(Clearwisdom.net)
1. Life of Hardship
I started practicing Falun Dafa in mid-May of 1999. I am 42 years old this year.
My mother gave birth to me on the floor near her bed. She was so exhausted that she fell asleep leaning against the bed after giving birth. My father is bad-tempered and wanted to have a boy instead of a girl. (Under China's one-child policy, most couples do not have the option of having a second child, so the gender of the first child is greatly magnified for those who are concerned with it.) When he discovered that I was a girl, he put me inside a manure basket and abandoned me in a ditch. My mother found me and took me back home after she woke up. Since then, I have led a life of hardship.
I have always felt that there was something troubling me. Unbeknownst to me, I have always been protected at critical times. One day at the age of fifteen, a rock the size of an egg struck me out of nowhere. I heard a loud "bang" and felt as if my head had exploded. I blacked out. I regained consciousness the next day. Since then, I've understood that a person's death is not like extinguishing a light and then nothing is left. Instead, the life goes to another place, a place that human beings cannot see. I went through several such near-death experiences before I learned Falun Dafa.
In the winter of 1996, after a miscarriage, I became paralyzed after waking up in the middle of the night. My whole body felt numb and lifeless. My limbs would not respond, and I didn't feel any sensation at all. I was too shocked to cry when faced with such sudden disaster. My body had already been plagued by various illnesses. My loyal and devoted husband sought after treatments for me at any cost. Later, after regaining control of my body, I developed severe rheumatism. My whole body, from the bottom of my feet to the scalp on my head, was in great pain. What made things worse was the consumption of large quantities of Chinese herbs over an extended period, which caused big changes in my body. The blood vessels in my body broke open, causing a large amount of bleeding. I used to visit hospitals specializing in women and children's health, Chinese herbs, Western medicine and various other places looking for treatment, but the symptoms remained. I had to rely on injections to stop the bleeding and sustain my life. The happy atmosphere of my family was completely gone. My husband had to work almost non-stop during his waking hours, and my 13-year-old daughter took up parts of the housework duties.
I lay in bed, without being able to get up, for more than four months. Looking at my husband and daughter who were both tired and worried, and looking at my own condition, I felt that I would rather die. Bedridden day in day out, I would not have survived without the aid of the injections. I was a huge burden to my husband and daughter. At one point, one of my neighbors helped to prepare for my funeral.
I began to cry, thinking all day long about how I would die and what would it be like after death. I felt like I could not go on any further. It was at this time that I heard about Falun Dafa and got a copy of the priceless book, Zhuan Falun.
2. Falun Dafa Changed My Life
On the first day of reading the teachings of Falun Dafa, many puzzles in my life were solved. The more I read the book, the more I wanted to read it. My eyes used to be in such pain as I read each word on a page. To my surprise, that day I was able to keep reading for half a day. I did not feel any pain at all. Instead, my eyes felt very soothed. I was extremely happy. When I read lecture three, my mind seemed to have opened like a door. I felt bright in my heart and became aware of many things. I did not know when I began to kneel, holding Zhuan Falun in my hands and crying hard in bed. While I was crying, I called to Teacher out loud, "Teacher, how can I find you! Teacher, I will start practicing Falun Dafa from today onwards to the end no matter how hard and how long the path will be." Furthermore, my body stopped bleeding, no matter how hard I moved. My body felt light. In the process of studying Falun Dafa, practicing the exercises, and improving my mind nature, the lumps of asbestos silicosis about the size of beans that had developed in my lung were all coughed out. My husband, who did not easily believe in others, was totally convinced and greatly admired Teacher and Falun Dafa. I could not find any words to express my gratitude. I just cried non-stop.
Falun Dafa filled my heart. I felt that my body became healthy and my mind broad. I was doing things and treating people according to the standard of Falun Dafa and the principles of Truth, Compassion, and Tolerance. I had a better relationship with my in-laws after holding grudges against them for many years. I tried my best to respect them and make up for my ill treatment of them in the past. This made my in-laws so happy that they praised Falun Dafa all the time.
I ran a retail shop selling products for several factories. I abandoned the mentality of postponing my debt and "borrowing hens to produce eggs." I began to make payments right after the transactions to clear the debts owed to various factories. It was inconceivable to them what I was doing. The manager of one factory in Zhejiang Province could not believe the note of debt payment I had sent to him. He was shocked to receive the amount of money I had sent to him. He came to thank me from a place thousands of miles away. I told him to thank my Teacher, because it was Teacher's Falun Dafa principles that taught me to consider others first. It was Teacher's Falun Dafa principles that taught me not to obtain things belonging to others and to be a good person who brings benefits to others in whatever we do. The manager said, "The Falun Gong Teacher is great. The production in the factory had to stop due to the postponement of debt payment owed by people from various places in China. I came here to learn from you. If everyone learns Falun Dafa, listens to Teacher as you do, and considers others first, that would be wonderful." He wanted to see my Teacher. I played Teacher's video of teaching the exercises to him. He began to learn the exercises from Teacher right away. He said happily, "I will learn the exercises quickly so that I can teach my wife and son to practice after I go home. I will help them learn Falun Dafa and its teachings." How lucky he was! He originally came to learn how to get more money back for the factory, but now he was learning the teachings of Falun Dafa.
On July 20, 1999, while I was learning Falun Dafa, practicing the exercises, being a good person, and leading a happy life, Jiang's regime began to suppress Falun Gong. Many Falun Gong practitioners thought that the leaders of the country did not know the greatness of our Teacher and Falun Gong and the fact that Falun Gong practitioners are good people. I went to Beijing several times to tell the government about the mental and physical benefits that I received through practicing Falun Gong through the National Appeal's Office. I wanted to ask the leaders to personally read the Falun Gong books, to truly understand Falun Gong and its practitioners. The government should give the people an opportunity to practice and improve themselves, and give people the right to be healthy. I was arrested, beaten, and detained unjustly several times. People are being suppressed for speaking out about Falun Gong.
I'm calling on everyone to help end this brutal persecution against the innocent and good people, so that everyone will have the chance to practice Falun Gong and change their lives like I did.
