(Clearwisdom.Net)
Falun Dafa practitioner Lao Qi, [the name has been changed to protect from further persecution] is 59 years old, but even young people cannot keep up with his boundless energy. He has memorized Hongyin [a book of poems by Master Li] and Essentials for Further Advancement [a book of short articles by Master Li]. He can also sit in the full lotus position for three to four hours. A graduate of the Beijing Petroleum College, he is a senior engineer at a research institute.
Lao Qi obtained Falun Dafa in 1996. He said, "For many years, I have been looking for this Fa. Today I have finally found it, I will strive forward with every effort until Consummation." In keeping his word, he has set a shining example for fellow practitioners.
Lao's hometown, a remote village by the Hexi Corridor, hosted over ten Falun Dafa practice sites before the campaign of persecution began on July 22, 1999. The number of practitioners began to dwindle, and Lao spent time in a detention center for his two appeals for Falun Dafa in Beijing. Upon his release in June 2000, Lao brought hope back to his village. A photo of Master Li in the mountains of New York, Teacher's articles, including "Knowing Heart" and "Towards Consummation" and moving stories about how practitioners home and abroad remain determined in their practice, rejuvenated those hearts badly hurt in the brutal persecution. Group study of the Fa and group practice quickly recovered as practitioners strove towards "Truthfulness, Benevolence, Forbearance" with renewed vigor.
Before long, the news spread to the county government, who sent police from the public security bureau of the county to the village. Practitioners were beaten, and their houses were searched. Lao was arrested and detained for a month, after which he was escorted back to the capital city of the province. Police, in conjunction with his work unit, sentenced him to one and a half years in a forced labor camp.
Lao Qi thought, "It is not a big deal. One and a half years will pass pretty soon. I will keep spreading Dafa and clarifying the truth after the completion of the term." Later on, he felt that was wrong, "I should not stay here. I cannot accept it passively. Falun Dafa practitioners should follow what Teacher said and not acknowledge the persecution." At the end of November 2000, Lao started a hunger strike, risking his life to protest the persecution. For 20 days he refused to eat, enduring beatings and torturous force feedings, futile attempts to destroy his will power. Although he lost consciousness several times, Lao was unfazed. Finally, on December 20, 2000, the authorities released him on medical parole.
Still on parole in February 2001, Lao was arrested for distributing and posting flyers that exposed the Tiananmen Square self-immolation event. At the public security bureau branch "hearing", Lao Qi made this righteous statement, "You should not interrogate me. It is those who deceive people and pull strings behind the scenes that need interrogation, not those who clarify the truth to the deceived people." The police could do nothing about him, and they reported him to the prosecution department in an attempt to sentence him to jail. Lao remained firm in his stance, telling the officers again and again that Falun Dafa is good, and that the self-immolation was staged. As a result, the "interrogation" fizzled out.
Lao used every opportunity to clarify the truth during his detention, shouting "Falun Dafa is good!" to guards and the prisoners whenever he had a chance. When everyone was gathered at the morning and evening roll call, Lao would raise his arms and shout, "Falun Dafa is good! Falun Dafa is righteous! Clear the name of my Teacher!" At first, the police tried to stop him and beat him, but before Lao Qi's pure and powerful righteous thoughts, they could only put up with it and pretend not to hear.
After 30 days in the detention center, Lao Qi was sent back to the forced labor camp. The police there were determined to make his second visit more "memorable." He was stripped, hung, and beaten with wooden sticks and leather whips. When one group of policemen got tired, another group replaced them. When the other group of policemen was also exhausted, the prisoners took their turn. Lao Qi lost consciousness several times within a couple of hours. He could no longer bear such brutal torture and promised to write a guarantee not to practice the exercises of Falun Gong in the forced labor camp.
After that, Lao Qi kept silent for over five months, suffering great anguish from the guilt. Fortunately, several of Master Li's new articles were brought into the forced labor camp at this time. After reading "Fa-Rectification Period Dafa Disciples", "Dafa is Indestructible", "Fa-Rectification and Cultivation", "The Effect of Righteous Thoughts", "Lecture on the Fa at the Washington D.C. International Conference" etc., Lao Qi was able to eliminate the interference. He used every possible moment to learn the articles by heart. The more he learned, the clearer he became in his mind, and the more powerful his righteous thoughts were. Falun Dafa helped him release the pain of guilt and realize, "What on the earth am I afraid of? Isn't it death?" Teacher said in his article " Eliminate Your Last Attachment(s)",
"If a cultivator can let go of the thought of life and death under any circumstances, evil is bound to be afraid of him. If every practitioner is able to do this, evil will of itself no longer exist... If you are not afraid, the factor that would make you afraid will become non-existent. This is not to be self-imposed, but is achieved by calmly and truly letting go of it."
Lao Qi's xinxing improved, allowing him to let go of the attachment to life and death calmly and completely. His righteous thoughts, which had been restrained for five months, exploded like a volcano.
On the morning of October 6, 2001, right after the roll call, Lao Qi shouted, "Falun Gong is good! Falun Gong guides people towards compassion and upgrades their morality. It is a good to the nation and to individuals." He began to do this at least three times a day. Regardless of the brutal torture aimed at preventing him from doing so, he was determined to validate Falun Dafa.
As other practitioners were encouraged in their belief, the police felt threatened and intensified their brutal treatment of Lao, slapping his face, tearing at his mouth, pressing his head into the toilet, kicking his lower body, and putting him into solitary confinement. Lao Qi's righteous shouts only got louder. One day in October three teams of forcibly re-educated practitioners were gathered together for lunch. Since Lao Qi's shouting brought some positive response, the police no longer dared to gather people together for meals.
The guards came up with a plan to solve the "problem" of Lao Qi's shouts. Whenever Lao Qi shouted, the prisoners would curse Falun Dafa and Master Li. They attempted to force Lao Qi to follow the so-called regulations of the forced labor camp. Lao Qi wouldn't agree to this, saying, "I'm a Falun Dafa disciple, not a prisoner. Your so-called regulations don't apply to me." In response, Director Dong ordered other prisoners, "From now on, don't address him by name, address him as 'prisoner so and so' instead."
Lao Qi was aware that his persecutors were grasping at straws, and he shouted more loudly. He shouted at meetings. He shouted when the director talked with him. He shouted while queuing up for meals. He shouted while doing work. Soon he was shouting whenever he saw people. Facing such righteous determination, he found that the evil is powerless.
Officials were visibly upset and anxious. Even when they detained Lao in the hospital, his ever-present shouts plagued them. Finally, on December 12, 2001, Lao Qi was released unconditionally.
As Lao Qi returns to his fellow practitioners, we have one more capable person with great courage and wisdom in the stream of Fa rectification.
January 31, 2002
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