(Minghui.org) I attended the free Falun Gong nine-day class from September 1 to September 9, 2001, thus ending my long search for a righteous path. I was so overcome with joy. I locked myself in my study to read Zhuan Falun, Falun Gong's main text, after work every day. I didn't even know about the horrible 9-11 terrorist attacks in New York City.
I had been looking for a spiritual path since I was young. I briefly studied Buddhism, Taoism, Christianity, Catholicism, and Tantric Buddhism, but none of them was able to answer my questions about life and the universe. Do reincarnations exist? Do we have past lives? Are there divine beings in the universe? Does the universe have an end or an edge?
I was waiting forever for a taxi in the busy eastern district of Taipei in August 2001. Finally a shiny new taxi stopped for me. It was very clean. The music in the taxi made me completely relaxed. I asked the driver about the music and learned that he practices Falun Gong and that he was playing Falun Gong music. He told me briefly about his experience with the practice. I was very intrigued. He gave me a flyer about Falun Gong before I got off the taxi, and it had a website listed there. I quickly found a Falun Gong exercise practice site and group study site less than 10 minutes away from my home. I have now been practicing Falun Gong for almost 11 years!
Teacher said,
"The course of life is, for each person, just like a volume of history." ("20th Anniversary Fa Teaching")
Although I have practiced Falun Gong for 11 years, it feels as though I have only just started practicing Falun Gong yesterday. I would like to share three different stories from my cultivation.
1. Stories about My Daughter
After I started practicing Falun Gong, I decided to quit my high-paying job at a foreign business corporation. I'd rather be a full-time mother and wife and give more time to my family. I wanted to make up for the time I had lost because of work.
About six years ago, when my daughter was about to be born, I was sitting in my study one night when I suddenly felt something diving into my belly. Next I saw stars sparkling all over the room. They were radiant and beautiful. The view lasted for about one minute. I clapped and exclaimed, "So beautiful!" My husband was sitting right next to me, but he did not see anything. I guessed that maybe my daughter's Primordial Spirit was entering her physical body as she was about to come to this world. Those sparkling stars must have been people from her world celebrating her arrival to the human world for the sake of saving sentient beings.
A strange thing kept happening about two months after my daughter was born. I often found that she was perfectly tucked in the next morning, but neither my husband nor I had tucked her in that way the night before. Who could have done it? When I read "Teaching the Fa at the Fa Conference in Australia," I learned that a similar thing had happened to a fellow Falun Gong practitioner's child. I realized that a divine being must have come and tucked my daughter in at night.
My daughter was able to speak fluently by the age of one. She learned to read Hong Yin and Hong Yin II at three years of age. She learned to read Zhuan Falun and Hong Yin III at five years of age. She has recently finished reading Essentials for Further Advancement. She has always been a confident child. She walked the runway at a fundraiser organized by New Tang Dynasty Television (NTD). She traveled to 17 different cities in Taipei in six months for the fundraising events. Sometimes we had to get up at 4 a.m. For one particular fundraising trip, by the time we got back to Taipei after six hours of bus rides, it was almost 3 a.m. She has never complained of being tired. Sometimes she would wait backstage for the performance to start by quietly practicing her routines. She was just as professional as adult models.
2. NTD Global Han Couture Design Competition
I studied fashion design at school. While I was working for the government, I had once handled the marketing campaign of a fashion design competition. Therefore, I was asked to manage the marketing campaign for the inaugural NTD Global Han Couture Design Competition in Taiwan in 2007. It was quite a challenge because Han couture is generally perceived as movie or TV costumes. There are not many fashion designers who know about the construction of Han couture pieces or are interested in competing in such an event. It was a particularly a challenge because it was the inaugural competition and we had no precedence to follow or learn from. Several fellow Falun Gong practitioners and I visited many Han couture scholars, experts, retro-Chinese fashion designers, costume designers and the dean of fashion design departments in colleges.
We visited each and every college that has a fashion design department. We often held large-scale demos with a large support staff from NTD and The Epoch Times to explain the competition. We took the opportunity to introduce the competition, as well as NTD and Shen Yun Performing Arts. In the end, 60 designers from all over Taiwan signed up for the competition; 28 of them advanced to the final.
For the second competition in 2008, we decided to raise awareness about the competition by running Han couture fashion shows on campus. We chose eight colleges famous for their schools of fashion design. We asked these schools to choose tall models among their students. We put the designs on the models, put on their makeup, and taught them how to walk in two short hours before the fashion show. The audience was mesmerized. The faculty and students were impressed how the student models could look so elegant and graceful when they wore the traditional Chinese fashion designs.
Because of the overwhelming responses from the Han couture fashion shows on campus, I was invited to extend them to two fashion design schools in Hong Kong. I found that the makeup classes in Taiwan and Hong Kong would typically teach their students the "modern" take on traditional Chinese makeup. It was all about Victorian pale base foundation, smoky eyes, and red hot lips. It was not beautiful to me at all. It made a lady look quite Gothic. We shoulder an important mission—to restore traditional values. We always manage to squeeze in time to introduce Shen Yun Performing Arts as a way to show people the classical sense of art and beauty.
Because of the success of the fashion shows on campus, I was invited by NTD's Asia Division to run the fashion show at its fundraising events. I was involved in fashion shows for three years. I had absolutely no budget to hire professional models. I had to select about 20 young and fair female Falun Gong practitioners in Taiwan who were at least 5 feet 5 inches tall. I had to select music for the fashion shows. I had to find a venue to train the models to walk the runway. Most importantly, I had to find fellow practitioners to make over 30 Han outfits.
I have always been a very optimistic person. I am typically the last person standing when everyone else has given up. Now that I practice Falun Gong, I have steadfast faith: I believe that Teacher will help me as long as I think and conduct myself according to the Fa and do things for selfless reasons. It turned out that there are many beautiful female Falun Gong practitioners over 5 feet 5 inches tall in Taiwan. We quickly found more than 20 young, tall, and beautiful female Falun Gong practitioners for the runway. A fellow practitioner from Switzerland, a model and director, happened to visit Taiwan. She became our fashion show director. A fellow practitioner who owns a business paid for the expensive fabric needed to make Han couture. We now had everything we needed.
The models were trained three months before the first fashion show. We gathered around in a circle and we said together, "Assist Teacher in the Fa-rectification and save sentient beings." Everyone performed well, even those models whose feet and lips would tremble during rehearsals. They looked as elegant, feminine, and beautiful as a lady can be. They took our breath away. They looked like heavenly fairies descending from the sky. The audience kept praising how beautiful these ladies looked in Han couture. We held eight fashion shows in eight different cities for the fundraising.
In the third year I was assigned as the main coordinator again. One day I noticed my four-year-old daughter among the models backstage. I asked her if she would be confident enough to walk the runway, and she replied, "Yes!" I arranged for a child king and a child queen (my daughter) to appear at the finale of the show. The audience went wild for the surprising finale. The media kept photographing and filming the adorable child models. The child queen's sweet smile captivated everyone.
There is now a group of fellow practitioners, who are professionals, organizing the annual Han couture fashion shows. I have left the team, but I am proud to have been a part of it.
3. My Husband Became a Falun Gong Practitioner
My husband was strongly opposed to me practicing Falun Gong for the first few years. It was a battle to say the least. Gradually, however, he became increasingly curious about and interested in what I was doing to clarify the truth about Falun Gong. Then he was no longer opposed to my practice.
I have learned from Falun Gong's teachings that when I have conflicts with my husband, I must have attachments that need removed. Therefore, I found myself compromising to his unreasonable requests when we argued about my time spent on Falun Gong or trivial things in daily life. I was often upset, yet I knew I must have attachments to eliminate. It was a painful feeling that haunted me for the first few years.
At first, my husband called me superstitious. Then he commented, "Falun Gong is good, but you cultivate poorly!" He eventually began to acknowledge that Falun Gong is good and started to help me clarify the truth about Falun Gong. He was a manager in a printing and binding business, and The Epoch Times staff often asked him for help to resolve problems with printers. He had flown to the U.S. many times to help resolve problems. Eventually The Epoch Times invited him to move to the U.S. and join its printing division.
Our families, friends and relatives were shocked. My husband had spent the first half of his life building a career in Taiwan. He has always been known as a very prudent man. How could he give up his career in Taiwan and move to a country with a different language and a very different culture? Our entire family had to move to the U.S. with him. It was Teacher's compassionate arrangement to have him cultivate with a group of Falun Gong practitioners in the U.S.
About a year ago, when fellow practitioners at the printing division sent forth righteous thoughts, my husband would feel awkward and turned to find something else to do. Now he sends forth righteous thoughts with everyone.
Now my husband often studies the Fa with me at night. I am often touched when I hear him studying the Fa sincerely. Words fail to describe how I feel at those moments. I can only thank Teacher for His grace. There are so many people that are unable to practice Falun Gong, but my husband is lucky enough to have the opportunity.
I had thought that one would have to be an attorney, a doctor, a college professor, or someone with an advanced degree to successfully clarify the truth about Falun Gong to people. Then I realized I was wrong. I had studied fashion design, but I found my true purpose in speaking to people about Falun Gong in the Han couture competition and the Han couture fashion shows. Now that I live in the U.S., I help to write articles about fashion. My husband helps with The Epoch Times printing division. As long as we have the enthusiasm, we will find a way to help and form one-body. Teacher will make perfect arrangements for us.
Thank you, Teacher! Thank you, fellow Falun Gong practitioners!
