(Minghui.org) I started to practice Falun Dafa on July 14, 1998. Before that, I was very weak, suffered from many illnesses, and did not get along with my in-laws. I also had major anger issues. Even township officials could not change the ill-tempered and unreasonable me.
Over the years, I tried many different methods to deal with my illnesses. However, once I heard that Falun Dafa helped people attain good health, I thought about it for three days before deciding that this was what I wanted to practice.
Before learning the exercises, I read Zhuan Falun, the main book of this cultivation practice, and read it in one go. When I read Zhuan Falun for the second time, I understood that this book teaches people how to cultivate by following the principles of Truth-Compassion-Forbearance, and that cultivation is serious.
I realized that I had done many bad things, so I wondered if I could still cultivate in Falun Dafa. I no longer hesitated after reading in Dafa’s teachings that “In providing salvation to humankind, the Buddha School does not attach any condition or seek returns, and it will help unconditionally.” (Zhuan Falun)
The principles of Dafa helped me to become good tempered, thoughtful, unselfish, and kind toward everyone. My mother-in-law told people, “Falun Dafa is very good. Since my daughter-in-law practices Falun Dafa, she is very obedient and we get along well.”
During the first year of practicing, people listened to the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) propaganda that vilified Falun Dafa. My family members and relatives were also against my practicing Dafa. They saw the persecution as the beginning of the second cultural revolution and said, “You cannot fight city hall.”
Because of the pressure, I stopped doing the exercises but still read the Dafa lectures. This helped me calm down and become more determined. I did not acknowledge the persecution and still wanted to cultivate. Master Li, the founder of Dafa, said, “Calm your minds, resume your normal practice and Fa-study, be diligent and cultivate solidly, and continually improve yourselves.”(“Stability” from Essentials for Further Advancement II)
I then felt calm and I would talk to everyone I could about Falun Dafa. My family members were not convinced, however, and called me a fool.
“Who is realistic?” I said. “I recovered from my illnesses and we no longer have to pay large hospital bills. I am no longer a financial burden to our family. Additionally, I am now a good daughter-in-law and our family gets along well.”
They did not say a single word after that.
Just like so many other practitioners, I decided to go to Beijing in 2000 to appeal for the right to practice Dafa. Although I debated telling my husband about it, I did not tell him. However, I did tell him that I would not give up Dafa: “Whatever happens to me, do not spend money solving any problems related to my practice of Falun Dafa,” I told him.
I soon was arrested, interrogated, and taken to the Huairou Prison in Beijing. There were many practitioners who were tortured there day and night. We demanded to be released unconditionally, but we were verbally abused by the police because of this.
It was very cold in the cell, especially since a ventilator blew air at us. We decided to do the exercises anyway. A guard saw us and took three of us outside into the cold night and shocked us with an electric baton.
I was then taken back to my hometown in a railroad car full of practitioners. We were guarded by two people. We were not allowed to walk around, and two practitioners were handcuffed together.
One of the guards yelled at me for talking to another guard about Dafa. He made me sleep on the upper berth. I felt thirsty, and even though my lips were bleeding because of dryness, I was not allowed to drink water. I recited, “When it’s difficult to endure, you can endure it. When it’s impossible to do, you can do it.” (Zhuan Falun)
While sleeping, I had a dream in which someone gave me water. When I woke up, I found out that no one had given me water. I realized that Master gave me water. I smiled and no longer felt thirsty.
In my hometown, I was taken to a brainwashing center where I was tortured. I was deprived of food, beaten, deprived of sleep, forced to stand for a long time, and deprived of family visits. They claimed that my family did not want to see me and that my husband wanted to divorce me.
I was not moved in my heart and just recited the teachings of Dafa more. The more I recited, the more clear-headed I felt. I knew their aim was to ruin my determination to cultivate Falun Dafa.
A police officer beat me when he was drunk, and I felt that he was about to kill me. I remembered how another practitioner told me to recite, at the critical moment, teachings of Dafa.
When I finished reciting passages from Falun Dafa, he stopped beating me and started beating the wall and the door instead.
They wanted me to betray another practitioner, but I refused. They beat me with a piece of wood to the floor. Then they pulled me up and asked me to tell them the practitioner's name or they would beat me to death. I told myself that I would not cooperate. After that thought, I did not feel any pain, and I knew that Master suffered for me.
When I was undergoing freezing torture, I shivered and could not control my nerves. Then I remembered that Master said, “...these portions of the brain that fear cold and filth will be switched off.” (Zhuan Falun)
I pleaded with Master to switch off that portion in my brain fearing cold, and indeed, I did not feel cold or shiver anymore.
Of the 30 practitioners who were held at the brainwashing center, some were transferred to forced labor camps. The officials extorted money from over 20 practitioners, and some were released after they paid between 3,000 and 5,000 yuan.
I was taken to a detention center for 15 days. The township government officers forced me to sweep the road for over 10 days. Then, the township CCP secretary asked my husband to pay 50 yuan so that I could be released. My husband told him that he had no money, not even five yuan. I was still released without paying a penny.
Because I remained steadfast in cultivation, I was harassed frequently by police. Under pressure, my husband threatened that if I continued to talk to people about Dafa, that he would divorce me.
“Put aside the persecution,” I said. “I am determined to practice Falun Dafa. We can get divorced, but it must say in our agreement that, 'We are getting divorced not because of our feelings, nor because of profit, nor because of a third party involvement, but because of the persecution that Jiang Zemin (the former CCP leader) initiated against Falun Dafa.'”
He no longer talked about divorce after that, and our family became peaceful again.
To help my family members learn more about Dafa, I asked them to watch DVDs about the facts of Falun Dafa during dinner because they were busy at other times. When I was cooking, the entire family was quite happy to watch the DVDs.
My father-in-law, who practices Buddhism, said after he saw one of the videos that the CCP was truly brutal in how it treated Falun Dafa.
“Yes,” I answered, “many practitioners were beaten to death, and those practitioners were very good people. The crime committed when one beats a practitioner to death is a great sin.”