(Clearwisdom.net)
Twice Jointly Appealing
Over forty practitioners were forced against their will to renounce their practice of Falun Gong in Liaoyuan City Labor Camp. The Minister of Justice sent officials to inspect. They praised practitioners who had been "transformed." The police used various methods to prevent contact between the 15 practitioners from Jilin City who remained steadfast in the practice, and those who had renounced it, but since we all ate together in the same dining hall, it created a very beneficial situation for those of us who were steadfast to help those who had given in against their will.
All fifteen of us were kept together. The camp dispatched four people to stand guard, including one who was a "transformed" practitioner. Although he was not clear-minded in the labor camp, he had previously helped to do lots of work for Falun Dafa, especially for those of us from Jilin City. He helped us with living arrangements and provided us with details of the situation in Liaoyuan City that benefited us a great deal in developing truth-clarifying approaches. He cried after he read Teacher's latest article at the time, "Coercion Cannot Change People' Hearts," and decided to return to Dafa cultivation and expressed his willingness to endure humiliation for Dafa. He took copies of the article I hand-copied and distributed them to practitioners in various other divisions of the labor camp.
After reading the article, five practitioners including Zhang Youwen from Third Division, had decided to write solemn declarations that all their words against Dafa had been given under coercion and were therefore null and void. Others were also thinking about it. The camp's "Education" section head, Kong, realized that the situation wasn't good and decided to suppress it. Third Division Head Han used a whip made of metal wires to whip the practitioners. Zhang Youwen endured the whipping. He said that while being whipped, he would send forth righteous thoughts. He felt pain for the first three lashes, but didn't feel pain after that. After fifteen lashes, the skin of his back and buttocks were tattered and torn. The division head hesitated to go on; he was afraid that further whipping might cause more severe wounds and the practitioner would be crippled. So he stopped. The third division then sent Zhang Youwen to the Education Section. At noon, after drinking some liquor and being half drunk, the section head Kong again beat him. After getting tired from beating Zhang, he had a worker scrub the blood away and dress the wounds. He lay on the bed to have a break. After allowing Zhang to be cleaned up, Kong again asked Zhang whether he would still continue his cultivation. Upon hearing an affirmative answer, Kong again whipped him for more than thirty minutes. This went on for more than two hours. Zhang still refused to yield, they then locked him up in a cage-style small cell for 15 days. [The detainee is individually locked up in a very small cell. The guards handcuff practitioners behind their backs in a fixed position, in which the practitioners can neither move nor lie down. The small cell is very damp and no daylight enters. Detainees have to urinate and defecate in the cell. Only half of a regular meal is served to detainees locked up in a small cell during the daytime. The stench in the small cell is so bad that it is difficult to breathe.]
Since the small cell was located in the division of group education, when washing, using bathroom, I took the opportunity to examine Zhang Youwen's wounds and to find out how he was beaten. During lunchtime, a converted person gave me a handbook of "Civilized Law Enforcement." This turned out to be very useful. In order to punish the person committing the crime, I would need evidence. I quickly drafted an appeal letter to "punish the person who committed the crime and to release Zhang Youwen." After practitioners signed their names to the letter, I handed it over to the labor camp leader. After verifying with Kong, the leader criticized Kong for what he had done. After this incident, the converted practitioners wrote their solemn declarations and returned to Dafa cultivation. The beatings have not happened since. In just over two months, most of the converted practitioners had returned to Dafa cultivation. When the last person handed in his solemn declaration, Kong had no alternative. With the help of Teacher's new article, Fa-rectification was rapidly developing and practitioners who went astray awakened very quickly.
The second appeal letter occurred in mid-July that year. A prisoner found that a practitioner had a copy of one of Teacher's articles in his pocket. The prisoner forcefully pulled out the contents of the pocket. The police put the practitioner in confinement and allow the prisoner to go free. Although it was a little incident, its influence was huge. It allowed the plot of using other camp prisoners to supervise practitioners. Thus, I drafted a letter appealing for the practitioner's immediate release and it was signed by all the practitioners. I hand-carried the letter to the labor camp leader. Because of the pressure from the practitioners, the practitioner was released.
What we had learned from the experience of the appeal letters is this: Dafa practitioners are a whole and practitioners are to unite wholeheartedly to defeat the evil and to effectively support Dafa.
Be kind to those assigned to monitor us
(Common prison inmates such as drug addicts and other criminal offenders are often used to monitor Dafa practitioners 24 hours a day, even during shower or bathroom time.)
On August 29, 2001, Liaoyuan Forced Labor Camp sent me to Fenjin Forced Labor Camp in Changchun City. Prosecution of Falun Gong practitioners here is more severe than at Liaoyuan. They used four other prisoners to monitor each practitioner day and night.
I wasn't accustomed to being watched at the beginning. During mealtime, I managed to go by myself; camp personnel didn't say anything to me but criticized those assigned to monitor me. Knowing practitioners always consider others' benefit first, the camp personnel applied pressure to them to get to me. Later, I realized that to a practitioner, nothing is accidental. I firmly believed that there could be an attachment to be rid of.
For a Dafa practitioner, we may not be able to choose the situations we face, but we must learn to adjust to each one. I used reason and wisdom to deal with the monitoring. I needed to clarify the truth and defended Dafa.
First, I wanted to establish a closer relationship with the monitors. I shared their worries and helped with what they needed. As our relationship became harmonious, I would tell them about how to behave as a person and told them stories about gods. I wanted to help them understand the true meaning of life, what we live for, and the relationship of cause and effect; that good deeds create good results and bad deeds create karma. It is important for them to become good people. Thus, they became my "guards," whenever someone showed disrespect for Dafa, they would reason with them. Whoever was taking advantage of me, they would stop it. They didn't care when I copied Dafa articles or studied the Fa. Whenever I would do the exercises, they would stand guard. As I meditated at night, they would go to bed. If anyone showed up, I would wake them up. Thus I was able to do all the exercises and had memorized more than 20 Teacher's new articles.
It is very difficult to clarify the truth in a forced labor camp. Most people in the camp are thieves or robbers. Besides money and women, they don't believe in anything. Therefore, I used a strategy to deal with this situation. When there was an opportunity to cut in during a conversation, I would spread the Fa and clarified the truth to suit their liking. I paid attention to the newspapers or magazines having articles conforming to the principle of Falun Dafa. I would cut out those articles or copy them for later conversations. I not only told the prisoners but also the policemen about the viewpoint of Dafa. I also spread the Fa when I was writing my "thought reports" or when writing letters to my son or daughter. I wrote three thought reports, each about 500 words and showed them to the camp personnel and camp leaders. I wrote two long letters to my children. The first letter was about fifteen thousand words. Since I mentioned Falun Gong in the letter, it was confiscated. The second letter had about twenty thousand words, including my own understanding of the Fa, without mentioning Falun Gong. I first showed it to the monitors and then to others I felt should read it. They were all willing to read it, since the letter was written for my children. After they had read the letter, I gave it to my wife during her visit to mail the letter to my son and daughter as my spiritual gift to them.
Thus, I lived through more than a year of being monitored. It seems I had more freedom with the monitors than without. It was convenient for spreading Dafa, clarifying the truth, and good for my personal cultivation.
Please see Parts 1 and 2 on
http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2004/2/17/45179.html
http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2004/2/18/45211.html
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