(Minghui.org) As soon as the village head stepped out of my detention cell last time, he told my mother that he’d do whatever it took to get me released, even if it meant the loss of his post. … [Later] I said to him, “My whole family is full of gratitude towards you.”...When we bid farewell, he said, “I see hope from Falun Gong. You must pay more attention to your safety. Know that the communist party isn’t afraid of doing bad things to maintain its power.”
-the Author
As a Falun Dafa disciple, who has witnessed the immeasurable might of Dafa, I am taking this precious opportunity to share my cultivation experience.
I came across Dafa at an exercise site in July 1997. After browsing through an introductory brochure, I immediately sat down and did the meditation exercise. Without hesitation, I joined the daily group Fa-study and doing the exercises. As I continued to practice, I felt that each and every cell of mine was being assimilated by the Fa and every day was filled with tremendous joy. My third eye saw a Falun spinning and Master purifying my body. Dafa is truly incredible and extraordinary.
After the persecution began in July 1999, I appealed to the government and worked hard to distribute truth-clarification materials. As a result, I was arrested numerous times and later sentenced to forced labor. Prior to my detention, I was a salesperson with a wide range of clientele, which included people from all walks of life. After my release, I decided to share my persecution experiences and facts about Falun Gong with all my clients. I wrote a letter detailing my experiences and made multiple copies. For clients who I personally knew very well, I paid them a visit and delivered the letter directly to them. For clients that I wasn’t too familiar with, I mailed the letter to them. By September 2003, I finished clarifying the facts to all of my clients. After that, I decided to return to my hometown which was located in a rural area, where I helped people learn the facts. I wanted to bring hope and light to them as well.
Upon returning to my hometown, I took over my family’s 3-acre vegetable field and learned to grow and sell vegetables. Our village has gone through four village heads since my return in September 2003, and all of them have helped me in one way or another with my truth-clarification efforts.
First Village Head Helps Clarify the Facts while Learning Them from Me
The first village head served for more than two decades and was well regarded by most villagers. I once talked to him about Falun Gong before the persecution began. I also wrote him a truth-clarification letter after my release from the labor camp. Not long after I returned home, the county “610 Office” and police officers came to check on me. Concerned about my safety, my parents mentioned their worries to the village head, who comforted them by saying, “Don’t be afraid. Falun Gong is being wronged.” He repeatedly assured them that I would be fine. When he had a chance to meet the county’s People’s Congress director, he even clarified the facts to him. The director responded, “The central government is implementing a policy to totally eliminate Falun Gong. Do you still want to be the village head? How dare you side with Falun Gong?” The village head was later removed from his post, but was soon hired as a highly-paid manager by a local company.
One day the village head came to my shed by the vegetable field and said, “My colleagues received a lot of Falun Gong flyers and had some interesting discussions. They asked me many questions, some of which I don’t have good answers to. That’s why I’m here today to seek clarification from you.”
He asked, “Falun Gong asks people to quit the CCP. Isn't this getting involved in politics? The communist party is indeed very corrupt, but how can those who quit it ensure their safety?” A villager happened to pass by and overheard our conversation. He turned around and chimed in, “I also want to learn more about Falun Gong and hear more of what you’re talking about.” I gave both of them Zhuan Falun, the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party, some truth-clarification DVDs and other materials to read. They shared the materials with their relatives and friends after they were done.
Second Village Head Helps My Family Demand My Unconditional Release
The second village head is a veteran, who had been a manager at a company for many years. Because of his strong ability, he was appointed village head. During the first year of his term, there was no truth-clarification materials site in our county yet. Most of our local practitioners were elderly people with very little education. In my mind, it was just too difficult for these elderly practitioners to get on Minghui, and as such all the materials were provided by out-of-town practitioners.
One day an elderly practitioner gave me a copy of a truth-clarification document, saying, “This is a very good one. I only have two copies. I'll give you one and save the other to share with other fellow practitioners.” After reading it at home, I thought about how nice it would be if everyone could have a copy of this wonderful material. So I went to a copy shop and made a few dozen copies.
A few days later I went to another shop to make even more copies, doubling the amount I made last time. The shop owner had to bring in a whole box of copy paper. I was still not done even after more than seven hours. Then the machine broke down and I felt a bit uneasy, with all sorts of human thoughts popping up in my head. As I failed to cleanse my own field, the shop owner found out that I was making copies of Falun Gong materials. He called the police, who soon arrived at the shop and arrested me.
I must say I was nervous when the shop owner reported me to the police, but I calmed down in the police station. One policeman slapped me hard in the face when I refused to reveal the source of my materials. However, I didn’t feel any pain at all and felt tranquil instead.
Later that night, the police transferred me to the county police department’s detention center, where I immediately went on a hunger strike to protest my arrest. My parents and other relatives came to visit me on the third day. They were extremely worried, and my mother kept crying and begging me to eat something. The village head and the county political and legal committee secretary showed up on the fifth day. The village head said, “You’ve been going without food or water for quite a few days and I don’t think that’s sustainable. Nobody will bother you if you just practice Falun Gong at home, but now things such as you trying to make copies are banned by the government. You need to bear the consequences yourself, should you encounter any health problems due to your hunger strike.”
I replied, “Can I still make copies if it’s something not related to Falun Gong?” I paused a little bit and looked into their eyes calmly. They didn’t say a word and I kept saying, “Why can’t I copy Falun Gong materials? Who is it that is afraid of the truth? Making copies of Falun Gong materials or other things is my right and freedom. I did nothing wrong nor did I break any law. I should be set free right away.”
On the tenth day of my detention, my family came to pick me up and told me what happened during the past few days since the village head’s visit. As soon as the village head stepped out of my detention cell last time, he told my mother that he’d do whatever it took to get me released, even if it meant the loss of his post. In the days that followed, he accompanied my family to the police department every day to demand my release.
I purchased a computer, printer, and CD burner after this incident. A fellow practitioner gave me a software program, which can break through the Internet blockade, and soon I set up my home-based materials site. When I delivered the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party and Jiang Zemin to the village head’s home, I said to him, “My whole family is full of gratitude towards you. These two books are very precious and I specifically made these copies for you. Please share with me your thoughts after you read them.” He agreed and thanked me. He also indicated he’d no longer serve after his current term expired. As he saw it, the communist party was just too corrupt to deserve his service. When we bid farewell, he said, “I see hope from Falun Gong. You must pay more attention to your safety. Know that the communist party isn’t afraid of doing bad things to maintain its power.”
Third Village Head Asks Me to Help Him Quit the CCP
One day, the third village head accompanied various local officials to my vegetable field. My small shed immediately became crowded. The town party committee secretary said, “These days Falun Gong flyers are everywhere and they even made their way to our office. It’s too much! We come here today to demand you write a promise to not distribute Falun Gong stuff. We have a study class that you must attend since you’re the well-known Falun Gong person in our county.”
I shot back, “It’s not a study class at all. It’s a brainwashing class specifically used for persecuting Falun Gong. When I was in the labor camp, there were inmates watching me around the clock. The guards shocked me with electric batons when I refused to give up Falun Gong, and they later cuffed one of my hands and hung me up by the handcuff for eight hours.”
The village head interjected, “How about you just go through the motions? This way they won’t bother you every day.” I replied, “I’m not going to say yes, nor will I attend any class. The World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong will not leave out anyone who has persecuted Falun Gong.” They began to discuss among themselves and I said, “Excuse me. I need to water my vegetables. I hope you can learn more about Falun Gong. Those flyers concern everyone’s future.”
One day later the village head came again saying, “Now the higher-ups constantly send in people to inquire about your activities. Once I received a phone call in the middle of the night, demanding that we go to your house to check on you because Falun Gong banners were everywhere. I told them, 'What can I do this late at his house? He rises at 4 every morning to sell his vegetables. His parents are in their 70s. He’s the only person in his family tending their vegetable field. We don’t see that he has time doing anything else. What’s the point of going to his home at night?'” I replied, “As a token of appreciation, I'd like to give you some DVDs which contain electronic books and the latest software that can break through the Internet blockade. You can share them with your relatives and friends after you’re done.” He happily said yes.
He came to visit me again a while later, saying, “I’m sure the communist party is doomed. Heaven will not tolerate the live organ harvesting. I now understand why so many people have quit the party. How about you help me to withdraw as well? I don’t want to be the village head anymore.”
Fourth Village Head Stands Up for Falun Gong
Not long after the fourth village head assumed his post, he came to my vegetable field saying, “Now it’s a sensitive time. You better not go out at all. Don’t associate with any other Falun Gong people either.” I said, “The communist party is extremely sensitive and even the slightest stir can stoke its fears. It’s been persecuting Falun Gong for so many years. I don’t acknowledge these so-called sensitive dates. You shouldn’t acknowledge them either. Since you brought up the subject of Falun Gong, let me tell you the Falun Gong that I know if you don’t mind.”
For three straight years, I wrote truth-clarification couplets myself for my family’s use and to give to relatives and friends as holiday presents. One year on the third day of the Chinese New Year, my mother told me that someone came to transcribe the words on the couplets and took pictures.
Not long after the Chinese New Year holiday, officials of the county’s 610 Office and the police department came to harass my family on multiple occasions, deeply worrying my mother. When the village head learned of her fear, he said, “What’s the big fuss about the couplets? If they didn’t impose injustice on Falun Gong in the first place, why would they be so afraid of Falun Gong? They only know to do these kinds of things to terrify people.”
Walking Well on My Own Cultivation Path
For a period of time during the first two years of my return to my hometown, there were more than a dozen people that took turns coming to harass me at home. In recent years, they have disappeared quietly. During the evil party’s 18th Congress, two incidents happened where practitioners were abducted, yet I was completely fine.
I was only in my early 30s when I came back in 2003. Seeing that I was busy tending our vegetable field, some villagers couldn’t understand and wanted to know, “You’re a college graduate. Why are you doing this menial job?” I replied, “Actually I feel extremely lucky practicing Falun Gong and I see it will give me a future. I want to show people that Falun Gong practitioners are different from those portrayed on TV and to help them know the facts about Falun Gong.”
I know that my cultivation path has long been arranged by Master and I shall do my best in everything I do. Every day, I get up at 3:00 am to practice the exercises and study the Fa for 30 minutes each. Then I send forth righteous thoughts at 4:00. Next I pack truth-clarification materials and pull a cart of vegetables to the farmers market to sell. On the way there I keep reciting Zhuan Falun and other Dafa books. I have no other thoughts at all. I often think this is Master guiding me to walk on the divine path.
Once while standing in the crowd at the farmers market, I was in a tranquil state with only one thought in mind, “I hope all people can receive blessings from Dafa and escape calamity.” At that moment, I truly felt the honor of being a Dafa particle, as if I could control everyone’s thoughts to make them come to me and listen to the truth and take truth-clarification materials.
Keeping Master’s teachings in mind, I constantly think about how I can better save more people. I installed New Tang Dynasty TV and promoted its programs in 2007. After I successfully did my first installation, people one after another came and requested appointments to get NTDTV in their houses as well. I had such pleasant conversations with all of them.
The more I cultivate, the more I feel the boundlessness and profoundness of Dafa. I am forever indebted to Master for His immense grace. I am also thankful to my fellow practitioners.