On the second day of the Chinese traditional New Year, I went to the Tiananmen Square to stand up for Falun Dafa, and was subsequently illegally jailed for 45 days after being escorted back to my hometown in Hebei Province. Under the protection of the great benevolence of our Teacher, and inspired by the unshakable faith of the fellow practitioners, I made solid progress in my cultivation and assimilation to the Great Law of the Universe. Looking back at my experience in the jail, I was moved by the practitioners who had protected Falun Dafa with their lives. Their pure and loyal hearts, along with great compassion and tolerance, have established the mighty virtue of the practitioners. Now that several months have passed, their heroic deeds of protecting Falun Dafa are still vivid before my eyes.

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By protecting Falun Dafa with their lives, the practitioners in jail have inspired others to catch up in cultivation.

Upon being sent into the detention center, I was officially given 15 days of detention. Locked in a small cell alone, I was wondering whom I should introduce to Falun Dafa and where I could tell the truth about Falun Dafa. I didn't have Falun Dafa books with me, which made me feel lonely. I reminded myself to keep Falun Dafa in mind, but I could only remember few of Teacher's scriptures.á

In the afternoon of the 9th day, the door was opened and three practitioners were brought in.á They had the book Zhuan Falun with them, which sparked a series of events that will be described later. Three days later, three more female practitioners were brought in. They were in their 20's and had been illegally detained and escorted back from Beijing for appealing on behalf of Falun Dafa. They were badly bruised and in poor condition from having been beaten. Their faces were swollen, with blue and red all over. They had been tortured for one day and two nights by the head of a police station merely because they answered "yes" when asked whether they would continue practicing Falun Gong. I was astonished that such oppressive, brutal treatment could happen in a civilized country that claims to uphold human rights. I even more admired the peaceful, compassionate, and tolerant manner of the practitioners. Falun Dafa creates such enlightened beings in the Universe.á

Ms. C was put in shackles by the head of the local police station. Her whole body was repeatedly lifted, thrown to the ground, and rolled over on the ground. When tired, the head officer even stood on the shackles to let be as cruel as possible in light of the practitioner's forbearance. Then he ordered other people to force the practitioner to stay in a half-squatting position, with her hands reaching out horizontally, and two steel helmets on her head while she was still handcuffed. At that time, Ms. C said she felt only a spinning Falun on her head, healing her head and body. Ms. C said the police officers purposely chose the nighttime to torture practitioners in order to avoid being heard and seen. Once, some male policemen even forced her to strip her trousers and underwear to her knees, and beat her naked bottom with a wooden board in order to cause the maximum pain. The police used five different types of devices to torture her. After the physical abuse, she was hung up by shackles for the rest of the night in the freezing winter. Even under such humiliation and torture, Ms. C always reminded herself to remain tolerant and compassionate.á

In summary, Ms. C said that when tribulations arrived, she would always overcome them with an enlightened mind, asking help from Teacher and Dafa. Tribulations would be passed only through unshakable faith.á

Right after Ms. C ended her story, another practitioner, Ms. W, was taken out for interrogation. After she was sent back, we got to know that she had been beaten to the point of losing consciousness twice in over an hour.á But she always had Teacher and Falun Dafa in her mind and did not give in. She had always answered "yes" when asked whether she would continue practicing Falun Dafa or not. Although she could not even sit, she kneeled on the ground and took a piece of paper to copy the poems of "Hongyin" (Teacher's poem collection) for other practitioners. She said, "Keep them with you and they are useful when going through tests."á

Although I did not receive beatings during the detention, I was enlightened that as long as I kept Falun Dafa in mind, I could pass the test. My heart kept making upward progress. The cell was truly a furnace, and I was melted in Falun Dafa.á

On the 15th day when I was supposed to be released, another 10 practitioners were brought in. I was encouraged and spoke loudly: "Even if they want to release me today, I will continue to stay here. The Fa is here." Then the door was opened and the guard came in and said, "You will not be released, but transferred to another place for long-term detention." I smiled peacefully. The other practitioners also smiled and said to me, "Z, Teacher wants you to go up to another higher level!"

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It's easy to chop off practitioners' heads, but hard to take away the Dafa book.á

The story about the book Zhuan Falun I mentioned above was like this.á Ms W was sent to the local Tiananmen police station on January 15th of Chinese New Year. She was locked in a cell.á At that time, a policeman was trying to tear Teacher's picture in Zhuan Falun in front of our practitioners. While all the practitioners spoke out to prohibit this policeman from doing it, Ms. W stepped forward and said to the policeman with tears, "The book is more precious than my life, please never tear the book!"áá The policeman was moved by the sincere words and the selfless and virtuous enlightenment.á When Ms. W returned to the group, the policeman came and handed her the book and said, "Here is your book."á

I was transferred to another place for long-term imprisonment. One day, sitting in a circle, eight Falun Dafa practitioners were reading the book.á All of a sudden the door opened. Six policemen dashed in and wanted to snatch the book. áWe all realized that if we stood in a row as requested, the book would be taken away. So we stayed together without moving and one of the practitioners put the book in her bosom, surrounded by her arms. We encircled her, and recited the Teacher's poems, "Wu Cun (No attachment left)" and "Mighty Virtue".á We confronted the policemen face to face, and they shrank back.á

There was another story of safeguarding Falun Dafa. The police knew that we had the book. They attempted to search us again and even took practitioners clothes away to prevent us from hiding the book.á At that time, while a practitioner was trying to put the book inside her sweater, the policemen dashing in saw her, and went to grab the book.á This practitioner retreated into the corner with the book held tightly to her chest.á Seeing this, all the practitioners rushed to her immediately and covered her on the ground, layer by layer.á Five to six policemen attempted to take away one thin practitioner on the top. They were not even able to move her. The other practitioners shouted, "Don't take the book," the practitioners in other room also supported us loudly. The practitioners' voices formed the proud words: "Seek nothing while living, attach to nothing when dying." á"The great Arhat in the world makes the gods and ghosts afraid." These words seemed to penetrate to Heaven.á Righteous hearts can move the Tai Mountain (a large mountain in China).á Again the policeman withdrew and left. áWe all cried. áIt was Teacher who gave the special care to those of us who didn't study the Fa diligently enough outside, and kept this book for us.

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The trivial matters in prison cultivate the hearts of the practitioners.á

During the detention, all the practitioners refused to recite the regulations of the prison. Gradually all of us were on hunger strike. The doctors came to force-feed us once every three days. By the time I left, some practitioner had been on hunger strike for 38 days.á On the hunger strike, the practitioners were enlightened that the hunger strike was not our real purpose, we just used the hunger strike to draw the attention of the police, and at the same time to spread the Fa to more people and enable people know the truth about Falun Gong.á One young practitioner had a cardiac disease before practicing Falun Dafa.á She was shackled after starting the hunger strike.á She was in too much pain to sleep at night and had to do meditation.á While meditating, she saw that her yuanying (the immortal infant) grew bigger and bigger in an instant and finally grew to the same size as her body, which strongly encouraged her.á

We all were upgrading xinxing (mind nature) under these circumstances. One practitioner could do meditation for 4 to 5 hours without pain.á In her tranquility, Teacher showed her a splendid and magnificent temple, and the words "The Fa is here."á

The behavior of the practitioners at high realms affected most of the other prisoners and they started to learn the cultivation practice. They recited the book and practiced with us.á One practitioner who had just obtained the Fa not long ago saw Falun on every practitioner and Teacher's law body in sitting meditation. We felt that Teacher is protecting us all the time. á

We could get rid of fame, gain, and sentimentality, and regard bitterness as joy under such a circumstance. We sometimes proudly hummed the Falun Dafa music.á No matter what we have contributed to the Fa, we are doing what a practitioner of Falun Dafa should do. We could never repay the great benevolence of Teacher.á áá

By the time I left the prison, I could recite all the poems in "Hongyin", some of the scriptures, and "Lunyu" fluently.á We practiced and studied the Fa daily in jail.á We had read through Zhuan Falun, ten times and some practitioners would meditate all night. We developed a very good environment for cultivation and practice.á Somehow, I wanted to stay there when I was released.

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Heshi, Teacher and all the practitioners who are dedicated in cultivation.

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Falun Dafa Practitioner in China

June 2000

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Category: Journeys of Cultivation