A Retired Military Officer Starts to Practise Falun Dafa

Mr. Lin Linghua (alias) is a retired officer who spent his whole life in the military. While he was still on active duty, before the persecution illegally began in China on July 20th, 1999, a practitioner introduced him to Falun Dafa and told him that practicing Falun Dafa could improve a person's morality and mental and physical health. He laughed and said, "Falun Dafa is good, but I heard that killing is forbidden in the practice. I like to buy live fish and cook and eat them. If I can't kill I can't have my favorite dish anymore. I can't do that!" So he didn't accept Falun Dafa at that time.

Time passed, and in 2004 Lin retired and moved into a residential community for retired military personnel. One day in June, my wife, Mr. Lin, and I were on our way home from the gym after swimming, and we started talking about why the morality of many Chinese people was in such decline. My wife and I told him our Teacher's words,

"Without beliefs, human beings would have no moral standards; the human mind would not have good thoughts and it would be overcome by wicked thoughts. The moral values of the human society at that time would decline rapidly. Possessed by wicked thoughts, everyone would become enemies of one another and would stop at nothing to satisfy their selfish desires." ("What is Mi Xin?" from Essentials for Further Advancement)

Then we naturally switched the topic to Jiang Zemin's persecution of Falun Gong, and clarified the truth to Mr. Lin.

My wife and I told him that Falun Gong isn't merely an exercise system, but a way to cultivate Buddhahood. It requires a practitioner to cultivate to a state of selflessness. A practitioner must always put others first by following and assimilating to the principals of "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance," which are the characteristics of the cosmos. When individuals upgrade their morality and improve their mental and physical health, the morality of society will also improve. When people follow a righteous way and separate themselves from evil, a better living environment will naturally be created. The fact that Jiang Zemin and his followers wanted to eliminate such a good thing proved they had vicious hearts of jealousy. They manipulated the media on a large scale to defame Falun Gong using the most wicked lies--like the staged Tiananmen Square self-immolation--to breed hatred in the hearts of people who don't know the truth about Falun Gong. Furthermore, they violently persecute and torture the innocent and harmless practitioners. The deceitfulness, wickedness, and brutality of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its former head, Jiang Zemin and his regime who have damaged the people's belief in morality. The fundamental reason for the decline of morality and the natural and man-made disasters in China is that the CCP has destroyed human morality and spiritual beliefs, denied the existence of good and evil, and promoted deceit, immorality, and competition. Nevertheless, the persecution of Falun Gong by Jiang's regime, despite years of effort, hasn't defeated Falun Gong. On the contrary, more and more people have learned that Falun Gong is great because of the practitioners' on-going efforts to clarify the truth and expose the evil of the persecution. Now Falun Dafa has spread all around the world. More than 100 million people are practicing, and even more people are learning about it. The book Zhuan Falun has been translated into more than 30 languages. These facts all illustrate the greatness of Falun Dafa.

When we arrived home we gave Mr. Lin a copy of Zhuan Falun and asked him to read it carefully, hoping that he could understand the truth and make the right choice.

It was the right time for him, and he accepted Falun Dafa. When the other practitioners learned of it they came to teach Lin Linghua the exercises and share their experiences with him. We all knew that this was Teacher's arrangement. It was the right time, and he couldn't miss his opportunity again. It wasn't too late to start practising Falun Gong at the age of 73, but it might well have been his last chance.

By studying the Falun Gong teachings and improving his character, Mr. Lin's physical health changed significantly. He had suffered from high blood pressure for years and been dependent on medication, but after he started practicing his blood pressure was normal even after he stopped taking the medicine. He had also suffered pain that made walking difficult for him, and no treatment helped, but the pain totally disappeared. Not only was his health better, but his family relationships also improved. The changes were so significant that his old army buddies all said that he was growing younger.

Having seen and benefited from the greatness of Dafa, Mr. Lin is excited and willing to share his experience with others. He often tells his friends and relatives that Falun Dafa is a righteous cultivation way, and he helps other practitioners distribute truth clarifying materials. Thanks to his efforts, some people who didn't understand or even insulted Dafa have gained positive attitudes and become supportive of Falun Dafa.

When the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party was published, Mr. Lin immediately withdrew from the Chinese Communist Party. He chose to continue on the path of cultivation and clarify the truth, so that more people will be able to make the right choice.