(Clearwisdom.net) I am a Dafa practitioner who lives in the countryside. I was fortunate to start practicing Falun Gong in 1996. In my nearly ten years of Falun Dafa practice, the power of Dafa and the benevolent protection of Master have miraculously manifested in my life. This has strengthened my determination to firmly practice Falun Gong, and it has made the people around me believe in and admire Dafa.
Soon after I started practicing Falun Gong, I experienced tribulations that came from my family. My husband did not practice Falun Gong and, at that time, he very much hated my practicing Falun Gong. Besides beating and scolding me, he also tormented me mentally. He prohibited me from practicing the exercises and reading the books, and he prohibited me from contacting fellow practitioners and taking part in Falun Gong related activities. He restricted all my personal freedom. Once, while we were eating, he threw his bowl at my face. The bowl hit my face and then fell onto the kang (a bed built of brick and clay that is common in the countryside). My face was not hurt, and the bowl did not break. He hummed and said, "You really have some energy." He then kicked me and beat me, to see whether I really had energy.
I immediately recalled Master's teaching,
"Think about it, everyone: You are practitioners. Shouldn't you be required to meet a high standard? The principles of everyday people should not apply to you, right? As a practitioner, isn't what you get something of high levels? Accordingly, you must follow the high-level principles." ("Lecture Four" in Zhuan Falun)
On another occasion, as soon as I returned back from the practice site, he punched me and hit me in the mouth. My lips were cut and blood dripped from my mouth right away; I felt only a little numb but no pain. I did not seek treatment, and the wound healed quickly and left no scar.
On a snowy winter night, my husband made me go outside and did not allow me to put on my cotton-padded jacket and pants. He yelled at me, "I'll kill you and help you to reach consummation." Bare-footed, I stood on the snow-covered ground, with only a thin layer of clothes. I did not feel very cold in the cold weather and snow. I looked down upon the tribulation; I thought, "Dafa can hold the earth and the heavens; a Dafa practitioner can certainly dissolve the coldness." The tribulation was like a small dust particle, and it was instantaneously dissolved. A tribulation is nothing in front of Dafa practitioners. In about 2-3 hours, he called me back inside; he turned on the light to look whether I was frozen. When he saw that I was OK, he was crestfallen and said, "It really did not hurt you. Get in bed and sleep!" Dafa is tolerant, with Master's benevolent protection, I passed the tribulation.
Those experiences occurred during the personal cultivation period (before July 20, 1999, when the persecution started). My understanding was that those situations occurred because of the karma I accumulated in one after another of my past lives, and I was undergoing the tribulations. Master has already taken part of the suffering from me, and I was also paying the debts for my karma. There was no reason that I should not have done well.
When the persecution started, I felt as if the sky was collapsing. Village authorities kept looking for me time and again, and the situation in my family was also getting worse. This, together with my bearing physical tribulations to eliminate karma, caused me to feel that it was extremely difficult. I made the following resolution in my mind, "I will continue to cultivate Dafa. I will keep practicing Falun Gong even if the sky falls, and nothing will move my determination."
At that time, a swelling grew at my two front teeth. The swelling was getting bigger and my face also swelled badly. My family members were scared and they asked me to take an intravenous drip. I told them that I was OK. I told them that I am a Dafa practitioner and that this wouldn't hurt me. My son said, "Mother, please take some medicine if you don't want to take an intravenous drip!" It happened that my mother-in-law came to visit us. She was also frightened when she saw me; she could not even recognize me. I comforted her, saying that I would be OK in a few days. My mother-in-law is also a Dafa practitioner and she told me to look inside to see whether there was some problem with my xinxing.
After my mother-in-law left, I started to look within for shortcomings, and the same time I sent forth righteous thoughts to eliminate the evil spirits that were attached to my teeth. As soon as I calmed down, I saw a light yellow spirit at the location of my two front teeth. Its two eyes were like two grains of black rice. I reached with my hand and captured it and I threw it far away, but it still came back to the same place, lying there without moving. I sent forth righteous thoughts, again and again, to eliminate it. It became smaller and smaller and was finally eliminated. Afterwards, the swelling at my teeth started to shrink, and on the fourth day it was healed.
That was my physical condition. I was also under heavy mental pressure. At that time the situation in my family was very stressful. As soon as the village personnel started to look for me, my husband also intensified the pressure on me. Once, with a kitchen knife in his hand, he forced me into a corner and asked me, "Do you still want to practice (Falun Gong)?" I did not answer him. I looked at him and sent forth righteous thoughts to eliminate the evil beings in other dimensions that were persecuting me. He chopped down with the knife. I closed my eyes and thought of nothing. He chopped the knife at the wall one inch above my head. He shouted while he was chopping, "I'm chopping at your energy column! I'm chopping at your energy column!" I smiled when I heard that. I have practiced for such a long period of time, and I have never thought about whether I have an energy column. The evil saw my energy column in another dimension, and it tried to use my family members to force me to give up practicing Dafa.
This experience further strengthened my determination to believe in Master and Dafa. At the same time, I started to feel sorry for my husband. Because he was deceived by the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) lies and was used by the evil to persecute Dafa and Dafa practitioners, what would be his fate? I started studying the Fa and doing the exercises more diligently in order to correct myself, so that I would make less mistakes. After that experience, I kept looking for my insufficiencies and attachments.
Master said,
"If the person did not create this situation for you, how could you upgrade your xinxing? If both you and I are nice to each other and sit there in harmony, how can it be possible to increase gong? It is precisely because that person has created this conflict for you that there is this opportunity to improve xinxing, and you can make use of it to upgrade your own xinxing. Isn't your xinxing raised this way? You have gained in three ways. You are a practitioner. With xinxing upgraded, won't your gong also increase? You have gained four ways in one shot. Why shouldn't you thank that person? You should sincerely thank him from the bottom of your heart--it is actually so." ("Lecture Four" in Zhuan Falun)
I sincerely felt grateful toward my husband for helping me to upgrade my xinxing, eliminate my karma, and increase my energy column. However, I felt that I owed him, and I quietly made up my mind to change him. As soon as I had this thought, he became angry and said, "Either we divorce or you stop practicing Falun Gong. I don't believe that I can't control you." I knew at that time that the evil in other dimensions saw my thought and was afraid that I would change him. I quietly sent forth righteous thoughts to eliminate the evil. I firmly believe that benevolent Master and the Fa can harmonize everything.
He finally relented. He told my son, who was only several years old, to kneel down in front of me and beg me to give up Dafa. I realized that the evil had changed its tactic; moving to a soft approach since the tough approach did not work. I sent forth righteous thoughts silently to disintegrate the evil. I said in my mind, "You are not qualified to test Dafa practitioners." I was not moved and the evil was disintegrated; my husband also gave up. He sat on the bed and said, "There is nothing I can do."
I knew that this time the evil was defeated. Regardless of their tactic, the evil beings could not move my determination to cultivate Dafa. I kept on studying the Fa and doing the exercises as usual. Whenever I sent forth righteous thoughts, I also had a thought in mind to eliminate all the factors that hindered my husband from starting to practice Falun Gong. Since then, he has helped me hang banners and deliver truth-clarification materials when we validate Dafa. He also started reading Zhuan Falun and memorizing Hong Yin. He said that he did these to protect me, but in my mind I knew that his understanding side had started to wake up. He came for the Fa.
Recently, one event changed him completely. One day he came back home from drinking outside and he told me of some of the events in his day. When I heard that his thinking about the events was not right, I kindly told him about it. Over these years I had been consciously leading him to view people and things from the perspective of the Fa. He got angry after he heard what I said. He pointed at me and scolded me. At that time I was reading Zhuan Falun. He seized the book and tore it apart; he yelled while he was tearing the book, "Come to me! I am not afraid." I silently sent forth righteous thoughts to disintegrate the evil and the CCP's evil spirits.
Several days after that, he went riding on a motorcycle. He was hit by a four-wheeler and was thrown for more than twenty yards. At that time, the village was installing electric meters for the residents and several dozen people at the scene were astounded. They dared not to come forward and some timid ones even ran back. They talked in low voices about the outcome of the accident. But then my husband stood up. He felt his face and found no blood, and he moved his body and found no injuries. When he looked at his motorcycle, he saw it was totally mangled. After he came back home, he realized that several days before he had said something wrong and had done something too extreme. He asked me, "Could you tell me why I had the accident, but I was OK?" I said, "Dafa embodies compassion as well as dignity. You did not control yourself when you were angry and you dared to say what you should not have said, and you even tore the book. This accident just gave you a lesson because you have done a lot of things to clarify the truth. Ordinary people will be rewarded for doing Dafa validation work. This is another opportunity given to you by benevolent Master."
From then on, he changed. He started respecting Master and Dafa. After the accident some people asked him, "Do you practice Falun Gong?" He answered without hesitation, "I do." He took out a Dafa amulet and said, "If I was without Dafa, I would have already gone to another world. Falun Dafa is great!" Hearing his words I felt glad from the bottom of my heart. One life understanding the Fa is good, and he is introducing Dafa to others and validating Dafa; his future will be bright.
On another occasion, my husband and I went to visit a relative. There were several people chatting in the home. Among them, one younger sister was complaining about the bitterness of life and the trouble between husband and wife. My husband joined the conversation and chatted about how to view the bitterness of life, how to change other people with kind thoughts and how to correct the other's insufficiency. He talked about dealing with people and doing things with a peaceful mind, etc. Finally, he took off his amulet and gave it to the younger sister. He said, "This can drive away the evil. As long as you sincerely read 'Falun Dafa is good! Truthfulness-Benevolence-Tolerance is good!' you will be rewarded." He then asked her, "Have you withdrawn from the Young Pioneers?" She said, "Not yet. Please help me withdraw." Several other people at the home also withdrew from the CCP and its affiliated organizations.
On the way back home, my husband told me that he had not come in vain! I asked him why he gave the amulet to somebody else. He said, "I understand that Dafa is good and I can recite Hong Yin. I will recite Hong Yin if there is danger and I will be OK. She is different [i.e. she does not yet understand Dafa as he does]. I should not keep a good thing for myself!" Tears ran down my face, "He is awake." I said in my mind, "Kind Master, it is because of your benevolent salvation that lives are elevating." I felt that the sky was bigger, the flowers, the grass and the trees were smiling; they were smiling for the greatness of the returning lives.
Before I wrote this article, an attachment of zealotry was stirred up around this event. Before I started writing, I was thinking about whether I should write it down. Finally, I made up my mind to put it on paper and remove the attachment of zealotry at the same time.
(An experience sharing article for the Third Internet Experience Sharing Conference for Practitioners in China)
November 3, 2006