(Clearwidsom.net) I am 40 years old, and I work in a city bureau in central China. After more than 30 years of tribulations, I became aware of Falun Dafa in 1997. The fortuity and coincidence of my obtaining the Fa made me understand Teacher's watching over us. One of my primary school classmates, whom I had not seen for more than 10 years, had a dream in which Teacher appeared, causing her to send the precious book Zhuan Falun to my workplace. This is how I obtained the Fa. I read the book repeatedly for three months and did not want to put it down.
During my cultivation process, I have deeply realized that Teacher is taking care of me and guiding my path to enlightenment step by step. Even though it was snowing, when I sat in the meditation position with my hands joined, they were sweating. While I was doing the wheel holding postures of the Falun Standing Stance exercise, my fingers went from cold and hard to warm and soft. The miracles of Falun Dafa were also displayed around me. Previously illiterate old ladies can now read Zhuan Falun. My husband accompanied me to the practice site in a cart because it was too painful for him to even stand, and then walked back home with a spring in his step. When I held my daughter with a high fever to my chest and read the Fa to her, she suddenly got up, looked at the book and told me, "Mama, many Falun are floating above the book, and the characters for Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance are beneath the Falun."
Teacher also gave me many hints to aid in my xinxing improvement and understanding of the Fa. I was quite excited since I had just obtained the Fa. I spent all my extra time outside of work spreading the Fa in the rural areas, teaching older practitioners to read, studying the Fa, practicing exercises, and instructing young practitioners. As a result, I spent less time with my husband. In a dream, I saw my daughter with a dirty face, crying, and my home a mess. I realized that I was not walking a righteous path in cultivation and had failed to follow Teacher's direction to cultivate while conforming to society. I quickly adjusted my behavior and began to take my daughter to piano class, go shopping, and take walks with my husband. I would also bring my daughter to the practice site for young practitioners and advise my husband to cherish this precious chance. One day he spent the afternoon reading Zhuan Falun and finished the whole book. After reading the book, he practiced the exercises for one week, but stopped because he got too busy with business.
In July 1999 I learned that some Falun Gong practitioners had been arrested. On July 19, the day the suppression started, I went for the first time to support Falun Dafa with my fellow practitioners. Consequently I was detained for 15 days and illegally fined 200 yuan.
On October 25, 1999, I went to Beijing to appeal on behalf of Falun Dafa. Witnessing a sea of practitioners, we all cried, not out of sadness, but for our Teacher's immense, benevolent compassion. Practitioners converged like particles and went to Beijing with the same thought of restoring the reputation of our Teacher and Falun Dafa. When detained, we recited "Hongyin" and Lunyu together. We shared the same feelings as if we were of one heart and one mind. As for me, this was a trial of letting go of life and death.
The police separated us, and I was sent to the Mentougou District Detention Center. The guards took turns interrogating me around the clock. At 3 a.m., one guard asked, "Will you still persist in cultivating Falun Gong?" I responded, "Sure. Why can't you understand? It's only because we have benefited from Falun Gong that we have managed to find the time to appeal and report the facts to the authorities. Falun Gong can improve both people's mental and physical health. Why on earth are the authorities persecuting Falun Gong?" Several other guards in the interrogation room surrounded me. I told them loudly, "Falun Gong is really good."
Before I left for Beijing to appeal, I told my husband and daughter my plan. When they came to see me, my husband slapped me in the face. I had made a decision and tried to persuade him, saying, "If your brothers and sisters were detained for trying to be better people, could you still sleep soundly?" He said nothing but called my classmate who had helped me to obtain the Fa and took his anger out on her.
In the detention center, many practitioners studied the Fa and practiced the exercises together. Some even counted heads and questioned why certain individuals did not go to practice. It seemed that being detained meant we were validating the Fa. (After Teacher published "Rationality" in Essentials for Further Advancement II, we realized that this idea was not right). With this unrighteous idea in my mind, which led to further tribulations, I was sentenced to forced labor and sent to the Shizishan Forced Labor Camp in Wuhan City for three months and the Shayang Forced Labor Camp for one year.
The environment in the Shizishan Forced Labor Camp was very evil. Some practitioners took an evil path and brought down many practitioners. I went there with the idea that I would rectify all unrighteous things, so my mind was broad and level. Moreover, I had some experience, so I was able to initiate a cultivation environment in the detention center. I clarified the facts of Falun Dafa very wisely. When Section Chief Yang Baishu was giving a lecture, I pondered how to clarify the facts to him. I wrote a letter to him in my own hand to discuss some of the mysteries in life. After class I submitted my letter. Later I learned from inmates that the guards circulated my letter for others to read.
Commissar Mao in the labor camp conversed with me from 9 p.m. to 12 p.m. He gave me the "transformation" material made up by the TV station and told me to read it. After reading it, I told him, "This person graduated from a university. From 1995 to 1999, she had four years to reconsider cultivating Falun Gong, and she never changed her mind. So why was she 'transformed' within a year of being sent to a labor camp? Do you think it was a reasonable and sober choice?" The so-called transformation was just a matter of coercing someone to conform under the pressure of Jiang's regime. That's why thousands of transformed practitioners published solemn statements and cultivated again after they were released. He responded, "We did not try to transform you. We just asked you to talk about your understanding." Then I tried to clarify the facts about Falun Dafa to him. During roll call time next morning, Commissar Mao asked if I had slept well the night before. Director Yang said, "Commissar Mao talked with you for three hours, and I will talk with you for six." I answered, "I am glad to do that. But only fair talk based on mutual trust is meaningful." Later Party Secretary Zhu prepared to talk with me. However, the Shizishan Forced Labor Camp authorities suddenly sent forty of us who were firm in the practice to the Shayang Forced Labor Camp. On the way, practitioner Zhou Qi from Xishui County recited "Towards Consummation" and "Eliminate Your Last Attachment(s)" from Essentials for Further Advancement II. Afterwards we recited Hong Yin together. The guards told us we were not allowed to recite Teacher's words, but we continued.
In the Shayang Forced Labor Camp we were tortured both mentally and physically by being overloaded with labor, isolated from others and brainwashed . Some practitioners, led by Liu Haiou from Laohekou City, chose an evil path, became collaborators, and persecuted other practitioners. I exchanged information with newly admitted Liu Yanqiong and Hu Jihong and learned the formulas and postures for sending forth righteous thoughts. We recited the Fa to each other and remained steadfast. Later I was moved to team No. 7, which only had seven members. Among them, three were firm cultivators, two were collaborators, and two were drug addicts. I communicated with them extensively and told them the formulas for sending forth righteous thoughts. Once when one of the drug addicts was preparing materials to slander Dafa, I tore it up without hesitation.
My sentence was due to end in two months. The guards kept on talking with me and asked if I would continue cultivation. I answered, "Definitely." I also told them, "I will be released in two months for sure." My daughter mailed me many things that she had written, as well as merit certificates that she had received. Everyone wished me well, except for the collaborators. Then I had a dream. In the dream I scored 100 points in an exam, but the person from the 610 Office said with a smile, "You will not be released even after getting a perfect score." I answered, "I must go home. Your words do not count." I believed that this was the time for me to resist the persecution completely. I made the decision that I would launch a hunger strike if my term were extended. Soon afterwards the No. 2 Brigade introduced an assembly line to produce small loudspeakers. The production quota went higher and higher. We had to work until midnight and get up at 6 a.m. to catch up. We worked for 18 hours each day in a sitting position. Some peoples' eyes, like Wu Yanwen from Xishui County, were blinded by chemicals that were used. The tips of my toes became swollen and painful, so I asked to leave work and went back to the dormitory to send forth righteous thoughts. Usually, as long as I did not speak, they thought I was sending forth righteous thoughts. When I did speak, I was viewed as going against the transformation process. Whenever other practitioners spoke to me, the drug addicts would attack them. Whenever I witnessed that, in front of the guards I would say, "Did the guards incite you to do this?" Generally they would stop. Some of the collaborators tried hard to threaten firm practitioners under the encouragement of guards, and they eventually suffered karmic retribution for their actions.
On the last day of my detention, I was assigned to work as usual. That night I was still preparing to work, when Doctor Yan from the clinic came on duty and told me to stop work and prepare to go home.
After I went home, I found that my daughter was living with her grandmother, and my husband had moved out to live with another woman. When I asked my daughter why she wrote to me, she answered, "I just wanted to let others see that a Falun Gong practitioner's daughter was doing well."
After being released in June 2002, I have learned to use the computer and soon had read all the Falun Dafa books from the Internet. I have merged into the mighty current of Fa-rectification and clarifying the facts of Falun Dafa.
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