(Minghui.org) I started practicing Falun Dafa with my parents in 1997. I had a good cultivation environment because more than twelve people in my family practiced Falun Dafa. But when I moved to another city for work I was not diligent in my cultivation and I slacked off.
The Importance of Master's Teachings
After the persecution started, I was illegally arrested and held in a detention center. I remembered little of the Fa at that time, so I just kept repeatedly saying, “Falun Dafa is good; Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good.” Reciting this comforted me. Even though I hadn't been diligent, nothing could make me give up practicing.
Master said,
“The Fa can break all attachments, the Fa can destroy all evil, the Fa can shatter all lies, and the Fa can strengthen righteous thoughts.” (“Drive Out Interference,” Essentials for Further Advancement II)
I wanted to study the Fa, so I asked another practitioner in my cell to recite the Fa that she had memorized. In this way she helped me recall some of Master’s teachings. Whenever another practitioner was placed in my cell, I always asked them to recite the Fa that they had memorized.
I was detained for eighteen months. During that time the court held an illegal trial against me without notifying my family or lawyer. I refused to appear in such an illegal trial, so the armed guards dragged me by force to the court.
Then I went on a hunger strike to protest being placed in a detention center and the court's depriving me of my legal right to defense. I refused to respond to roll calls and I refused to wear the prison uniform. I also insisted on doing the Falun Dafa exercises.
As punishment for my refusal to wear the prison uniform, the detention center did not allow my lawyer to see me. To make the situation worse, they told my lawyer that I refused to see him. The next day, a family member and the lawyer returned. The guards threatened me again and said that I could not see my lawyer until I wore the uniform. I told them that I would not wear the uniform for even one second. The guards suddenly gave up and let me see my lawyer.
I was later transferred to another detention center because I refused to give up practicing Dafa. The guards force-fed me and tortured me by putting me into a “straitjacket” (This form of torture is meant to cause excruciating pain. The victim is tightly restrained in a straitjacket for hours.)
A fellow practitioner taught me all the poems in Hong Yin that she had memorized. She was released shortly after teaching me all she could remember.
My lawyer was finally able to visit me. I felt that something was wrong and I later learned that my mother had been arrested because of her efforts to rescue me. I could not calm down. I told myself that my mom had done all she could for me. As a practitioner, I should face the tribulation myself, and I decided to rectify my cultivation.
The next time my lawyer came he said he filed my appeal and that my mother had been released. He also brought me good news. He said another family member came with him and was waiting to see me in the meeting room. I was so grateful to Master for his compassionate encouragement. The strengthened my belief and helped me do better in the following days.
I was detained for four and a half months in this detention center. I looked within during this period and found many attachments, especially the attachment to lust. I memorized all the poems in Hong Yin and dozens of Master’s scriptures. Master’s Fa helped me get through the tribulations and difficult days in the detention center. I also appreciated Master for arranging fellow practitioners to recite the Fa with me during my two years of detention in two detention centers.
Eliminating Every Loophole
One day not long after I was detained, the head guard brought in fourteen former practitioners to brainwash me. I was nervous. I then remember what Master said,
“...one righteous mind can subdue one hundred evils.” (Lecture Three, Zhuan Falun)
As soon as I had the thought: “These people cannot sway me,” I was surrounded by positive energy. As they worked on me for the next two hours, I kept reciting Master's Fa. I felt the room filled with Master's energy. I remained calm and did not argue with them. They had nothing to say in response to my righteous words. They finally left.
For a while, the guards sent former practitioners to “work” on me almost every day. I kept reciting the Fa and looking inward. I eliminated my attachments so there would be no loopholes for the evil to take advantage of.
The guards wouldn't let me buy any basic necessities for two months. I was not even allowed to buy toilet paper. I begged Master to help me. At the same time, I kept reciting the Fa and sent forth righteous thoughts. I knew Master was always by my side, protecting me.
Master said,
“...behave like an upstanding and noble Dafa disciple who has no resentment or attachments, and leave it to Master to arrange whether you stay or go.” (“Teaching the Fa in the City of Los Angeles”)
A few days later, a guard told me I could buy necessities. I deeply appreciated Master and thanked him for his protection.
Two fellow practitioners who were sent to the detention center with me were detained in a solitary confinement cell and totured brutally there. The head guard kept telling me that my turn was coming soon.
At first, I thought, it was not a bad thing to be detained there. I should write articles to expose the evil persecution in the detention center. I wouldn't have anything to write about if I didn't experience it myself. Then, I realized my thought was not righteous. I was not there to be a hero. How could these people repay the sins they made by persecuting me? I did not want these people to commit crimes. After that, nobody mentioned sending me to the cell.
Master said,
“Compassion is an enormous energy, the energy of righteous gods. The more compassion that is present, the greater this energy becomes, and it can disintegrate anything that is bad. This is something that has never been taught, be it by Shakyamuni or cultivators of the past. The greatest manifestation of shan is compassion, and it is an expression of tremendous energy. It can disintegrate all that is not right.” (“Fa Teaching at the 2009 Washington DC International Fa Conference,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. IX)
In the following days, the more I focused on saving people and the more I placed others first, the better my environment became. The morning my sentence expired, I asked myself: “Will Master arrange someone to check with me if I’ll still practice Dafa or not?” The answer was: “No, Master won’t arrange such a thing, then who is qualified to ask me?!” Thus, with my righteous belief in Master, no one asked me any such question. I walked out of the detention center in a dignified manner.
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Category: Improving Oneself
