PureInsight | June 14, 2007
[PureInsight.org]
Flower Bud Born of Poverty and Sincerity
My name is Liu Ateng. I'm from Kouhu Township, Yunlin County, Taiwan.
In the past, this place was famous for its poverty and remoteness. When
I was young, my family was poor and had 6 children. I was the oldest
one, so I did not have much opportunity to receive education from
school. I had to help my mother who was very busy in taking care of
everything for the family, as well as my father, who, due to some
special predestined relationships, had been chosen since he was young
to be the "spokesman" for divine beings from another dimension.
According to my memory, my father was simple, honest and kind. Since the time he
was a youth, his body would sometimes be occupied by divine beings and,
whenever this happened, he would have to go somewhere to resolve the
issues there. Since this kind of voluntary service cannot be predicted
beforehand, my father could not find a normal and stable job in the
countryside, where job opportunities were rare even for ordinary
people. The rumor that my father could help and save people spread and
many poor farmers came to him to ask questions and look for help. My
father did not have a temple, nor would he accept any money. This made
my family's economic situation even worse. My mother was doing all the
farm work and had to take care of everything throughout the year.
Although she worked so hard, the children still did not get enough food
to eat.
I grew up in this kind of environment and saw everything with my own
eyes. It made me understand that, besides humans, there exist divine
beings and ghosts who live in other dimensions. It also made me realize
the existence of all kinds of difficulties and sufferings due to
poverty. Because we were so poor, I started working when I was very
young. I remember that I worked in a tailor's shop, sold snacks, and
also did many other kinds of business. In this life, without even
noticing it, I got into the habit of living thriftily and working hard
to earn money. I never learned to save money for myself, because all
the money I earned was immediately used for essential things. I stayed
single, but when I watched all my younger brothers and sisters get
married and have families, I really felt quite gratified.
Tirelessly Seeking to Practice Cultivation
Since I was just over 20 years old, I began to cultivate in a
vegetarian Buddhist school that believes in Monk Jigong. I remember
after my father passed away when he was 46, I brought back home the
black and white photo of him from the shop and started to make
offerings to the photo. Only after a few days, I found that in this
black and white photo, above my father's head, there appeared a
colorful halo. The halo grew out from nowhere, and it was unbelievable
to me. It strengthened my will to practice cultivation and I wanted to
find a way to reach salvation in this lifetime.
I continued to practice that kind of Buddhism for over twenty years.
Although I was constantly participating in all different kinds of
rituals in which everyone knelt and worshiped the divine beings and I
was working hard to contribute to the cooking for the rituals, I still
felt that my soul was so empty. Also I had always suffered from a
gastric ulcer. Half of my lifetime went by. I found that in this huge
religious group there were often intrigues by one group against another
among the people in it and there were practitioners who were getting
sick and dying. All of these things made me feel that this cultivation
school has a bottleneck. I felt that however hard I cultivated in it,
my cultivation level would not increase. I also began to see more and
more holes in the cultivation principles in that school. And so it was
that, for all those years, I always subconsciously prayed to heaven,
asking to be pointed towards a correct path so I could get past these
useless and ineffective phenomena in cultivation and be able to really
diligently enter the world of true cultivation.
Many years passed. Without my noticing it, the opportunity really came.
A friend of mine who had been cultivating with me in the same religious
group had found Falun Dafa. When she told me about a cultivation school
called "Falun Gong," I felt subconsciously that this must be something
that was totally different from all religions. After she told me some
of the points from the book Zhuan Falun,
I immediately knew that this was the real cultivation path that I
should take. Perhaps because I had this deep realization in my mind, I
actually went through a long period of time when I was struggling to
make up my mind. For as long as half a year I vacillated between
whether or not I should change my cultivation path.
Those six months were really the lowest point in my life. On the one
hand, I did not really study the Fa and do the exercises and my
understanding for Falun Gong was very limited. On the other hand,
although I indeed knew that I was just wasting my time like that, I
would never have a breakthrough in my original religion, I just
couldn't give it up. Finally, one morning when I was selling breakfast
in a restaurant, I had the thought: "If possible, let me start from the
beginning now!" I thus made the decision to end my business and go to
Taibei City. Several weeks before the earthquake on September 21st,
1999, I entered the nine-day class to study the Fa and learn the
exercises. It became the biggest turning point of my life.
My Body and Mind Completely Changed and My Dream Came True
"...one's life is not for being human..." This simple sentence of
Master's touched my heart, which was buried in confusion. Through Falun
Dafa, I had totally new understandings of the universe and human life.
I looked back to the times in the first half of my life when I did not
have any true principles to follow in my heart. In those times, I would
be constantly thinking about it when other people wronged me. I would
despise people around me who like fawning and playing games. I would
also watch people who would go against their good natures for
materialistic benefits. All of these had terrified me: is human life
really a road of confusion with no outlet? But now the Fa principles of
Falun Dafa easily broke through all my notions and attachments and
solved all my confusions and puzzles in life. I was able to control the
direction of my life again and I felt so fortunate that I walked on the
cultivation path of "cultivating one's mind." Really, now that I'm able
to practice Falun Dafa, there is nothing else that I'll ask for in this
life!
Doing Exercises at the Night Exercise Site
But because I did not receive much education, though the profound Fa
principles of Falun Dafa were well explained, it was still very
difficult to me. I did not know that many Chinese characters and, in
the beginning, it was indeed hard for me to read the book. I had to
follow others line by line and I was improving only very slowly.
Besides this, since I was over forty years old, the requirement of
doing the exercise in the full lotus position was also a big test for
me. I remember that I worked hard for two years and finally was able to
successfully finish the exercise in the lotus position. As a result,
during that period of time, my legs were hurting so much that I had to
hold onto a wall in order to squat. Although both studying the Fa and
doing the exercises were very difficult for me, I had never had the
thought of giving up practicing cultivation or taking it easy on
myself. The reason is that Dafa is so precious! If we are fortunate
enough to find it, then how can we mind some sufferings!
Some person once asked me: "What's so good about practicing
cultivation? You are only a businesswoman who sells vegetables. Why do
you like cultivation so much?" I told him: "Actually, no matter what
level or identity you have in society, your life will always be so full
of suffering. You must face the reality that life is composed of birth,
old age, illness, and death and, for almost anything you encounter in
life, you will have some attachments in your mind. Not only will people
be arguing again and again over who is right and who is wrong, but
also, each person's mind will constantly worry about loss and gain.
It's just like this, people will rarely be able get through one day
comfortably. Especially in the end of life when one gets really sick,
the entire family will be tied up with the matter. Everyone faces
parting in life and separating in death. Aren't all these sufferings?
People are better off in looking for a true Fa principle to guide
oneself within the several dozens of years in this short life and then
they can live happily and freely despite all the entanglements and
sufferings in life."
The Path of Validating Dafa
I've had many special feelings and edifications from practicing Dafa.
For example, in the beginning when I just first began practicing Dafa,
I always felt some rotating force was floating inside my body after
doing the exercises. Because back then I did not have a deep
understanding of Fa, I thought that as long as one practiced qigong, he
would get this kind of feeling. Now that I think about it, it was Falun
cleaning my entire body and that's why my gastric ulcer disappeared all
of a sudden. Not long after I continued doing exercises at the group
exercise site, I also had a very clear dream. In the dream, I was
sleeping in a room and Master, wearing all white, walked into the room.
He handed me two radios and didn't say anything. He then smiled and
left. After I woke up, I thought: "Does this mean Master wants me to do
more spreading the Fa?" Indeed, I have gotten such a great Fa, I should
also let others know about it. I began to feel the responsibility to
spread the Fa.
Because I did not get married, I have more free time. The persecution
of Falun Gong is getting worse and worse in Mainland China. They now
even take organs out of living practitioners' bodies in order to earn
money. They try to hide this crime from the entire world. They use
modern medical techniques, which are supposed to be used for saving
people, to secretly murder Falun Gong practitioners. All they care
about is gaining money for their party, he government and the military,
and they've even turned many good people into accomplices in murdering
Falun Gong practitioners! All kinds of extremely cruel incidents are
shocking to me. As a fellow practitioner of these people, as I watch
the world people's apathetic reaction, I'm worried that the CCP will
poison people even more fearlessly in the future. I'm also worried
about fellow practitioners' situation in Mainland China. Whenever I
think about the sad but real scene of practitioners facing the cruel
government and facing the pressure of getting killed, but still
protecting the truth, I would become so restless. Thinking about tens
of millions of innocent practitioners being persecuted, I naturally
chose to give up my business in Taiwan, although I could easily make
lots of money. I voluntarily began to visit different tourist sites in
Hong Kong. Day after day I try to be as sincere as possible to let
tourists from Mainland China know the truth about the persecution of
Falun Gong.
Someone asked me: "The sun is so big and hot. Why do you choose to
suffer? You are not even getting any money. Don't you have anything
better to do?" But I feel that carrying a dozens of truth-clarification
boards, pushing a cart to the tourist sites and passing out
truth-clarification materials are the most meaningful things in my
life, because I'm totally thinking of others' good. It's Dafa that
taught me to be unselfish. It's Dafa that led me to see with my own
eyes that so many visitors from Mainland China circle around us and are
longing for truth-clarification materials. I see their anxious faces,
and I feel that they are all good and precious Chinese people. They
have the right to know the truth and the right to know what really is
good for their lives. Thus I care about them from my heart and hope
they can pull themselves out of all those lies under the control of
that government of dictatorship. I hope they understand that "Falun
Dafa is good"!
I did not feel suffering when some people wanted to come beat us or
curse at us. Nor did I feel bitter when some Mainland Chinese visitors
misunderstood us and kept refusing us. The only time when I did feel
suffering and bitter was when a tourist site with hotels and
restaurants disappeared suddenly and, for several days, I could
not find the tourists from Mainland China. I was so worried. It might
be the only chance in their lives to know the truth about the
persecution of Falun Gong!
As time has gone by, I've been to Hong Kong many times. I still
remember the time when I first went to Hong Kong for a Fa-conference. I
was shocked that seventy to eighty fellow practitioners, including me,
were held at Hong Kong's airport and then sent back to Taiwan in
different times after we were questioned. Although this famous case
(Deportation of Falun Gong practitioners from Hong Kong), which has
drawn much attention, has not been judged justly, but even after all
these years, when unfamiliar police see us on the street, they will
take initiative and come talk to us: "Where are you all going to
clarify the truth today?" It seems that there are more and more people
in the world who become aware of the truth about the persecution of
Falun Gong. People are also becoming more aware that CCP always makes
things up to trick people, but are totally inhuman behind their backs.
I think that these people are choosing a much safer choice for
themselves.
During the past twenty or thirty years, I was happy that I had a steady
income. But this happiness has been replaced, within the past two or
three years, by the happiness when I watch the "precious Chinese
people" finally understand right from wrong and evil from good, after
we clarify truth to them. My mind is now more stable, calm, open, and
joyful. From my heart, I'm really thankful that I'm so fortunate to
have become a Dafa practitioner!
If you are pursuing safety and hope to know the meaning of life, or
want to know about Falun Dafa, which has created new lives for tens of
millions of people, and want to learn about eternal truth, we welcome
you to cultivate Falun Dafa! I hope that, one day, my brothers and
sisters, relatives, and those friends who have walked with me on the
path of my life, can all come into Falun Gong and cultivate with me and
be able to experience the beauty of a totally healthy body and a
peaceful mind.
I hope every person will be able to bring with them a heart of
"Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance" and, with a smile on their
faces, look down to the ephemeral lives in the world from a much higher
and clearer position.
Translated from: http://zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2007/5/28/44123.html
