(Minghui.org) When I began practicing Falun Dafa in June 1996, I had three wishes. At that time, I considered them wishful thinking. I’d like to tell you how they all came true.
My mother passed away when I was young. After my father remarried, he was afraid to show concern for us. When my siblings and I came home during Chinese New Year, my stepmother never spoke to us.
In the spring of 1995, due to various reasons, I was on the verge of a mental breakdown. I told my husband that I no longer wanted to live. Let’s get a divorce, I said. He agreed, as he'd observed that I had been living in pain for a long time. We went to court to file the divorce papers.
I had no house, and no stable income. I had no choice but to leave my son with my husband. Just as I was about to move out of the house, my husband's brother came and made a scene.
I cared a lot about what others thought of me. It was already a great embarrassment to be divorced. I did not want my coworkers and my students at school to see my brother-in-law making a scene outside the school gates.
There was a shortage of teachers in the subject I taught. I had been teaching at the school for three years. However as I did not give gifts (bribes), my request to transfer was not approved. I was forced to quit my teaching job.
To support myself and to save face, with a relative’s help, I was hired to work far from home. I later learned that we were sold as cheap labor. The middleman took 300 yuan from each of us. It was a large sum of money in those days.
We were closely monitored in the factory and the working conditions were harsh. I longed to see my son and I began to hate my former husband. Although I knew he was not a bad person, I blamed him for my situation. One night, I dreamed my son had a stepmother and she grabbed his head and banged it against the wall. I woke up crying. In the dark I found a pen and paper and wrote this: “Gods who control my fate! I will forever do good if I can be reunited with my son!”
Many of my family members worked for the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) and most of them were Party members. From childhood I was taught there was no God, and therefore I was an atheist. I never thought that one day I would ask God and Buddha for help. My wish was a call for help from the bottom of my heart. Yet I felt it was wishful thinking to be reunited with my son. At that time, I lived in great torment.
I began to practice Falun Dafa in June 1996. From Dafa, I understood the purpose of life and learned that people’s misfortunes come from karma incurred in past lifetimes. I slowly let go of my resentment towards those who’d hurt me in the past. I went through a huge transformation physically and spiritually. I was in a good mood every day.
In 1997 I lived in the dormitory quarters provided by my workplace. I managed to do the exercises and read the Fa every day. My employer’s son who was studying in university came home for a holiday. While chatting, he learned that I practiced Falun Dafa and told me there was a practice site outside the factory. When he heard I could not go out to do the exercises in the morning as the dormitory was locked at night, he got the keys and gave them to me. Two practitioners who lived nearby told me where there were group exercise sites and study groups. I realized that Master Li (the founder of Falun Dafa) was always looking after me.
After I began practicing Dafa, I tried my best to put the teachings into practice. My employer and coworkers trusted me and three coworkers also started to practice. My roommates loved to listen to me read Dafa books. They burned incense to pay respect to Master in the morning. I put a portrait of Master on a cabinet above my bed, but I knew it was not very respectful in that environment.
In winter, there was no work for us and I had time to read the Fa. Besides group study and exercises, I had time to read Zhuan Falun. Everyone treated me very well. How could I not be happy?
Yet I had a wish: how nice it would be if I had a place to pay respect to Master! How great it would be if my son could practice Dafa as well! Some people might think: What’s so difficult about this? Yet it was wishful thinking for me at that time!
In October 2008, I reluctantly moved to another place in search of a better paying job to pay for my son’s university fees. Friends and relatives recommended several jobs. After thinking it over, I decided to go to Beijing. As a Dafa disciple, I should not think of making more money while other practitioners were suffering from persecution. At least, in Beijing I could send righteous thoughts in close proximity to the CCP's headquarters.
I went to an agency for domestic workers. I told myself I would not pick and choose, and I would take the first job I was offered as it must be arranged by Master.
My first job was to take care of a five-month-old baby. The wages were not high but I held myself to the high standards required of a Dafa disciple. After working there for a week, the family asked me to stay on permanently. I told them I was a reliable person because I practiced Falun Dafa, and that our Master taught us to be good people. The persecution was rampant, but my employers thought highly of me and Dafa, and increased my salary. Indeed these were people with a predestined relationship arranged by Master.
I ran into many tests at work. When I felt unjustly treated or I was upset, I remembered Master’s words,
“Did you know that in order to save you the Buddha once begged for food among everyday people?” (“True Cultivation,” Essentials For Further Advancement)
I felt better at once. I helped my friends, relatives and visitors quit the CCP.
During Chinese New Year, I had time off from work. I purchased materials to make banners with messages about Dafa. To avoid worrying my employers, I worked on the banners after midnight when everyone was asleep. I shut the door, spread the materials on my bed and wrote the words: “Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance is good, Return Justice to My Master.” The baby usually woke up at 4 a.m. but the mother took care of the child herself so I had more time to rest at night. I continued to work on the banners.
I would think: How I wish I had a private space to make truth-clarification materials. I knew that many practitioners wanted to go to Beijing to validate the Fa but could not. They would be arrested, or detained and tortured in prison. This is the capital city, and apartments are expensive. How can I, a domestic worker, hope to have my own place? It was wishful thinking.
Let me return to 1997. As I studied the Fa more, I was able to let go of my resentment towards my ex-husband. I told my sister, “I no longer hate him. If I see him again, I’ll tell him about Falun Dafa.”
I’ve only told you a small portion of the hard life I went through before I began practicing. One day and one night are not enough to go into details of my difficult and miserable life. Master bore my karma and changed my path in life. But as for an ordinary person who does not practice Falun Dafa, no one will change his destiny, and it is fixed.
After I truly let go of my hatred towards my former husband, two weeks later, I received news of his death. Shocked and regretful, I decided to see him for the last time. When I said I wanted to bring my son home, my husband’s father was delighted. But he immediately said that my former husband did not leave a single cent behind. Thus, I was reunited with my son.
Later on, I asked myself, how could I make the decision so calmly? When I was young, I often heard elders saying, “One should leave money for emergency situations.” I suddenly realized, “I no longer have to worry about being ill since I am a Dafa practitioner. Why should I be afraid of having no money?”
My employer was a kind person. She kept asking me to stay. But I thought it would cause too many problems for the company, as I had to take care of my son who was only in primary one then and I needed to get him to and from school. I decided to leave the job that paid twice the amount I would have earned in my hometown.
Some practitioners said, “Are you too attached to emotion?” and, “Why do you want to take your son home?” I told them it was because my child’s father passed away. As a practitioner, if I don’t take care of my child, how can I be considered compassionate towards sentient beings? That was my understanding at that time. If I were not a cultivator, I would not have had the courage to bring my son home.
After some hardship, we found a place that I could afford to rent. I tided it up and found a place for Master’s portrait. While going through my belongings, I found the plea I wrote in 1995: “Gods who control my fate! I will forever do good if I can be reunited with my son!” I immediately wept and remembered my second wish. Now it seemed that perhaps it was my Buddha nature emerging. Although I tried to bargain with Gods at that time due to my ignorance, Master had been helping me all along.
So how did I fulfill my third wish? This is something worth being joyous about. Because I practice cultivation, any miracle can happen.
I took time off from work and returned to my hometown at the end of 2008. A practitioner introduced a young male practitioner who was working in Beijing and he in turn introduced me to a young female practitioner from my hometown who worked in Beijing.
When the baby girl I was looking after turned one year old, her grandmother, who was taking care of another grandchild, came to take care of the granddaughter. Six months before I finished and was undecided as to what I should do next, the young male practitioner from my hometown called to ask if I wanted to move to his place, as his good friend who was living there had to move to another place. After discussing it with the young female practitioner, we decided to share the rent. Thus, I could afford the rent. I never knew how Master arranged things so perfectly.
Soon after, the young male practitioner's sister-in-law began practicing Falun Dafa. The three of us, along with the young female practitioner became best friends. The four of us studied the Fa, did the exercises and did truth clarification together. As I matured in cultivation, I no longer had many wishes.
My family members who do not practice Dafa often scold me for not paying much attention to trying to get my son married. I know one’s life is arranged, and that I should let things take their natural course. I was also able to let go of the hurt my family did to me and my son. Although my son does not practice Dafa, many times he lets go of things even better than I do. I feel that many things he says to me are hints from Master. He is kind and generous to others, including those who hurt him before.
Recently, someone introduced a girl to my son and they got along very well. One day, my son phoned me and said, “Mom, I have great news! I will tell you when I get home.” He rushed home and told me there were several practitioners in his girlfriend’s family. My eyes welled up with tears and I immediately offered incense to Master. Words cannot describe how grateful I am to Master!
After this incident, a thought came to mind to write a sharing article. I still have many attachments I need to get rid of. When I saw the notice for the 19th China Fahui on Minghui, I began to write this article. I thought of how I should walk the remaining path of my cultivation and do the three things well.
I must try my best to maintain righteous thoughts and cherish this opportunity that is so hard to come by.
Fellow practitioners, please kindly point it out if there is anything inappropriate.