(Clearwisdom.net) In August 2008, I was arrested and taken to a detention center. Later, I was transferred to a labor camp. I was released in November. During the three months of detention, I came to realize the seriousness of cultivation and learned to persevere in practicing rationally and peacefully. During this period of my cultivation, numerous times I felt Master's magnificence and immense compassion. I would like to share my experiences with everyone.
We Should Treat Sentient Beings Kindly No Matter Where We Are
The detention center forced all detainees to labor for over ten hours every day without a break. I usually recited the Fa or sent forth righteous thoughts while working. Occasionally, I clarified the truth and advised others to do the three withdrawals (referring to quitting the Chinese Communist Party [CCP] and its associated organizations) as well. When these detainees recited "Falun Dafa is good," some of them became very calm while others felt a warm current pouring down from the top of their head.
There was one woman who claimed she would chop off the limbs of the person who reported her to the police. The guards asked me to have a talk with her. I shared my understandings with her that I had gained from the Fa. She listened attentively and in the end she said, "How strange! I no longer have hatred. I bet your Master helped me. It's really worth it that I ended up being detained here. I have come to understand a lot of things, especially the three withdrawals. The CCP is really stupid. Why would they throw you in here? Don't they know that Falun Gong practitioners can influence a large group of people?" She then reminded me, "Didn't you say that your Master is always kind and smiling, despite the enormous hardships he has suffered? I think you should be like your Master and smile more often. You're a bit too serious."
In an environment like the detention center, the fact that a practitioner could treat injustice with calmness, be poised, optimistic and act rationally, and at the same time care about other people, is in itself, a truth revealed. Many detainees have great admiration for the calmness I displayed and were very grateful for the encouragement I gave them. They were very respectful towards me and did not call me by my name. Even those with quick tempers were very gentle when talking to me. They also offered me lots of help. Some of them said they would practice Falun Gong after their release, which reminded me of a murderer I met many years ago. That murderer said she changed for the better after she started to practice Falun Gong since some practitioners who were detained in the same prison helped her.
One night I sent forth righteous thoughts to eliminate all the evil factors behind the slave labor practice in the detention center. The following day there was no work for us. Such situations occurred from time to time. One detainee said, "It's great that we don't have to do any labor now that you are getting rid of the evil factors." However, my persecution didn't stop. Later I was given one year of forced labor. The guards suggested I file an appeal. When I finished writing, they all thought my appeal was well written.
On the day of my departure, several detainees asked me where I was going, saying, "Now that you are leaving, it feels like we're missing something here."
In the labor camp, I was held in a team specifically designated to detain Falun Gong practitioners. Two drug addicts were ordered to monitor me around the clock. They took turns keeping an eye on me and recorded everything I did on a piece of paper to be reported to the guards. At the beginning they asked me to study the labor camp rules. I refused and instead recited the Fa and sent forth righteous thoughts. If they tried to talk to me, I clarified the truth to them.
Before my cultivation, I had very strong attachments to jealousy, resentment, and revenge. But Dafa has made me a better person who always tries to find traces of kindness and righteousness in other people, including those persecuting me. Therefore, I was able to treat everyone kindly, be it guards, police officers, or the drug addicts monitoring me.
Maybe because I was always thinking of saving the guards, it turned out that often no one tried to "reform" me for several days in a row. As a result, I spent all day reciting the Fa or sending forth righteous thoughts. During my detention, I showed symptoms of sickness. I asked to be allowed to practice the Falun Gong exercises, but was not allowed to. Later I learned that the labor camp didn't want to keep me at all after I asked to practice the Falun Gong exercises. They notified the detention center to take me back, but the center refused. Therefore, the labor camp ordered my family to take me home. I was thus released.
Respecting Master and the Fa
This is a very serious and critical issue. If a Dafa practitioner cannot truly respect Master and the Fa, he will easily be swayed by his attachments and may even enlighten along an evil path. This time my detention clearly showed me that my biggest omission was the lack of firm faith and deep respect for Master and the Fa, resulting in only a vague understanding of the responsibilities of Dafa disciples. While I was in the detention center, I made sure that every day I repeated the following words, "I am Master Li Hongzhi's disciple. I am a Dafa disciple. I am a warrior of the Fa. I am a protector of the universe. I am a guardian of sentient beings. I vow to comply with Master's Fa rectification arrangements." At the same time, I kept clearing various evil factors that shook my faith in Master and Dafa. Whenever I felt in low spirits, Master's Fa popped up in my mind, which made me feel Master's true compassion and greatness.
When a policeman interrogated me, he first referred to Master by his name. I told him, "It's Master Li." He thought for a while and said, "It's Mr. Li, right? I think it's better for me to call him Mr. Li." He fabricated a "confession" for me and told me to sign it. I replied, "This is not from my mouth and I will not sign it. You must change it to what I said. Just write 'I'm trying to be a good person following Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance." In the end, he indeed only put down those few words on the paper. Even so, I still didn't sign it. Before I left, he looked at me with admiration. After I came back to my detention cell, a young woman detainee sat across from me and said, "You're truly great!" "Why?" I asked. She replied, "I don't know. I just feel it." From that day on, I became much more clearheaded on my responsibilities as a Dafa disciple.
Power of Righteous Thoughts
The labor camp forced practitioners to read or look at books and videos defaming Dafa. Every day we were ordered to get up at 6:00 a.m. and couldn't go to sleep until after 10:30 p.m. During the day the guards came to "chat" with us, and soon the conversation turned to attempts to "reform" us.
They asked if I had read any materials denouncing Falun Gong. I said I had and continued, "These materials can be divided into four categories. First are the materials slandering my Master, second are materials distorting Falun Dafa principles, third are materials defaming practitioners, and lastly are materials covering so-called big events such as the Tiananmen Self-immolation. I've read my Master's lectures numerous times. He is very kind and compassionate. Nowhere in Master's teachings can I find evidence supporting those slanderous materials. Every practitioner I know is a good person. The big events are all fabricated news. I know the path I want to take."
A person once showed me several sentences taken from Master's teachings. I then recited the relevant paragraphs to her and said, "You take things out of context from Master's teachings and distort the original meanings. Do you think you're doing something right?" She never showed anything like that to me again.
I realized that anything defaming Dafa must be cleared, so I kept sending forth righteous thoughts to eliminate those evil factors. As a result, no one forced me again to read any slanderous brochures.
However, because I refused to wear the labor camp uniform, the guards had me read "virtue education" materials. After reading each chapter of the materials, I wrote a short essay clarifying the truth from various angles, including history, religion, psychology, arts, science, and cultivation. The more I wrote, the more I felt that Dafa is so boundlessly profound and Master is so immensely compassionate. It was as if a certain realm suddenly revealed itself to me and I was moved beyond description. What a great Fa! It can enable a cultivator to be considerate of others and learn to treat sentient beings with kindness.
Before my arrest, my truth-clarification was relatively straightforward. I either was able to get people I met to understand the truth right away, or was simply rejected by those who didn't want to know the truth. In the labor camp however, I had more time to talk to the guards and inmates, so I began to clarify the truth to them from different perspectives. I found I could start the conversation by talking about virtually anything, be it social science, law, or cultivation practice.
I kept sending forth righteous thoughts to eliminate the persecution imposed on me by evil factors in other dimensions. With my righteous thoughts getting stronger and stronger, I felt joy deep in my heart. I knew Master was by my side. Three days before my release, while sending forth righteous thoughts, I was very tranquil and felt a beam of strong and delicate light destroying the persecution imposed on me. I knew the evil could no longer hold me in the labor camp, otherwise they would provide me a perfect chance to eliminate them. I already saw through each guard's attachments and had contemplated how to better clarify the truth to them. If the labor camp indeed held me until my term's expiration date, I would have been able to make more guards understand the truth.
On the day of my release, a guard told me to sign a certain document. I suddenly felt very sad. I hadn't enabled all of them know the truth yet. How could I simply leave the labor camp? Then I remembered that detention is never Master's arrangement for us and so I felt much better. I was arrested because of my stubborn attachments. After I managed to rid myself of my attachments in three months, I was released.
One thought I had was that if all detained practitioners kept reciting the Fa, looking within, and clearing their own fields, and at the same time sent forth righteous thoughts and clarified the truth, any persecution in the labor camp or prison would have long since dissipated.
My arrest and detention may have caused some damage to Dafa and hindered non-practitioners from having correct understandings of Dafa. Therefore, after my release I made up my mind to balance well my family and social life and make up for the loss I brought to Dafa. Later Master arranged to have me return to my former company. After I resumed work, my colleagues were all very happy. Only then did I know that during my detention, several company managers talked to the police department a couple of times requesting my release. They also went to the detention center to see me but were turned away by the guards. With the progress of Master's Fa-rectification, non-practitioners have developed a different attitude towards Dafa and practitioners. They now have great admiration for practitioners who persevere in their belief. Ten years ago, they would only advise me to stop practicing cultivation for the sake of my family.
After my release, my son told me, "Mom, I realized from sending forth righteous thoughts that we must be truly compassionate. Only by doing so can we possess divine power and energy to eliminate the evil."
Cultivators Should Not Have Interests in Secular Matters
Because the guards at labor camps have been intensively brainwashed, they are often very hostile towards Dafa, which makes it difficult to clarify the truth to them. However, practitioners' own attachments have sometimes also hindered our efforts. Some of the questions asked by police and guards can indirectly reflect our attachments.
For instance, once a guard asked for my opinion of the Olympics. I said, "As cultivators, we live in the human world but have no interest in secular matters. We have no attitude towards the Olympics. We're good people no matter where we are. For China, it's a good thing it can host the Olympics. Those righteous people overseas are not opposed to the fact that China is acting as the host, but they don't like that China arrested numerous political dissidents before and after the Olympics."
Why would the guard ask me questions irrelevant to our cultivation? I think he's influenced by the propaganda. On the other hand, the fact that some practitioners are obsessed with human world also plays a role.
After going through the arrest and forced labor, I deeply realize how difficult life is for practitioners detained in labor camps and prisons. The guards are nothing and they can't impose any pressure on practitioners. It is the evil in other dimensions that exerts great pressure on us. If we are too attached to personal gain and loss and human sentiments, our righteous thoughts won't take effect at all.
As I see it, the most effective path is to cultivate compassion and become a pure and unselfish person created by Dafa. Only then can we experience the divine power of righteous thoughts.
I had been hesitant for a long time as to whether I should write this article, because death threats and forced labor are not worth mentioning. I was ashamed of myself for failing to do well and getting arrested and detained. My purpose for writing this article is primarily to validate the Fa, not myself.