dafa. I hope those who have similar stubborn notions as I had before can learn from my lesson and abandon their stubborn notions.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2006/12/11/144395.html