(Minghui.org) I was in my late 20s when I began practicing Falun Dafa in the spring of 1996. Over the past 14 years I have followed Teacher's requirements to save sentient beings and explained to people why the persecution is wrong. I also have witnessed practitioners' efforts to validate the Fa.
I was born into an intellectual family, and many of my ancestors believed in Buddha. I love to read. Although the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) education I was given denied the existence of gods, I disagreed with that and didn't think man evolved from apes. I had been seeking the real meaning of life since high school. I think people seeking fame or profit are very shortsighted.
One of my relatives introduced me to Falun Dafa. I was very excited after I learned about this cultivation method, so much so that cultivation was the only thing I did during my spare time. That is why when the persecution started, I went to all the local government agencies to clarify the facts about Falun Dafa. Later, I also went to Beijing to speak to higher authorities about Falun Dafa. I was arrested several times and spent time in prison like many other practitioners.
After July 20, 1999 the persecution and slander of Falun Dafa were very disturbing to me. I spoke to some practitioners about putting up a banner in a local public square on a certain day. That day I brought the banner with me and went to the square. I waited for some time, but none of my fellow practitioners showed up. I decided to put up the banner anyway. I then turned on exercise music and began to do the exercises.
Many people were in the square doing Tai Chi, while others were dancing. Before long a police vehicle arrived and two officers forced me into their car. There were many onlookers. A man in his 50s stood too close to me, so the police thought he was a fellow practitioner and arrested him, also.
The officer said to me, “Do you have a mental problem? You're so eager to get arrested.” I gave them a piece of paper on which I had written down my reasons for what I did. They read it and said, “Looks like you are not sick and what you've written is good.”
They then began questioning the man they'd picked up and refused to believe that he was just an onlooker. They could not believe that I had acted alone. The man said he did not know me and I confirmed it. However, the officers were not convinced. The man then started sobbing, explaining at the same time that he was a law abiding citizen and a supporter of the government. This convinced the officers and they let him go.
Teacher said,
“The trials that a cultivator goes through are something an everyday person could not endure. That is why throughout history so few people have been able to succeed in cultivation and reach Consummation.” (“Position” from Essentials for Further Advancement II)
They detained me for 15 days. After I returned home, I began to prepare for my journey to Beijing to appeal for justice for Falun Dafa.
I was arrested and imprisoned for three years because I did not want to give up my cultivation. After my release, my family decided to move elsewhere, because the local environment was intolerable.
After we moved, I lost contact with fellow practitioners. I put on weight instead of studying the Fa. This lack of focus on studying the Fa led to an accident. I fell down, fractured my pelvis, broke my leg, and fainted. When I came to, I was in a hospital. Doctors said that, even after surgery, I would not be able to walk normally.
I insisted on going home. In bed I focused on studying the Fa, sent forth righteous thoughts, and did the exercises with hand movements. In less than a month I was able to move around with some support. After two months I could walk up and down the stairs. Two years later, I was back to normal. X-rays showed no fracture of my pelvis or bone dislocation! Relatives and friends knew that I did not accept any treatment at the hospital and were convinced of the power of Dafa.
Before I recovered completely from the accident, I returned to my hometown and worked with another practitioner to produce Falun Dafa truth-clarifying materials. This was a major production center in the area, with over ten computers working all the time. At that time it was recommended that it would be better to spread the workload over many small centers instead of having one big center.
We discussed replacing this large center with several smaller ones but could not find anywhere else or anyone else to do it. Finally, another practitioner and I moved some computers to our residence. About six months later, people that were against Falun Gong found the large center and confiscated everything. We suffered a heavy loss.
I am not married and live with my parents. When I produced materials at home, a fellow practitioner gave me lots of adhesives to post things up. At that time the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party had just been made public. I designed materials of different sizes to go with the adhesives, making it easy to post the materials all over the city. These posters had information similar to the Nine Commentaries . I also gave these materials to practitioners in surrounding cities. People were stunned to see so many posters about how evil the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was. The communists were in a panic mode, searching from house to house, but they found nothing.
I did this type of work for two years. I was usually alone, sitting on the floor doing printouts. I thought getting each poster displayed in public was like launching an arrow at the CCP.
For security reasons only a few practitioners were involved. I was the only one preparing the materials, and a few practitioners were responsible for delivery to other areas. Since we didn't want people to know what we were doing, no additional practitioners were involved. Those were lonely days. It was faith that allowed us to persist for so long.
Among the many books I read, the story of Milarepa Buddha impressed me the most. Later, I learned that many brilliant people and special events in history were planned and carried out by Teacher and his disciples. This could be the real reason why I was so impressed. Milarepa Buddha had so much compassion that he not only forgave the two people who planned to poison him, but he also offered them salvation. Being a practitioner, I hope I can have as much compassion as Milarepa.
Later, when I was imprisoned, I encountered many people who wanted to harm me. They were the depraved people and police officers who did not understand the facts about Falun Dafa. They were trained to be atheists and their focus was on whatever benefits they could get their hands on. Certainly, they had no idea that Teacher was here to save the human race.
Due to their ignorance they wanted to harm others. I knew they were hurting themselves even more than they hurt others. This dangerous environment, however, did offer me the opportunity to expand my compassion. I really felt that they were to be pitied, because they were losing their only chance for survival. This compassionate state of mind gradually affected the evildoers and the environment. In fact, almost unimaginable things happened.
In prison I firmly held onto righteous thoughts and was not moved by outside events. Whenever I had a chance, I would share righteous thoughts with fellow practitioners and I talked to guards about what would be truly good for them. The guards often said that practitioners with a solemn face were the ones not renouncing Falun Gong. However, I was different. I often had a smile on my face because I knew no one could take my faith away from me.
I appreciate people with talent and am good at socializing. One time I saw a guard demonstrating his fighting skills and said, “You are a talented fighter. It is a valuable and needed skill to deal with criminals. However, it is a waste to use it on practitioners who don't want to hurt anybody.” Most people like to be praised. He heeded my advice and changed his attitude towards me after that.
The ability to recognize and accept kind words is a good trait. The guards who hurt me in the past noticed that I remained friendly to them. They decided to bring me food and I thanked them for it. I talked to them, wrote them letters, and treated them as friends. Me behavior gradually removed the thought that we were enemies. Over time we became real friends. They no longer watched me like they did before. They even let me talk to fellow practitioners, which was not allowed in the past.
Every time my family came, I was allowed to see them. The captain or some other guard would bring me to them. In the past, any attempt to stop a guard from harming a practitioner would lead to a longer prison term. After we became friends, the officers no longer added days to my term. Actually, they were trying hard to let me leave.
When I was scheduled to leave, many guards came to say goodbye. They said they hoped that I would never return to such a place, because it was unfit for practitioners. Whoever saw this would have had a hard time believing that these same officers had once beaten me until I lost my hearing (which is fine now) and caused me to lose the use of my arms for over a year due to electric shocks.
Many years later I ran into one of those guards in a different city. She introduced me to her companions her as her friend. I believe many guards truly admire practitioners, and that true practitioners of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance can dissolve a bad relationship and create friendship even inside a prison.
As Fa-rectification moves forward, more guards in prisons understand the facts and have begun to protect instead of persecute practitioners. I have encountered such a person. After about a month of being around me, the director of a brainwashing center told me that he would like to help me get out of the center.
In the past, thousands of yuan had to be paid to this director in order to secure his help. When I openly stated that I would not give up my cultivation, he was very worried that I might have to go to prison. He said to me, “I am not asking you for any money or to do anything. All I am asking you to do is just to keep quiet so that you don't end up going to prison. Why can't you do that?”
I replied, “If I do not openly refuse to give up my practice, I would not be being truthful.” He said, “You are one of the nicest people I know among practitioners, and I am treating you as my own child. I don't want to see you go to prison. That is why I am asking you to keep quiet.”
It is clear that these people still have compassion and they do respect practitioners. With Teacher's guidance I did not go to prison. Instead, I returned home. That director told me that he did not understand why he was so worried about the possibility that I might have to go to prison. I think it is because the part of him that understands the facts wanted to establish a good relationship with practitioners so that he would have some hope for survival. Of course, his human side did not understand what was going on.
I recall in the early days of the persecution a police officer about 40 years old who came to see me. He began removing my handcuffs and said, “I just want to hear your views about some things.” After raising a few questions he asked in all seriousness, “Does Buddha really exist?” I said, “Of course.” He said, “I believe you. But that means many police officers will end up in hell. I know you can cultivate to become a Buddha. My name is so and so. I hope you can remember me.”
As I thought about these incidents from the past, tears ran down my cheeks. I have not hated anyone, including those who persecuted me. I still hope that evil people will seek out the facts and become good people despite the actions of the CCP.
When the persecution started, countless numbers of practitioners came forward to defend Dafa and Teacher's dignity. It was like walking into fire, but no practitioner was concerned about whether he or she would ever return home. Indeed, it was within the fire that lotus flowers blossomed. Today, the worst phase of the persecution is over.
I have been on the path of cultivation and assisting Teacher in Fa-rectification for 14 years. With Teacher's guidance I believe practitioners are creating a splendor never seen before in this universe. I am confident that the evil will perish. Let us treasure our mission and the stormy path we have walked, save more sentient beings in the last phase of Fa-rectification, and return home with Teacher.
Heshi!