(Minghui.org) Greetings, Master! Greetings, fellow practitioners!
I was born into a very poor peasant family in the mountains. Misery followed me from the moment I was born. One of my older sisters died. My grandmother believed that she was possessed by a ghost. To make sure I lived to adulthood, I was given an awful name. I survived, but I was afflicted with bronchitis, meningitis, low blood pressure, heart disease, hemorrhoids, and so on. After the first day of each Chinese New Year, I was so sick that I could not get out of bed.
As a child, I often saw things that others did not see. There was a picture of a little girl on the wall. Whenever I was very sick, she came down to play with me. When I was five years old, I was very ill and saw myself going outside with her. I flew up, through the rosy clouds, through the blue sky, and came to a huge garden, filled with flowers and trees with fresh fruit. I said, “I will not pick them.” As soon as I said that, an older man with a white beard appeared, holding a Daoist duster. After a while, he said, “You have to go back.” A phoenix came and carried me back. When I came back, I was still lying on the bed in pain.
After I married, someone told my husband that he'd married a “corpse.” I burned incense, kowtowed to the gods, and prayed to Buddha. Wherever there was a temple fair, no matter how far away it was, I would go to worship those “gods” and “Buddhas.”
The worship did not heal my illnesses—but I was able to treat others' diseases. I “healed” many peoples' diseases. I was not greedy for money, and I didn’t want anything. More and more people came to seek treatment. After the treatment, they were well, but my illnesses kept getting worse. I was miserable and often lost consciousness. Once when I passed out, my family thought I really was dead and prepared for my funeral. An hour later, I woke up. I struggled on for 45 years.
I am so fortunate to have learned Falun Dafa.
Master said:
“Perhaps the hardships you endured in the first part of your life have been for the sake of obtaining this Fa. That’s the part you know about. There are still things you don’t know about; perhaps you have been suffering and undergoing hardships in your previous lives or for an even longer period of time in order to obtain this Fa. There are also people who have experienced even more intense suffering for the sake of obtaining the Fa, and this is what you don’t know about.” (“Teaching the Fa at the International Experience-Sharing Conference in Beijing,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. I)
Master’s words are so dear to me. It enlightened me to a profound spiritual awakening. Whenever I read this Fa, I get teary-eyed.
Falun Dafa was introduced in our area in the 1990s. Even people in the mountains heard about it. Someone told me, “Falun Dafa is very good. Many people have had their illnesses resolved after practicing it.” I didn't believe it. I thought, “I've prayed to all kinds of gods, and no one cares about me. I've tried all kinds of things, none of them worked. I don't have any hope. I'm already dying.” But it was hard to die.
On the second day of the Chinese New Year in 1999, a relative encouraged me to practice. “A Falun Dafa class is being held at the bottom of the mountain. Many people are attending it and they all say it is good. Go try it.” My family also urged me to try. I lay on the bed, weakly looking at them. In desperation, I promised them I'd try. I thought I was dying anyway, so it couldn't hurt.
Eight days later, accompanied by my family, I went down the mountain to learn Falun Dafa. The workshop had already begun; there were three days left when I got there. As soon as I entered the room, I felt a mighty force energizing me. I felt revitalized.
Many people were sitting around the room, listening to the recording of Master Li's (Falun Dafa's founder) lectures in Jinan City. The coordinator asked me to sit down and cross my legs. I had no problem crossing my legs in the lotus position. Master was talking about the consequence of killing lives. As I listened, I enlightened, “I must have killed many lives before. Are these beings coming to me for re-payment? Am I paying off my debt with all this sickness?” The more I listened, the more I wanted to hear. I forgot about everything and I was completely immersed in Master's teaching.
The coordinator later asked me what I thought. I said, “It's great! But I came too late!” He said there were books and tapes, and I could learn at home. I asked several questions and talked with him for a long time. He invited me to eat at his home.
Those three days were better than a hundred years to me. I was like a new person; I was no longer sad, weak, sick, and desperate. I felt energetic. My mind and body changed dramatically and I felt joy. I bought twelve copies of Zhuan Falun to take back to my village to let more people know about Falun Dafa.
I never attended school and could not read a single word. I took the book to my brother-in-law and asked him to read it to me. When he got to the word Shakyamuni, he said, “I don't know these words.” I said, “Let me see.” I said, “Isn't that, Shakyamuni?” My brother-in-law was amazed. How could I, an illiterate person, read after listening to Master's teaching for three days! It was an amazing gift from Master!
Soon, all my illnesses were gone. I knew Master had taken them away. I was so happy that Master saved me from death. I could not find words to express my joy.
I learned the five exercises at the coordinator's home. When I returned home, I did the exercises every day. Once as I was just starting to meditate, I levitated off the ground. I was a little happy and scared at the same time. I experienced the phenomenon that Master talked about: I was off the ground for a while and then I was afraid and came down again. No matter how busy or tired I was, I always did the exercises. Even during the harshest years of persecution, I kept on practicing.
Everyone in our village knew how sick I was. The story of my amazing recovery soon spread. I no longer treated others' diseases. Whoever came to me for his or her illness, I taught them Falun Dafa. Mountain people are curious and sincere. Many people came to see me.
The mountain roads zigzag, and the houses are built along the hills. It takes some time to visit them. Our village is scattered over several hills. Despite this, more than thirty people from our village came to me to learn Falun Dafa, and many others from nearby villages also came.
I was not well off financially, but I was determined to tell everyone about Falun Dafa. I borrowed money and bought a tape player. I also carried some Dafa books from the bottom of the mountain. I did not mind any hardship, as long as I could promote this practice. In this way, Falun Dafa spread like wildfire in our deep mountainous village, and almost everyone knew about it. The number of Falun Dafa practitioners increased exponentially every week. It didn't cost them a penny and they became healthy. Who wouldn't want to practice?
Mountain people are poor and it's difficult to get medical care. Even if you had the money, it's not easy to get off the mountain to seek treatment. So people literally could not afford to get sick. People came to learn Falun Dafa in twos or threes, like an endless stream.
After the persecution of Falun Dafa began on July 20, 1999, my fellow practitioners and I often went out in the evening to distribute truth clarification materials about Falun Dafa. One time, we went to another mountain village. When we returned, it was already three o'clock in the morning. As I walked a male practitioner couldn't catch up with me. He said, “What's going on? How come I can't catch up with you?” I walked as if I was flying, no one could keep up with me. This amazing thing happened to me from time to time.
Jiang Zemin, the former head of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), launched a brutal persecution against Falun Dafa on July 20, 1999. We were not mentally prepared for this sudden and bloody onslaught. The practice sites were destroyed, and the practitioners were dispersed. The police repeatedly approached me, demanding that I hand over my Dafa books and materials. I refused. I said, “That's my life. I will never give it to you!” The police stayed at my house for one week and wouldn't let me go out. Eventually, they left. I continued to study the Fa and practice the exercises as usual.
I had the symptoms of bronchitis in 2002. I lay in bed day and night, wheezing very hard. When they heard this, the police came. They wanted to use my “illness” to slander Master and discredit Dafa. Twelve of them gathered around me and tried to carry me out. I immediately sat up, raised my palm, and said, “Heaven and Earth shakes from his upright hand” (“Great Enlightened Being,” Hong Yin) I wanted to eradicate the evil elements behind them. My right palm emitted an intense white light and struck the evil factors. Most of the police ran away—only two stayed. Finally they ran out as well and the police did not return.
I occasionally went down the mountain to get some truth-clarification materials. People said that I walked as lightly as if I were in my twenties. I was healthy, so people knew that I was still practicing Falun Dafa. This was a favorable condition for me to tell them about Falun Dafa.
Master said:
“The Dafa disciples of the world together encompass the whole earth, with each person having a certain reach.” (“Fa Teaching Given at the Epoch Times Meeting,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. X)
I realized that I grew up in this mountainous area, and my mission was to save the people there. The region is so large and so scattered, and transportation is still very inconvenient. My mission is massive. I need to finish my mission, no matter how difficult the task is. This is my prehistoric vow to Master.
I often went out as soon as it was dark. I filled my pockets with truth-clarifying materials and went to every village to distribute them. At first, I went out alone. Later some former practitioners came back to practice. We went out in pairs to distribute them. Only one person at a time can walk the narrow paths in the mountain villages, and if you are not careful, you will fall into a ditch.
Once, my cow jumped up and placed its two front legs on my shoulders. I was unprepared and was knocked down. The toes of my right foot faced backward. It took a long time for me to sit up. I managed to wrestle my toes back in great pain, but I couldn't reset them. I had to walk on my heels. Even so, that night, I followed the other practitioners to distribute materials as usual. I was limping behind them on a rough mountain path. It was almost dawn when we finished handing out the fliers. After I returned I remembered my injured foot. It was completely normal and pain-free.
As the Fa-rectification progressed, I went from secretly handing out truth-clarification materials to publicly handing them out, from handing out the materials to talking to people about Falun Dafa face to face. I met various people, including educated people, village officials, and sometimes police officers. I talked to them based on their ability to accept the truth.
When I met village officials, I often told them a story: a village secretary at the bottom of the mountain knew that all Falun Dafa practitioners were good people. As soon as the township informed him that people would come to harass practitioners, he immediately notified the practitioners: “Someone is coming. Pack up your things.” Once the township didn't call and they just came and said they wanted to go to a practitioner whose name was Xiangmei. The secretary then led them to Jiangmei's (another person) house. Then he said he had to use the toilet immediately. He called Xiangmei's husband in the restroom. After returning from the restroom, the township people told him the person they looked for named Xiangmei, not Jiangmei. When they went to Xiangmei's home, she had already left safely.
This secretary is now living a prosperous life. Because he protected practitioners, he was blessed.
During the persecution, many people break the law. I told them about Article 39 of the Constitution and said that many village officials were violating this provision, which means they were breaking the law. If the citizens (including peasants) were to sue them and take them to court, they would face three years in jail. If you took advantage of the peasants' ignorance and took advantage of the loopholes and acted illegally, you would have bad luck. I told them I hoped that they would treat practitioners well and have a bright future and that their whole family would be blessed.
Master said:
“I can't leave behind any of the Dafa disciples. Every person is family to me, so how can you treat different members of my family differently?” (“Teaching the Fa at the Meeting with Asia-Pacific Students,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. VI)
I made it a priority to look for my former fellow practitioners because they all have predestined relationships with Dafa. Over the past few years, more and more former practitioners came back to practice again. Two practitioners in our village started practicing a few years ago, and we formed a study group, studying the Fa and doing the exercises together every day. With the help of our fellow practitioners at the bottom of the mountain, we installed New Tang Dynasty TV to directly see the truth-clarification programs and hear the voices of justice and goodness. We are especially happy that we can watch the Shen Yun performance every year.
What makes us even happier is when practitioners brought us computers and printers and helped us to connect to the Internet. This was great. We could then get on the Minghui website. We produced materials to tell people about Falun Dafa. This saved a lot of traveling time to get materials at the bottom of the mountain.
Practicing Falun Dafa has improved my health, and I haven’t taken a single pill since I began practicing. No matter how hard the Chinese Communist Party defames Falun Dafa, my whole family believes in Dafa. They supported my practice and knew that Falun Dafa is good. I have a harmonious family.
My husband does not practice, but he accompanied me to distribute truth-clarification materials during the most severe years of the persecution. Once, when the village speaker was slandering Dafa, I said, “They should be given a copy of the truth-clarification material.” My husband said, “I’ll give them one.” So he went. When the persecution was severe, my husband wouldn’t let me go out, and he went to distribute information for me.
My two sons and daughters-in-law believe in Dafa. They all work well and live peacefully. Sometimes when fellow practitioners come, and I am not at home, my daughters-in-law are very welcoming and cook for them. All four of my grandchildren are lovely, healthy, and never get sick. They all know that “Falun Dafa is good.”
The following poem summarizes my journey:
Half a lifetime of suffering and illness, I prayed to God and worshiped the Buddha.Once I found Falun Dafa, Master saved my life.Learn Dafa and cultivate my heart, my true nature surfaced.Saving people is my mission, cultivating firmly and assisting Master.