(Clearwisdom.net) (Continued) At that time, the situation was especially vicious. In the past, the forced labor camp would not accept those who were in critical physical condition resulting from staging a hunger strike. This time, though, as long as Dafa practitioners were still alive, the forced labor camp would accept them, even if they were seriously ill. They would take them after being observed for three months and found not to be in immediate danger. Here, practitioners who firmly believed in Dafa were suffering from tremendous mental pressure. They did not have any right to speak, nor did they have any personal freedom. If one said a word about Dafa, the police would immediately denounce him or her as a "counter-revolutionary" or "being insane." Then the police would adopt all kinds of cruel methods to persecute Dafa practitioners, and the practitioners would be forced to go through so-called "help" and "reform through education." Two people would monitor each practitioner's activities, including eating and going to the restroom. Those practitioners who were steadfast were all being strictly monitored and often subjected to brainwashing by guards going in shifts until after midnight. They had to sleep in the same room as those who monitored them. Even if practitioners looked at each other, this would be violating the rules, and practitioners would be punished with demerit points, which translates into their sentences being extended. The newly arrived practitioners would be immediately surrounded by the collaborators [former Falun Gong practitioners who have gone astray due to brainwashing and torture]. If they did not betray their belief, they would be verbally and physically assaulted, and given demerit points. Everyday from 5:00 a.m. until 8:30 p.m., the practitioners had no time to rest, except when having meals.
I was extremely weak when I first arrived there. I felt dizzy, and my blood pressure could not be measured. So they did not immediately attack me, so I had the opportunity to rest and adjust myself. When I first came into the forced labor camp, once I had thought about giving up the hunger strike because of fear. On the one hand, I ate very little food and was forcibly injected with drugs; on the other hand, I observed the situation and was trying to decide how to defeat the evil.
When my health gradually recovered, they started to take turns to attack me. They asked me to complete the registration for entering the forced labor camp. I didn't do it. At first, they requested me to cooperate with the guard's work. Afterwards, realizing that they could not convince me, they turned vicious. In the evening, they moved me into a small, dark room and were going to torture me. One female prisoner hit me in the face and threatened me. They tortured and forced me to remain standing for a long period of time. Throughout the ordeal, I kept sending forth righteous thoughts. Although I was a little afraid, I did not give in. I was very timid before and grew up in a very sheltered environment. I had only seen these kinds of fearful scenes in the movies. Today, I was going through it myself, and my courage was growing. How dare a criminal casually beat people? How great the sin would be for a person to persecute Dafa practitioners? If any criminal dared to hit me again, I would certainly stop him.
The next day, a crowd of the so-called "helpers and educators" again surrounded me. They badgered me to complete the registration of the forced labor camp. They cursed Teacher and Dafa, and insulted me at will. They also hit me in the head. I warned them not to do so, but they became even more rampant. I then announced that I would go on a hunger strike to protest. So I went from passively enduring to actively denying their persecution.
Because I refused to cooperate with them, they no longer tried to force me to write any repentant reports or to fill out any forms. On the second day of my hunger strike, they started to force-feed me and gave me injections. They pushed me to the floor and inserted the thickest pipe they had through my nose into my stomach to force-feed me. After that, they tied me down with leather belts to a metal bed and forcibly gave me injections. I protested that their deeds were illegal. They said with no sense of shame that they were helping me and treating me humanely.
In order to stop my hunger strike, the prisoners who were monitoring me beat me, kicked me, threw my head against the wall and threatened me. I was not frightened by the evil, always remembering that Teacher would arrange the cultivation path for me.
They took advantage of my human attachments to shake my steadfast faith in Dafa. Because I staged the hunger strike, they gave me a meaningless physical exam every week, each costing over 125 Yuan [500 Yuan is the average monthly income for an urban worker in China, in rural areas it is 200 Yuan]. All the expenses were charged to me. At that time, my family's financial situation was very difficult. My husband's salary could not support the whole family, and we were in debt as well. The evil made use of this to interfere with me. They said if my family wouldn't give them the money, they had already talked with the local police station, who would "act forcefully." At that moment, I was really a little moved. But Teacher's words echoed in my mind: "Cultivation is hard. It's hard in that even when a terrible calamity strikes, even when evil madly persecutes, and even when your life is at stake, you still have to be able to steadfastly continue on your path of cultivation without letting anything in human society interfere with the steps you take on your path of cultivation." ("Path") I became steadfast again. This time they became afraid and tried a number of laughable methods on me.
After I staged another week-long hunger strike, the authorities tried to deceive me into giving up. The guards came to persuade me to eat. I took this opportunity to clarify the truth to them, and explained the reason of my hunger strike in order to save them with pure compassion. Confronted with these facts they had nothing to say, only some incoherent arguments to save face. Later they got my relatives to come talk to me. I heard that my parents were sick at home; my child was taken care of by someone else, and our financial situation was quite bad. All of this could only make me more determined in continuing the hunger strike. We cannot accept any of the evil persecution.
They tortured me physically and constantly tried to brainwash me. I kept on reciting the Fa, sending forth-righteous thoughts and at the same time asked Teacher to give me strength. I will certainly follow Teacher and cultivate to the end. In fact, Teacher is watching over and safeguarding us, right beside us at every moment. As long as we do things righteously, Teacher will resolve all tribulations. Whenever I was not so steadfast, Teacher would use all kinds of ways to give me hints. The guards forced me to listen to things that defamed Dafa, which were all words cursing Teacher and Dafa. Whenever this happened, I called from the bottom of my heart, "I'd rather endure more tribulation myself rather than letting them insult Dafa." I used my wisdom and employed different ways deny their arrangements.
Once the guards, angered by their lack of success in making me give in, violently kicked me and stamped on my hands with their boots. I didn't retaliate, but just steadfastly refused to give in. Both my hands were bleeding and swollen from their abuse. Because of my righteous thoughts and righteous action, Teacher turned all of the bad things into good things. My hands were so swollen that they looked like big steamed buns, and my arms were covered with bruises. On the next day, the doctor couldn't find a vein to give me an injection. Six or seven doctors tried, and I kept sending forth righteous thoughts to foil them. They poked me with a needle twenty or thirty times on my hands, arms and feet, but still had no luck. They started to panic and gave me several physical check-ups.
The more than twenty days of brainwashing that they subjected me to were in vain. In fact, I became more and more steadfast. Later, they gave up reading the slanderous books to me. When facing the evil, it's true that if you are weak, then it becomes strong. If your righteous thoughts are strong, then it becomes weak. I felt my righteous energy rectifying everything that was not correct. The two people who were watching me started to feel quite uncomfortable. I kept sending forth righteous thoughts, reciting the Fa, and didn't cooperate with the evil. Several days later they released me for medical reasons.
I was sentenced to two years of forced labor, but I broke out within just 50 days. This was something I never could have imagined. Later, when I read Teacher's lecture, "When you conduct yourselves righteously Master can do anything for you." (Touring North America to Teach the Fa), I couldn't help but cry.
I don't know how I can express my appreciation to Teacher. Only by continuously striving forward can I live up to Teacher's benevolent salvation. Fellow practitioners, let us advance together! As long as we steadfastly believe in Teacher, firmly believe in Dafa, no matter how big the tribulation is, we can all get through it. As long as we can understand the Fa from the standpoint of the Fa, everything is within our control.
(To be continued)
Please see http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2003/1/6/30590.html for Part 1.
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