(clearwisdom.net)
Part 1: http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2004/3/18/46167.html
Part 2: http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2004/3/21/46281.html
Part 3: http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2004/3/22/46176.html
Part 4: http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2004/3/30/46564.html
10. Deception and distortion in the evil environment
Practitioners who have not studied the Fa [law and principles] thoroughly, or who do not maintain a strong righteous mind, are easily confused when they are separated from their usual cultivation environment. The problem is that they didn't quite understand the Fa to begin with, and could not remember Teacher's lectures well enough. The methods that the brainwashing specialists use are based on distorting and taking Teacher's words out of context, and making them have a different meaning.
In the Masanjia Labor Camp, they first used July 20th as their excuse, saying that it is the ultimate test for Consummation: they claim that those who are to be Consummated have already reached that point, whereas those who are continuing the effort are going against the will of heaven. They would further say that they had to help the Teacher put an end to the practitioners' efforts, and that those who go against heaven are to be punished. When new lectures were published, many practitioners learned from them that being "reformed" or doing nothing is wrong. But the wicked people took the phrase "As for the people who have been reformed, it was arranged in history that they would persecute the Fa this way" from the article "Suffocate the Evil" and changed it into, "As for people who have not reformed, it was arranged in history." And they took words out of context and said, "Those who were arrested and sent to the labor camp are to be reformed." Then they changed the idea of not being attached to Consummation into "letting go of cultivation," and changed the idea of not being attached to the Teacher in a sentimental way into an excuse for defaming and cursing Teacher.
Other justifications were very similar. They altered the 6 different attachments mentioned in "Towards Consummation." They took the phrase "some people think that Dafa and Master are righteous," and distorted it into "if you said the Fa or the Teacher is righteous, then it is an attachment, and you have to let it go." It is believed that those who defame the Buddha will be exterminated down to the point of even their primordial spirit, but they distorted that belief into the idea of whether or not you can let go of the attachment to having your primordial spirit. They said superficially, "See how compassionate the Teacher is, he is letting you go upwards by stepping on him." One of the "reformed" individuals even went to a temple in Beijing and wrote a poem. She then had many newly "reformed" people step on the poem. It was to signify that, "you had saved us from Hell and washed us clean, and then you hid your great shadow while others are cursing you." Some of the practitioners participated in defaming Teacher and Dafa because of their mentality of fear and their attachment to personal Consummation.
Also, those responsible for brainwashing took the phrase "at each level twenty percent of the beings have taken part" from the lecture "Touring North America to Teach the Fa." The terms "taken part" is about those old forces that tried to take control of Fa-rectification and went against the Teacher's wishes. But they changed it into "The Teacher is rectifying the Fa, and practitioners have taken part, and they are that twenty percent that needed to be eliminated. These practitioners are the evil old forces predestined in history." And they said that these people are attached to personal gain, and they want things from the heavens, and further that what the Teacher had said on numerous occasions about limited time are a test to lure them out and let them suffer so they can learn, and that those who stayed home are the ones who are not attached to anything, and therefore they are not suffering. Then they used many examples of previous practitioners who participated in Fa-validation activities and who later ended up being "reformed." They took the idea that those who study Dafa are blessed, and compared it with the facts of those who were persecuted and had their families destroyed. They said that these people did not follow the laws in the country, and that (by doing so) they did not protect the Fa at the human level, and therefore that they had sinned and thus their families suffer along with them. They completely discarded the fact that this persecution exists, or that "students' own karma, inadequate understanding of the Fa, inability to let go of attachments amidst tribulations, inability to deal with things using righteous thoughts amidst painful trials, and so on," ("Eliminate Your Last Attachment(s)") are the main reasons for the existing obstacles.
Teacher has emphasized the three things. On this issue the "reformed" practitioners in Masanjia are split into two groups. One group changed its meaning as follows: for example, that those who study Fa are "studying the Fa of the human world," that clarifying the truth is to clarify the fact that Clearwisdom/Minghui is lying, that Mainland China's media is telling the truth, and that sending forth righteous thoughts is to eliminate the need to practice, and to eliminate the "spirit possession" of cultivation that is "controlling" the practitioners. They even said that in order to save sentient beings people have to eliminate from their minds all the principles related to the Fa, and that they should not have a single thought or notion left. The other group uses nonsense such as that, because there are Buddhas, there are also demons, and thus Dafa has methods to cultivate into demons. They confused the ideas that both positive and negative elements exist in the universe into some idea about the things that one cultivates into.
Those who had "enlightened" along an evil path this way betrayed their belief and became "reformed" into persecutors because of their mentalities of fear and their attachments. They tried to find excuses for themselves and said that the Fa the Teacher taught on or before July 20th is the real Fa, and that everything written afterwards is crooked Fa: if one follows it then one will go against the government. They also say that the more you are attached to enlightenment at a higher level then the more you will get arrested and suffer. These are nonsense and they completely lack basic human logic.
In an interview with a reporter, Teacher said that he had not met with mainland practitioners for 4 years. But the "reformed" practitioners said, "Teacher just gave a new lecture in Changchun, and he met with individual practitioners, and Gao Chunmei said he was received by Gao Chiuju in Dalian. Why is Buddha lying? This is to see if you can really be truthful, and say that Buddha lies." Of course clear-headed practitioners wouldn't believe the distortions, but nonetheless, often clear-headed practitioners have parts of the Fa that they haven't yet understood. They regarded Teacher's Fa as stories told to ordinary people, and they did not know how to respond to the accusations from those "reformed" practitioners. This tests one's enlightenment quality, but it is not to test if practitioners dare to curse the Teacher based on this incident; it is to see if they have learned that studying the Fa is not to take words apart and analyze them individually. The ancients had said, "A leaf can block your vision, and you will miss the Tai Mountain." It means that people might miss a large object because some smaller object is obstructing their view.
Not only do the Masanjia authorities take away the practitioners' personal freedom, they also forbid all connections to the outside world. They intentionally created all sorts of weird and distorted theories. In this evil environment, for the practitioners who never truly study the Fa with their heart or always study with a lot of human attachments, it is like walking in a dark and dangerous forest. It is a constant test of life and death for them. Do you believe that He is a Buddha? Do you think that He said words without any lies (the professional persecutors know that the word "lie" is not easy to accept, so they often replace it with "testing your enlightenment quality")? The persecutors in Masanjia, due to their own wicked and sly hearts, are using these sorts of strange, distorted theories to confuse the practitioners. Those practitioners who had lost their personal freedom and were under this kind of wicked pressure, yet slacked off in developing pure and righteous thoughts through cultivation, would give up their great attainment to avoid the persecution in the short-term. These tragedies were not only created by their weakness, ignorance and lack of understanding, but were also the result of Masanjia's wicked persecutors' criminality. All of them are corrupting human kindness. Through these victims of the persecution, they spread the corruption to society, and it has all been created and stubbornly continued by Jiang Zemin's persecution. Those who agree with and aid in the persecution further the damage.
In the human world, truth and falsehood are always hard to discern. "China's Labor Re-education Camps are dark dens of evil forces" ("Suffocate the Evil"). This is more so inside the evil Masanjia Forced Labor Camp. Everything there can confuse practitioners; there were steadfast practitioners diagnosed with lung cancer and sent back home. Among these, some died because they couldn't see through the old forces' arrangements. As of now, most of the people in Masanjia are not very healthy. Many did not realize that it is because they have not studied the Fa or practiced; they blame it on lack of (physical) exercise, malnutrition, etc. Many of those who had been '"reformed" don't want to think they are in the wrong. Their excuse is that their health was not that great before they were '"reformed." There is only one thing left in everyone's mind: to believe or not to believe. The steadfast practitioners believe in the Teacher and in Fa. They disregard all the inconsistencies from the outside world. Those who disbelieve (in Teacher and the Fa) have their own reasoning as well. They use any perceivable distorted phenomenon as excuses to further "enlighten" along an evil path. They start with rejecting their past cultivation achievements and accepting the evil's path. Slowly, they disbelieve in the Teacher and Dafa. Finally, they accept the professional persecutors' theories and start feeling grateful to them. We know that the evil is taking advantage of and reinforcing their attachments, until they take control and destroy them.
Those who are attached to their superficial "Zhen" (Truthfulness) always forget to see the essence of a matter, so they fail to see the real "Zhen." They believe that everything should fit their subjective imaginations and subjective standards. So when they encountered things that didn't fit their notions, they would turn away from righteous thoughts and go the opposite way. Facing tribulations, they failed to see that they had used their subjective ideas to judge good and bad, and simplified and conceptualized everything. These people equated their own hearts and minds with "Zhen," so the old forces took advantage of them. The old forces created phenomenon to confuse their righteous thoughts.
Practitioners who left Masanjia Forced Labor Camp said that in the camp those who "enlightened" along an evil path or were brainwashed always carried a fragrant but poisonous air about them. The conditions and the food served are often better then other labor camps and jails. They are using false kindness and poisonous hearts. They know that the human heart cannot be forced to change, so they first take away your personal freedom, then try to apply a mask to the labor camp. They spend all their efforts in making the practitioners give up their righteous thoughts and kindness, and the practitioners finally fall on their own.
Some of the practitioners had seen a lot of persecution before they were sent to Masanjia. They always thought that the police are like thugs. But when they see that the police are "kinder" than they are, they are humbled. They thought that Masanjia would be a living hell. But when they saw that the police and guards weren't using the torturous methods they heard about, they were confused. Don't they realize that both killing with an axe and poisoning with candy are the same?
Some of the practitioners locked in Masanjia had realized that the main purpose of the professional persecutors is to destroy their cultivation and to have them fall. For example, they first used torture to "reform" the practitioners. After 2001 they changed their tactics and started using collaborators (those who had, under the intense pressure and brainwashing, betrayed their own belief in Dafa) to "reform" the practitioners, so that the police would not expose their own wickedness. The overseas practitioners' clarifying the truth has helped suppressed the evil, so Masanjia often does not use any public or extreme methods on the practitioners. But their cover-up does not change the fact that they are playing the role of eliminating human kindness and murdering practitioners.
In addition, the police in Masanjia know that practitioners strive to be good people, so if they themselves act "kinder" in a superficial way, they can have a higher rate of reform, and have more bonuses and promotions. This way they can even make themselves feel better about persecuting people.
Once a year Masanjia holds a Tai Chi tournament. They want all the practitioners to practice the 24 stances of Tai Chi. Most of the practitioners, including the "reformed" ones, refused. But it's to no avail. Those who refused completely would have their terms extended. They understand about "no second cultivation way," but they nonetheless try to force the practitioners to practice Tai Chi. They tried to explain how Tai Chi is not a Qigong exercise. They wanted to further lead astray those who are still clinging to Dafa in their minds, and push them further from Dafa. Their methods are vicious, but they still say that it is for the sake of the practitioners' health.
Once in a while the police would have "shaking up the rules" (reinforcing their persecution) and "continuous battles." These "battles" are to start a series of tortures against steadfast practitioners, depriving them of sleep, hanging them, and locking them in small cells(1). They handcuff and send practitioners to the yard during the cold winter. It is even colder in the small cell. They would only serve them one bun every 24 hours, allowing them to go to the restroom only once, even if they made them urinate in their pants. Some of the people suffered a mental collapse because of the inhuman torture of being locked in a small cell. Many police then say that it is because they are too attached to Falun Gong, and the police blamed Dafa even more. This is their perverse logic.
The wickedness of Masanjia is due to the fact that all their policies and rules are aimed at forcing practitioners to give up cultivation and betray Dafa. The police take it as a job and no longer feel that it is wrong. Many practitioners began thinking that it is the policemen's jobs and so they do not see it as evil, and they think that those who are on hunger strike, forced-labor strike and resisting participation are behaving "against the rules" and walking the wrong path. This is the deadly result of brainwashing!
In actuality, force is not beating and killing. Arresting people, detaining and sentencing others because of their faith, even if they are served good food and drinks during detention--it's still using force. Chen Gang, who was illegally sentenced to a labor camp in Beijing, wrote some very good articles to the effect that forcing people to give up their cultivation is killing their humanness. All the methods that Masanjia uses, forceful or seemingly passive, all have this purpose in mind. Those who 'enlightened' along an evil path do not suffer much in the jail cells, but their real life has been destroyed. It is worse that they do not feel pain in their subjective minds.
All the weirdness and distortions in Masanjia Forced Labor Camps are classic examples of the persecution. This is because the essence of the persecution is to eliminate people's spirit and kindness, and deprive them of their faith in "Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance."
All the methods employed in the persecution - whether torture, detention, defamatory lies or frame-ups - are aimed at eliminating the practitioners' faith. In this way, everything in the labor camp is characterized by psychological torture. Psychiatric hospitals, cruel punishments and physical torture are all aimed at mentally tormenting the practitioners. Force-feeding is to torture them psychologically and physically. Forcing the practitioners to learn the way of "Lei Feng (a communist hero in mainland China)" and to listen to propaganda in place of their Fa study are to mentally torture them. Taking the teachings out of context and using distorted theories are all psychological tortures.
Humans are the most precious things on earth. They are precious because not only do they have physical bodies, but they also have souls with high moral standards and the pursuit of virtue. Through cultivation they can transcend all the human troubles and worries. Humans were not created for pursuing stocks, houses, cars and beautiful clothes or food, or to become soulless automatons living for some jealous, wicked power-monger ("Soulless automations" refers to those who follow Jiang's orders to persecute Falun Dafa). Therefore, using all sorts of methods, trying to separate people from their faith and the truth, and denying them their personal freedom unless they renounce their moral standards, are, in essence, cruel mental tortures that diminishes the human heart. Shouldn't all people who wish to preserve their dignity stand up against all this?
The white-bone spirit (a monster from the Chinese classic tale "Journey to the West" who can transform her appearance to confuse others), regardless of how she changes her looks, can't hide the fact that she eats human beings. Masanjia Forced Labor Camp, regardless of whether they use swords or sweet words, is destroying people. What they commit are crimes that torture people mentally, eliminating people's conscience and aiming to terminate practitioners' paths of cultivation. They are inhumane, and acting against humans and Gods alike. There will be karmic retribution awaiting them. I hope that those who learned Dafa in the past, but who couldn't let go of their attachments and fear, will take this chance to get out of the cage of the human mindset, and become genuine practitioners. I hope they will not be fooled by the deceitful persecutors at Masanjia and that they will not throw away their wonderful futures for the sake of temporary relief. Those who have committed wrongdoings, bring out your upright thoughts, immediately make up for your mistakes, and return swiftly to cultivation!
The following are individuals participating in the persecution:
Liaoning Province Masanjia Labor Camp:
Camp director: Sun Fengwu, 86-24-89212096 ext206; 86-24-89210262;
Institute director: Su Jing, 86-24-86210074 ext 30; 86-24-89210567; 86-24-89210054;
Prisoner leaders: Shao Li, Xue Fenglu, Yue Qin, Zhang XX, Yu XX, Qiu Ping: 86-24-89210074 ext383;
Zhao Jinghua: 86-24-89212252; 86-24-9240454;
Judicature: Gao Fusheng, office number: 86-24-7340130; Home number: 86-24-7612366; Cell phone number: 86-13130446378;
Vice secretary: Cui Yanlin, office number: 86-24-7340321; Home number: 86-24-7616101; Cell phone: 86-13940816031;
February 26, 2004
(1) Locking up in a small cell: The detainee is locked up in a very small cell individually. 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 sunshine comes in. 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. During the night, rats scurry about the cell. The stench in the small cell is so bad that it is difficult to breathe.