(Clearwisdom.net) In July 2011, three fellow practitioners in my area got reported while they were clarifying the truth about Falun Gong. By order of the 610 Office, they were arrested by local police and taken to a detention center. Their family members went to the police station right away to demand their release. Some family members reasoned with the police, some went out to expose the evil deeds of the police to the public, and some were yelling words of support so the arrested practitioners could hear them. The police were very frightened and called in a large group of officers as backup to stand in the courtyard. Once local practitioners heard about the arrests, some send forth righteous thoughts, some started making flyers to tell the public about the arrests, and some even went to the police station chief's parents' house to clarifying the truth to them and ask them to help to release the practitioners. With Master's guidance, we even successfully found and visited the home of the person who reported the three practitioners. Upon learning of the arrests, overseas practitioners made phone calls to both the local 610 Office and the police station to clarify the facts. With Master's protection, the three practitioners returned home safe and sound five days later.
The success of this rescue had significant influence locally. In one way it shook the evil in our area, since all of the three arrested practitioners had been in a forced labor camp previously; in another way it encouraged us, so that we became more dedicated to Master and the Fa. Looking back, the evil was dissolved because every step we took met the requirements of the Fa!
Clarify the Truth and Gain Support from Practitioners' Family Members
A practitioner can look to the Fa for guidance when faced with persecution, but how do we encourage family members to cooperate with us? I think that practitioners all need to clarify the truth to their family members. First, we need to let our family members know that practicing Falun Gong is our right, and we let them know that Dafa practitioners are not helpless. Practitioners all over the world are one whole body. Dafa is known all over the world and has received many rewards. Practitioners are not at fault, and the CCP's persecution is wrong.
Secondly, we need to tell our family members that we are one harmonized body and that our power is very strong and can overcome the evil. We should tell our families often of the greatness of overseas practitioners' Fa rectification activities and the success stories of rescuing our fellow practitioners. That way, our families know that evil will never prevail over righteousness.
No matter how confusing things appear on the surface, they are all tricks the evil plays on us. We have to encourage ourselves all the time. We will succeed when we have hope in our hearts.
When we were bringing the practitioners home, one family member repeated several times in amazement, “They (the 610 Office staff) said that their phone rang off the hook from overseas Falun Gong (practitioners)! How do people in foreign countries (the overseas practitioners) know your business?” During those days, another family member scolded the police: “Falun Gong is good. (We) will practice, and you must release them!” At the end, all the police officers said, “We know Falun Gong is good.” Looking at the attitude of these two family members, we can see the importance of telling them the truth, not only to gain their support, but also to save them.
My heart aches whenever I think about the torture and abuse other practitioners suffer. If we practitioners and the persecuted practitioners' family members can all look the evil straight in the eye, I believe many such incidents would not have occurred, and many losses would have been prevented.
Compassion and Dignity Coexist
Why would practitioners be afraid of the evil when they are being persecuted? Dafa practitioners, who cultivate Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, are the best people in the world. However, when faced with ruthless persecution, we need to act with dignity and not let the evil think that Falun Gong practitioners are easy to push around. Master also talked about this issue, telling us that practitioners should have both compassion and dignity. Why? Cultivators are precious people who can help Master with Fa rectification and in saving sentient beings. How can those who insult and torture cultivators ever repay such huge karmic debts? Stopping the persecution with dignity is also saving sentient beings. Endless suffering might not be correct. The fellow practitioners whom we rescued were threatened with torture, but none of the threats became a reality because of fellow practitioners' righteous thoughts.
It is worth mentioning that the practitioners' family members also acted with dignity. They went to the police station as soon as they heard about the arrests. They were not afraid of the police and reprimanded them loudly, in public. The police were afraid of their deeds being exposed and looked pathetic. Those family members caused some real chaos at the police station, some of them loudly demanding the release of the practitioners. Some showed real anger, and some even threatened the station chief. The arrested practitioners later said that, at the time, every police officer there was terrified, that they locked the doors from the inside and put handcuffs on the practitioners because they were afraid the families would break in. Once the families heard the police station chief planned to send the practitioners to a forced labor camp, they parked a car in front of the station gate. The police were so scared that they took the practitioners away through a hidden mountain road. The arrested practitioners later said that once they got off the narrow, rugged mountain road, the police were cheering and shouting that they had finally dumped those family members. It was obvious how terrified those policemen were. They might have looked intimidating, but the evil elements behind them were scared to death.
Having Faith in Master and Dafa Is the Key
During this rescue, I often remembered Master's words: “The next person's things are your things, and your things are his things.” (“Teaching the Fa at the Washington, D.C. Fa Conference” from Teaching the Fa at the Conference II) Why was that? One of the practitioners we were rescuing was my mother. I had attachments to her, so I was doing everything I could. During that time, I searched within when I saw other practitioners' negative attitudes, and I immediately realized that when I was rescuing other practitioners, especially those I did not know, I appeared numb, too. I did not listen to Master, and I did not treat my fellow practitioners' business as my own business. As a result, the effort was in vain. Those are losses for Dafa and fellow practitioners and even affect the Fa rectification progress. I believe that all the past failed rescue attempts and problems within our whole body were because we did not do enough, so the evil had the upper hand. We did not have enough faith in Master and the Fa at critical times, and did not do what Master told us.
The success of this rescue was because we did everything according to the Fa, we did what the Fa expected us to do. The arrested practitioners send forth righteous thoughts in the police station, and practitioners outside did not give up. They exposed the evil, send forth righteous thoughts, and clarified the truth. We especially thank the overseas practitioners for their efforts. They played a major part in causing the evil to crumble.
The Fa rectification is coming to an end, and the purpose of this article is an encouragement to all of our fellow practitioners. My understanding is limited. Please kindly point out anything inappropriate.
I want to thank Master for the Fa and His protection!