(Minghui.org)
Greetings, revered Master! Greetings, fellow practitioners!
I am a 70-year-old practitioner from a rural area. This is the first time that I have ever submitted an experience sharing article to a Fahui. I now take this precious opportunity to report to Master and share with fellow practitioners my cultivation experiences.
1. Truly Experience What Is Meant by “Cultivation Is Up to You, Gong Is Up to the Master”
Both my husband and I used to suffer from very poor health, with me being plagued with heart disease and arthritis and my husband with chronic bronchitis and stomach problems. After we began to practice Falun Gong on January 21, 2000, all these diseases disappeared without a trace. Overjoyed with being illness free, we only had an even firmer belief in Master and Dafa.
The persecution of Falun Gong began shortly before my husband and I obtained the Fa, so nobody really knew that we were practicing. As such, we didn’t have any fellow practitioners to give us Master’s new articles and lectures. During those days, we encouraged each other to remain committed to Master and Dafa, and we never wavered in our faith.
We were finally able to borrow a copy of “Fa-Lecture During the 2003 Lantern Festival at the U.S. West Fa Conference” by chance in 2003, and we carefully transcribed every word of it. The next year we got in touch with an out-of-town practitioner who gave us more of Master’s newer lectures. After reading the new lectures, we came to understand that, as Dafa disciples, we shoulder the sacred responsibility to save sentient beings, but we had no idea of how to do it. Later we managed to meet some of our local practitioners, who shared their experiences of doing the three things. After that we often rode our bike to neighboring villages to distribute truth-clarification materials. We experienced one miracle after another during our efforts.
Not long after the publication of the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party in 2005, my husband and I set out again on our bike to distribute copies of this precious book. After reaching our destination (a village several miles from our home), we separated to pass out the books with my husband starting at one end of the road and me at the other. As I went, I saw three people standing by the road, but I just walked by without paying much attention to them. The next day, during a chance conversation with a friend from that village, I learned that three police vehicles had gone there the day before to hunt down people distributing copies of the Nine Commentaries. This friend told me that some villagers reported a nun passing out the book and that the police didn’t press any further with their investigation. I knew right away that it was Master that made me appear like a nun in the eyes of those villagers and enabled me to escape danger. I was full of gratitude to Master.
One year on Chinese New Year's Eve, a few of us practitioners went out to post truth-clarification messages on walls. I teamed up with a 70-year-old practitioner who used his motorcycle as our transportation. While we were working our way along, the motorcycle suddenly broke down, and he just couldn’t get it started. I had to push from behind to make it move. Interestingly, although both of us were in our 70s, we didn’t feel tired at all. As a matter of fact, we pushed the motorcycle forward swiftly as if we were much younger. The next day he went to fill the motorcycle’s tank, and it took three people using all their strength to make it move just a bit. I knew that Master had helped us the previous night; otherwise how could I, a 70-year-old woman, push the motorcycle so easily? Without Master’s protection, we wouldn’t have been able to return home safely in the middle of the night. Master is protecting us all the time. We can only appreciate Master’s compassion in our hearts, as we are unable to express our gratitude with words.
2. Keep Master’s Teachings in Mind and Share the Wonder of Dafa with Everyday People
On August 16, 2006, my husband and I were visiting our daughter when we noticed a very old man outside the door. He was dressed in rags and covered with mud. He begged for some water, and we gave him a big cup. We learned that he was 84 and had gotten lost the day before on his morning walk. He had wandered around for a whole day and night, and now was thirsty and hungry. He had knocked on many doors, but no one was willing to help him. He was driven away instead. Hearing his story, we invited him to join us for lunch. After lunch we took him to a bus stop thinking he could take the bus home, which was about 20 miles away. To our surprise, the bus driver refused to let him on unless we rode with him. My daughter and I helped him get on the bus with my husband, who had gotten on board first, holding his hand.
After getting off the bus, we took a taxi to his home. When we arrived, we saw a crowd around his house, all anxious to find out where he was. They were elated to see him. Upon learning what had happened, his son immediately knelt down in front of my husband and kept repeating his thanks. His son, a successful business owner, insisted on paying us as a token of appreciation. My husband said, “I don’t want anything from you. I am a Falun Dafa practitioner, and our Master teaches us to follow Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. If you really want to thank someone, thank our Master!” Everyone, including the taxi driver, was deeply moved and commented, “Nowadays, who still cares about other people if he is not a Falun Gong practitioner?”
The next day this old man’s whole family brought our village Party secretary to our home with many expensive gifts in tow. We declined, but they insisted we accept the presents. My husband and I talked to them about the facts of Falun Gong, and everyone in their family withdrew from the Chinese Communist Party and/or its affiliated organizations. After they left we reminded each other that we should be considerate of others and that we do good deeds not for any return. The following day we sent back all their presents and reiterated that we wanted nothing in return. All Dafa disciples would do the same thing. We clarified the truth to their visiting relatives and friends and got them to quit the CCP and its youth organizations. Everyone was deeply moved by the wonder of Dafa and the altruism of Dafa disciples. The story soon traveled far and wide. Later when my husband went to a village to purchase bricks, the seller asked him about a Falun Gong practitioner who had helped a lost man return home. The seller even repeated the whole story and commented that many villages now knew about it. In order to validate the Fa, my husband admitted he was the one who had helped the man. The seller offered him a discount, but my husband insisted on paying the regular price for the bricks. My husband told him more about Dafa and advised him to remember, “Falun Dafa is good.”
In order to save more people, my husband and I attended as many weddings and funerals as possible. For example, an unusually large number of guests came to attend my brother’s 65th birthday party, and I took the opportunity to talk to as many people as possible. I was able to get more than 30 people, many of whom were Party members, to do the three withdrawals there.
3. Help Fellow Practitioners Suffering Sickness Karma or Tribulations with Compassion
In the winter of 2007, a female practitioner older than me from another village was attacked by sickness karma. She wasn’t able to keep any food down for more than two months, and she had a terrible stomachache. She didn’t let us know about it until she couldn’t take it anymore. After consulting with each other, my husband and I decided to invite her to live with us for a while. After we picked her up, practitioners in our own village were very concerned about her critical condition. Some worried about how we were going to face her family should she die in our home. They thought that we were just looking for trouble. We were not deterred, and I only had Master’s Fa in mind: “... just by having your heart unaffected you will be able to handle all situations.” (“Eliminate Your Last Attachment(s)” in Essentials for Further Advancement II)
We studied the Fa and sent forth righteous thoughts with this practitioner every day. When other practitioners came to join us for Fa study, we stayed up all night to send forth righteous thoughts for her. In the meantime, I took good care of her and sometimes got up at night to cook for her. With a firm belief in Master and Dafa, we helped her gradually recover. She was completely healed after two weeks. When her non-practitioner husband came to visit her, he was shocked to see his once dying wife full of vigor despite not having had any medical attention. Tears welled up in his eyes and he knelt down in front of me to show his appreciation. I got him to his feet and said, “This is all due to Dafa’s blessings and Master’s compassion. Let us thank Master and Dafa together!” It was truly a testimonial to what Master said in His poem “The Master-Disciple Bond” (Hong Yin Volume II):
“... When disciples have ample righteous thoughts
Master has the power to turn back the tide”
Whenever my fellow practitioners encountered tribulations or sickness karma, I’d remember we were all part of a whole body, and we should help each other with compassion and righteous thoughts. Sometimes we’d receive phone calls from fellow practitioners in the middle of the night, and we always rushed to their homes without any hesitation. We knew it was all Master’s arrangements, which not only concerned our own improvement but was also the matter of forming a whole body to validate the Fa, disintegrate the evil, and save sentient beings together.
4. Take Charge of Coordination Efforts Without Reservation
My home has been a group Fa study site for 13 years, and we have never missed for even a day. Sometimes when out-of-town practitioners came to visit, we also took the opportunity to study the Fa together. Moreover, I helped my husband with his coordination efforts in our area.
The past 10-plus years have seen us clarifying the truth and saving people non-stop. We’ve used all kinds of methods to spread the truth of Dafa in all the neighboring areas. Distributing materials, talking to people face-to-face, using paper currency with truth-clarification messages written on the bills, and hanging banners are just a few examples. My husband and I worked alone and together depending on the need. If we could not go out together, the one who stayed at home sent forth righteous thoughts for the one who went out.
We also work closely with our local fellow practitioners. In order to distribute truth-clarification materials to people in remote areas, the practitioners who have cars would drive us at night to those areas. Our efforts also target those who persecute Falun Gong. As a matter of fact, we were able to get our local town Political and Legal Affairs Committee secretary, our village head, and Party secretary to do the three withdrawals! During the 2008 Summer Olympics, the village Party secretary stopped higher-ups from harassing local practitioners.
In addition to working with practitioners in our own village, we also collaborate with practitioners in neighboring villages so we can improve as a whole. With our efforts, some practitioners are now in charge of making materials while others are responsible for certain coordination efforts. When we have a healthy cultivation environment, we all find it so much easier to form a whole body to coordinate our truth-clarification efforts.
My husband often rides his bike to deliver Master’s lectures and truth-clarification materials to other practitioners. Rain or shine, he hops on his bike without any hesitation, never thinking about his advanced age. He often comments that it is what he’s supposed to do. He has witnessed many miracles. For example, on his way back home from delivering materials to practitioners in another village, it started to rain. He thought to himself that he wanted to get home quickly. With that one thought, he was suddenly at the entrance to our village, and there was not even one wet spot on his clothes. He told me he felt he had travelled home through another dimension.
Around 2003 and 2004, some of our local practitioners enlightened along an evil path and even tried to get other practitioners to follow suit. When we heard about this, we sent messages out to everyone we knew and urged them to not listen to those people’s propaganda. We were pleased to see that nobody else in our area gave up their Dafa cultivation.
My daughter and I went to visit a former practitioner who enlightened along an evil path and saw her husband doing chores in the courtyard. When the husband learned of our intention, he flew into a rage and threatened to report us to the 610 Office if we didn’t leave right away. I was not deterred and kept clarifying the truth to him, with many onlookers gathering around. He grabbed a shovel to intimidate me, but it didn’t frighten me a bit, and I talked to him for another 30 minutes. As he listened, he suddenly cracked a smile and then invited me and my daughter to come inside, where he served us water and fruit. I knew the demons controlling him had been disintegrated. Later I learned this husband had once pushed a practitioner’s bike into a ditch and threw stones at him.
When the whole body coordinates well, it exerts greater power when it comes to rescuing detained practitioners. In 2009 many practitioners were arrested. There was one coordinator who was chased by the police who stationed vehicles outside his residence every day. We needed to protect this coordinator and rescue those detained practitioners at the same time. We sent forth righteous thoughts at the top of every hour and delivered materials to the 610 Office and the Domestic Security Division. We also posted truth-clarification messages on the walls of the police officers' apartment buildings. Not only that, we managed to send copies of Master’s teachings to the detained practitioners. Due to our coordinated efforts, all of the detained practitioners were released not long afterwards.
Thanks to Master’s protection, my husband and I had made it this far. My biggest lessons are that we must maintain righteous thoughts and we must not acknowledge any of the old forces’ arrangements. We cannot have any concept of “fear,” and we cannot forget that we must always put Dafa as our top priority. Looking back, I just want to say from the bottom of my heart, “Master, you have been working hard! In the days left, I can only cultivate even more diligently!”