Cherishing the Opportunity to Practise Falun Gong--The Story of Aunt Qiu

In the picture, Aunt Qiu appears to be just over 50, but she is 66 years old. She told us the following story about how she is fortunate enough to cultivate Falun Dafa.

Aunt Qiu practising the fifth Falun Gong exercise - the sitting meditation

Fortunate to Come Across Falun Gong and Obtain a New Life

Aunt Qiu grew up in a poor family in a remote village in the south central part of Taiwan. When she was young she was never given the chance to attend school and learn to speak Mandarin due to her family's financial situation. Over the years, she had been plagued by unidentified illnesses and frequently had to visit the hospital for I.V. infusions.

At the beginning of 2001, Aunt Qiu's son started practicing Falun Gong and experienced many benefits from the practice, so naturally he wanted to give her a chance to benefit as he has. Before the Chinese Near Year (January 24th, 2001), her son gave her a book with a golden cover. It was the Falun Gong book Zhuan Falun. She said, "When I opened the book, I could read slowly, character by character, following my son. I could also hear a faint voice guiding me in my reading."

Aunt Qiu started reading the book every day, character by character. "At first, I read very slowly. I could read at most one or two lines a day. Though I did not understand the meaning of the words, I never stopped. After a few days, I started to worry: "At this speed, how long would it take me to read through the book just once?" Then I fell a sleep at the table. I clearly heard a voice encouraging me not to be afraid and just try my best to learn. Then a magical thing happened. Whenever I didn't know a word, the pronunciation would pop into my thoughts. Gradually, I could read a page a day, then two and then three pages." Now Aunt Qiu can read one or two lectures (each lecture has about 40 pages) every day.

Before she started to practise Falun Gong, Aunt Qiu often had severe pain in her spine. Sometimes she could not even squat or sit due to the pain. She said, "When I watched Teacher's Nine-Day Lecture video, I did not understand what he said, but I thought it sounded very nice and I knew it was very good. I did not know why it was good though. I never skipped a day of the nine lectures. Miraculously, the pain in my spine had dissipated on the fifth day."

Clarifying the Truth about Falun Dafa

When talking about clarifying the truth of Falun Dafa and letting more people come to know about the practice, Aunt Qiu smiled broadly, "At first I followed other practitioners at the exercise center, putting addresses on envelopes to mail materials. I tried stroke by stroke to write each character. At the beginning, my writing was so big that I could not fit one line on an envelop, but gradually I could write the whole address. Though I was slow, I kept doing it week by week, believing that there were many people who were waiting for the materials, people who could benefit from the practice as I have." Also, Aunt Qiu participated in the projects to fax and post materials on websites. She said, "Whether it is writing letters, faxing, or posting things on websites, I do it without any notions. So the success ratio of my faxes is very high, about 80 percent. Sometimes other practitioners cannot fax an article through and they give it to me, and I can fax it right through. When I post an article, I hold the mouse and click. It always picks the article that I want to post. My fellow practitioners wonder how I can be so efficient since I only know a limited number characters and cannot really read. I am very well aware that it is all thanks to Falun Gong and that miracles can take place in this great practice."

The first time that Aunt Qiu went out of the country was to attend a Falun Gong Conference in Japan. At that time, she had just started practising Falun Gong and did not know what a Falun Gong Conference was. She followed other practitioners in Japan, without a clear goal. When she attended the New York Conference in November of 2004 Aunt Qiu began to truly understand the Falun Gong teachings and stepped forward to help stop the persecution.

Having Firm Righteous Thoughts When Going to Hong Kong

"I went to Hong Kong to participate in the parade celebrating Hong Kong's tenth year anniversary of being returned to China on July 1st, 2007. When we were going through the immigration check at the airport, I saw an official standing on a chair watching. So I kept sending forth the righteous thoughts and was able to pass through without any problem. After I passed immigration, I heard that all seven of the practitioners who came with me were stopped by the Hong Kong immigration."

"It rained for the four days when I was in Hong Kong, but we proceeded with all our activities. Every day we were wet, but it did not bother us at all. This trip to Hong Kong was very helpful to me. My fear and attachment to depending on others for the past couple of years were all gone." Aunt Qiu said, "When I returned to Taiwan, I became very clear-minded. I understood many things in Zhuan Falun. I can keep up with other practitioners' reading during group study of the Falun Gong teachings, the Fa, and I can understand the meaning of the book. Especially I can understand the Fa from a rational view point. It all happened naturally. I told myself that I should be more diligent."

Cherishing the Opportunity

Though there have been bumps along her cultivation path, Aunt Qiu has greatly changed in her health and mind. She used to fight with others over tiny issues; saved money but could not eat or sleep well; and often had dizzy spells, symptoms of anemia, and insomnia with unidentifiable causes. She didn't feel good mentally or physically. She was in a lot of pain. After cultivation, she became joyful and her illnesses all disappeared. With a healthy body and lighter heart, she is capable and responsible.

"I truly feel that it is such great fortune and a predestined relationship for a person to cultivate Falun Dafa!" Aunt Qiu said, "So I cherish this unprecedented opportunity a great deal. I do not want to skip any Fa study or opportunity to do the exercises. I attend every Fa reading event. I follow Teacher's instructions, treating myself as a cultivator all the time and looking inwards for every problem I have. Moreover, I do the three things well. For the past three years, I have not missed any event to help sotp the persecution such as mailing letters, parades, torture exhibitions, and so on." Humbly claiming that she has poor enlightenment quality, Aunt Qiu said that her cultivation is like the story of the tortoise and the hare: As long as she is diligent and never gives up, she will make it! "I have never thought about what I want to obtain. Whatever I can do, I will do. All I hope is that every sentient being who should know about Falun Gong should have the chance, and that none are missed!"