(Clearwisdom.net) Greetings, Teacher. Greetings, fellow practitioners!
1. Negate the Persecution Arranged by the Old Forces
I was detained in early 2007. When I looked inward, I found many attachments such as the attachment to self, the mentality of accomplishing a task, and taking task accomplishment as cultivation. Recalling the past I found that every time I was persecuted, it was due to my amplified human thoughts and my attachments getting strong. I had left loopholes where the evil forces could take advantage. It was not like what some other practitioners said - that they were persecuted because the evil forces were scared. It is true that the evil forces will get become frightened when we validate the Fa. However, they don't dare to randomly persecute practitioners. Persecution usually happens when we have attachments that are taken advantage of by the old forces.
I have never acknowledged the illegal detention, always requested appeals, and sued the evildoers for violating the law. When police officers and the 610 Office staff tried to shirk their responsibilities by saying that it was their job, that it wasn't they who had decided to make the arrest, or they didn't know, I asked them why the murderers, drug traffickers, and thieves who also thought that what they were doing was "their job" were in jail. I told them it was because they had run up against human moral standards. Work must be in line with human moral standards. Practitioners were illegally detained because those in charge wanted to protect the interests of the totalitarian regime and those who carry out their orders are committing evil deeds against their own consciences. They might use "work" as an excuse to shirk their responsibility, but actually they're no different from the criminals.
2. Send Righteous Thoughts Steadfastly and Do the Exercises
Sending righteous thoughts and doing the exercises were good ways to validate the Fa during my detention. I felt ashamed that I usually didn't finish doing all five exercises at home. During my detention I did the exercises regularly.
Those in charge tried to sway me with false reasoning and heresy, saying how serious my case was, that my case file was a foot high, and that they would sentence me to many years. The police ministry sent officials to interrogate me a few times. I cleansed my thoughts every day to guard against any irrational thoughts. I recited Teacher's Fa to strengthen my righteous thoughts and firmly believed in Teacher. I told them that what I had done was justified and didn't violate any laws, and that their case against me was based on fabrications and lies. I asked them to show their "evidence" to the public and government at all levels, and let them judge who was guilty. I told them that I might even be rewarded for my courage.
In the days that followed my detainment, I worked to sue them and wrote letters of complaint about my detention. My real purpose however, was to use the opportunity to expose the persecution, save sentient beings, and suppress the evil forces to reduce the persecution.
3. Clarifying the Truth to Everyone I Meet
As a practitioner, I shouldn't give up during tribulations, but validate the Fa everywhere, never cooperating with any requests by the persecutors. I used every opportunity to clarify the truth to the people I met, including those who participated in the persecution.
This time, they secretly arrested me and took me to a provincial brainwashing center that I didn't know about. They changed the guards frequently, which provided me with opportunities to clarify the truth to them. At the beginning, a young guard who looked rather urbane was assigned to watch me. Whenever I had time, I clarified the facts to him. I talked about the persecution of Falun Gong in the past, my experience of being persecuted, and the process of persecution he had experienced while he was on duty. I asked him for his thoughts after witnessing all these acts that violated the law. I also talked about the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party and told him about the mass persecution by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). He said I should look at the bright side. I replied that if the CCP has committed crimes to this extent, how could it be possible not to hold the CCP responsible? During our conversation, I exposed his special agent status and he admitted bitterly that he had been deeply poisoned. However, I continued to clarify the truth to him compassionately.
A few days later, they replaced him with someone a little older. I could tell from his leather belt that he was from the police department. He looked very kind, and each time he talked to me he manipulated something in his bag. I thought that there was a recording device in it. He wanted to learn about the staff from other sources. He asked me a lot of questions, such as, how did I send righteous thoughts and whether there were Falun Gong organizations. I told him that there was no type of organization. I said that Falun Gong practitioners gathered together all on our own, and there were many spontaneous group gatherings like ours in China nowadays. I told him that the persecution of Falun Gong was based on the fabricated lies of the media and the adoption of the tactics used in political movements. Why was a group of kind practitioners being labeled as evil? Besides, the nature of righteousness and evil is not decided by any people in power.
4. Righteous Thought and Righteous Action
I was subsequently transferred to another brainwashing center. In the beginning, I slacked off. I thought, "They failed to sentence me so I can relax a bit." Although I negated the brainwashing, I was actually acknowledging it by thinking that I could stay there. My family found where I was detained and often visited to ask the authorities to release me. Fellow practitioners sent righteous thoughts. What they did not only shocked the evildoers but also woke me up. I felt very ashamed. Fellow practitioners risked their lives to rescue me, but I relaxed my own resolve. I became sober minded again, and began doing the five exercises, sending righteous thoughts, and reciting the Fa.
At that time, the authorities didn't give me anything to write with or let me read newspapers or listen to radio broadcasts to hear outside news. I sometimes rolled an old newspaper into a stick, then used it as a pen with tea as ink to write on the wall "Falun Dafa is good!" "Heaven will extinguish the CCP!" The tea left marks on the wall, so the guard was busy taking notes and then went to report.
A few days later, I sent out a letter of accusation and an article exposing the 610 Office and the brainwashing center which was later published on the Clearwisdom website. The head of the 610 Office was very angry and came to the brainwashing center with officers from the Domestic Security Division to determine who had sent the letter of accusation. I refused to answer their questions. They suspected me of sending the article, so they tried to block the Internet in an attempt to prevent me from sending any news out.
I learned that the city Party secretary was coming to inspect the brainwashing center, so I planned to expose the persecution at the center. At the time, other practitioners also encouraged me, so I began to send righteous thoughts for this issue. That day, the Party secretary, accompanied by leading members of the police department, the Procuratorate, and court officials, came to the brainwashing center. The 610 Office official moved all the Falun Gong practitioners to a place to study, while I was locked by myself in another room. I sent righteous thoughts. The Party secretary came to the room where I was detained by accident. The head of the 610 Office stepped in front of me and began introducing the two guards to the Party secretary. When he was about to turn away, I said I had a few words to say. Everyone present was stunned. I asked why detainees were being beaten and tortured. The Party secretary asked me if I had been beaten, and I answered yes. I said that I was beaten a few times. The head of the 610 Office shouted, "This fellow is very stubborn. He accused the Chinese government and he didn't obey the rules and regulations here." The Party secretary turned around and left, with a disappointed expression. At the time, all the guards who watched me said that I was in big trouble, but I smiled. As a matter of fact, the evildoers were mostly afraid of being exposed. The head of the 610 Office turned up that evening. Everyone else was quite scared. He said that I was only good for lodging complaints. However, he promised not to carry out corporal punishment and not to beat people any longer.
5. Turn Surveillance Devices into Tools to Spread the Truth
I was sent to a forced labor camp in late 2007. I always remembered Teacher's words,
"Unbridled are the wicked,
yet you keep your bearings
Purging evil as if but whisking dust away "
("To all Dafa disciples around the world and in mainland China, a happy Mid-Autumn Festival!")
We create the environment, so we shouldn't be deceived by false phenomena, form concepts, hold on to our present status, or acknowledge the persecution. The persecution is an insult to Dafa and a shame to practitioners, so we must not accept any of that. As practitioners we must resist the persecution. Some practitioners wanted to resist the forced labor, but they thought that escaping from detention by using righteous thoughts would result in persecution by the evil forces, and they needed a lot of support. Therefore they always adopted human methods, resisting the persecution with poor health. As a result, they constantly suffered persecution.
Actually, you can see clearly that all the interference emerged because we failed to totally negate it, leaving loopholes for which the evil forces to take advantage. They used the loopholes to interfere with us. If we totally negate them, the evil forces have no loopholes to take advantage of and they will be eliminated.
After the forced labor camp installed surveillance cameras in the cell, linking the offices of the forced labor camp to the forced labor bureau, I practiced the exercises in front of the cameras. The inmate who was on duty ran up to me, told me to no longer do the exercises, and said that several division leaders downstairs had watched me for an hour. I said that I did it for them. The persecution had been going for so many years that it was a pity that they still didn't know what Falun Gong was and how to do the exercises. At one stage, they even unplugged the surveillance device because the authorities were afraid that people outside the forced labor camp might also see that I was doing the exercises.
During my detention in the forced labor camp, I didn't accept anything except a bed and a bowl for meals. I didn't answer the roll call, line up with the other inmates, obey the regulations, or accept the detainee ID. I clarified the truth and wrote letters of complaint daily, besides studying the Fa and doing the exercises. Most of the guards would not directly interfere with me, and they would usually incite the inmates to torture and interfere with me. While clarifying the truth to the inmates, I sternly warned them not to do anything bad. I told them that the rights I was striving to get would also benefit them, and that the forced labor system was illegal. I asked them to let me know whichever guard incited them to do bad things and I would go to see them. Whenever a guard wanted to interfere with me, I warned him that I was suffering from the persecution, and since he worked there, he had the responsibility to report my request to the authorities. They normally tried to avoid me, and even if they saw me, they turned around and pretended not to see me.
6. "Falun Dafa Is Good"
The night before I was released from the forced labor camp, an information assistant suddenly told me that they were giving me a party, and wished that I would leave that place and never return. At the time, they suggested that I sing the song "Tiananmen Square Remembers You." I said that it was a nice song, but I couldn't sing it. However, I could sing "Falun Dafa Is Good!" I stood in front of the two surveillance cameras and began to sing "Falun Dafa Is Good!" I heard a lot of voices shouting, "Bravo!" I sang it again and there was another shout of "bravo!" When I sang "Falun Dafa is the righteous Fa," and there were more "bravos!" Some people even raised their arms high and shouted, "Bravo!" When I sang, "The Buddha-light illuminates everywhere," I saw that there were a lot of people outside the window. The inmate who was assigned to manage other inmates came in and said, "I will call the inmates upstairs to come as well. Would you sing it again? Everyone is in high spirits." I said that I would sing "Coming for You." While I sang, the shouts of "bravo" came one after the other. I was very moved and saw that there was hope for these lives. Other practitioners said that it was quite unexpected and the result was really earthshaking.
7. Why Was I Detained for Such a Long Time?
When I was taken to this brainwashing center again, the officials were all nervous, saying that I was a very difficult person to deal with. Actually, many of the staff in the brainwashing center had been replaced. They only heard about what I was like in the past, but they hadn't seen me. When they saw me, they saw that I was very gentle and amiable. Fellow practitioners helped me to bring in letters from my home. Their letters were full of complaints. I began to look inward, to see what my problems were, that I be detained for such a long period of time. I was detained at the brainwashing center for only a couple of hours in 2002, and for six days the second time. Since it was a long time ago, I forgot about what my status was back then that enabled me to break through the persecution.
I began sending righteous thoughts and asked for Teacher's help. Why did the evil forces fail to jail me? Gradually, I remembered that the reason for my leaving detention in a very short time was that I totally negated the persecution and thought that I could stay there and disintegrate the evil forces. However, this time, the brainwashing center environment had been improved, enabling me to communicate with outside practitioners, and therefore I slacked off. My attachment of seeking comfort made me forget to totally negate the evil forces.
I began sending righteous thoughts. I thought that the head of the 610 Office was very pitiable. Since he committed such crimes, what would his future be? He flattered me the following day, and people all around were in disbelief. For the first few days, we argued until everyone was red in the face, but things changed overnight. The head of the 610 Office said, "I admire your courage and your spirit of not fearing death. OK, you can go home now." This also helped me to recall what happened in 2002. I clarified the facts to the Party secretary of the brainwashing center and the head of the 610 Office, hoping that they would have good futures, so I needed to clarify the truth to them with compassion. The Party secretary said, "OK, don't make trouble anymore! I've already sent a report to my superior, saying that we will let you go." In the past, I always thought about steadfastness, and thought it was the righteous thoughts that enabled me to walk out of the forced labor camp. I always thought that compassion coexisted with solemness and dignity, with emphasis on solemness and dignity being more important. This is the result of concepts and disposition. This experience teaches me the power of compassion. Solemness and dignity coexist with compassion.
My gratitude for Teacher is beyond my ability to express. I can only repay our Teacher by saving more sentient beings and progressing diligently.
These are my personal understandings. Please feel free to comment on and correct anything that is not appropriate.