I was an athlete as a youth and am now a physical education teacher. According to the logic of scientific research, I have good physical attributes and so I should almost never get sick. But for the 27 years before I began practicing Falun Dafa in 1998, I lived in constant pain and had many ailments.
The hardest thing for me to endure was arthritis in my knees and hands. In the summer, I needed to wear knee pads and an extra layer of pants. Even so, I would still feel very cold. I needed to wear plastic gloves and cotton gloves whenever I did household chores like laundry and cooking. If my hands were to touch cold water, I would be throbbing in pain.
I have tried many different treatments such as medication, acupuncture, massage, electrotherapy, and plasters. I would feel better for a couple of days, but ultimately the pain would always return. I spent a lot of money searching for relief, but I never truly felt healed.
When going downstairs, I had to walk step by step, like an elderly person. In the end, I gave up on treatments. If I was in pain, I just endured it with tears in my eyes. My temper got really bad, as I was easily agitated and oftentimes I would even yell at my family members.
My Arthritis Disappeared
One morning in May of 1998, I had trouble falling back to sleep. I dragged my body to a local park for a morning stroll. There were people running, practicing with swords, dancing, and doing martial arts. I strolled around until I heard a beautiful melody. I followed the music and saw that people from all walks of life were standing neatly in line, doing some simple movements and exercises. I was curious so I stood there and watched them.
I went there the next day and followed their movements at the end of the line. One of the practice site assistants came over and told me: “This is Falun Dafa. We practice here every morning and study the Fa in the evenings. Would you like to join us?”
I asked what the fee was. The assistant said it was free of charge. I was very astonished. In this materialistic world, everything had a price. And so, I started my cultivation path.
A couple of weeks later, I realised my hands were no longer painful after touching cold water, my arthritis was gone and I was able to walk down the stairs effortlessly. I did not do any kind of treatment, so how did I heal?
I told other practitioners at the morning practice site and they smiled and said that the founder of Falun Dafa Master Li Hongzhi had purified my body. I had truly witnessed and experienced healing of my body as a result of Falun Dafa cultivation practice!
Since then, twenty years have passed and I have not once taken any medication. In northern China, the winters are very cold and harsh. Even so, I no longer needed to wear extra clothing to protect myself from arthritic pain. What happened to me was miraculous. Master Li, with his great compassion, saved me.
Upgrading My Moral Character
As I began cultivation I realised that there was a book to read and I was very curious about it. I borrowed the book Zhuan Falun from another practitioner and finished it in a day.
Though I did not yet fully understand everything I read in the book, I knew that this was what I had been looking for my whole life. This was a precious book that could answer all my questions and I was immediately filled with wisdom and peace.
As I was reading the book, tears started to roll down my cheeks. I asked myself why I had not found this book earlier. Had I read this book earlier, I would now be a better person and kinder to others.
Ever since I began Falun Dafa cultivation, my life completely changed for the better. I was no longer depressed and learned to look inward. I abided by Master’s standards and started to be more compassionate. My life started to be filled with hope and light, I was happy every day. My relationship with my mother-in-law also improved.
My in-laws previously lived with my husband’s brother and his wife. The elderly couple spent all their savings on them in hopes that they would take care of them one day. However, my mother-in-law was a very critical person and my sister-in-law could not take it anymore. She wanted me to take my in-laws to our house, and I agreed. If I had not cultivated Falun Dafa, I would not have agreed to have my in-laws come live with us.
Master said:
“But as Dafa disciples, you cultivate kindness, so you should be compassionate. Whether they’re receptive or not, you should always treat them with compassion, and you can’t get competitive with ordinary people or look at sentient beings with human thoughts. Just do whatever you should with compassion, regardless of whether they’re receptive or not. Compassion comes from a person’s cultivation, and it’s not something that’s acted out; it comes from deep inside, and it’s not something done to show others. It’s something that exists eternally, and it doesn’t change with the passage of time or changes in circumstances.” (“Teaching the Fa at the 2003 Washington DC Fa Conference,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. IV)
I needed to cultivate my compassion. If they had not come to live with me, they might have lost a once in a millennia opportunity to learn about Dafa. I decided to make every effort to be kind to my in-laws and take care of them in the years to come.
The hatred that I once had for my mother-in-law gradually disappeared. Nowadays, my mother-in-law often praises me for my kindheartedness. This was all because I cultivate Falun Dafa and the great benevolent Master has saved me as well as my family.
Cultivating Well and Rectifying My Thoughts
Last summer, my mother-in-law argued with my son. She was yelling and almost wanted to hit him. I tried stopping them from fighting, however, then my mother-in-law directed her anger at me. In the end, my neighbor had to pull my mother-in-law away because she had completely lost control of her behaviour. This was an unfortunate incident, but I did not become angry and remained calm.
A couple of days later, I saw persimmons growing on the tree that my mother-in-law planted. I had a thought about picking some to make my mother-in-law upset, since she had hurt my son’s feelings. I realised that this was a very strong attachment to hatred and resentment. I quickly remembered the principles of Falun Dafa, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. When approaching the persimmons tree, I walked past it with a smile and did not pick any fruit.
I changed for the better and when my mother-in-law saw me, she felt quite embarrassed. In the past when she argued with my father-in-law, she would take out scissors and knives, now she has learned to speak politely. When we are clear and rational, those around us will also change for the better.
I have benefited quite a lot from Dafa. My sincere hope for all sentient beings is that they may learn about, and understand Falun Dafa. This is the only hope for humankind.
(Clearwisdom)