(Minghui.org) Manna Guo used to think that one could control their own life, and as long as they worked hard, they would have a happy life. However, when her husband unexpectedly suffered a stroke, she felt her life was shattered. Fortunately, she discovered Falun Dafa during that most devastating time and was able to find peace and a new direction in her life.
Manna was an excellent student throughout her school years, and entered the teaching profession upon graduating from a teachers’ college. She married at the age of 26 and eventually had a son and a daughter. Her husband was gentle and refined, considerate and understanding; the couple was deeply in love, and they appreciated each other.
They planned to travel around the world after retirement, with great expectations for a wonderful life. Manna believed that her life would remain as happy and enjoyable as it always had been.
Sudden Twist of Fate Turns Life Upside Down
However, something drastic happened when Manna’s husband was 45.
“He came home from visiting a client and said he felt a bit unwell and went to lie down for a rest,” Manna said.
“However, when he woke up, he could hardly talk and was slurring his words. I realized that something was wrong and took him to a hospital.”
Her husband was immediately admitted to the ICU, where he was in a coma for a month. When he eventually regained consciousness, one side of his body was paralyzed, and he had difficulty speaking. He had to rely entirely on Manna for his daily needs. The whole family was turned upside down and thrown into chaos.
“I couldn’t accept the sudden twist of fate and became extremely anxious and worried. The only thing I could do was to follow the doctors’ advice and hope that my husband would regain health one day,” Manna said.
She was teaching in an elementary school at that time, and every day she rushed from the school to the hospital and her home. Her husband’s small business ultimately had to shut down. She had no time to care for their two teenage children, who had to face life’s challenges alone and learn to be independent.
After her husband was discharged from the hospital, Manna took him for different kinds of treatments, including clinical rehabilitation, Chinese acupuncture, and some qigong practices, for which she spent two to three million yuan of her savings. However, after four years, her husband’s condition had improved very little. With tears in her eyes, Manna had to accept a painful reality.
Due to prolonged stress and sadness, she started feeling uneasy, and her memory began to decline. She often cried uncontrollably at night, and started to close herself off. She stopped participating in school activities. The once optimistic, rational, and positive Manna had become lost, and her weight drastically fell to just over 40 kilos (90 pounds).
Finding Falun Dafa
One of Manna’s colleagues became very concerned about her and said, “Do you want to try Falun Gong (also called Falun Dafa)? It is a very good practice, and it may help you.”
Manna remembered encountering Falun Gong a few times before. The first time was when she found a flyer about the practice in her mailbox; the second time she saw a Falun Gong promotion notice on a bus; and the third was when a neighbor invited her to learn the Falun Gong exercises. She thought she would try it, but didn’t follow through due to her hectic life.
This time, the colleague not only encouraged her to try it, but also went to her place to teach her the Falun Gong exercises. She also brought Manna a copy of the book Zhuan Falun, reminding her, “Apart from doing the exercises, the most important thing is to study and understand the Fa principles.”
When Manna opened the book and showed her husband the photo of Master Li Hongzhi, they both burst into tears.
“We didn’t know why; we just felt he looked very familiar, and kept crying.”
Guided Out of Confusion
At first, when Manna was reading Zhuan Falun, she often felt sleepy and found it hard to focus, but she kept telling herself that she must persevere and continue reading. It took her three months to complete her first reading of Zhuan Falun. When she finished reading it the second time, she felt that the book was truly wonderful!
Manna reading Zhuan Falun. She called it “a book that teaches people to return to their true self.”
“I used to think that being a good person meant embodying virtues like benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trustworthiness. However, from reading Zhuan Falun, I understand some deeper connotations about what truly makes a good person. After reading the book for the third time, I realized that it is a heavenly book! It is a book that teaches people how to cultivate oneself based on the universal principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance.”
The sudden changes in Manna’s family made her feel confused and helpless. She thought: “I have always been a hardworking and responsible teacher, and a kindhearted wife. My husband was also kind, optimistic, self-disciplined, and never argued with others, even if he had been cheated. Why are we encountering such misfortune?”
From reading Zhuan Falun, she understood the principle of cause and effect, that our karmic debts have accumulated over countless previous lives, and that everything happens for a reason. “When I understood such universal principles, I realized that what happened to our family was not about whether we could accept it or not, but rather it was laws that every life must abide by.”
With this new understanding, she awakened from a long period of exhaustion and despair. “I used to think that one could arrange everything for oneself through one’s efforts, but now I understand that the purpose of being human is to return to one’s true self through cultivation. Only through genuine cultivation can we let go of human attachments and notions, understand the meaning of life, the reasons for suffering and tribulations, and elevate ourselves to return to our true home.”
Transformation of Mind and Body
After her husband’s stroke, Manna took on all the house chores, and her health deteriorated rapidly, including such things as myasthenia, hyperthyroidism, edema, ptosis (droopy eyelid), and breast cysts.
After she started practicing Falun Gong and through constant Fa study, she became more and more clear-headed and her physical symptoms gradually disappeared. Nowadays, she walks with light steps and her body feels light and strong. Her posture is upright, and her complexion is rosy and glowing. Although she is 74, many people think she is in her early 50s.
Manna doing the fifth Falun Gong exercise.
Reflecting on her life experiences, from smooth sailing to fateful changes, and from shattered faith to a transformation of mind and body, Manna knows that the tribulations led her to a path of cultivation.
“Thank you, Master, for teaching us Falun Dafa. It’s the principles of Dafa that guided me out of life’s miseries and helped me understand that returning to one’s true self through cultivation is the true meaning of life. Only through cultivation can one understand the meaning of being a human being, and walk the path to return to our true home,” Manna said with immense gratitude to Master Li Hongzhi.
Articles in which cultivators share their understandings typically reflect an individual's perception at a point in time based on their cultivation state, and they are offered in the spirit of enabling mutual elevation.
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Category: Cultivation Insights
