"If my mother and I hadn’t become a Falun Gong believer, my mother wouldn’t have died so prematurely!” Zhang Munan said with remorse while crying.
Zhang originally had a happy family, with a hard-working husband and an obedient and studious son. She worked in a capsule factory. Her family wasn’t rich but lived a happy and harmonious life. However, since Zhang and her mother became Falun Gong practitioners, everything had changed in her family.
Zhang and her mother strayed into the Falun Gong cult
Zhang Munan, now 49 years old, lives in Hunjiang District, Baisan City, Jilin Province. She had been deceived by Falun Gong for more than ten years, always believing in its heresies such as "eliminating karma", "achieving consummation", and “ascending in broad daylight". She regarded Li Hongzhi as the "Supreme Lord Buddha" of the universe who could exercise his "magic power" to bless her family with peace and happiness and eventually allow them to “achieve consummation". However, despite her devoutness in practicing Falun Gong and studying the "Fa", she still failed to get what she wanted, and instead, her heart disease was getting worse and worse. Meanwhile, her mother, who originally weighed nearly 90 Kg, became thinner and thinner for refusing medical treatment of her diabetes and weighed less than 100 pounds at the end of her life. As Zhang didn’t take care of her family after becoming a Falun Gong practitioner, her husband became more and more irritable. Eventually, the couple divorced by agreement. Zhang’s son, who had been a good student, lost his motivation to study because of his parent’s divorce and dropped out of school to work elsewhere away from home. Now, Zhang Munan, who has just returned from a prison sentence for violating the law by practicing Falun Gong, is living at her sister's home for the time being as she had nothing to depend on.
In the summer of 1998, Zhang's mother became a Falun Gong practitioner by chance. At that time, she had been taking antidiabetic drugs due to her diabetes. Later, she heard that practicing Falun Gong could "eliminate karma and expel illness" without medication or injections, which could both save money and benefit one's family. So, with the thought of giving it a try, Zhang's mother bought some Falun Gong books and materials and asked her whole family to practice Falun Gong as she did. As Zhang Munan and her two sisters were busy with work and family, they politely refused their mother's request to practice it with her.
According to the heresies of Li Hongzhi, "the root cause of diseases and misfortunes is karma," "taking medicine is pressing back the karma, so it won’t able to cleanse the body and thus can’t cure the disease," "the real practitioners will neither get sick nor encounter any danger," and "he who can be cured of his diseases must be a real practitioner." As Zhang’s mother believed in such heretical ideas, she practiced Falun Gong very devoutly. She made it a routine to go out in the morning and return in the evening, exchanging experiences with her fellow practitioners about how to "eliminate karma," "make further advancement,” and "ascend to higher levels."
Zhang's mother focused all her energy on practicing Falun Gong, which made her very satisfied and emotionally stable. She believed it’s the result of her practicing Falun Gong and “Master” helping eliminate karma for her. She was excited that she had found a unique recipe that could save money, cure diseases and protect her whole family. She hoped that she could make “further advancement" and “eliminate karma" completely so that she could restore her health in an all-around way and enter the realm of "God".
Zhang’s mother died for refusing medical treatment
In July 1999, the state outlawed Falun Gong as an evil cult. Zhang's mother, who had been brainwashed by Falun Gong, felt extremely puzzled about it, unable to accept the reality. Then she went around with other practitioners to "protect the Fa" and "clarify the truth". Her relatives and friends all came to persuade her to quit Falun Gong. However, she considered them as demons that prevented her from "practicing cultivation”, improving her "temperament", and "ascending to higher levers".
For some time, Zhang Munan had been feeling chest pain, panic, shortness of breath, dizziness and back pain, vomiting, coughing, lower limb edema, anxiety, and other symptoms. Later, she was diagnosed with heart disease. After learning about it, Zhang’s mother told her that practicing Falun Gong could both save money on medicines and improve her temperament and help her ascend to higher levels. In the view of Zhang, a mother is the best person to her children in the world. How can she harm her daughter? So, out of trust in her mother and the desire to cure her illness, Zhang decided to practice Falun Gong as her mother did to "eliminate karma and dispel diseases."
Zhang's mother, believing in Li Hongzhi's heretical idea that a practitioner won’t get sick, had been refusing to take injections or medication for a long time. As a result, she began to suffer from dry mouth, polydipsia, polyuria, coma, nausea, vomiting, and other symptoms. Zhang’s father and younger sister tried to persuade her to go to the hospital for treatment, but she thought that her symptoms were the external manifestation of "eliminating karma" and that it showed that Li Hongzhi was cleansing her body. She believed it was a test for her and that she would be fine if she toughed it out.
As time went on, Zhang's mother began to feel numb in her hands and feet and her legs became swollen. So she had great difficulty in going out on foot. Besides, her vision became increasingly blurred. In such a situation, she was sent forcibly by her family to the hospital. She was diagnosed with peripheral neuropathy, diabetic fundus, diabetic nephropathy, diabetic plant neuropathy, and many other complications.
Zhang's mother strongly demanded to be discharged from the hospital. While in the hospital, she often threw away the oral medicine and removed the drip needle in her hand secretly with the help of Zhang. The doctors and nurses were quite angry when they found it out, but Zhang and her mother were complacent, thinking the rules of "eliminating karma" should never be broken. In the end, Zhang’s family members had no choice but to get Zhang’s mother discharged from the hospital.
After returning home, Zhang's mother, who was unable to stand on foot, repeatedly said: “I can't break the rule of not seeing a doctor or taking medication. If I continue to be hospitalized and take medication or injections, Master will not save me.” Zhang said that her mother's karma was too heavy, so she couldn’t "eliminate her karma" by herself. Zhang promised that she would meditate more often to help her mother "eliminate karma" with the blessings of Master’s “supernatural power".
After going on this way for less than a year, Zhang’s mother had increased difficulty in eating and drinking. Her body was getting thinner and thinner, almost out of shape. Her condition became more and more serious. However, Zhang and her mother still insisted on not taking medication or injections or going to hospital. At that time, Zhang’s mother often said drowsily with her eyes closed: "Master, save me! ... Falun Dafa is good ... Eliminate karma ... reach consummation ..."
In the winter of 2010, Zhang’s mother, who had just turned 68 years old, died in a coma.
Zhang persisted in her wrong course
Zhang Munan, who persisted in her wrong course, believed that her mother's death was due to her poor cultivation and heavy "karma". From another point of view, she thought her mother went to the Kingdom of Heaven to enjoy her happy life. “Master" had said: "Dafa disciples won't die like ordinary people, and even for those who have departed ahead of their time, what awaits them is the very best - that's for sure!” Zhang Munan didn’t feel any pain or resentment for her mother's death, as "Master" once said he would be God who could serve as an upright Dafa disciple without resentment or attachment and have his life arranged by “Master”. Zhang’s husband blamed her for not fulfilling her responsibilities as a mother, wife, and daughter. Consequently, the rift between the couple grew wider and wider.
Zhang Munan concentrated on attending various Falun Gong activities without any care for her family. Her husband could bear it no longer and quarreled with her from time to time. Meanwhile, their children's academic performance declined sharply. Zhang’s two elder sisters, who hated Falun Gong even more after the death of their mother, had begged her many times to stop practicing Falun Gong. They told Zhang Munan that her mother had been killed by Falun Gong and that her family was almost ruined by her. Her child skipped classes, played games, and so on, with no interest in studying. But Zhang Munan refused obstinately to listen to reason, persisting in her wrong course. She endured her worsening heart disease, thinking only of "eliminating karma," "achieving consummation," and going to the "Kingdom of Heaven." Finally, Zhang’s husband had no choice but to divorce her by agreement. Their extremely disappointed son dropped out of school and left his hometown to work in other places.
Zhang finally came to realize her error
Being free from any shackles now, Zhang Munan became crazier and crazier. Finally, the public security organs took compulsory measures against her in September 2016 for her suspected crime of using the cult organization to undermine the implementation of laws. In November 2017, Zhang Munan was sent to a place of custody for women in Jilin Province. In the beginning, she refused to plead guilty and tried every possible way to resist transformation through education. However, the supervisors in the place of custody never gave up on her. They adhered to the concept of "putting a person right", trying their best to persuade her to seek medical treatment of her illness while helping her through education to break from the Falun Gong cult.
Their patient education and sincere persuasion made Zhang Munan begin to rethink the value of life and examine her past.
"My mother was killed by Falun Gong and me as well. I didn’t know where my son had gone for some time after I went to the place of custody. I hate Falun Gong. I'm very glad that you've come to see me," Zhang Munan said when the anti-evil-cult volunteers paid a return visit to her during the Spring Festival.
During the return visit, Zhang gave the volunteers a piece of good news: Her son, who worked in Shanghai, sent her 1,000 yuan every month to help her with her living expenses and medical treatment; besides, the government was helping her apply for subsistence allowances. All this rekindled Zhang Munan's confidence in life.
