(Clearwisdom.net) I was fortunate to begin Dafa practice in 1996 and have been cultivating for ten years. During these ten years my character was purified and has improved. I gradually let go of human notions and concerns. After the persecution began in July 1999, people from the local police and my office often came to my home to harass me. My house was ransacked several times, but I never doubted Dafa and always firmly remember:
"Be resolute cultivating Dafa, the mind unstirred
Climbing in levels is what’s fundamental
Faced with tests, a person’s true character is revealed
May you Consummate—a Buddha, Dao, or God"
("True Character is Revealed" from Hong Yin II, Translation Version A)
I have Master. I have the Fa. I have nothing to be afraid of. Then, just like that, 2004 arrived.
I’m not an outgoing person and am timid. I never was able to step out to validate the Fa. Additionally, I didn’t study the Fa diligently enough. Eventually, the evil took advantage of me. One day, the police arrested several of us practitioners. A couple of days prior to the arrest, I had read Master’s teaching:
"Imprisoned as you are,
don’t be sorrowful or sad
Carry on with righteous thoughts and actions,
and the Fa is with you
Calmly reflect on the attachments you have
Remove your human thoughts
and evil will naturally die out"
("Don’t be Sad" from Hong Yin II, Translation Version A)
In the forced labor camp I lost my freedom and lived in a terrible environment. They didn’t even permit us to call or have contact with our families. I couldn’t fall asleep for several nights. I thought deeply about where my attachments were. I knew that my biggest attachment was to emotions, which I had not been able to relinquish. I immediately realized that it was time for me to eliminate this attachment. Master’s poem "Don’t be Sad" came to mind and I thought, "Now that we have been arrested, it’s time for us to cultivate and validate Dafa and rescue the sentient beings while opposing the persecution. There are people from all over the country arriving in this forced labor camp."
The police came to interrogate me. I calmly clarified the truth about Falun Gong to them. Most of the officers understood and admitted that Falun Gong could help improve one’s physical condition and make one healthy. They also admitted that most of the practitioners are kind citizens. Once, the head of the 610 Office, accompanied by several young police officers, came to listen to me. The second time, two policemen interrogated me and said they represented the National Security Bureau that was investigating me. They asked me if I could speak honestly with them. I said, "Go ahead, ask your questions." They said, "Why do you practice at home and have to read lectures?" I answered them with confidence, "We use Master’s lectures and the Fa to guide us to cultivate." They didn’t respond and wrote down what I had said.
There were no Dafa books in the forced labor camp, so I recited Lunyu and Hong Yin to myself. They would not let us practice the exercises, but we covered for one another and kept practicing. We told other prisoners about Falun Dafa and told them that we followed the principles of "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance." They all liked to listen to us and asked us to teach them the exercises. They said they would study the Fa, strive to become better, and let their families and children learn Dafa when they got out.
The local 610 Office agents heard that we were still practicing. They were quite afraid and sentenced us heavily—to three years of forced labor.
The forced labor camp officials were afraid of our anti-persecution efforts and moved us to the provincial forced labor camp. The evildoers were fierce there. Upon our arrival, two drug addict inmates monitored us at first. They also tried to force us to write a guarantee statement. They then divided us into groups and made us read slanderous information. The drug addict inmates took turns monitoring us. Before too long I came to realize that the practitioners in the camp had formed one body to intelligently resist the persecution. There were constant battles between the righteous and the evil. We focused on sending forth righteous thoughts to eliminate the evil. We didn’t give the evil any excuses to persecute us further. We continued to send forth righteous thoughts at pre-set times and silently fought against the evildoing guards.
Many practitioners solemnly declared that their statements claiming that they were "no longer practicing" were not valid. In April 2005, we had another anti-persecution incident. The guards were angry. They abused us with electric batons and locked us in single cells as punishment. The "capable" division head was eventually punished and transferred. This was a heavy blow to this national "outstanding unit" in its persecution of Falun Gong.
During the 2005 Chinese New Year the officials initiated an effort to "build a harmonious society" and had flag-raising ceremonies every Monday morning at 7:00 a.m. We got to know from fellow practitioners who had recently arrived about the evil specter behind the CCP flag. We sent forth righteous thoughts together to eliminate it. One day our strong righteous thoughts immobilized the flag before it could reach the top of the flagpole. They couldn’t raise it any further. Several times in the days that followed, the flag would only go half way up. They couldn’t get it raised, so they just had to secure it in a half-way-up position. At other times they had trouble with the music. When it was our division's turn to raise the flag, the guards ordered us to raise our right hands to take an oath, but we instead sent forth righteous thought to eliminate the evil. We are here to validate the Fa and eliminate the evil.
My experience is this: when one is sending forth righteous thoughts, if one’s thoughts are pure, the power will be strong and the effect will be better. One can then fulfill the purpose of suppressing the evil. We should always keep our righteous thoughts strong and not give the evil time to breathe. We should not give it the chance to take advantage of our shortcomings.
This is my personal understanding. Please point out any errors.
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