Misguided into joining the Falun Gong cult
I started to exercise regularly from October 1997. One morning I went out for a run. When I passed the gate of the Post and Telecommunications Building in our city, it happened that some people were practicing Falun Gong there. So I went over to have a look out of curiosity. Just then, an aunt came to greet me and gave me a brief introduction of Falun Gong. She said that the practice could cure diseases and improve health and that they taught it for free. Then, I bought a book called Zhuan Falun, which says that Falun Gong is a practice teaching people to be good and kind. The book suggests especially that, by and by, the practitioners could reach a high level of the hierarchy until they achieve Consummation if they cultivate Buddhism and Taoism in line with the principles of "Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance."
I had never been exposed to any kind of Qigong exercises before. After reading the book, I believed that Falun Gong was intended to teach people to be good and kind and that I should practice it according to the principles of "Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance". In order to remove disease and keep fit, I first gave up smoking and drinking, and then gradually got rid of other bad habits. I got up at 6 o'clock every morning to practice Falun Gong at a practice site, and studied the Fa at night, sometimes exchanging my experience with fellow practitioners. After some time, I felt that Master Li Hongzhi had taken charge of me, as my health improved a lot even if I didn’t take any medicine when I got ill. When I had a minor illness such as a slight cold or other discomforts, I would consider it as a way of "eliminating karma" and no longer took a sick leave now and then. I believed it was Falun Gong that saved me and changed my life, so I practiced and studied it more actively. To get into a higher level, I attended a series of "Fa Promotion" activities held in our township.
In order to "promote the Fa," I paid for all the transportation at the requirement of the Master: “Those with money contribute money while those with strength contribute strength”. Besides, I had all the promotional materials printed at my own expense, which cost me about 80,000 Yuan. I spared no pains to drive them everywhere to promote the Fa, with no time or energy to take care of the contracted projects, not to mention designing project drawings. As a result, there occurred some quality problems in one of our projects, for which I lost not only 260,000 Yuan of the contract money, but also my professional credibility. I attributed it all to the theory that "suffering is repaying a karmic debt, which nobody can casually change."
I thought I had benefited from learning Falun Gong, as I was in better health now, no longer afraid that the food might be too hot or too cold when having meals. Therefore, I believed even more in what Li Hongzhi said, i.e., that "as long as you cultivate sincerely, you are cleansing your body and having your disease removed in another dimension." Not until now did I realize that my health has improved not because of the magic of Falun Gong. As I have discarded the bad habits such as smoking and drinking and keep regular hours and get up early for a workout every day, it is no wonder that I have recovered from some minor illnesses without taking any medicine or seeing a doctor. The reason that so many Falun practitioners died abnormally was that they didn't seek medical treatment when they got ill. They refused to see a doctor or take medicines even when they became seriously ill. That’s why more than 2000 Falun Gong practitioners have died.
Two things have brought me lingering fears afterward when I rethink of them. One thing happened in July 1998 when I was busy with decorating a karaoke ballroom in the Municipal Food School. One morning I suddenly had diarrhea and went to the bathroom for how many times I don't know. Since I had learned Falun Gong, I thought what happened to me was a way of “eliminating karma” and that Li Hongzhi was helping me cleanse and purify my body. So I didn't go to hospital then. When I went back home later, I recovered unexpectedly, which made me immensely proud of myself at that time. I was grateful for being a Dafa disciple, thinking that nothing serious would happen to me. Another thing happened in the winter of 1998. One night when I was in my sleep, I suddenly felt my stomach turned upside down, finding no rest whether sitting or lying. I thought that the Master was helping me to "eliminate karma" again so that I would be going up to the next level. Considering that I was so sick, my wife offered to take me to see a doctor. I said that it came out all right last time when I had diarrhea, so would it this time. Thus, I held out until right at noon, when the pain disappeared to my surprise. This made me even more convinced of Falun Gong's magic powers. In retrospect, feeling quite scared now, I think the consequences would have been unimaginable if I had suffered from a fatal disease.
In July 1999, when the government banned Falun Gong, some fellow practitioners came to my home, telling me they would go to the State Bureau for Letters and Calls in Beijing to appeal for help. As they indicated they were short of money, I went to my room and took out 36,000 Yuan in cash and gave it to them. Then I drove them to the railway station myself. Afterward, other fellow practitioners, some of whom I didn't even know about, came in succession and asked me for financial help, I never refused them. When there was no cash in my home, I would get from my company some project funds paid by the clients in advance and give them to those fellow practitioners.
Obsession with Falun Gong will court disaster
I had been reading Falun Gong books and learning the Fa, indulging in Li Hongzhi's fallacies, believing that human morality had now been corrupted and a catastrophe would befall human beings with the earth going to explode. I regarded Li Hongzhi as our Savior.
With the belief that there would be no use making more money since the doomsday was coming, I stopped undertaking any new projects and refused all clients coming for business consultation. Soon my family lost the main source of income. I showed no interest in earning money to support my parents and pay school fees for my two daughters, intent only on taking the time to "save all sentient beings". Bewitched by Li Hongzhi's new "scripture", i.e. that “there won't be another 10 years, time is running out, and it is the final time now,” I went everywhere to “clarify the truth” and distribute Falun Gong materials and so on. I resolutely sold my car and house, raising 300,000 Yuan, with which I bought a computer, a printer, and CDs, etc. to advocate Falun Gong activities.
If people continue to be addicted to Falun Gong, "cultivating" with vigor at all times, they will undoubtedly be induced by Li Hongzhi's fallacies. To “cultivate to higher levels and help people go to heaven”, maybe they will act someday like the practitioners who burned themselves in Tian'anmen Square in 2001. Those Falun Gong followers were completely under the spiritual control of Li Hongzhi. They were too obsessed with Falun Gong to have their own thinking.
See Falun Gong in its true colors and keep the lessons in mind
I'm fortunate to have woken up in time to the harmfulness of Falun Gong. I couldn't help asking myself: What I have got and lost after practicing and learning Falun Gong? Actually, I had got nothing! Not only have I disturbed the social order, violated the national laws and regulations, but I have brought endless harm to my family members, hurt my wife, and in particular caused tremendous pain to my 80-year-old parents and parents-in-law with limited mobility. My two daughters, who had excellent academic performance and were about to take the college entrance examination at that time, had to give up their college dreams since there was no source of family income to support them. They dropped out of school as teenagers to work in Guangzhou to support our family. So, it is me who has ruined an otherwise happy and well-off family. As a son, a husband and a father, I haven't fulfilled my due responsibilities, and all these consequences have been brought about by the evil cult.
