(Minghui.org) My heart was touched when I read Master's teaching on compassion recently, as it reminded me of an incident that occurred 4 years ago when I was illegally sentenced.
Both my husband and I were arrested and were held in a temporary detention center during a mass-arrest of Falun Dafa practitioners in November 2011. One morning, I heard a lot of yelling and cursing in another cell and guards were busy going in and out.
The head inmate of our cell told us that a murderer with a mental illness would be transferred to our cell because our cell had a bed with restraints on it. I was afraid when I heard about this.
Sure enough, a young woman was carried into our cell and was restrained on the bed with chains around her arms and legs. She struggled and cursed the whole day and into the night until she fell asleep from exhaustion.
She didn't wake up till noon the next day. We worried that she might be dead and reported it to the guard. She was then removed from the cell.
At that time, a thought popped into my mind, “Let this life die.” But she was soon brought back to our cell.
All detainees are made to sit quietly at a certain time each day. The woman sat in front of me. I always used this time to send forth righteous thoughts. For several days, whenever I sent righteous thoughts and was almost tranquil, she would suddenly yell at me, “I'll kill you!” It really frightened me.
However, she treated another elderly lady, a Dafa practitioner from Harbin City, kindly. When that practitioner went on a hunger strike to protest her detention, the woman cared for her and saved her own food to feed her. I was totally clueless as to why she treated me and the elderly practitioner so differently.
One day, the elderly practitioner was sharing her understandings with me and asked what I thought when the young woman nearly died. I told her that I wished she would die.
“Oh, I get it,” she explained. “It's her knowing side who hates you. I was thinking, 'Please let this poor life live. Please let her remember Falun Dafa is good.' I believe it's her knowing side that appreciates me.”
I later learned that the woman had been raped by her father, so she killed him and went insane. I felt pity for her and found that I was being selfish and lacked compassion. When I had compassion for her, she no longer threatened to kill me.
I was interrogated by the guards about a week later. No matter what they threatened me with, including getting me fired from my job, I refused to talk to them the whole time.
At around 4 p.m., one guard told me that another practitioner had told them that my husband and I had taught other practitioners how to send text messages to let people know about Falun Dafa and the persecution.
I felt betrayed that a practitioner and close friend had turned against me. I could find no compassion in me. The guard then started torturing me. I was in pain and muddleheaded and signed my name on their paperwork.
When I was led back to the cell after 8 p.m., the other practitioners and inmates in my cell were very worried about me, noticing that I had been tortured. While one was massaging my numbed right arm, they shared with me and helped me regain righteous thoughts and confidence.
Laying in bed that night, I thought about the whole interrogation process and realized that I didn't handle the situation well. Master's poem came into my mind:
“Dafa disciples are suffering,But who is ruined are sentient beings.” (“Every Lifetime Was for This Life” in Hong Yin III)
I realized that, althought the old forces were trying to put me and my husband in prison, their real purpose was to destroy us. I thought, “I don't accept this persecution imposed on me by the old forces. I only follow Master's arrangements.” I began to send forth righteous thoughts to cleanse my dimension of the rotten beings and the evil spirits that controlled the guards.
I was interrogated several more times. I told the guards that torture is illegal and that they had violated the law. I also told them about Falun Gong and the persecution and sent forth righteous thoughts with compassion. Their attitude changed from defending themselves and quibbling to being kind.
While detained, I continued to clarify the facts to the other inmates and urged them to quit the Chinese Communist Party and its affiliates.
The above experience showed me the power of compassion and often reminds me to be compassionate to the people around me, including the police officers I come into contact with.
Category: Improving Oneself
