(Clearwisdom.net) Shortly after the persecution started, the Chinese Communist regime sentenced me to a long prison term. On my way to the prison with several other practitioners, we discussed a problem. Based on what we knew, most practitioners passively accepted the injustice against them without a fight. Why? We were then unaware of the concept of denying old force arrangements, but we did understand that it was wrong to accept the persecution. Once at the prison, we immediately began to resist.
Per prison rules, the guards put us into an intensive training session. At night we did the Falun Gong exercises, studied the Fa, and wrote copies of Master's lectures out on toilet paper under the blankets, and passed them to each other. We slept very little and were able to put in great effort during the day to study the Fa.
Prior to arriving at the prison I had memorized a number of articles while at a detention center, including several articles from Essentials for Further Advancement, the entire book of Hong Yin, "Teaching the Fa at Western U.S. Fa Conference" and a few others. I obtained additional new lectures in prison. At that time my thirst for Dafa was stronger than my life. Whenever I received a few words about the Fa, I immediately memorized them.
To punish practitioners, and prevent us from doing the exercises, the prison guards forced all inmates to sit on small stools with us for long hours. The guards told the criminal inmates, "Do you know why you are being punished today? Because of Falun Gong!" Suddenly, I recalled Master's words in "Dafa is Indestructible" (from Essentials for Further Advancement II):
"As a Dafa disciple, everything of yours is formed by Dafa and is the most righteous, and it can only be that [you] rectify everything that is not righteous. How could you bow to the evil? How could you promise something to the evil?"
When the guards incited hatred among criminal inmates with the same lies again, I decided it was my opportunity to speak up. I stood up, "You are stirring up the inmates to put pressure on us, and that is very bad behavior!" An angry inmate jumped over and kicked my stool over. Another practitioner stood up right away, "We refuse to sit here!" Other practitioners immediately followed suit, "We will not sit any longer!" At that moment another prison guard arrived to check on us. Pointing at the inmate who kicked my stool, I told the guard, "He attacked me." The guard was surprised by our defiance. He turned around and reported the incident to his boss. After that the "sitting punishment" was dismissed. Other inmates gave us the thumbs-up, saying things like, "Those scumbags! You've got to treat them this way!" Since that incident occurred, no criminal inmates have dared to assist the guards in persecuting us. One day during a class when a guard made a derogatory comment about Falun Gong, all practitioners in the room immediately stood up to protest, "Stop attacking our Master!" The guard was furious but quickly found he could not do much.
During that period of time, we studied and memorized the Fa and shared our cultivation experiences with each other every day, and improved quickly. Although our understanding of the Fa principles was less than adequate, we still had fear, and the number of new lectures we received was rather limited, we nonetheless made a first step in the right direction along the Fa rectification path.
The guards did not want the practitioners to stay together during a two-month training session, and separated us into different teams. I was determined that we should not do any slave labor. We were innocent, and we believed that working as slave laborers was a form of admitting guilt. In addition, long hours of work would leave no time for Fa study. They were trying to drag us down. I requested a meeting with the warden and told him why I refused to work. At the end he agreed with me, "Ok, if I ask everyone to work one extra minute every day, that's enough to cover your production quota." Thus I secured my Fa study time.
We received quite a few of Master's lectures, which I copied and memorized at night. During the day I recalled the contents and completed hand-copying the articles before passing them on to others. When we received a new lecture, even long ones, we all managed to memorize every word. Master gave us the brain-power, so it did not take much time for us to remember the entire lectures. We knew that our brains were the safest place to store the Fa, where no one could take it away.
I often spoke with the guard assigned to monitor me, and I told him about Master and Falun Gong, as well as my life, family, work, children's education, and understandings about society. He respected me greatly and admired my "profound knowledge, logic and manner." He understood the truth about Falun Gong. When I told him my plan to do the Falun Gong exercises he agreed. Overall, the group I was in had a relatively easy environment. When we had righteous minds, the criminal inmates did not attack us. They even protected us. These inmates face bright futures for helping us. No one dared to bad-mouth Falun Gong and our Master in front of us. Many inmates became our friends. They admired Dafa, helped us, and even passed Master's new lectures to us from outside.
The prison guards eventually forced me into the harshest prison group and attempted to "reform" me but to no avail. Two months later they sent me to a solitary confinement cell. A few practitioners died during that time. More practitioners eventually stood up and resisted the persecution. The prison authorities finally backed off, and our situation improved noticeably.
One day a practitioner shared his understanding and said, "The evil is nothing when facing practitioners who have strong righteous thoughts and are not afraid of death. The reasons some of us could not completely deny the persecution are first, lack of effort in Fa study; second, fear of death; third, failure to cultivate our minds. Unless we relinquish fear and other attachments, our righteous thoughts won't have enough power, and will make us powerless to defeat the evildoers attacking us. What is happening is not a struggle between people. It is a reflection of the battle between good and evil in other dimensions." Master told us in Essentials for Further Advancement, "Pacify the External by Cultivating the Internal."
Only when we correct our mindsets will we have sufficient power to deny the evil. I overcame abuse and mistreatment and created a good cultivation environment because I followed the Fa's guidance every step along the way. I did not initially dare to do the exercises, but later was able to do them first for one minute, then ten minutes, thirty minutes, one hour, and even longer. Finally, I completely abandoned all fear and did the exercises any time I wanted. I have achieved these results after studying the Fa and cultivating myself.
Some practitioners gave in, and were forced to compromise, which made us think hard about the reasons. We realized their fundamental problem was fear of death. A hunger strike is not necessarily the best solution. If we eat regular meals and maintain our strength, then use our minds, and our divine thoughts to resist the evil, things will turn out differently.
In "Teaching and Explaining the Fa at the Metropolitan New York Fa Conference" (April 20, 2003), we saw the following questions and answers,
"Question: The evil beings don't allow the students in Mainland China who have been sentenced or kept in labor camps to study the Fa or do the exercises. In other words, they don't have the conditions to practice cultivation. How can they reach Consummation?
Teacher: I often see students like this, 'You don't let me do the exercises, but I insist on doing them. You don't let me study, but I insist on studying. I just won't listen to you evil beings. All you can do is threaten me with death, right?' ... What I'm telling you is that when you're truly able to let go of the thought of life or death you can do anything!"
Master also wrote in "Dafa Disciples' Righteous Thoughts are Powerful" from Essentials for Further Advancement II:
"Why should you, a Dafa disciple, fear the evil ones when enduring persecution? The crux of the matter is that you have attachments. If not, do not endure passively, and face the evil people with righteous thoughts at all times. No matter what the situation, do not cooperate with the evil's demands, orders, or what it instigates. If everyone does this the environment won't be this way."
The prison guards planned to send me to the most evil team for "reformation" in 2006. Inspired by the fellow practitioner's experience, I told them that I would defend my right to practice my belief with my life. The guards backed off. My environment subsequently improved. I spent hours every day reciting the Fa and sharing with other practitioners. During all the years in prison I have memorized Zhuan Falun, Hong Yin, part of Hong Yin Volume II, six long lectures and nearly 100 articles. Other practitioners memorized even more. No criminal inmates dared to persecute us. They had great respect for practitioners.
Dafa disciples' righteous minds and conduct can change everything. We created a new environment even in prisons, the center of the evils' hideout.
(Editor's note: Practitioners improved their cultivation in prison, and were able to stop the authorities from torturing and damaging them, which was good. But prison is not where Dafa practitioners belong. Practitioners in different areas should use their righteous minds to help break through the old force arrangements and rescue them from prison. Practitioners should regain their freedom, follow Master's arrangement in cultivation, and make up the lost time and damage by saving more people.)
October 30, 2009