(Clearwisdom.net) On June 3, 1997, I began my Dafa cultivation journey under Teacher's careful arrangement and hints. The following year, more than ten of my family members and relatives also began practicing Falun Gong. On our cultivation paths, we have experienced many highs and lows. I wish to thank Teacher for the guidance given to my family and share our cultivation stories with fellow practitioners.
More than Ten People from One Family Began Practicing Falun Gong
On June 3, 1997, I began a temporary job doing accounting. A retired company official came to my desk to get her retirement benefits. I had not seen her for a long time, so when she walked in, I was quite surprised at her appearance. The energy that she had previously directed toward the pursuit of fame and personal gain had disappeared. Her face looked youthful, even though she was over fifty. From her attire and smiling face, she looked gracious and kind. During our conversation, I realized that she was a practitioner. That night I followed her suggestion and went to a practice site to obtain a copy of the book Zhuan Falun. This is how I started my cultivation.
Two weeks later, my son became a practitioner. He was twelve years old, and had just entered middle school. After he finished his schoolwork and tests, he would read Zhuan Falun by himself. One day, during a family dinner, he announced that he had decided to become a practitioner. From that moment on, he spent every weekend participating in group practice with me at the park.
After I became a practitioner, I told my parents and in-laws the good news. On the day that my mother decided that she also wanted to cultivate, she threw away all the medicine she was using. Since then, she has not taken any medicine. Ten days after my mother began, my in-laws also came to my home and began practicing. My mother-in-law was illiterate, but due to her determination, she learned to read Zhuan Falun and Master's other teachings in only two years.
During this same time period, my older sister also began practicing Falun Gong at another location.
When I became a practitioner, my husband also thought that Dafa was very good, and he periodically read Teacher's Fa, but he just did not want to cultivate. Three months later, he indicated that he would cultivate after he retired. Teacher's article "Practicing Cultivation After Retirement" (from Essentials for Further Advancement) was published at this time, and after reading it, he suddenly felt that he should start cultivation practice. He worked during the day, and at night he watched Teacher's lecture videos intently, in the meditation position with his legs crossed.
The following February, my older sister and I went back to my hometown to celebrate my father's birthday, and we decided to use that opportunity to promote Dafa. In the evening, our whole family gathered around my parents and listened to us talk about Dafa.
The next day, my sister went to my brother's home. My niece sat with her legs crossed like my sister and listened to my sister read Lunyu from Zhuan Falun. Before my sister had finished half of it, my niece's Celestial Eye opened, and she saw things in other dimensions. She also saw a Bodhisattva at our local South Tower, and the Bodhisattva was emitting light. My niece also saw the light ring behind the Bodhisattva and golden Falun all over her home. When my niece arrived at my parents' home, she saw Teacher's fashen step out of the picture frame with a smile. At that moment, my brother and his wife decided to become practitioners, and their family started their cultivation journey.
In May 1998, my father got out of bed in the middle of the night and tried to meditate, crossing his legs like my mother. After he adjusted to my mother's sitting position, he observed scenes in other dimensions. He observed these scenes for about forty minutes. The next morning, he told my mother about the scenes he saw in other dimensions, which he previously didn't believe existed, yet now he could see them. Since then, he vowed that he would continue cultivating even if there was no one else cultivating in the rest of the world. Currently, more than ten people in our family have entered the door at different times to cultivate Dafa.
From Humans to Gods
My mother's health had rapidly declined and she was near death, but soon after she started cultivating, she returned to health quickly. She could now walk with a healthy stride, and this change had a significant impact on the local area residents. Because of this, many people decided to become practitioners. I remember that soon after our local Fa study group was formed, a fellow practitioner brought in a mute girl who was about seven or eight years old. She came to the meeting so that she could play with her mother. Two nights later, amazing things happened. Soon after Fa study started, she looked around and tried to speak using her hands and legs. Soon, she spoke clearly. She told everyone that there were Falun spinning all over the Fa study group. Teacher and other gods were in the upper room, and a Bodhisattva also studied the Fa around the practitioners.
When the persecution started in 1999, my mother was arrested and taken to the county police station for interrogation, since she was the local group organizer. On the way to the station, they met my father, who was on his way back from the city. The police allowed my mother to speak to him for a short moment. My father told her that she did not do anything wrong, that she should not be afraid nor feel shameful because she was arrested, that on the contrary, she should feel happy. My father's encouragement made her feel strong and have strong righteous thoughts when she faced the evil interrogators. In the end, the police did not get what they sought and released her after more than ten hours.
As a fellow practitioner, I admire my mother. She is a 75-year-old, illiterate woman from the countryside. She does not panic, nor is she afraid to clarify the truth. She uses her wisdom to clarify the truth, and she promotes Dafa to everyone with a predestined relationship.
On January 3, 2003, while my husband and I were distributing truth clarification materials, we were reported to the authorities. My husband was subsequently sentenced to eighteen months in a forced labor camp. In the labor camp, he was subjected to several kinds of torture because he refused to submit to brainwashing, but this didn't change his determined heart. When his prison term was completed, the police again secretly detained him and attempted to brainwash him. At the beginning, they sent six criminals to beat him. They attempted to force him to burn Teacher's picture, but he firmly refused. Then they force-fed him alcohol and burned significant portions of his body. In June, they wrapped him in a quilt and left him for several hours. The criminals said, "Aren't you cultivating to become a deity? You should not be afraid of being hot." They also made him stand for hours without rest over a two-month period. After all these tactics failed, they released him. After my husband returned, he once again started to validate the Fa.
My son started practicing Falun Gong when he was twelve years old. Under Teacher's protection, he has made it through safely. Like most other young practitioners, he was able to participate in the weekend group exercises and Fa promoting activities before July 20, 1999. When he heard that Teacher's Fa lecture video was being shown, he often went see it, no matter how far away the location was. When Teacher's articles arrived, he would finish reading them no matter how busy he was with his studies. When we could not do the sitting meditation with double-crossed legs, he was able to.
Because he was a young child, I still worried that he would be polluted by todays' society, so I didn't want him to go out at night except to study. I was especially worried that he would play video games. One night, he did not come home, and I couldn't sleep the whole night. Although Teacher was protecting him, he was just a young boy. He didn't come home until 5 o'clock in the morning. Hearing him open the door, I started to scold him as soon as he stepped inside. He didn't explain or defend himself, and I was really angry. Later I looked inward to see which attachment I had and needed to eliminate. When I identified my attachment and let it go, my son told me that the reason he did not come home was that he had gone to his classmate's home ten miles away from the city to promote the Fa to him. He didn't sleep the entire night. Because there was no public transportation to get home, he had walked all the way. He told me that when he opened the door, he saw Teacher smiling at him from his portrait. This made him realize that he had done the right thing.
My son was only 14 years old when the persecution started on July 20, 1999. With other fellow practitioners, he went to the capital city of our province to validate the Fa. (I was working in the city government office and had my own obstacles.) That night, the local public security bureau arrested all of them. I learned later that he was the youngest practitioner and was enrolled in the best local middle school. This surprised the police.
When my son was in his second year of high school, his father was sent to a forced labor camp, but this didn't shake his determination. On the contrary, he became even stronger. In the past, when his father was home, he delivered informational materials to his hometown every week, which is about 65 miles away. After his father left, he took up this task. Although he only had time on Sunday mornings, he persevered until the last semester of the third year of high school, when officials from the local 610 Office told him that they had discovered he was delivering the materials. He passed the tribulation wisely. Maybe it was Teacher's arrangement, but another materials site was established close to that area soon after.
When my son was in his second year of college, I was sentenced to three years in prison because I refused to write the repentance statement. (I was a governmental employee and declared my withdrawal from the CCP in July 2000.) During this period, my son finished college, and with his determination, found a good job before he graduated. During the time I was detained, he didn't buy any clothes and led a very simple life.
He is currently doing software work for an international company. His supervisor is very appreciative of his work. When the evil was most vicious during the Olympics this year, he was sent overseas to study for over a month. He knew that everything was arranged by Teacher. Therefore, he always treats himself as a practitioner and diligently does what he should be doing.
Like fellow practitioners in China, the other practitioners in our family are cultivating diligently in their own work and study environments and doing the three things well. Last year, two more family members begin practicing Falun Gong. Every practitioner has his or her own story and path. Many other practitioners are doing better than we are, so I will let them tell their own stories.
October 28, 2008
