At the end of 2002 when I was 30 years old, I suffered from lymphatic cancer. The illness had first manifested in my stomach, necessitating removal of two thirds of my stomach, followed by chemotherapy. By June in 2003, the cancer cells had metastasised and my doctor told me that I could live for three months, or at most another six months. I was not a pretty picture then - I had gone from about 140 lbs. to 110 lbs. and lost all my hair. My face and hands had black spots. I was unable to eat or drink, except for a little rice broth every day. I was struggling just to live. Right at this moment between life and death, someone introduced me to Falun Dafa.
A neighbour at my parents' home is a Falun Dafa practitioner. She knew I was suffering from this serious illness and took pity on me for suffering at such a young age. One day she came to my parents' home and said to my mother that she thought she could help me. My mother then told me that practising Falun Dafa could save my life. I asked, "Is it Falun Gong?" My mother said that it was. I said, "No!" My mother then said, "She is so kind and wants to rescue you. What do you want me to say to her?" I said, "Just tell her that I am practising another practise." In fact this was a lie.
That night, two hard, thumb-sized lumps appeared on my neck. I was scared and cried out. My ward mate had told me there were more lymph nodes in the neck and armpits, and one could survive for only a few days once the lymph nodes protrude from the body. I told my mother, "I cannot live much longer since the lymph nodes are already protruding from my body!" My mother immediately stood up from the sofa and went out the door after she heard what I said. She brought back a copy of the book Zhuan Falun. She told me that other people told her that reading this book could save my life.
Actually I did not believe that one book could save my life. However, I was afraid of death, so no matter what, I felt I must grab at every straw in my situation. With this intention I began to read Zhuan Falun. I read through Lecture One the same day. The first thing I did the next morning was to feel the lumps on my neck; the lumps had shrunk a lot.
I was so joyful and said to myself, "Hey, it really works!" I rushed to continue my reading. The neck lumps disappeared on the third day. Now I somewhat believed, but still didn't understand what Falun Gong really is.
That night my mother and I went to the home of the practitioner who gave me the book. With her counsel, I finally had a preliminary understanding about the principles taught in Falun Gong. I still kept taking traditional Chinese medicine then. On the seventh day my medicine bottle all of a sudden cracked of its own accord. I thought that this meant perhaps I should stop taking the medicine, but I still took that day's dose. Thirty minutes later I ate a little food. Suddenly I felt nauseous and started vomiting. What I vomited was the medicine, and nothing else. This was really inconceivable! I had taken the medicine first then eaten, but I lost no food, merely the medicine. Then I understood Teacher1 was revealing to me that I should not take the medicine again. From that time on I intensified my understanding of the principles taught in Falun Gong and practised with more determination.
By the time I had read all of Zhuan Falun, my eating had improved. I had difficulty before even keeping down a small amount of liquid food, but by then I could eat whatever I wanted. It only took ten days! I felt so happy. After only one month, I noticed new hair growth on my bald head. I also gained some weight. My physical improvements intensified my beliefs in the Falun Gong teachings and added additional understanding towards my cultivation. At was at this point when I truly began to cultivate. Teacher said,
"...but we do not treat illness here. We are purifying your body, and the term is not "healing illness," either. We just call it "purifying the body," and we clean out the bodies of true practitioners.""The body purification will be done only for those who come to truly learn the practice and the Fa." (Zhuan Falun 2000 translation version)
I came to understand that Teacher does not cure illness for ordinary people, but purifies the bodies of genuine practitioners. A huge physical change happened in me. Merciful Teacher already considered me a practitioner. But, am I a genuine practitioner?
Actually, I was still not yet clear what cultivating meant. What I did know was that whenever I did things according to the book's requirement I would feel physically well. Thus, at that time I passed many tests with lots of endurance since I dared not do things in disobedience to what is taught in Falun Gong.
Every day I went to the practitioner's home to tell them what happened to me that day and how I had thought and acted, based on the Fa (law or principles; the teachings in Falun Gong). The practitioner led me and helped me to learn more of the Fa and taught me how to deal with everything according to the Fa. She was actually leading me to gradually enter real cultivation. But at that time I did not realise this was genuine cultivation. I had "cultivated" this way without clearly realising it. Only after my physical body had completely recovered and I became a normal healthy person did I realise how fortunate I was to begin practising Falun Dafa.
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