A Chief Judge’s Cultivation Journey

(Minghui.org) I have tried to live up to the Dafa principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance to the best of my understanding ever since I started cultivating in Falun Dafa, regardless of whether I am at work, at home, or among fellow cultivators.

Whenever I saw signs of a potential conflict, I strictly followed the requirements of the Fa and was thus able to avoid the conflict, and steer away from greater tribulations. I looked inward and examined myself afterward to identify my attachments so I could eliminate them. This journey of consistently improving and elevating myself through cultivation has brought me much happiness and pride.

 

Act in an Upright Manner at Work

I am the chief judge of a county court. Although an official of the judicial branch, I never tried to hide the fact that I was a Falun Dafa practitioner, despite the ongoing persecution. I’ve petitioned the central government for my rights to freedom of religion and told people around me about Dafa.

I clarified the truth about Dafa to my superiors, my colleagues, attorneys, and even litigants. I helped many of the aforementioned people to quit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its youth organizations. Everything I do, I do in an upright manner. I was not only able to build a successful career, but was also promoted to higher positions in the judicial system.

My husband went on a business trip one time to the neighboring province. While having a meal together, a local lawyer said to him, “I heard about the chief judge at your county court. She talks about Falun Dafa before every trial and tells people that it is being wrongfully persecuted by the government. She talks about how the CCP made up lies slandering the practice in front of everybody, including the litigants and attorneys. She is so bold. Isn’t she scared of being reported?”

The lawyer asked my husband if he knew this judge and my husband didn’t say anything. After coming back from the trip, he told me about it and seemed upset, “Even people in Shanxi know about you.” But then he paused and said, “You tell everybody how evil the CCP is, so why haven’t the police come after you?” I told him nobody could touch me because I was doing the right thing.

A high ranking court official called me one time while I was in the middle of a hearing. He told me a litigant reported me as being a Falun Gong (also called Falun Dafa) practitioner to the county Party secretary during his routine visit. The court official demanded that I go see him right away.

I told him, “I am the residing judge of the court, and am in the middle of a hearing. Receiving the Party secretary and dealing with complaints are the court officials’ duties—I don’t need to be involved.” I hung up and then talked to everyone present in the courtroom, including the more than 20 people in the audience, about Falun Dafa and why the CCP launched the persecution. The litigants gave me a thumbs up afterward.

I found out later that a court official instigated the litigant to report me that day in retaliation for a disagreement we had in the past. However, the incident didn’t lead to anything, and I didn’t face any consequences.

I handled more than 300 cases a year and settled more than 90 percent of them. Among all the judges at the county court, I received the most acclaim and bonuses. All the tough cases in the county were transferred to my court. Most supervisors respected me, and often took me out to lunch.

An official openly said at a county-level meeting, “If everybody can be like the Falun Dafa practitioner at our county court, we’ll all just need to sit back, relax, and drink tea every day.” A court official took me to a meeting one time and her colleague was stunned to find out that I was a Falun Dafa practitioner. Seeing how respectful the official was toward me, she said, “I see the Falun Dafa practitioner is getting special treatment here. In our county, the Falun Gong practitioners don’t even dare to raise their heads, and are always picked on by their supervisors.”

During the meeting, the deputy county secretary asked me, “Why is it that your litigants and even your supervisors are scared of you?” I had never thought about this before but came up with a clever answer on the spot, “Well, you’re the Party secretary. If someone asks you for help with something, the first thing you consider is probably whether or not it is going to implicate you. Then you think about how much it will benefit you, otherwise you won’t help. You will make sure it benefits you and is worthy of your time, otherwise you won’t get involved.”

I continued, “But I am different—I cultivate Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. My goal is to handle every case strictly according to the law. I don’t worry about if someone has the power to get me fired or whether my head will still be attached to my body. I don’t even consider my own interest.” The deputy secretary was speechless and quietly walked away. Another official told me, “You know why everybody is scared of you? It’s because you always tell the truth.”

A friend told me one time, “Chief, it is not hard for a person to perform one good deed, but it is difficult to always do the right thing. You choose to do the difficult thing.” I said to her, “I don’t think of it as doing a good deed. I am only doing what I am supposed to do. As a cultivator of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, I wouldn’t do any harm to others to benefit myself. But that hardly counts as a good deed.”

I often tell my litigants, “You don’t have to thank me if you win the case, because you’re supposed to win. Don’t curse me either if you lose, because you don’t have evidence to prove otherwise. I am just making a decision based on the evidence you present to me, and I am trying my best to be fair.”

An attorney once joked around and said, “Chief, if you explain so clearly the articles pertinent to the case, what’s left for us to do?” My supervisor also asked me, “If you settle all disputes in court, what’s there left for the court of appeal to do?” My clerk said to me, “Chief, all you want is a good reputation. But how is that more practical than 5,000 yuan?” She also said to me one time, “You should live in a democratic country if you want rule of law.”

 

Cultivating Forbearance at Home

I used to be hot tempered and very strong headed. If my husband dared to throw a mug, I’d throw a thermos. I kicked the television set off the media console one time just because he said something I didn’t like. After I took up Falun Dafa however, I held myself to high standards set forth by Master and tried to not fight back when beaten or sworn at.

My husband watched a drama series in which a woman climbed to high positions by using the men in her life. He commented that she was very capable, but I disagreed and said that she was morally corrupt. Disliking what he heard, my husband grabbed the candy jar from the coffee table and threw it at me.

To avoid a direct conflict with him, I got up and started walking away without saying a word. However, he flew at me, hit my face, and strangled me. I got bruises and cuts all over and completely lost my voice. The sight of my face shocked my son when he came home from school. Afraid of anything happening to me again, he begged me to go with him when he was leaving for school the next morning. I said to him, “Don’t worry. Mom is going to be okay.”

Master said,

“Thus, when you encounter a conflict, I would say that it is to transform your black substance into the white substance, de.” (Lecture Four, Zhuan Falun)

I was able to stay calm because I knew Dafa’s principles. I was not angry and didn’t see what I was going through as suffering. My husband, on the other hand, was furious and bitter. Seeing how worked up he was, I didn’t know what to say.

I quarantined with my parents during a months-long COVID lockdown so I could take care of them. My husband was left to take care of our home and our son by himself. The day I went home after restrictions were finally lifted, I was surprised to find leftover food under the tree in our front yard, a bucket of dirty water in the sink, and our home messy and dirty. My husband is a very tidy person and usually likes to keep things clean.

I took off my jacket as I entered the door and went straight into the kitchen to make dinner. As I opened the lid to a pot, I heard my husband shouting from the bedroom, “Don’t touch anything!” Something didn’t seem right—I put the lid back on the pot and quickly walked out of the kitchen. I wasn’t going to get into a fight with him.

My husband cooked himself dinner and ate. After he went back into the bedroom, I cleaned the kitchen, dumped the bucket of dirty water and washed the bucket. I then started preparing ingredients to make moon cakes as they are my husband’s favorite. I didn’t mind his bad attitude—I knew with me being gone for the past few months, he and my son probably didn’t eat well. I wanted to make up for it by making his favorite moon cakes.

He came out of the bedroom after a while and seemed to be in a much better mood. He said cheerfully, “I’ll go pick some peppercorn.” I said, “Sounds good. I am getting some ingredients ready to make moon cakes.” An imminent fight was avoided because I was being considerate of him.

I am so grateful to Master for painstakingly saving me. Thanks to Master for lifting me from hell and pushing me forward and upward on my cultivation path to transcend this secular world and all of its sufferings.

Master said,

“…Cultivate, my disciples, ‘til no omission is found, And with the passing of all adversity, will come the sweetness of true joy.”(“Cultivating Amidst the Delusion,” Hong Yin)

I truly enjoy my cultivation journey. If I hadn’t taken up Falun Dafa, with both my husband and I being so strong headed, it is questionable whether or not our family would still be intact, or even whether I would still be alive. Everything is thanks to Master!

 

Cooperating with Fellow Practitioners

I met a young female practitioner who told me that she had been spending a lot of time with a male practitioner. She said that in her dream it was revealed to her that she and this male practitioner were predestined to be married. She was too shy to tell the male practitioner directly so she told an elderly practitioner about her dream. The elderly practitioner arranged a meeting for her and the male practitioner to “fulfill her wish.” The male practitioner had been paying her a visit every week to “share experience and improve together.”

Learning this, I was worried about the two of them. I told her, “What you are doing is not aligned with the Fa. Please stop seeing him.” After giving it much thought, I met and had a talk with the male practitioner out of a sense of responsibility to our local cultivation environment. I said to him, “The young female practitioner obtained the Fa not long ago and still has many attachments and human notions. She is confused between friendship and love. Please stop seeing her from now on.” He hesitated, “But I want to help her improve.” I assured him, “I’ll take over from now on. I will share experiences with her and help her improve. You don’t have to worry about it.” He agreed. The young female practitioner is now steadfast in her cultivation.

I received a phone call from an elderly practitioner on a rainy day. She was crying on the phone and asked to see me right away. I was in town running errands and was more than 30 miles away from her home, but I dropped everything and immediately headed over. When I got to her home, she told me she had an argument with another practitioner.

It all began when I gave the other practitioner 640 yuan to buy an MP3 player. The other practitioner asked her to buy it, but wouldn’t pay her when she did, saying that she had already paid her. The two of them got into an argument. This practitioner was very upset and wanted to clarify things with me. After finding out what happened, I said, “Don’t worry. I’ll pay you 640 yuan. Don’t ask the other practitioner for the money again.” Problem solved. Now the two of them still study the Fa together and partner up to clarify the truth as usual.

A practitioner and I passed by a small town one time and saw a big crowd gathered at the farmer’s market. We parked on the side of the road and started passing out Dafa posters and clarifying the truth to the market goers. The practitioner handed a poster to a police officer who grabbed her and said, “How dare you pass these out?”

I was walking in the opposite direction at the time but turned around right away when I heard him. I said to the officer, “Please let her go. I’ll stay with you.” He said, “It has nothing to do with you. Go away.” I pleaded, “I am also a Falun Dafa practitioner. We’re good people. Please let her go and I’ll stay.”

The officer still wouldn’t let the practitioner go so I grabbed him and told the practitioner to run. But she didn’t get very far before another police officer and the local police chief arrested her and took her to the police station. I followed them and refused to leave when the police chief told me to. The practitioner later told me the chief said to her, “You’re not as brave as the other Falun Gong practitioner. She admitted that she practices Falun Gong, but you just want to run.”

A local practitioner was arrested and taken to the county police department. To petition for her release, I called and clarified the truth to the police chief. When I asked to see the practitioner, the chief said, “Don’t come. Wait for me to call you.” That afternoon, he called and told me to pick up the practitioner at the police department. My sister and I drove there, and as soon as we stopped in front of the gate, several police officers came and searched my car.

My sister whispered to me, “Hurry! Run!” I said, “Why? I’m not running.” The officers confiscated a few things and my car keys and brought me into the police station. I said loudly as I entered the building, “Where are we going? Heaven or hell?” The young officers were shocked by my words and didn’t know how to respond. I thought, “They wouldn’t let me leave anyway, why not clarify the truth and save them.” After a while, the chief came out with the arrested practitioner and said, “I can’t return the things they found in your car but here are your keys. You two may leave now.”

 

Improving Myself in Dafa Cultivation

Most people thought of me as being foolish before I cultivated in Dafa. I stood up to my supervisor at work and never compromised my principles. Friends told me that I needed to “recognise the current trend.” My father called me a fool because I refused to bribe officials to move up in position. He had high hopes for me as I was the only college graduate among my siblings.

Everyone’s opinion of me changed after I took up Dafa cultivation. Everyone now thinks I am sharp and capable. I handle things well among friends and family, and my supervisors at work and the county officials all respect and appreciate me.

In my supervisor’s words, “You handle things with boldness but still pay attention to details, with courage and a well thought out plan.” In my colleague’s words, “Falun Dafa practitioners are favored by all the higher-ups.” A person in a high position told my clerk one time, “I am not scared of the county Party Secretary nor your president, but I am scared of your chief judge.” An attorney said to me, “You’re a legendary character.” In the words of a fellow practitioner, “You handle things with wisdom and nothing is hard to you.” In the words of my son, “Mom, only you can survive and do such a good job at your position in the law enforcement system, and in such a complex society.” I told him, “Thanks. The key is to cultivate well. When you are not attached to your own interest, you’ll do well too.”

In fact, I usually know right away how to handle things as situations come up, without much thinking or planning in advance. It is all because of the wisdom and ability I’ve obtained in Dafa cultivation—it enables me to rise above and beyond this complex, heavily materialistic, and morally deprived chaotic world. This is all thanks to Master.