(Minghui.org) Greetings revered Master! Greetings fellow practitioners.
I have been striving to clarify the truth about Falun Gong and raise awareness of the persecution over the last 15 years. I would like to share my experiences and understandings.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began persecuting Falun Gong (also known as Falun Dafa) on July 20, 1999. Even Master was illegally placed on a wanted list.
Seeing the news, I cried in front of the television. A practitioner visited me and told me in tears, “Several practitioners in Tianjin went to buy Dafa books and were arrested. The books were confiscated. The practitioners were beaten and their arms and legs were broken. Some practitioners were tied to a big wooden board and turned upside down for seven days. How long are we going to put up with this?”
The evil was on the rise back then. The CCP secretary and the security director of my village came to my home and watched me from 9 a.m. to past 10 p.m. The secretary arranged two people to watch me overnight, one in front of my house and the other behind my house. They were afraid that I would travel to Beijing to appeal to the government, and that I would go outside to do the exercises.
After sharing with fellow practitioners, a group of us decided to go to Tiananmen Square in Beijing to speak up for Dafa.
Soon, an opportunity presented itself. It had been constantly snowing with gusty winds for around 24 hours. The people monitoring my house went home. Three practitioners and I walked about half a mile in the snow and boarded a bus to the train station, where my younger brother and his wife joined us. Together, we arrived in Beijing safely.
We found a hotel to stay and the price was right. No one asked for our identification cards, which are normally required to stay at hotels across China. I knew that Master was helping us.
I arrived at Tiananmen Square. Before I had a chance to unfold a banner or do the exercises, a policeman approached me. I asked him the same question twice, “Is Falun Dafa good?”
He forced me ino a police vehicle. I told everyone in the police station reception area that I had come to validate the Fa, to speak up for Dafa and Master, and to rescue fellow practitioners. I provided my real name and address and asked them to pass my words to their supervisors.
Many practitioners were held in metal cages. A practitioner from Henan Province told me, “Master has just published a new scripture 'Beyond the Limits of Forbearance.' We can call Master's name for help whenever we have difficulties.”
The practitioner's words gave me a lot of encouragement. My fear disappeared instantly.
Local CCP secretaries from our township and village came to Beijing to claim us. They handcuffed us and took the cash we carried. On the way back to our hometown, many train passengers asked what was going on, since so many people were handcuffed and chained together, including children younger than 12.
I told them, “We are Falun Gong practitioners. We don't harm others; we just try to be good people. Falun Gong has great benefits. Within five days of practicing all my illnesses were gone. But we are now being persecuted. Falun Dafa is good. Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good!”
Many passengers came up to us to listen to the truth. The CCP secretaries didn't allow us to speak, but the passengers refused to leave; they wanted to hear more.
The CCP secretaries found a captain to disperse the passengers. But they came back after the captain left. The passengers asked me to lower my voice because they wanted to hear more.
With Master's help, many people learned the truth during the 10-hour train ride home.
After we had been detained for two weeks, my husband and I were paraded through the streets as if we were criminals. This was a common humiliation method used during the Cultural Revolution.
They tied us up, placed a vertical board on our backs, and took us to a vehicle. Criminals, including murders, were standing waiting to board. The atmosphere was dead silent, almost eery. To my surprise, I wasn't scared, though I hadn't even finished my first time reading Zhuan Falun. I was a brand new practitioner in 1999. I had Master on my mind and remembered the Henan fellow practitioners' words: remember to call for Master's help amidst hardship.
The perpetrators wanted to videotape us being humiliated at crowded public places in our township. They wanted to coerce us to abandon our belief. Furthermore, they wanted to stir up hatred among people and ruin sentient beings.
I said to my husband, “We will definitely handle this well.”
“No talking!” the policemen yelled.
I ignored the policeman and told the people around us how Dafa taught us to be better people and always consider others. The people packed into the large vehicle quietly listened to me.
A lot of people watched us. I stepped out of the car and shouted three times, “Falun Dafa is good! Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good! Restore the reputation of my Master! Give me my human rights back!”
The policemen scrambled over to me to drag me back into the vehicle and gagged my mouth with my scarf. I called out in my heart, “Master! Master!”
I continued to shout, “Falun Dafa is good.” The perpetrators couldn't carry out their plans to videotape us being publicly humiliated, so they rushed us back to the detention center.
A policeman said to me, “Auntie, you have achieved your goal. We haven't been able to execute our plan. You have elevated your level.” I knew that Master used his mouth to encourage me. I was very grateful for that.
In the detention center's courtyard I shouted again, “Falun Dafa is good! Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good! Restore the reputation of my Master! Give me back my human rights!”
My voice seemed to shock the detention center. A large number of policemen ran out of the building. One smiled and said, “She came to validate the Fa. She says Falun Dafa is good.”
People from eight units in the detention center – male, female, non-practitioners and Dafa disciples – all applauded. With Master's help, a bad thing was turned into something good. Several non-practitioners started practicing Falun Gong right there.
Through this experience, I gained a deeper understanding of how Master used the situation to save people and temper Dafa disciples.
The perpetrators put me in a labor camp for two years. We were told that we were not allowed to read the Fa or do the exercises. We were told that our sentence could be extended if we “didn't behave.” Criminal inmates were assigned to make sure that we complied.
I had trouble sleeping at night. I recalled Master's Fa in “Huge Exposure” from Essentials for Further Advancement. I hadn't memorized it yet, but I remembered the content.
Thinking of that Fa prompted me to get up and do the Falun Gong exercises. I also asked other practitioners to join me. Several days later, the inmates reported us to the head guard, who then tried all means to force me to stop doing the exercises, including threats, feigned kindness, cursing and beatings.
Several guards tied me to some heating pipes. After I was released I resumed the exercises. They transferred me to a criminal unit and forced me to do labor. They beat me when I refused, or when I did the exercises or recited the Fa.
I recited “True Nature Revealed” from Essentials for Further Advancement II:
“Steadfastly cultivate Dafa, the will unflinchingThe raising of levels is what’s fundamentalIn the face of tests one’s true nature is revealedAchieve Consummation, becoming a Buddha, Dao, or God”
During the morning exercises at the prison, the head guard stood in front of me and asked me whether I still dared to do the Falun Gong exercises. I started doing the first exercise “Buddha Stretching a Thousand Arms.”
She dragged me by my collar to her office and ordered me to apologize to her.
I said with a smile, “Don't be angry. I have not stolen anything, robbed others, beaten anyone, or cursed at anyone. I was detained here because I practice Falun Gong. I haven't done anything bad, so I don't join the morning exercises for inmates. If I were to do them, wouldn't I be a bad person like the criminals?”
She slapped me but I didn't feel any pain. She kicked me, and I again didn't feel any pain. I knew that Master had endured it for me.
“Okay, show me how tough you are. I will give you some real trouble today,” she said as she grasped an electric baton and prepared to attack me. I had just learned the formula for sending forth righteous thoughts, so I used it.
Her electric baton didn't work. She was so angry that she threw the baton to the sofa and sat down. She ordered me to stand in front of her. I went over. I smiled and stood there. She said, “You dare to do your exercises in front of me? Why do you make me lose face?”
Master's Fa in Zhuan Falun came to my mind:
“At that point, he became alarmed right away. The first thought that came to his mind was: "I’m not an ordinary person. I’m a practitioner. You shouldn’t treat me this way, for I’m a Falun Dafa practitioner." Once this thought emerged, everything suddenly disappeared since they were all transformed anyway.”
I smiled and said, “Captain, I only remember that I'm a practitioner. There's no issue of saving face.” The head guard said, “Okay, you can leave. You have passed your test.”
It was just like what Master said: “... cultivation depends on one’s own efforts, while transforming gong is done by one’s master.” (Zhuan Falun)
Once we align ourselves with the Fa, the evil doesn't dare to attack us.
Master said in “Dafa Disciples’ Righteous Thoughts are Powerful” from Essentials for Further Advancement II:
“No matter what the situation, do not cooperate with the evil’s demands, orders, or what it instigates.”
I only had three years of elementary schooling. I had never written a letter before, but I wanted to write a letter to the head guard.
It was amazing–I finished the letter in about an hour, and there were no characters that I didn't know how to write! I gave the letter to her.
She called me to her office three days later and gave me three tomatoes. She said, “I usually discard letters after I have read them once, even if they are from professors, doctors or people with master's degrees. But I read your letter three times, I still don't want to throw it away!”
I thanked Master in my heart. Everything was done by Master! The head guard was saved. After this, she never instructed the guards or inmates to beat me.
I seized all opportunities to clarify the truth to the guards. Some didn't want to listen. Some cursed at me. However, everyone loved the letters I wrote them. They were happy and thanked me for them.
With Master's help, I wrote a letter to each and every guard and policeman I knew. One knew of my limited schooling, and joked with me, “You have graduated from college. Your letters now pile as high as several stories of this building.”
There is a lot to share. I have only written bits and pieces of my story. Please help point out anything inappropriate.