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Song Lin (a pseudonym) was born in Hunjiang District, Baishan City, Jilin Province in 1953. In his early years, he worked in a forestry company in Linjiang while his wife worked in a local coal industry. They had their son in their thirties, and they led a happy life as a family of three by uniting in a concerted effort.
In May 1997, Song Lin, who used to do morning exercise, saw lots of people practicing together on a square in Linjiang when he passed by. A nice man approached and enthusiastically introduced to him that what they were practicing was “Falun Gong”. He further explained why one could benefit a lot from it: there were Karma and “black matters” inside humans’ bodies, practicing Falun Gong could cure disease by eliminating Karma and help people keep fit. So it could be quite convenient to save both money and efforts. Furthermore, by practicing it, one may reach “consummation” or even become an immortal.
Because of the poor profit for the forestry company, Song Lin was under huge financial pressures and lost his sleep a lot. The hospital also diagnosed that his blood glucose level was high and advised him to take medicine regularly, which brought about an extra but necessary expense upon his struggling financial situation. That was why he was willing to give it a try when learning that people could physically benefit from Falun Gong. After practicing Falun Gong for a period of time, Song Lin felt much better in sleep, which was the result of comprehensive effects of multi-factors, including giving up bad habits, living a regular life, and psychological hints. Gradually, he fell deeply into fallacies of Falun Gong and became obsessed with it. Unable to stand his constant preaching and temptation, his wife also became a Falun Gong practitioner. Since then, Falun Gong had taken over their life, and great changes also had taken place in their family life.
In July 1999, although Falun Gong was declared by the state to be a cult and banned according to the law, Song Lin and his wife kept practicing it in private. In the meantime, under the instructions issued by Li Hongzhi from abroad that followers should take to the streets to protest against the nation’s decision and “clarify the facts”, they distributed illegal Falun Gong propaganda materials in neighboring areas, and they even went to Beijing with other “fellow practitioners” to do the so-called “Fa-rectification” for “consummation”. Instead of being rewarded with any fortune, his sugar glucose level was higher and higher, and he frequently felt thirsty, his weight was dropping rapidly no matter how much he ate and drank, and always felt tired. All of his relatives and friends were advising him to take a medical examination, but he firmly refused and explained that this was the exact sign of eliminating karma which he accumulated in the past, and that he would break rules and cause his “Master” to give up on him if he went to hospital to take medicines and injections. And his wife also said the same thing that the karma of his husband, Lao Song, was too much to be eliminated all by himself, so they would sit in meditation together to eliminate karma along with the blessing of their “Master”. After seeing the couple’s stubbornness, their relatives and friends all stopped trying to persuade them.
In 2001, in order to evade legal investigation and make things convenient to participate in illegal Falun Gong related activities, the couple moved to Hunjiang district, Baishang City, without telling anyone. Because they were so busy with their sitting in meditation and going out to distribute Falun Gong pamphlets, they neither washed their clothes in time nor cook meals, which caused frictions between them and their son who had to go hungry all the time even when under huge academic pressure in the 12th grade. Because of it, their son quarreled with the couple many times, but to no avail. Afterwards, their son’s academic performance declined rapidly and often skipped school to play PC games in Internet cafes. Teachers in school visited the couple for their son’s misbehaviors, but Song Lin was totally unconcerned because he believed that studying in school was no use in helping with achieving consummation and that the future of his son was all well-arranged by his “Master”. In the end, his son had to drop out of school to work.
In December 2007, Song Lin was punished by law for his participation in illegal Falun Gong activities. In October 2017, the couple was arrested for distributing illegal Falun Gong propaganda materials. But their obsession with Falun Gong and so-called consummation didn’t waver at all, on the contrary, they all viewed these law punishments as mere tests and ordeals that they had to go through. They believed only in the thick of tribulations that they could cultivate away their egos, improving their characters, and move closer to the consummation and “Kingdom of heaven”.
In the autumn of 2019, due to practicing Falun Gong while refusing to take medical treatments or medicines for a long time, Song Lin’s eyesight weakened rapidly with blurred vision, black spots, floating spots and other symptoms. Neither could he see words clearly when reading Falun Gong books, nor tell differences between colors. Although his son advised him to take a medical examination in hospital as soon as possible, Song Lin refused by saying that it was merely the result of reading books for too long and eyes fatigue. And Song Lin’s wife also chimed in with him. Once again, the couple invoked the “eliminating karma to cure disease” fallacy preached by Falun Gong, and insisted on not going to hospital to take any medicine or injection.
One day in October 2020, Song Lin had a blackout when moving a heavy thing at home, and his son forcibly took him to hospital for examination. After a careful diagnosis, it was confirmed that the blackout was due to diabetic retinopathy. The doctor explained that retina needed adequate blood supply, but the diabetes would damage blood vessels in fundus, and a sudden force when moving heavy things could cause the impaired blood vessels rupture. The son asked in anxiety whether it was possible for his father to ever see things again after medical treatments.The doctor shook his head in pity, saying that it was impossible to restore his eyesight again, and that he might, at best, be able to see blue shapes.
The painful lesson that Song Lin lost his sight in both eyes resulted from his blind faith in Falun Gong and its “eliminating karma and cure disease” fallacy. But this is a lesson that is too heavy to take……
