(Clearwisdom.net) The day before yesterday, I met a young female practitioner from China. I had never met her before; I made contact with her using my cell phone. Getting off the bus, my eyes swept over the crowd, I thought perhaps she wasn't there. Then a young girl came in a rush. Judging by the kindness in her eyes and her smile, I knew she was the fellow practitioner I'd come to meet. We called each other's name almost simultaneously, as though we were old friends. She had suffered so much in China, and had miraculously gotten her visa, allowing her to leave China. Sitting together in her small, simple room, we talked for over an hour.

She started practicing Falun Dafa in 1998, simply because she felt that Falun Dafa was good. Her fianc¨¦ had attended Teacher's Falun Dafa lecture series four times. On July 20, 1999, she went to appeal to the government, but was arrested and sent to several brainwashing sessions. Since she never renounced her belief, her term was extended for one year. After being released, she became homeless to avoid arrest, but was abducted again and sent to a forced labor camp for two years. At that time, her fianc¨¦ went to New Zealand. In the camp, she was on a hunger strike for a long time. She was force-fed, which caused festering lesions in her mouth. From New Zealand, her fianc¨¦ persistently called the labor camp to demand her release.

I asked her, "Did the phone calls make your situation worse?"

She said, "It's related to the progress of the Fa-rectification. Now the situation is much better than in 2001 and 2002. It also depends on one's status in cultivation. Overseas phone calls from different callers, even those speaking different languages, which focused on the same issue, definitely suppressed the evils. Police officers refer to these calls as "harassing". Actually, they are afraid of their wrongdoings being exposed! Whenever there were less phone calls, they would say, "Now nobody cares about you, why don't you give up?""

She told me about some of the things she had suffered and expressed her thoughts. She said that in hardship, one's attachments are revealed. The persecutors then focus their attack on your weak points. Several collaborators (1) surround the victims day and night, attempting to infuse them with wrong ideas. When they were tired and has less righteous thoughts, lower forms of lives in other dimensions would come. Those who went astray were the ones who made excuses for themselves in order to avoid the hardships.

One way they often threaten newcomers is to let them see a practitioner being tortured, the bruised faces, the blood and the filthy conditions. Some practitioners could bear the pain of being tortured, but could not tolerate the cries when others were subjected to it. One lady said that although it's been a long time since she was released, she still smells the odor of burning flesh caused by the use of electric batons.

She said, "Once they twisted my arms behind my back and bound me to a steel chair. Then they poured water infused with pepper into my eyes, nose, and mouth. The burning pain cut right to the heart. They poured for a while, paused to ask me if I'd give up, then started again. After a while, they called my name, and when I raised my head, they resumed pouring the pepper-water. Later they called me again, and I made a noise. Again they poured, saying, "We thought you fainted!" I realized I shouldn't cooperate with them in any way. I closed my eyes and didn't respond to them anymore, then they stopped."

"Acknowledging the evils, even subconsciously, is to accept it, which would intensify the hardships. One day they tricked me into entering an office. Suddenly, several people pushed me down. They injected unknown fluids into my body. Some practitioners became mentally disordered after they were subjected to these injections. I was indignant and I resisted, but still I was injected. I thought, "This injection is useless to me! Useless!" Many days later, I found that my foot was numb. Then I remembered that it was there that I had been injected."

She said that for the women, the worst things were the sexual insults and tortures. She was tortured after she was stripped. Officers forced her head into a pool, making her drink water until her stomach was swollen. Then she was thrown to the ground, her mouth was stuffed and gagged, and they stepped heavily on her stomach causing horrendous pain, intending to cause her to have a mental breakdown.

She said, "An older woman suffered tortures for three consecutive nights. I heard her in the next room, first she cried in a suppressed voice, and then she cried out loudly, after which I heard her fall and hit the floor."

"When they tortured me again, I thought of Teacher's words,

"All of you are already aware of the principle of mutual-generation and mutual-inhibition. If you are not afraid, the factor that would make you afraid will cease to exist. This is not to be self-imposed, but is achieved by truly and calmly letting go of it."("Eliminate Your Last Attachment(s)", Essentials for Further Advancement II )

"If you are frightened, if you cry out of shame, resist, or whatever, the evil would be happy because it has affected you. Forget all of that! Actually, I was afraid of being raped; it happened that police officers raped practitioners on the way to jail. Upon reflection, however, I knew that only by letting go of my human mentalities could I overcome the difficulties. I did have fear in my mind. For an unmarried girl, it's hard. But as a practitioner, the only right thing for us to do is to give up the attachments to meet the requirements of Dafa. That's the way of a god."

"Another time they pressed my head down into water. I held my breath...

A passage in Zhuan Falun appeared in my brain:

"In India, there are many yoga masters who can sit in water or be buried in the earth for many days. They can make themselves completely still and even control their heartbeats."

"I was quiet and not nervous. They were surprised that their method failed. They kicked me and cursed me in order to vent their anger. I felt sorry for their ignorance, shamelessness and cruelty. I stared directly into their eyes. They had to stop the torture. After that, they would shake their heads when they saw me, saying, 'Forget about her, we don't need her!'"

Then she said, "One's first thought is where one's level really is. That first thought is very important."

I looked at her with surprise. She looked thin and coughed occasionally. She was still in the process of recovering. Tortures have left some minute lines on her face, but her smile was so rich and her eyes were as clear and sparkling as those of a child. I couldn't believe such a fragile looking girl could have such a strong will.

Righteous thoughts are based on the solid foundation built upon daily cultivation.

I thought of Teacher's words:

"It is indeed difficult for those who haven't truly done cultivation to come through this."("Drive Out Interference", Essentials for Further Advancement II)

Whether or not someone is capable can't be seen at the surface. Some elderly women are not well educated, but their belief in Falun Dafa is so pure and profound, nothing can shake it.

She said to me, "Looking back, those hardships are nothing." She said that just like Teacher has talked about, in China, Falun Dafa practitioners are trying their best to clarify the truth to people. Even some of those who seldom come out are clarifying the truth to their relatives and friends.

November 08, 2004

Notes:

(1) Collaborators: Former practitioners who have turned against Falun Gong under brainwashing and torture. They are then made to assist in brainwashing and torturing practitioners.