(Clearwisdom.net)
Righteous Thoughts Are Critical
Because we want people to take our fasting seriously, we repeatedly insisted on only sleeping in vans and drinking only water. We refused sports drinks brought by some well-intentioned practitioners and urged them to take them back. Today I felt that this thought was not righteous enough.
What we are doing is open and honorable. We are fasting and will not touch anything that contains calories. People will not be skeptical. As practitioners, we should keep reminding ourselves not to be affected by the deformed human mentality. When you are upright, the surrounding environment will also be upright. "The Buddha-light illuminates everywhere and rectifies all abnormalities." (from Zhuan Falun)
The day before yesterday, we used some yellow plastic cloth cut in circular shapes to form the Chinese character for "upright." I realized that as long as we keep our righteous thoughts, we will behave in the right way, and it will bring about positive results. We have no choice but to go on a hunger strike, using our own lives to awaken the sense of justice within people to protect the righteous and stop the evil. It is the right thing to do, so why should we worry about the consequences?
Chen Zhi, from Alabama
Why Did I Take Part in the Hunger Strike?
I met a practitioner when I went back to China to appeal for Falun Gong last year. He was sentenced to one year in labor camp. He went on a hunger strike for 30 days and was released for medical treatment. He said that it was unbearable, not being able to read the books and do the exercises. He would fight for that right, even if it meant losing his life. Many practitioners in China are like him. Recently, 130 practitioners detained in the Masanjia Labor Camp are on a group hunger strike, risking their lives to protest their extended detention.
Practitioners in and out of China are one body. Living in a relatively free and comfortable environment, I feel guilty about not being able to better help practitioners in China by letting the world know what price they have paid and how they still live with great benevolence and forbearance. Now, with what I endure here, I want to let the world know how much they have gone through for their faith in "Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance." I want the world to know about their great benevolence and forbearance as Falun Dafa practitioners, so that people can be awakened.
I will fight the persecution of Falun Dafa and help rescue practitioners in China with my righteous thoughts and behavior.
Every Dafa particle is playing an indispensable role in Fa-rectification, and I consider this hunger strike to be a part of my role.
He Wei, from Rhode Island
Today Is the Fourth Day
Today is the fourth day of the hunger strike. Light hearted and relaxed, I felt good after getting up in the morning,. When we were doing the Falun Gong exercises together, an elderly American lady said that she liked it very much. She sat down and drew a beautiful sketch of the scene. She told me that she was going to email me the sketch. I thanked her and told her about some of my experiences in practicing Falun Gong. She left happily.
In the afternoon, ten media members came to interview us. I sat in the sun calmly, not feeling any dizziness or discomfort. I knew that in some way Teacher was helping me. At around 1:00 p.m., while the media members shot their footage, another practitioner (Lin Xiaoxu) and I went to peacefully submit our appeal to the Chinese Embassy. We patiently explained our intentions to a staff member, but he pushed us away fiercely and twice threw our letter out of the gate. He accompanied his violent actions with curses. Seeing that, I came to understand more about the miserable situation of practitioners in China. Jiang Zemin's regime does not care about the lives of practitioners, whether they are in China or abroad.
Zhang Yu, from Atlanta
Submitting the Letter of Appeal to the Chinese Embassy
At 1:00 p.m. on August 20, on behalf of practitioners on the hunger strike, Zhang Yu and I went to submit the letter of appeal to the Chinese Embassy. At the embassy gate, we pressed the doorbell three times, but no one answered. We were about to press another doorbell on the right when we heard the sound of the door opening. We pushed open the door and walked in.
At that point, we saw a staff member rushing out in fury and using dirty language. He pushed us out the door fiercely. We calmly explained our intention, saying that we only wanted to submit a letter of appeal. He said that the embassy refused to take it and walked away without looking back. He then shut the inner door behind him loudly.
We decided to leave the letter on the windowsill. The staff member inside rushed out again in fury, grabbed the letter, and threw it out. However, the letter floated right back to him. He picked it up and threw it out again. The media captured the whole scene.
It is the right of a Chinese citizen to submit a letter of appeal to the Chinese Embassy, the representative of the Chinese government. However, the staff member there did not show the least respect and violently pushed us out. It was an act that ignored human rights and damaged the reputation of our country.
It is easy to imagine what happens when practitioners in China go to appeal. They are not merely rebuffed, but they are met by the police and detained immediately. This is the "Golden Period for Human Rights" as claimed by Jiang Zemin, who was selected as the "human rights scoundrel" by Amnesty International.
Lin Xiaoxu, from Alabama
Some Personal Thoughts
As practitioners, we value our lives. Every practitioner overseas has a role and a mission in the Fa-rectification.
We have used various methods to appeal peacefully to Jiang Zemin's government. Not only did they ignore the appeal, but instead they escalated the persecution of Falun Gong.
In one labor camp there are 130 people forced to the verge of death for their beliefs. How many practitioners in China are facing the same situation? In such a critical moment, I chose to take part in the hunger strike.
I hope this action can attract the attention of people and media in the world and expose the evil conduct of the Masanjia Labor Camp. In fact, the truth is being exposed and verified.
I know clearly in my heart that the longer we stay, the more support we will get from kind-hearted people, and the closer we will be to eliminating the evil den of Masanjia with the joined efforts of all the practitioners in the world.
Xiong Shounan, from Virginia
Diary Of A Mother and Daughter
On the 5th day of the 263-hour sit-in, we started a hunger strike. My mother, other practitioners, and I are determined to finish the 263 hours (now it has become 265 hours, as two more practitioners have died from torture.) I remember that Teacher talked about "great way without form." (From "Lecture at the First Conference in North America") When we do our part in various ways and from various perspectives in this human world, we are actually blocking the openings of the evil den in other dimensions, so that it will be eliminated. We carried out two things at the same time in front of the Chinese Embassy. First, we submitted two letters of appeal, and the staff threw the letters to the ground in fury in front of the media. Secondly, we sat and fasted. At 3:00 p.m. today, we will be into the fourth day of the hunger strike. Mother and I both feel great. Our bodies are light and airy, and I am not hungry. Most of the time I am not even aware that I am fasting. It is due to the power of Dafa and Teacher that I do not feel hungry or sleepy.
Teacher said in "Fa-rectification Period Dafa Disciples," "It might seem that you have done what you should do for Dafa, when actually, you are doing it for your comprehensive Consummation and return. If during this period you cannot do well with what you should do, this Consummation stage can only be a cultivation process, and it cannot fundamentally be Fa-rectification disciples' true and final Consummation. If during the evil's persecution a Dafa disciple doesn't do well or slacks off, it's very possible all his previous efforts will have been for nothing."
Through the hunger strike I realized that cultivation practice is a serious matter. I will rectify my own mind, keep righteous thoughts, and remain steadfast.
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Category: Rallies & Protests
