(Minghui.org) I started practicing Falun Dafa in 2006. My mom, a fellow practitioner, told me that I was fortunate to have obtained the Fa before the Fa-rectification period ends. I felt really happy and excited but at the same time felt the urgency to cultivate myself.
My mother said that, in his recent lectures, Master Li told us to do the three things well. I hadn't read those lectures yet, so I decided to seize the time to cultivate diligently.
Within a year, I'd memorized Hong Yin, Hong Yin Vol. II, and the first four parts of Lecture One inZhuan Falun. To make good use of my time, I memorized the Fa and sent righteous thoughts while I was walking or on the bus. It was memorizing the Fa that helped me overcome one difficulty after another.
Memorizing the Fa and Maintaining Righteous Thoughts
Since I did not cultivate my xinxing well, my loopholes were taken advantage of. I was arrested and taken to a local detention center in 2010. At that time, seven other Dafa practitioners were detained there. The eight of us had only one copy of Zhuan Falun. One practitioner wrote out each lecture by hand, one by one, and then managed to pass it to a fellow practitioner in another cell. That practitioner then copied the lecture and passed it along to another practitioner and so on. That was how every practitioner in the facility was able to read Zhuan Falun.
A month later, guards searched the cells and confiscated Zhuan Falun, our handwritten copies, and recent lectures. I couldn’t bear to be without Dafa books for even a day, so I wrote down the parts of Zhuan Falun that I could remember and sent it to another practitioner. Not long afterward, the guards took the practitioner away. So I again wrote down the Fa that I had memorized and gave it to other practitioners. Because they all could recite Hong Yin and Hong Yin Vol. II, no matter how difficult the situation was, we could still study or recite the Fa.
A year later, I was sent to a prison where I was pressured to renounce Falun Gong. I was not allowed to sleep for three days and nights. I had to stand at attention; was suspended from a beam, forced to wear extremely tight clothing, and beaten; and even had all my clothes stripped off.
During the first two days of this brutal treatment, I recited the Fa. On the third day, I felt dizzy and could no longer focus. Without the Fa, I had no strength and my willpower faded. When I was extremely sleepy, the “assistant” inmate assigned to monitor me ordered me to copy a few pages of text he had written. Then I was allowed to sleep for a few hours.
After I woke up, I felt I had done something wrong and was worried. I didn't know what to do. Just then, the assistant came in and said, “The text you copied this morning doesn't count because you copied it under duress. You still have a few hours before you go to bed. Think about it carefully. A police officer will talk to you tomorrow. Then you will have to re-write the statements.”
What she said woke me up. The paper I copied could have been the three statements to renounce Falun Dafa. I thought to myself, “Of course it shouldn't count. I would absolutely not write something like that. I will never cooperate with the evil. I will use the few hours before bed to recite the Fa.”
An idea came to me: “If there is no Fa in my mind, I am very likely to be lost. I do not know what I will face tomorrow, but I am determined deep in my heart to go with Master and never get lost.” When such righteous thinking prevailed, my fear disappeared.
The next day, before the police officer had a chance to say anything, I said, “What I wrote yesterday was not of my own free will; it was forced and should not count.” After that, they did eveything they could think of to trap me and confuse me. I kept reciting the Fa even when they were hitting me. One day I thought to myself, “If, at some point, I lose consciousness and don't have a clear mind, I must remember Master and know that only what Master has said is the truth.”
In order to “transform” me make make me give up my belief, they talked about the practitioners' protest in Beijing that occurred on April 25 and told me to write my thoughts about they said.
Because I became a practitioner after that and didn’t know much about April 25, I was temporarily confused. However, I quickly remembered Master saying that what happened on April 25 was good. If Master thought it was good, then it must have been great. I wrote a positive reflection on the incident. When they read what I had written, they verbally abused me, forced me to stand for two hours, and didn't let me sleep. But I was happy that my thinking was righteous.
There was a time when I was made to cut uppers for shoes in a workshop in the prison. I recited the Fa and sent righteous thoughts as I worked. People near me kept counting the number of uppers they cut, placing 50 uppers in each pile. If I had done the same thing, I couldn't have recited the Fa or sent righteous thoughts, so I didn’t count until I'd finished a pile.
The inmate responsible for watching me tried to force me to count each piece as it was done, but I refused to. She shouted at me and wanted to hit me. I knew it was interference trying to stop me from reciting the Fa. I could not give in to them, so I kept reciting: “Under trying circumstances of any type, you must all keep steady in thought. Just by staying unaffected you will be able to handle all situations.” (Teaching the Fa at the Conference in the Midwest-U.S.)
She was furious and yelled at me. She went to the guards and told them to punish me. An officer came and looked at me. I remained calm and didn’t look at him. Without saying anything, the officer turned and left.
For some time I was able to talk with another practitioner. I asked her to write down the Fa that she could recite paragraph by paragraph. We were separated after she wrote two of Master Li's recent articles: Path and Fa-Rectification Period Dafa Disciple.
For the first year and a half I was in prison, I was forced to write reflections every day. I thought that, if I let the officers know how we practitioners cultivate, they would benefit from it. So, every day, I wrote down how I cultivated my thinking.
A Detached Attitude Toward My Persecutors
One morning, I was ordered to clean the cell. As I did, the guards insulted and yelled at me. At that time, I remembered Master said:
“Wandering around in society is rather torturous. It must beg for food and meet different kinds of people who will scold, insult, or take advantage of it. It might encounter all kinds of things.” (Zhuan Falun)
I wanted to behave as if I was wandering around while cultivating, but the prison environment and the guards' attitudes were much more complex than just living a nomadic existence.
A few days later, while the others were taking a nap, the inmate responsible for watching me told me to clean the floor under the beds. It was obvious that she wanted to humiliate me. I thought this was an opportunity to let go of self, so I did what she asked. I cleaned under the beds on another occasion. After that, I asked her if I needed to clean the area again. She told me that I did not need to do it anymore. After that, she treated me with more respect. The other inmates also gave me a thumbs up.
Because I recited the Fa and sent righteous thoughts every day, I could easily maintain a clear mind. I wanted to write a solemn statement to nullify the “three statements” I'd written before. I wanted to do it before I was released from prison but wasn't given the opportunity to make a speech.
Two months later, during a meeting at which everyone had to talk about “Communist Ethics,” I talked about Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance being the highest moral standard. As soon as I finished, the assistants scolded me. The officers asked why I was saying such things after being “transformed.” I replied, “I wasn't 'transformed,' I won't 'transform,' 'transformation' is wrong.” I repeated myself loudly. The meeting was ended!
When I went back to the cell, the assistants and the inmates assigned to watch me yelled at and threatened me. Even the practitioners were scared and advised me to not say such things. However, I was determined. I would rather die than carry the stain of renouncing my faith! If I had to die, I would die as a dignified disciple. I wouldn't accept any of their conditions. As a result, they didn't treat me so badly.
I had a terrible nightmare and yelled and shouted, which woke the other prisoners in the cell. Then I knew that Master had suffered and had helped me. Later, I wrote three statements to announce that my "three statements'" document was null and void.
I was able to survive for three years in prison because I had the Fa in my mind and Master's protection.
The Fa I Memorized Made Cultivation Easier
After I was released, things were easiler, and I slacked off in my cultivation. Many of my attachments surfaced, and it was hard to get rid of them, especially the attachment of being impatient. A fellow practitioner often told me, “You are impatient from the inside out.” I tried hard to get rid of it but was unsuccessful.
In mid-February 2017, I made up my mind to try to memorize Zhuan Falun. I began the next day. Initially, it took me an hour to remember one paragraph, then half an hour, and gradually I could remember each paragraph in a shorter time.
It took me two and a half months to memorize the entire book. Now, the more I memorize it, the more I want to remember. I am often in tears when I recite the Fa. I feel that the Fa is very true and really amazing. Master is truly great. I am so lucky! I want to follow Master’s teachings!
When I recite the Fa, it seems that all the cells in my entire body are vibrating. I cannot truly explain this experience—it is beyond words. I just think that Dafa is so wonderful.
I went to a practitioner to give her the one-yuan bills I'd exchanged after I recited the entire book for the first time. The practitioner was impatient, especially when she saw that I scattered the bundle of a thousand one-yuan bills. I told her that I would stack them together. She seemed to realize something and changed her attitude immediately. She then helped me organize the bills.
Two days later, I went to the same practitioner. She asked if I was upset after I got home that day. I said, “No.” And I really wasn't. As I said that, I suddenly realized that I had changed. I used to be hot-tempered and impatient. Why didn't I lose my temper that day? Then I knew that it was memorizing the Fa that had made me a new person!
I benefited a lot from memorizing the Fa. There is no shortcut in cultivation, but earnestly memorizing and assimilating to the Fa were certainly beneficial to my cultivation.
Category: Improving Oneself
