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My Experience of Picking up a Fellow Practitioner from Prison

Sept. 4, 2013 |   By Yu Ming, a Falun Dafa disciple from Northeastern China

(Minghui.org) A fellow practitioner who was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison was about to be released. To deter his family members from picking him up from the prison, the 610 Office arrested his wife more than a month before his release date and put her in a brainwashing center in another town. The officers then went to see his parents and threatened them not to pick him up and said, “Your son has not been transformed after four-and-a-half years in prison. We will pick him up from the prison and send him directly to the brainwashing center. We won't let him go home until he has been transformed.” The fellow practitioner's parents were scared of the evil party, and when I contacted them, they insisted on not picking up their son and allowing the 610 Office to do whatever they wanted.

I shared this with fellow practitioners, and we firmed up a thought, “We absolutely forbid the evil to continue persecuting our fellow practitioner. As a whole body, we are his family. We must get him home safely and disintegrate this crime against Dafa disciples and sentient beings.” We intensified our righteous thoughts for the fellow practitioner and sentient beings a month before his release.

On the day before the planned pick-up of the practitioner, we learned that the local police department, 610 Office, and domestic security division had informed the prison not to release the practitioner to anyone but them. We shared our understandings about this and made it clear that based on our understandings of the Fa, “We do not acknowledge the old universe's evil arrangements, and we completely negate the evil's plot to use illusions to stir up our human thoughts.” Our coordinators were very concerned about this matter and quietly arranged for local practitioners to intensify righteous thoughts while cooperating with the plan to rescue the practitioner.

For all kinds of reasons, no practitioner was available to play the role of the fellow practitioner's family member. I thought, “I should be the family member. Master had told us that we are one family.” As soon as that thought came out, I immediately felt the enormous field of righteous thoughts strengthened by the characteristics of the universe, as my life is being assimilated to Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. All my worries instantly disappeared.

During the process that followed, I clearly felt that the evil forces in other dimensions were not willing to give up. It seemed that things could not go as planned. I had planned to arrive at the prison by bus the night before and pick up the practitioner first thing in the morning. But in reality I couldn't make my trip the day before, and it would be too late to take the bus the next day. Some practitioners said perhaps I didn't need to go, implying it wouldn't be successful even if I went.

I pondered very carefully whether I should go. If I didn't go now, it would be too late, even if I wanted to go a moment later. Was my not going what Master wanted or what the evil wanted? Obviously it was what the evil wanted. I was startled: “I was almost tricked by the evil! I must not let the evil wantonly persecute Master's disciple, my fellow practitioner.” The practitioners sending forth righteous thoughts in close proximity were all doing very well. If the absence of a family member was taken advantage by the evil and enabled the evil to continue persecuting this practitioner, I would feel regret for not helping the practitioner and would have let down Master's merciful salvation.

I was ready to go immediately. Master imprinted the Fa principle of, “When it’s difficult to endure, you can endure it. When it’s impossible to do, you can do it.” (“Lecture Nine” in Zhuan Falun) into my mind. I thought, “Right. I have followed Master to the human world to validate Dafa, and it is time now to live according to the principles of 'When it’s difficult to endure, you can endure it. When it’s impossible to do, you can do it.'”

My mother (a practitioner) immediately contacted a fellow practitioner to go with me. Three minutes before our bus left, my mother called me and conveyed a message from the coordinator, “It will be too late to take this bus, the practitioner being released will have already been picked up by the 610 Office. Only the express bus will make it.” I asked Master to strengthen me and called my husband to drive me to the prison. He agreed and we arrived in that city in an hour and ten minutes, which would usually take two hours and twenty minutes.

However, we were still half-an-hour from the prison. The road was under construction so we had to ask a stranger for directions. The stranger said, “Take me with you. I am heading to a place near the prison, I could show you how to get there.” I knew very well he was a guide arranged by Master. Indeed, as long as we are walking the divine-guided path, Master's Fashen is quietly protecting us at every moment!

Upon entering the prison gate, I did not feel the evil's presence or pressure from other dimensions. The reason was because practitioners had been arriving one after another since 3 a.m. and sending forth righteous thoughts in the yard. Even though we had never met each other, we knew by instinct who were practitioners and who were everyday people.

Given my identity as a family member of the practitioner and my interactions with the evildoers later on, I did not interact with the practitioners on site. Instead we went straight to the office building as soon as we got out of the car, and we told the clerk that we were here to pick up Gao Yuan (an alias) whose term had expired. They told us to wait outside another building, where Gao Yuan would show up when the time came. At this time a practitioner came over and pointed at three people 10 yards from us and told us that they were from the police department, the 610 Office, and the domestic security division, and that they had been waiting for Gao Yuan since early morning. It was said that they told the prison authorities in the morning that Gao Yuan would have no family members coming; therefore they could pick up Gao Yuan after all the procedures are done.

Because we were so close by, the three of them felt we were Gao Yuan's family members. (Gao Yuan was the only one to be released that day). Seeing us waiting there openly and nobly, they felt the pressure and whispered, “How come the family members are here?” and, “Look, the yard is filled with Falun Gong people.” They peeked at us from time to time and video-taped us with their cell phones. We shared briefly and reached an agreement: “We won't be moved by any illusions, and no one is allowed to interfere with us.” I was very clear in my mind, “We are the most righteous; they should be hiding.”

The evil elements in other dimensions had been restrained so much by Dafa disciples' powerful collective field of righteous thoughts that they could not manipulate people. Under our stares, the three of them moved further and further away and would only peek at us from time to time. I could feel that the evil in other dimensions were still trying to delay things to weaken our righteous thoughts, so as to find loopholes to take advantage of. The other disciples there all saw through the plot. Our coordinator moved from one small group to another to share understandings, “Look inside and rectify any thoughts that are not on the Fa.” They took saving sentient beings as the priority and reminded themselves not to limit their mindset only to rescuing the fellow practitioner.

Over an hour passed, during which we returned to the office to try to find the right person to inquire about the release, but couldn't find one. Two staff members asked me, “Did you remember the date right? Normally releases are done by this time. If you still haven't seen him, it's probably done for today.” I was very sure the date was correct, the evil was trying to use illusions to interfere with Dafa disciple's righteous thoughts, and we would not be moved.

We did not loosen, for one bit, our righteous thoughts of disintegrating the evil and saving all sentient beings.

At about 10 a.m., the practitioner who came along with me suggested we go again to the office building to find the person in charge. And we found him. I introduced myself to him with a smile. He looked very upset and said, “Why did you bring so many Falun Gong people here? They have been arriving since morning. Are you trying to blow up this place?” I knew he said this because he was manipulated by the evil elements in other dimensions which were scared. He continued, “If so many of you had not showed up, he would have been released by now. I will not release him until you tell all of them to leave.” I could tell he lacked confidence when he said this, and I knew it was the evil in other dimensions that wanted to stop practitioners from sending forth righteous thoughts collectively. I thought, “If it weren't because of our sending forth righteous thoughts here, the evil 610 Office people would already have taken our fellow practitioner away to the brainwashing center for continued persecution. Therefore we must not stop sending forth righteous thoughts until Gao Yuan has left here safely.”

I said, “I can tell you are a kindhearted person. I have been running into kindhearted people all morning, including you. It took me a while to get here from home, and it was almost 9 a.m. when I got here. You said those people got here early in the morning; how could I have brought them here?” He said, “Really, it was not you?” I said, “Really.” In fact, it wasn't me who brought the fellow practitioners.

I could see he had a lingering fear with so many Dafa disciples outside. I said to him with a smile, “I understand why there are so many Falun Gong practitioners outside. They must have been missing my brother-in-law so much after four-and-a-half years, and they all want to see him, knowing his term is expired today. (I claimed Gao Yuan to be my brother-in-law.) They are all good people; you don't need to worry about it. If you are concerned, you can watch my brother-in-law get into my car. Then you won't be worried anymore!”

He alleged, as he was closing the door and walking out of the building, “I'm not in charge of this matter. It's beyond my power. It's a very serious matter.” We followed him up, and I said, “It was so hard to find you. I'll stick with you no matter what. I will follow you wherever you go. Good men will be rewarded. When I get my brother-in-law home, I welcome you to be our guest. I will show hospitality to you.”

I was indeed hoping that he would choose kindness, and I was sincerely hoping that he could be my guest in my hometown, because he would have a good future that way. Perhaps his knowing side felt my sincerity, as he became embarrassed and said, “Please don't follow me. It is of no use.” I felt that the evil element behind him had lost control over him.

It just so happened that a non-practitioner was looking for him for business at that moment. That person pointed at us and asked him, “Are you together?” He said, “No. There is one release today. They are here to pick him up.” Then he turned around and handed us to a staff member and told him, “She's Gao Yuan's family member. Do whatever you see fit.” That staff member asked me, “What's your relationship with Gao Yuan?” I said, “I'm his sister-in-law.” He said, “Why didn't his wife come pick him up?” I said, “It just so happens that my sister has also been taken away and sent to a brainwashing center. If she were free, why would I be here?” I saw a flash of sympathy in his eyes. He said, “Wait here. I will ask my supervisor about this. First we will need to verify your identity.”

He dialed a number and gave the phone to me. The person at the other end asked me for my name and relationship to Gao Yuan. I answered. He told me to give the phone back to the staff member. Two minutes later, the staff member hung up the phone and told me, “We have a condition for you to pick up your brother-in-law. He must get in your car directly without having any contact with those people (practitioners) in the yard.”

I said, “If you can finish the paperwork, the sooner the better, I assure you I will disappear with him as fast as we can.” They said happily, “Deal.” Ten minutes later, we left the evil den smoothly with Gao Yuan.

I did not loosen my righteous thoughts for a single second during my interactions with the prison personnel. The practitioners cooperating outside were sending even stronger righteous thoughts to eliminate the evil and bring kindness to the people. The entire process was described by the practitioners to be “very dramatic and thrilling”, and it ended with success.

When I played back the whole process in my mind, my heart was filled with gratitude for our esteemed Master's merciful protection. Thank you Master for your merciful protection and arrangements for me lifetime after lifetime! Thank you Master for choosing me to be a particle of the Fa so I can assist Master to do Fa-rectification in this moment of the cosmos' Last Havoc!

A paragraph of Fa from “Fa-Lecture During the 2003 Lantern Festival at the U.S. West Fa Conference” appeared in front of my eyes, “You know what? Just on the one issue of cultivation alone it's so complex at the cosmos's lower levels. But it becomes simple at higher levels, where there's no longer any concept of cultivation but only the concept of karma elimination. At levels higher up, all troubles are to pave the way for ascending to Heaven. And at even higher levels, concepts like eliminating karma, enduring hardships, and cultivation no longer exist, and it's just a choice!”

Master, thank you for choosing me! I will make sure to live up to your expectations!