Monday, June 18, 2012

Recalling the Time 13 Years Ago When Falun Gong Was Widely Practiced in My Village


June 18, 2012 | By An Jing, a Falun Dafa practitioner in Tianjin City, China
(Minghui.org) I was born in the 1980s and was lucky to have a family in which many practiced Falun Dafa, including my parents, uncle and aunt, and a cousin. I became a true practitioner myself after I entered high school. In recent years, many positive changes and miraculous happenings have taken place around me. Teacher’s mighty benevolence is beyond words. As we celebrate the 20th anniversary of Falun Dafa’s introduction, I want to write down the following to share with everybody.
My father suffered from tuberculosis before he started to practice Falun Dafa. He had sought medical treatment everywhere, but in vain. At the prime time of his life, he could not even do light physical labor. I still remember that my mother had to dust everywhere around the house by herself every New Year’s time, because if my father did it, he coughed up blood. In the 1990s, qigong was very popular. My father was very interested and practiced all kinds of qigong. He even became a “master” and went around to treat people with diseases. He felt very powerful and complacent. While other people’s diseases might be cured temporarily, his own health deteriorated severely, and he had no idea why.
In 1996 he went on a business trip to Jilin Province and returned home with the book Zhuan Falun. He then started practicing Falun Dafa by himself at home. He told us that he would not practice any other qigong, only Falun Dafa. He also taught me to practice. At the time, I was just a 10-year-old, fun-loving, naughty kid. I did not learn the exercises, but I did listen to the Fa when my parents read the book. Although I was young, I could understand it and thought that the teachings in the book were right and made sense to me. When my father first started to study the book, he got diarrhea and coughed very hard. This lasted several days. I was confused and wondered, “How come he got worse?” However, he seemed very happy, did not go to a doctor, and told me not to worry. A few days later, his symptoms were gone and he became a completely different person. His sallow complexion turned ruddy. He helped my mother cook and didn’t cough at all. He could eat apples without frequenting the toilet, although his digestive system was notoriously weak. Most importantly, his breathing became normal. He told us that his tuberculosis was cured and his digestive system was normal like never before. He said, “The diarrhea and coughing from several days ago were Teacher adjusting my body. Teacher is treating me as a disciple. How great it is to feel healthy and without any disease!”
Having obtained such a good Fa, my father started telling every relative, friend, and neighbor about his tremendous changes, both physically and mentally. Before long many villagers started learning Falun Dafa from my father, because 90% of them had illnesses and were trying to find cures. However, after practicing Falun Dafa for a short time, 100% of their diseases were cured. (After the persecution started in 1999, some gave up due to fear and their diseases came back.)
One neighbor left me with a deep impression. He used to suffer from cirrhosis of the liver and ascites, and his belly was terribly swollen. His family had even prepared his shroud. That year he was in his 40s. His son told him that my father was teaching people Falun Dafa, which could cure diseases, and asked him, “Would you want to give it a try?” The man started practicing. Within two weeks, his belly returned to normal. When he went for an exam, the doctor was astonished by the fact that his diseases were completely gone. Wasn’t that a miracle? He has remained steadfast in his practice and his children have been very supportive of his practice to this day.
Those who did not believe came to believe in the miraculous nature of Falun Dafa. People would joke with my father often, saying, “Your spreading Falun Dafa has helped so many people get rid of their diseases. Business at the hospital is getting worse and worse. Maybe one day the doctors will come after you.” My father just laughed with them.
Ever since then, we three siblings have not needed any medication. My father told us that it was because the whole family benefits when one member practices Falun Dafa.
Falun Dafa teaches people to conduct themselves according to the principles of Truthfulness-Benevolence-Forbearance and to stay away from smoking, drinking, lying, and gambling. People who were addicted to smoking and drinking have gotten rid of those bad habits. People who were gamblers, no longer gamble. Families that used to have discord now live in harmony. The following is one good example. A woman used to smoke and gamble. Her husband and mother-in-law could not control her, and there used to be a lot of quarrels in her family. Out of curiosity, she started practicing Falun Dafa and completely transformed herself. She no longer smoked or gambled and started to be very nice to her husband and mother-in-law. She also took on the household chores. Her husband and mother-in-law were very grateful to Master Li and respectful toward Dafa and practitioners. After 1999, she stopped practicing and returned to her old ways. Her mother-in-law particularly asked other practitioners to help her and get her back to practicing Falun Dafa. Her mother-in-law is also very angry at the Chinese Communist Party’s persecution policy.
At that time, villagers were required to pay tax in the form of grain, but some were not willing to, so the village head had to announce via the speaker system throughout the village, “Those who have not submitted the grain, listen to your consciousness and do the right thing. Look at those Falun Dafa practitioners. They submitted their shares a long time ago. I have checked closely, and each and every one of them has done it without fail. What a contrast! You should learn from them. Now, here is a list of those who have not complied.”
All the villagers recognized Falun Dafa, and some said, “Falun Dafa can truly transform people for the good. It is really good.” Others said, “Falun Dafa is good and their standards are really high. You cannot smoke, drink, or curse. I cannot reach that level. Otherwise, I would practice myself.” Others said, “If everybody practiced Falun Dafa, we would not need the police.”
Falun Dafa spread like this widely by word of mouth. Prior to 1999, over 200 out of the 2,000 villagers, practiced Falun Dafa. Later on, many people in surrounding villages also started practicing. Whenever people started talking about Falun Dafa, anybody, from little kids to seniors in their 80s, would tell you how great Falun Dafa was, who the practitioners were, who were the better ones, etc. Sometimes they even showed you some of the exercise movements. The merchants who went to villages to get grain and other farm products were all willing to come to our village because we had so many practitioners in our village who were very honest and kind. Practitioners did not bargain on prices unreasonably like others did.
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