(Minghui.org) I am a 20-year-old college student who was introduced to Falun Dafa at the age of six. My grandmother told villagers stories of people benefiting from Dafa, and although they were skeptical, I believed everything she said.
From then on, I read Zhuan Falun with my grandmother after finishing my homework. When in my teens, I questioned whether it was okay to believe in Falun Dafa. After careful consideration, I convinced myself that Dafa and Master Li Hongzhi (the founder) are righteous, because all the Dafa books I read told people how to be good.
In fifth grade, I always conducted myself as a practitioner because Master Li told us in Zhuan Falun that we would lose virtue and gain karma if we did bad deeds. I followed the Dafa principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance and have always benefited.
Many of my classmates stole, smoked, fought, and even became gangsters. Whenever I saw them, I realized that I was fortunate to have become a Dafa practitioner.
In my sophomore year in junior high school, I decided to regard myself as a true cultivator and take responsibility for myself. Thus, I began to clarify the truth about the persecution.
I read Zhuan Falun every day after school. In the beginning, whenever I picked up the book, I felt muddleheaded. I didn’t feel that way when reading my school books. I then realized that I needed to clear out the bad substances in my mind.
I know that the first step in true cultivation is to purify the body and achieve a disease-free state. Soon after I started to cultivate, I dreamed that small snakes were moving in my arm. I immediately shouted “Eliminate (MIE)” three times, and the snakes disappeared.
I never cheat and have always focused on my studies. For the middle school entrance exam, I scored second place in the county and first in my class. My teacher said that I did extraordinarily well, and one of my schoolmates asked if it was because of Falun Dafa. I knew this happened because I applied Dafa's principles to my daily life.
I was admitted to a top high school. I continued to read Zhuan Falun and listen to Master Li's audio lectures every day during lunch breaks and in the evening. I occasionally sat in meditation after my roommates fell asleep.
At the beginning of my senior year, I got in touch with a fellow practitioner who lived close to my school. She invited me to study the Fa at her place every night after I finished my homework. I used to feel uncomfortable doing the exercises in my dorm but could now do them at this woman's house.
Because I wasn't yet 17, I was too naive to have many fears. One Sunday morning, I put some Dafa brochures in my backpack and distributed them in a school building. During class in the afternoon, our teacher told me that I was seen on the monitor distributing the Dafa materials. The principal told my parents to discuss it with me.
When on my way to another area of the school, I saw a few posters slandering Dafa on the wall of the teaching hall. I tore them down right away. When I was eating lunch, I saw the same big posters on the wall and pillars at the entrance to the dining hall. I realized the seriousness of the situation and immediately removed more than 10 such posters.
This made me think more rationally and taught me ways to be responsible to Dafa. I never stopped distributing truth-clarification materials at school, but I paid more attention to safety. As a practitioner of Falun Dafa, I believe it is my responsibility to stand up when its reputation is being smeared.
I was admitted to a key university in another province. However, because I filed a lawsuit against Jiang Zemin, the former head of the communist regime, I came to the attention of the local police after my first two months in college. Plainclothes officers broke into my dorm room and confiscated my laptop, cell phone, a copy of Zhuan Falun, truth-clarification materials, and Shen Yun Performing Arts DVDs.
They took me to the school security office. The officer who recorded the interrogation was arrogant. When he asked my name, I told him that it was Falun Dafa. When he asked who gave me the materials, I asked if he wanted me to get someone in trouble. He seemed impressed with my responses.
I was taken to the local police station that night. The school contacted my parents, who tried to call me, but the police would not let me answer the phone. They tortured me for 24 hours, but I refused to give them any information. I was handcuffed and taken to the hospital for a medical exam. After that, I was detained in a detention center, although I was not yet 18 years old.
They tried to take my picture but did not succeed. The camera lens kept falling out. I realized that Master did not want me to cooperate.
After arriving in the detention center, I thought that, as a Dafa practitioner, I could not cooperate with those persecuting me. I decided to go on a hunger strike. After two days, everyone in the prison had heard about it, and I was asked why I was on a hunger strike. This gave me the opportunity to tell them more about Dafa.
I was about to collapse after six days. Someone said, “You said that Falun Dafa is good, but if you don’t eat, people might think it was Falun Dafa that did not let you eat.” I thought what that person said made sense and started eating.
Some people were laughing at me, but a person with the surname Jia said: “Master Li Hongzhi is a good person.” I talked about Dafa to him, and he said that he wanted to learn the practice. I did not believe him, but he insisted, so I recited Lunyu and he commented, “Hey, this is really good. Why is Dafa banned? The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is indeed no good.”
He was in prison because he beat someone for harassing him. I told him about the transformation of karma and virtue, “It is a good thing if you do not fight back when others bully you. Your karma will be eliminated when you suffer, and it will be transformed into virtue.” He understood and said, “Before, I tolerated with irritation, now my heart has become calm – I found Falun Dafa. I gained something by coming here!”
Before being released a month later, I shared some of Master's teachings with the guards and inmates. The on-duty officer listened and replied: "Falun Dafa is good and teaches people to do good things. It is the CCP that has problems.”
Another officer remarked, “The power of faith is so great! If Party members have been arrested by an enemy, they would usually betray the CCP. Falun Dafa practitioners will never be like that.”
This was the first time in my life that I suffered. Nevertheless, my belief in Master and the Fa never wavered, because Dafa's roots are deep in my heart.
In addition to telling people about Dafa while detained, I silently recited the Fa and sent righteous thoughts. I was told to sign a statement renouncing Falun Dafa, but I refused; nothing is worth more than what Master has given to me.