(Clearwisdom.net) It has been over 12 years since I first began to practice Falun Dafa in 1997. Looking back, sometimes I did well and sometimes I did poorly. With Teacher's care and help, I got to where I am. Below I summarize my experiences to report to Teacher and share with fellow practitioners.
1. Learning the Fa
I had an acute kidney infection and my whole body was swollen in 1993. It became chronic later and the condition went up and down for many years. I visited many hospitals, took a large amount of medicine, and spent a lot of money, but I did not get any better. At the end, I did not even have the strength to sit up.
I was totally devastated by my illness and lost all my faith in life when a relative who is a practitioner gave me a copy of Zhuan Falun. Thinking that I would give it a try, I began reading the book and my insomnia disappeared that same day. I marveled at the fact that reading the book could cure illness.
Later a fellow practitioner came to teach me the exercises. Originally bedridden, I was able to hold the Law Wheel (the second Falun Gong exercise) for half an hour. I felt most comfortable doing the exercises. A month later, I was able to resume my homemaking duties. As my health improved day by day, I personally felt the power of Dafa. Teacher cleansed my body and gave me a new life. My journey of cultivation thus began.
2. Spreading Dafa
Having experienced such positive results myself, I felt that everyone should know about Falun Dafa. I bought Dafa books to give to my relatives, friends, colleagues and managers. Having witnessed what happened to me, they began to cultivate also.
I often went to nearby villages with fellow practitioners to spread the good news about Falun Dafa. Sometimes we rode our bicycles dozens of miles, but never felt tired.
3. Validating Dafa
Thus more and more sentient beings learned about the wonders of Falun Dafa. On July 20, 1999, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began the evil persecution. I could not stand idly by and went with a fellow practitioner to Beijing, but we were arrested by police lying in wait as soon as we got to the Beijing station. Buses came one after another, packed with practitioners, standing room only. We were not allowed to get off the bus, nor to open the windows in the 40 degree Celsius/104 degree Fahrenheit heat. It stayed that way until the next afternoon when they interrogated us. The three people who interrogated me were quite vicious in their approach, but I knew that I did not do anything wrong by sincerely following Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, so I did not feel afraid and patiently told them the facts. At the end they became much nicer.
They put me and a few other practitioners in jail. Not clear on the Fa principles at the time, I did not think of opposing the persecution, nor did I know to deny these old force arrangements. I thought since I was jailed, I would cultivate myself and rid off my attachments, then I would be released. So I strictly demanded myself to get rid of all my attachments, such as the fear of filth, hardship, and intense summer heat. At first the inmates did not like us at all. But after we communicated with them and treated them nicely, they began to like and respect us.
A few days later, the police forced us to watch TV programs that slandered Dafa, and wanted us to write reports afterward. I wrote about how cultivation helped with my health and improved my character. The head of the 610 Office exploded. A classmate of mine working at the 610 Office came to the jail with my brother to persuade me. Another classmate and a colleague also came, trying to get me to write a guarantee statement. I was not affected by them and had only one thought in my mind, "Nothing is wrong with cultivating myself and being a good person." My sisters, brother-in-law, sister-in-law all came to the jail and tried to persuade me. My mind was not affected. But my brother's tears moved me, and I regrettably said some things I didn't really mean to mollify the authorities. I later nullified these words by making a solemn declaration on the Minghui website. On the eighth day, after each practitioner's family was forced to pay two thousand yuan, we were released.
4. Telling People the Facts about Falun Gong
Many articles have been circulated over the last several years falsely claiming to be authored by Master. Some practitioners said they were real, and then later changed their minds and said they were fake. It was quite confusing. My husband was a Dafa assistant. We talked it over and decided to buy a computer and a printer to get online, so we can help fellow practitioners to get reliable information. My husband did not know anything about computers at first. With Teacher's help, he managed to get onto the Minghui/Clearwisdom website and printed out various articles written by practitioners around the world to share with our local practitioners.
As the Fa-rectification proceeded, more and more practitioners came out to talk to people about Falun Dafa and the persecution face to face. Seeing this, I decided that I had to step out. But the first time I went out, I was unable to talk to anyone. Watching the crowd coming and going, I was unable to open my mouth to say anything and felt very bad. Later I changed my method by going to the market every morning, buying a few things here, a few things there, and took each as an opportunity to clarify the truth. But as time went on, I felt I could not keep buying things. So I partnered with a fellow practitioner - I send forth righteous thoughts next to her while she told people the facts. But gradually I became more and more dependent on her. In the meantime, I had a hidden selfishness, pushing fellow practitioners to the front while I hid behind. I decided that these bad notions were not truly me, and I needed to be rid of them.
I then met three young people. I walked up to them and asked if they had heard of quitting the CCP and its associated organizations. They said no. I then described to them how corrupt the CCP is and explained how it had killed 80 million fellow citizens in its campaigns, and that the only way to stay safe is to quit from it or its affiliated organizations. They happily agreed and took a copy of the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party from me.
Through this experience, I enlightened that telling people the facts is not difficult. What is difficult is to give up our preconceived notions. We have so many, such as not wanting to lose face, worrying that people might not listen, and fear of getting reported. Later on I would rid myself of these bad thoughts as soon as they emerged, thinking that they were not me and should not interfere with my telling people the facts. My mindset became more and more righteous, and telling people the facts went more and more smoothly. I felt that I had boundless wisdom and was able to convince most people I talked to.
5. Illness Tribulation
As long as we believe in Teacher, believe in Dafa, there will be no tribulation too big to pass. The worse the tribulation, the more one needs to be steadfast and diligent. The tribulation will be over in no time.
In 2004, a fellow practitioner who was forced to stay away from home suffered severe illness tribulation. In spite of frequent sharing and sending forth righteous thoughts, things did not improve, and she was admitted to the hospital.
Seeing the practitioner's experience I became scared, thinking that being as steadfast as she is, distributing Falun Dafa material and helping local practitioners greatly, if she was in such a situation, how could I succeed? With these thoughts, I myself developed bad illness karma the next day, feeling nauseous and losing all my energy, just like how I felt before my cultivation.
I soon came to my senses. I decided to study Fa persistently, and send forth righteous thoughts every hour on the hour, and four times a day for a half hour. Then I cleared away all the evil factors that harmed my body. But two days passed and things did not get any better. Then my human notion reappeared, thinking that people all knew that I had improved my health through cultivation, now I was this way again. How could I validate the Fa? How could I face fellow practitioners? But I did not slacken in my Fa study and sending forth righteous thoughts. On the third day, suddenly I had a strong thought from the bottom of my heart telling myself that I am a practitioner in the Fa-rectification period and the tribulation was truly nothing. I felt ashamed of the human notions that I had. With this thought, my discomfort suddenly all disappeared. Indeed the human and the divine are only separated by one single thought. I truly enlightened to the significance of Teacher's wanting us to study Fa more.
One day in 2006, I suddenly felt very uncomfortable and began to cough and developed a high fever. I searched hard to see what attachment I still had. My husband also helped, but we could not find any serious ones. A few days passed and things got worse. I enlightened that I would by no means cooperate with the evil. I calmed down and looked deep into myself, and asked Teacher to help. This way I immediately found that I had many attachments. I had helped a few practitioners successfully by sharing experiences, studying Fa, and sending forth righteous thoughts with them. With their praise, I developed the attachment of zealotry and showing off. Looking further, I found I had the attachments of validating myself, thinking myself to be superior, being jealous, and pursuing fame. I knew clearly these were not me and I send forth righteous thoughts to get rid of them. My daughter and husband also helped. I felt a powerful energy field encompass me and my body became totally clear. With Teacher's care and fellow practitioners' help, I fully recovered in seven days.
I enlightened that one needs to be routinely demanding of oneself, and make sure one's every single thought is righteous, then one will not encounter such big tribulations. Also, no matter what the situation is, as long as one believes in Teacher and Dafa, no tribulation will be too big to pass. With this realization, I never wavered in my belief of Teacher and Dafa, and all tribulations in the past years turned out to be nothing.
