(Clearwisdom.net)

In early 1997 when a friend of mine introduced me to Falun Gong, the riddle of human beings' significance, which had been hidden in my heart for dozens of years, finally was answered. Since then, I have walked on my path of cultivation. I feel extremely fortunate and happy to know Dafa, but I can never forget that dark day, July 20, 1999, when the Chinese Communist Party began persecuting Falun Gong. I walked to Tiananmen Square the following October and unfurled a banner that stated "Falun Dafa Practitioners Peacefully Appeal." I wanted to let everyone who had been deceived know that Falun Dafa is good. I was arrested, but I escaped with righteous thoughts after three days of detention.

To do better in letting others know the truth and saving sentient beings, fellow practitioners and I set up a truth-clarification materials production site. As a whole, we had had omissions in our cultivation, and in March 2002, our production site was destroyed. On reflection, I had a strong attachment to doing things, because we had few practitioners to help, and we could not produce enough materials to meet the demand.

Frequently, one practitioner worked until midnight and another worked until dawn. We operated 24 hours per day without stopping, like machines. Unfortunately, we studied the Fa less, and we slacked off on sending forth righteous thoughts, so the evil took advantage of us. Local police took me to their station where they beat me with clubs, demanding that I tell them where the materials came from.

At midnight, they poured cold water over me, and several police officers pulled up on my handcuffed arms very hard. I sat on the floor, my body forced into an arch. Then they burned my hands with cigarettes. I clenched my teeth and made no noise. Later my hands were so swollen that they looked like small loaves of bread, and the blood circulation in my hands had stopped. One police officer came over to rub my hands and said, "Is there a need for this? You will be fine if you tell us what we want to know." I replied, "Although you treat me like this, I do not hate or resent you, but your acts are sinful, and you will have to repay these debts in the future. I practice Falun Gong, and my Teacher tells us to value virtue, do good deeds, and improve our morality. What is wrong with that? You also have your parents, brothers and sisters. Don't you feel sorry? Doesn't your conscience bother you?"

A 27-year-old policeman said, "We have to do our jobs, otherwise the government won't pay our wages." When no one could hear or observe him, he quietly told me, "I actually learned Falun Gong over two months ago, look." He started practicing the standing exercises and the sitting meditation. When I told him the benefits of practicing Dafa, he did not say a word, but I could tell that he was listening to my words.

At night, they handcuffed me to a chair with my arms behind my back and kept me from sleeping. Two officers watched me. A Dafa book was on the table, and a policeman in his 40s picked it up and started to read. "The more you read, the more you feel it is right," he said. He read for more than two hours and then said to the other officers, "What's happening? Why is something rotating in front of my eyes as soon as I close them?" I told him, "That is happening because you have a great predestined relationship. Teacher showed you the Falun, so go back and practice well." He replied, "This is indeed divine."

In the police station, instructors, the precinct captain, and new officers fresh out of university took turns talking to me. I used these opportunities to tell them the truth, and their ominous, anxious countenances faded. At night another officer supervised me, and I explained the truth to him. He asked, "Did you know that the person who poured cold water on you the other night was me?" I asked him to treat Dafa practitioners kindly, and he nodded, "Don't worry, I won't beat them from now on." I was very happy. I had seen the awakening of a conscience, and another life being saved.

I stayed four days in the police station, and as long as I met people, I clarified the truth to them, because if I did not tell them, I would truly feel the losses. No matter what someone does, first of all the person is a sentient being who needs to be saved. One day an instructor came in and said, "Since you are such a capable talker, I brought someone to you, so you can have a good talk with her." An elderly lady of over 60 came in. Her face was full of sadness and tears. She told me how her son maltreated and abused her. I explained the karmic relationship between people, and we talked for more than an hour. She said, "Miss, you are too kind. I understand now." Then officers placed me in a police car and took me away. I turned my head when I the car was far from the police station. The elderly lady was still standing inside the gate of the station waving to me.

I was sent to a detention center. I refused to memorize prison rules or wear a prisoner uniform. After a few days, a prison official came to interrogate me, and I introduced Falun Gong to him. This person was over 40. He listened to me very earnestly. He asked, "Will people persecuting Falun Gong receive retribution?" I answered, "Think about it. Falun Gong practitioners are so good, and you still persecute them. Good is rewarded and evil receives retribution. This is justice."

He continued, "I tell you honestly that I have sentenced 12 practitioners. Now I am receiving retribution. My fingers hurt. Sometimes I cannot sleep because of the pain, and the hospital staff cannot find the cause. I also know you are good people, but I have no choice, as I am in charge of sentencing."

I told him, "You can change you job, but how can you repay so much karma in the future? Furthermore, you are already receiving retribution. You can only change your life by joining the practice." He said he would find Teacher's video lectures.

Then he said, "If you 'transform,' I can set you free." I joked, "You want to practice, and yet you want me to be transformed (give up the practice). Don't you feel sad?" He laughed. Afterwards I came into contact with him again, and I asked whether he had read the book. He nodded, "Yes."

In the detention center, practitioners sent forth righteous thoughts, practiced the exercises and clarified the truth. Many prisoners recited Hong Yin with us. A fellow practitioner's detention term expired, but they did not release her. She recited Teacher's Fa every day. In the beginning, police officers beat and cursed her. They used the tiger bench torture on her, but they could not affect her. She continued to loudly recite Teacher's articles daily. We could all hear in more than ten cells. We knew that if Dafa practitioners' hearts were all righteous, we could certainly change the evil environment we were in.

Teacher said in "Also in a Few Words" (Essentials for Further Advancement II):

"Indestructible righteous faith in the cosmos's Truth forms benevolent Dafa disciples' rock-solid, Diamond-Like Bodies, it frightens all evil, and the light of Truth it emanates makes the unrighteous elements in all beings' thoughts disintegrate. However strong the righteous thoughts are, that's how great the power is. Dafa disciples are truly stepping forward out of ordinary humanness."

A policewoman said that if we recited the way our fellow practitioner did, she would remember the article. She and another police officer actually memorized the poem "To Be a Human" from Hong Yin.

After I was locked up in detention center for eight months, I was sent to Dabei Prison, a place that I had only seen in movies and on TV. The environment there was extremely bad. We worked around-the-clock every day. Every practitioner was supervised by two prisoners. Because those prisoners had lived in terrible conditions for a long time, their thoughts had become twisted. Plotting against people and harassing them was their biggest joy, especially if their victims were Falun Gong practitioners. They beat and cursed practitioners, and they did not regard practitioners' infinitely merciful endurance as tolerance but instead intensified the abuse. They did not allow practitioners to talk to anyone. We did not have any basic human rights. Without a doubt I felt invisible pressure from other dimensions. Devils dressed as police officers wanted us to write statements. Due to fear, I did not directly clarify the truth when I talked to them. One night when I could not go to sleep, I silently kept calling my name and asked myself, "Why are you here? Are you telling the truth? Why do you have the feeling of dragging out an ignoble existence? How can you disappoint Teacher's merciful salvation like this?" This was not right. I had to validate Dafa!

After several days, we were told to write an "ideology report." I wrote quite a few pieces in detail, and I openly and honourably told them how I benefited from the practice. I declared to be void all my words and acts, and those written by others for me, that did not comply with Dafa. I stated that I would continue to firmly practice! In prison, my heart became more steadfast. I believe that one day the persecution of Falun Dafa will certainly be redressed!

My report was like a bomb. Police officers summoned me to the prison office, shut the door, and ferociously said, "Do you know what this place is? This is prison. It is not up to you!" They demanded that I read materials that slandered Dafa. I said, "Dafa practitioners should not be here, but since I am here, I must tell you what Falun Gong is."

The police beat me with electric batons while shouting at me. One officer yelled, "Will you die if you do not learn Falun Gong?" I told her, "I live for Dafa. No external form can change people's will." I recited Teacher's article "Mighty Virtue:"

"Dafa does not leave the body,
The heart harbors Zhen-Shan-Ren;
In the world is a great Arhat,
Spirits and ghosts fear greatly."

I recited the Fa-rectification formulas. The electric batons shocked my body, but I did not feel much pain. I contemplated how much Teacher endured for each disciple. The police forced me to squat from 6 a.m. to midnight. They used this method, attempting to destroy my will. I had to squat for three days continuously. On the fourth day, they made me stand and work. I did not know how long I stood each day. I often worked through the entire night.

One day I worked from 6 a.m. until 3 a.m. I could not endure any more. I felt dizzy, so I found a chair and sat down for less than two minutes. The prisoner who supervised me grabbed the chair from me. I was very shocked by this. Afterwards, I learned that if a prisoner could "transform" a Falun Dafa practitioner, the prisoner's sentence would be reduced. They do not understand the consequences of person losing his or her human nature.

My feet became swollen from continuous standing. One day of suffering felt as long as a century. When I now think about that time, I realize I had resigned myself to bad conditions and acknowledged the old forces' arrangement. Meanwhile, there were also many prisoners with good hearts who tried to advise me, so I explained the truth to them. A prisoner with a short sentence said that, before being in prison, the thought of Falun Gong frightened as if she had heard about a plague because of what she had heard on state-run television broadcasts. "Now I that have met you, I know what the television says is all fake. You are so good. Quite a few Dafa practitioners from many areas have helped me. I had never heard about the things you have told me, but I feel very comfortable about what you have said. I will look for you after I get out." I told her, "We will definitely meet again if we have a predestined relationship."

Day after day I suffered. Then, one afternoon, I suddenly went into coma. I do not know any of the details of how I was sent from the prison to the hospital. I was told that I had several examinations, but no illness was found. The doctor did not dare to give me medicine. After less than an hour, I woke up, found myself on a hospital bed with many doctors surrounding me. I said, "I have no illness, and I need to leave this hospital as soon as possible." The next morning I left the hospital, and I was fine. This displayed Dafa's power and how miraculous it is. Many guards, and especially the warden, walked around me during the next several days. They could not believe that a dying person had recovered without an injection or a pill. It was simply inconceivable. I told the warden my cultivation experiences. I regarded her as a sentient being that deserved to be saved. After all, she had a knowing side. She liked to be with me whenever the opportunity arose.

These were my experiences in prison for three years. I walked my path clumsily, but my firm belief in Teacher and Dafa has never changed. Dafa is deeply ingrained in my heart. Every time I pass a test, I do so because of Teacher's merciful protection and bearing things for me. I would like to say, "Teacher, other practitioners know I have not cultivated well and have caused big losses, but I hope my fellow practitioners will listen to your words. If we slip up, we cannot just lie there. We must quickly get up, because every practitioner must go home with you.

I also urgently appeal to all kind people around the world to pay attention the evil persecution in China that has been going for over six years. There are still many Dafa practitioners detained in brainwashing centers, forced labor camps and prisons and are being tortured. Please offer your assistance!