(Clearwisdom.net) My name is Qing Lian (a pseudonym). I am a Falun Gong practitioner from the city of Dalian. I started practicing Falun Dafa in 1995. During the Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) of 2001, I went to Beijing to validate Dafa but was abducted and illegally sentenced to two years of forced labor.
At that time, I did not understand the Fa from the Fa, and I did not have adequate righteous thoughts, so I was "Reformed" and then released before the term was over. After I went back home, fellow practitioners encouraged me and helped me get back on the right track.
They sent me Master's newly published articles and helped me to quickly become clearheaded again. They helped me realize that the reason I went astray was because of the manipulation of the old forces, whose fundamental goal is to shake Dafa disciples' righteous faith and then destroy them. After I became clearheaded again, I felt deeply sorry and immediately made a solemn declaration on the website that whatever I had said and written down and that was against Dafa was null and void, and that I would make the best use of my time to make up for all the losses caused by my lack of faith in Master and Dafa and catch up with the progress of Master's Fa-rectification.
In 2001, when I was being held in the forced labor camp, my company single-handedly terminated my employment contract. After working for this company for thirty years, I lost my employment and source of income. Upon learning this news after my release I thought, "It is no big deal. This is probably intended to get rid of my attachment to money." Besides, some fellow practitioners were saying, "This is a test for you. When the Fa is rectified everything will be paid back." But at the same time I was thinking to myself, "Is it correct to just endure this injustice silently?" Master says,
"A stable job also prevents a cultivator from being held up, due to
problems of food and shelter or survival, in his cultivation, in his spreading the Fa without worries, or in his clarifying the truth and saving the world's people."
("Dafa Is All-Encompassing" Essential for Further Advancement II)
I came to understand that it was not Master's intention for so many Dafa disciples across the country to be illegally deprived of the right to survive and live. It was the arrangement of the old forces forced upon Dafa disciples. At the same time, the interference from the old forces also implicates family members and relatives of Dafa disciples. The old forces' intent is to create conflicts between a cultivator and his family and make it difficult for him to properly walk the path of Fa-rectification, so as to achieve the purpose of destroying the Dafa disciple. I further realized that my passive endurance and tolerance were a compromise to the evil old forces. I must completely deny everything arranged by the old forces. I absolutely should not admit to any of it.
As Dafa disciples during the Fa-rectification period, how we handle ourselves when facing tribulations is up to us to enlighten to. I decided to go to my company and clarify the truth. I approached leaders at different levels several times over a period of time and clarified the truth to them while asking them to give me back my job. However, my requests were turned down. Their reason was that anybody who had been sent to a forced labor camp and as a result of that been fired because of practicing Falun Gong would have to declare his stand in front of the director of the security department. This company has direct contact with the city 610 Office. Besides, upper management had been influenced by malicious propaganda and their attitudes were evil, especially that of the director of the security department. During the time period from July 20, 1999 to 2002, this director actively worked with the evil and sent nine Dafa disciples from the company directly into detention centers and forced labor camps. During this time, the manager's office illegally took the names of eleven employees practicing Falun Gong off of the company's books. Facing the still unbridled evil, I knew it would be difficult for me to gain back my job.
Master says in "Teaching the Fa at the Washington, D.C. Fa Conference,"
"Don't take a detour when you run into difficulties. When you see something that does us harm, or when you see something blocking our validating the Fa, don't take a detour - you should face it, and clarify the truth and save those beings. This is the compassion (cibei) of a Dafa disciple, and it's our saving lives."
I came to understand my responsibilities - I must break through all the constraints forced upon me by the old forces and use the wisdom Master gave me and go meet with people from all walks of society to clarify the truth.
In December 2003, I appealed to the city's Labor Arbitration department on "labor disputes." They accepted my case. When I was interacting with these government workers, because their minds were badly poisoned by the lies, they said some slanderous words about Dafa. When I tried to have a discussion with them, they all refused with the excuse of being busy. What should I do?
Master said,
"It doesn't matter if what you do is expose the evil, or if you use all sorts of approaches, be they direct, indirect or from different angles--as long as you can have people recognize this persecution, you are saving them, and you are extraordinary." ("Fa-Lecture at the Conference in Florida, U.S.A.")
So I wrote to them and explained why I wanted to practice Falun Dafa, how I benefited from cultivation and that Dafa was spreading widely in the world. I also disclosed that Jiang Zemin was ignoring the laws and persecuting Falun Gong practitioners. When I handed the material to an arbitrator, I very politely asked him to take a look. He nodded his head and accepted it. However, the Labor Arbitration experienced resistance when they tried to settle the matter with my company. Eventually they rejected my appeal based upon the reason that the time of my filing the appeal had exceeded the sixty day limit which was stipulated in the Labor Law.
Facing such a result, I was wondering whether I should file a lawsuit. I re-examined myself. First, I did not have enough legal knowledge. Secondly, my truth-clarification had not been thorough enough. I thought, "I am a Dafa disciple of the Fa-rectification period. I must be responsible for righteous elements in the cosmos. Don't be discouraged when facing trouble. I must have strong righteous thoughts and overcome these difficulties." Because my thoughts were righteous, Master arranged everything for me, including a chance encounter with a Dafa disciple who had worked as a lawyer for several decades. So I worked with the fellow practitioner to jointly void the arrangement of the old forces.
Based on the "Temporary Regulations on Labor Contract Practice of State-Run Enterprises", we listed the various violations my company had done and filed a lawsuit against it. The result was the court maintained the ruling of the Labor Arbitration and did not support my reasons for the lawsuit. The judge said, "There's nothing I can do. I have to listen to the president of the court." He said that my company had sent people to talk to the president in private many times, and that the president had told him in person that the court should not let me win the case because of the so-called political issue. Clearly, the law enforcement personnel were violating the law. However, none of the troubles a cultivator experiences is by accident. I knew that the truth clarification needed to continue. I must let all related people know the truth of Dafa without pursuing the end result.
So I filed the lawsuit a second time at the intermediate court, requesting that the original ruling be revoked and the case is re-examined. After the court session was opened, the judge declared that he would negotiate with my company and asked me to wait with patience. I therefore took advantage of this good opportunity to let judges at this level learn more truth about Dafa so that they would be saved. I chose to take the form of "in-court defending plus supplemental explanation." I wrote an essay titled "Mr. Judge Please Try to Understand My Case Further" and handed it to the judge. My writing explicitly stated that my going to Beijing and clarifying the truth about Dafa did not violate any law, that it was the policemen who violated the law when they arrested me, as well as the enterprise which had unjustly expelled me from work and thereby also violated the law. I told them the truth of the persecution of Dafa. I also told them that Jiang Zemin had been sued in overseas courts.
Three months later, the intermediate court made a decision in my favor. They revoked my company's decision to terminate my labor contract, restored my service time from the beginning of the forced labor term until now, and gave me back my wages and all the compensation for the same period of time.
The year-long lawsuit made me further realize that besides personal cultivation, truth-clarification is also very important. Through truth-clarification, many people gain a very deep understanding of Dafa. Some speak up for Dafa, which lays a very good foundation for their future. My experience also shows that all the tricks the evil uses for this persecution is merely it being afraid of being exposed. During the court sessions in all three phases, my company dared not mention the various wrongful things they had done to me. Therefore, no matter what reasons are used to persecute Dafa disciples, they are afraid of being exposed and are useless in the eyes of the law.
I hope Dafa disciples who experienced a similar persecution as mine will think about it and break through the constraints forced on us by the evil forces - don't acknowledge it at all. A lawsuit is a good approach to get in touch with people and clarify the truth. Let more people know the truth. Together let us break through the persecution by the evil forces and all their arrangements.