Some Thoughts on Why the Persecution Has Failed to Stop People from Practising Falun Dafa

From July in 1999 up to today, Jiang Zemin, the former leader of the Chinese Communist Party, has persecuted Falun Gong practitioners for more than six years. Why under such persecution, do so many Falun Gong practitioners still firmly practise? Why do practitioners want to tell the world the truth about Falun Gong despite the danger they are facing? Why, with evil slanderous propaganda everywhere, have more and more people started practising Falun Gong? I would like to share on this from my own experience.

My health had never been very good. I used to have arthritis, stomach pain, ossein proliferation in the cervical and lumbar vertebra, a finger-size lump near my wrist and other diseases. I saw many Chinese and western medical doctors. I tried many folk prescriptions and qigong exercises, but none of them cured my illnesses. My mother told me that I have suffered from pain in my legs since I was eight months old. On rainy or cloudy days, my legs would hurt so much that I couldn't walk. My stomach pain was very serious and kept me from eating a lot of foods. I was 5 feet 4 inches tall, but weighted merely 100 pounds. Winter was the most difficult time of the year. I would catch one cold after another, with no break from medication. Everyone in my workplace knew about my poor health.

October 20th, 1998, was a day that I will never forget. That day I ran into a coworker who previously also had a lot of health problems, but now she was exceptionally healthy. I asked her what changed. She told me it was Falun Gong that cured her. She went to her nearby home and came back with a copy of Zhuan Falun. I started to read the book immediately. On page 5 of Zhuan Falun I read,

"Perhaps everyone has heard this statement in Buddhism: "When one's Buddha-nature emerges, it will shake 'the world of ten directions.'" Whoever sees it will come to give a hand and help this person out unconditionally. In providing salvation to humankind, the Buddha School does not attach any condition or seek returns, and it will help unconditionally. Accordingly, we can do many things for practitioners."

I then turned to the first page, looked at Teacher's photo and said, "I want to cultivate." I said in my heart three times, "Teacher, please accept me as your student."

Around midnight on that day, I tried to meditate although I really didn't know how to meditate or the difference between the half lotus and full lotus (both legs crossed) positions. I simply sat there and immediately felt heat in my legs. I also saw many Falun rotating on my legs. The Falun were silver-coloured and very bright. I realised that Teacher¹ was adjusting my body for me. I was in tears. No words could describe my feelings of gratitude. Since that day, I have studied the Falun Gong teachings and practised the set of five exercises every day. My health problems that used to trouble me so much, disappeared without me even realising. I finally experienced what it is to be healthy. After practising Falun Gong, I became a new person and was full of energy. I am able to eat things that I couldn't eat before and I haven't had to take any medicine. Many of the people around me saw the miraculous changes in me and came to learn Falun Gong.

My viewpoints changed gradually through studying the Falun Gong teachings and listening to Teacher's lecture tapes. I started to understand the true purpose of life, why people get sick, and the universal principles of "Truthfulness - Compassion - Forbearance" as the sole criterion to discern good and bad people. Gradually I could take fortune and fame lightly and conduct myself according to "Truthfulness - Compassion - Forbearance." I started walking the path to return to my original true self.

Falun Gong is a cultivation practice that teaches people to be kindhearted. It can raise mankind's moral standards, stabilise society, and benefit both a nation and its people. However, the Chinese Communist regime cannot tolerate good people. The common people know very clearly that Falun Dafa is a righteous cultivation practice. This is why, even under this brutal persecution in China, Falun Gong not only endures, but also continues to gain more practitioners and reveals the truth to the world's people.

Note:

1. Master/Teacher: Respectfully referring to the founder of Falun Gong, Mr. Li Hongzhi.