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Sun Fengliang: My Experience with Falun Gong in the US

2013-08-27 Source:Kaiwind Author:Sun Fengliang & Wang Ruimin

I am Sun Fengliang, 52-year-old and living in Sijiqing neighborhood, Haidian District, Beijing. My first date with my husband was arranged by a matchmaker, and we were both satisfied with each other. Then we got married and had a son. Afterwards, we changed from rural to non-rural residence registration. We lived a really happy life. In 1996, my elder sister began to practice Falun Gong and felt it was conducive to physical health. So she gave me the book Zhuan Falun.

Since I began to practice Falun Gong, I tried to abide by its central tenets of truthfulness, forbearance and compassion. Even when I had frictions with my husband, I restrained myself not to quarrel with him with a hope that the change in my attitude may help my husband accept Falun Gong. When my husband finished reading the book Zhuan Falun, however, he threw the book away and said, “Li Hongzhi is a villain who built up himself by belittling others. It is unlikely for such a person to teach noble virtues. You were fooled.” His defamation of “Master Li” made me angry. So we reached an agreement that we should not try to change the mind of each other.

After Falun Gong was outlawed by the government, my husband felt confident and advised me against practicing Falun Gong. He also suggested me going to see doctor when necessary. But I felt that my physical health had been improved. In addition, I felt a touch of emptiness if I did not learn or practice Falun Gong for a day. Some of my fellow practitioners said, “As the old saying goes, we should repay for even the smallest favor. We should ask for an equitable judgment for our master.” Since then, our efforts became unmanageable.

One day when I joined to incite a riot, I was arrested and taken to the house of detention by police. Results of physical test showed that I was gravely ill because of my blood pressure of 220mmhg and my inverted U-shaped cardiac function curve. So I was released. I attributed my release to my master, believing that my master created a false impression of my sickness to help me avoid punishment.

When I returned home, both my husband and our son knelt down to beg me to see a doctor. My son said, “Mom, as long as you agree to see a doctor, I will do whatever you ask to me to do.” I responded, “You should never stop me from practicing Falun Gong.” My husband remained quiet, but my son accepted my offer. So I took hypertension pills without telling my fellow practitioners. As my condition took a favorable turn, I was energetic enough to make contact with other practitioners. One day, when my husband and my son were not at home, I called two practitioners to my home to learn and practice Falun Gong. But my husband returned earlier than I expected. When the two practitioners left, my husband slapped my face twice so heavily that I felt dizzy. He shouted at me, “Why are you so incorrigible? I would rather beat you to death than see you killed by Falun Gong.” I answered back, “I am a disciple of Dafa. I am under protection of the law body of Master Li.” I did not admit my fault, so I was beaten up by my husband. When my son returned home, I complained tearfully to him, “There is nothing for me to live for. You dad does not allow me to practice Falun Gong. I would rather to die than to give up Falun Gong.” Touched by my grief, my son asked me, “What would you like to do?”I answered, “I want to go to the US to look for my master. I heard that Falun Gong is legal overseas. ”

After a period of preparation, I eventually came to Los Angles in the name of accompanying my son and his wife on their honeymoon trip.

After we arrived in LA, my son rented a family house. When we settled down, my son went out to get familiar with surroundings, while I was busy looking for Falun Gong. But Falun Gong was not as popular as I had imagined. I consulted some Chinese people, and eventually got a hint that there were some people practicing Falun Gong in front of an entrance of a Chinese supermarket. I was excited and felt as if I had found my family members. When I got to the supermarket, I did not see a large group of practitioners. Instead, there were just more than ten people there. When they finished practicing, I approached an elder sister who seemed kindhearted and sociable. I said to her, “I am from the Mainland. I was subject to persecution and was deprived of the environment suitable for practicing Falun Gong. So I came to the US to look for our master and our fellow practitioners.” I learned that the elder sister was surnamed Huang. She told me that our master was living in New York rather than in LA. She also warned me, “As a newcomer, you’d better keep quiet because these people were divided into a few factions.” Her remarks made me confused. I wondered why there was difference among Falun Gong practitioners.

When Sister Huang learned my situation, she warmly invited my son and me to live in her house. She leased a room to us for 60 dollars per month. Her husband recommended my son to a job with daily wage of 20 dollars in a restaurant. I was very thankful to the couple. I felt that Dafa followers were as close as family members. Then my son went to work in the restaurant. But he came to know only when he got his wage that his real wage was 40 dollars per day. We really did not expect that Sister Huang’s husband deducted half of my son’s wage. My son was very angry and quitted the job. He had to look for a new job; while I eventually find the location of the Epoch Times newspaper with the help of other practitioners.

Unexpectedly, when those people knew that I was from the Mainland, they obviously kept a wary eye on me. The practitioners here were divided into some large groups and some small groups. There were only about ten people in one small group. Most of them were newcomers to this area. After three months of probation, the newcomers had the chance to join the large groups. The group members not only learned and practiced Falun Gong together, but also dispatched the Epoch Times newspaper as volunteers. Moreover, members of the small groups were forbidden to seek information about the large groups.

After a period of time, a practitioners surnamed Lin found that I often wore the same pair of shoes. So she took a pair of leather shoes and gave them to me. When I just got the shoes, another woman who came earlier than me said, “The shoes are too small for you. They fit me better.” I was so stunned that I did not know what I should do with her before the shoes were taken away. The only thing I could do was comforting me with the principles of truthfulness, forbearance and compassion.

Since I believed in Li Hongzhi’s theory about taking medicines would keep karma in human body and his teachings about “the authentic law is coming to the end” in his 20 years of teaching Falun Dafa, I did not take medicines after I got to the US. I was expecting my consummation.

The last day of 2012 passed as peacefully as usual. The miracle did not come as we expected. When I learned Falun Gong with other practitioners, we often have different views, which led to conflicts among group members. I felt very depressed. What was worse, I brought little money with me when I left China. To reduce living expenses, I just ate noodle for my meals. As a result, my physical health worsened. I got sick. I had fever and babbled in illusion, “I am achieving consummation. My master sent a dragon-design carriage to take me to the paradise. My son does not need to suffer with me. ” My son was frightened and was in a great bustle. He called his wife, asking her to mail money from China to cover my medical expense.

During the two months in the US, I lost more than 10kg of my weight. My son was worried about my health, and advised me to go back to China. He persuaded me that the conditions in China were better than in the US. So I had to go back home.

My husband had complicated attitude toward me. On the one hand, he sought medical treatment for me to improve my physical health; on the other hand, he invited anti-cult volunteers to provide consultation for me. Before I went broad, I was against the government’s decision to outlaw Falun Gong. But what I saw and experienced in the US helped me understand why the government outlawed Falun Gong. Those people are really a disorderly crowd wearing the mask of truthfulness, compassion and forbearance.

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