(Clearwisdom.net) In 2000, I was illegally sentenced to three years in prison. In 2001, I was held at the Dabei Female Jail in Liaoning Province. The first year I was there, I was identified as a priority target for "transformation." I was afraid. I also suffered from sentimentality towards my family members. However, finally, Teacher and the great Fa guided me through these ordeals. I used every chance to expose the lies used to persecute Falun Gong and to clarify the truth to the jail guards. They finally had to give up their efforts to "transform" me. The inmates around me also began to understand Dafa in a different way. Some of them even started on the path of cultivation. The collaborators assigned to monitor me not only studied the Fa, but also helped me to distribute Teacher’s articles.
During the second year of my imprisonment, the persecution changed. The evil forces resorted to disreputable approaches to coerce the jail guards to support the persecution, such as demotions, reducing rewards, reducing points and so on. The purpose was to apply pressure to them and demand that they "transform" practitioners using every possible means.
The captain of my team came to me and said, "For a long time now, we have not had any hope for you. But you should know that the situation has changed. We do not want to do anything against you. Honestly speaking, if I was asked to shock you with electric batons now, I really could not do it. You will see in the future that you are the only person getting this kind of treatment. I will deal with the things from above. If you cooperate by not getting into any trouble, you can leave here smoothly and not come here any more. This is not the kind of place for you."
However, something happened soon after that. On another team, a newly arrived older woman in her 60s was beaten every day by several evil inmates. After she was beaten, she was forced to work. Then she was beaten again. I kept wondering why they treated her this way. The captains remained silent about the torture. One day during lunch, I heard two inmates chatting in a low voice, "My goodness! It is so miserable. The old lady kept calling for help. Who dared to say anything? We did not even dare to look. What kind of place is this? The day before yesterday, Liu was reported by a collaborator simply for giving away her two salty turnips. A captain shocked her with electric batons. It is said that there are orders from a branch office that nobody can get involved in affairs relating to Falun Gong. Not even a glance is allowed!"
It is so evil! The older lady is a fellow practitioner wrongfully subjected to brutal persecution! A 60-year-old lady is persecuted by the evil like this simply for refusing to be "transformed!" My tears came out, and my heart felt like it had been cut by knives. A "collaborator" named Xiaomin saw this. She held me and said, "Don’t say anything! Just pretend you did not hear anything. You know it now. I dared not tell you before. There are people persecuted much worse than her. You are lucky enough that even our captain helped you. Never get into trouble!" I said, "I did not come here to enjoy life. I want to prove that Falun Dafa is good. I was detained here illegally. I am not guilty, nor is she guilty. I am a Dafa practitioner. How can I be blind to these brutal, inhuman persecutions simply because I am also in danger? Even as an ordinary person, one should stand up for justice. Isn’t this true?" Xiaomin remained silent and did not say anything else about the matter.
I was thinking about Dafa practitioners having made it through the persecution up to this point. What do we depend on to make it through the persecution? We rely on Teacher, the Fa, and the righteous thoughts that practitioners should hold, definitely not any so-called protection from ordinary people. Everything ordinary people do is only for personal gain. Without Teacher and the Fa, in this kind of vicious environment, a life can barely protect itself, not to mention validate Dafa. The relatively comfortable environment in ordinary society is also the display of the Fa in this layer of the human world. By cultivating in such an environment, practitioners are meeting the requirements of the Fa during Fa rectification. What enables practitioners to meet these requirements are Teacher's protection and strengthening, not anything like skills for human survival or self-protection. At the human level, it does appear very difficult to stop the persecution. However, why did I come here? Do I really just want to smoothly get through the jail sentence and go home? No! We cannot forget our true tasks wherever we are. Wherever we are, we should help Teacher to rectify the Fa of the old cosmos, and resist the persecution in order to save sentient beings! Even if an older practitioner has loopholes, we still cannot allow the evil to persecute her. I must step out to stop the evil. I believe that when practitioners have strong righteous thoughts, their power is unlimited.
During that same night, when the older woman was beaten, the evil persecution continued. The evil inmates used a mop to seal the older practitioner's mouth and started to beat her. I jumped up and shouted, "Stop beating her!" Suddenly, the workshop - more than 300 people - became silent. Every inmate stopped their work at hand and watched with surprise. The evil inmates saw me and said, "I wonder who is doing this. Who are you to get involved? How dare you get involved in the affairs of our team? Are you looking for trouble?" At this moment, inmate Mei from my team came out and stood in front of me so that they would not hurt me. She was imprisoned because of alleged robbery. While in prison, she learned that Falun Dafa is good.
I said, "Don’t ask about my identity. It is wrong that you beat people. I have the right to stop you. Why do you beat people? Who gave you the right to beat people? We all have a heart made of flesh. Ask your conscience, if your mother were beaten like this, how would you feel?" Then, the cell head Daqin, who is one of the "collaborators assigned to me, came over after hearing this. The evil inmates were all afraid of her. She said to the inmates, "What do you want to do? Was there anything wrong in her words? Why do you beat people? Where do you get the right to beat people? Let me tell you, you feel good about yourselves for being violent. Can you compare with me in importance? But how do I treat Falun Gong? The inmates here, including you and me, all came here since we did something wrong, but the Falun Gong practitioners are innocent. They came here for their beliefs. You feel that by beating them you can reduce your jail term. But you still have the rest of your lives to live. And think about your descendants. You should accumulate more virtue!" At this moment, there was a heated discussion, with most accusing the evil inmates. The evil inmates dared not to talk any longer. They murmured, "Just wait and see after our captain comes."
I felt at that moment that there was a tremendous war between good and evil in both the human and heavenly realms. The evil can never defeat the righteous. I am very happy that these inmates were able to enlighten to their consciences. I am happy that in such a difficult and pressing environment, they could stand up and do what they needed to do. As a result, their lives are very well placed. It is the mighty power and compassion of the Buddha Fa.
On the second morning, the captain who heard about the news said to me angrily, "Do you know what you are doing? Do you know who you are? Do you know that you are free of trouble because I have been helping you? Without "transformation," why are you treated differently? You made so much trouble that the whole branch was informed about it. I cannot protect you any longer. I do not even know what will be done to me." After saying this, she went back to the branch to see what would happen to her.
That day, the branch kept sending people over to investigate. They talked to the leading inmates, old inmates and people on duty. Among these people, many of them had already learned about Falun Dafa and knew that Dafa was good. For a long time they were angry, but dared not speak against this incident. The scene from the previous evening had also deeply touched everyone’s hearts. So they all spoke out of their consciences. It is just like Teacher said in "Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Philadelphia, U.S.A.,"
"The strength of the righteous has tipped the scales in its favor as far as they go." I continued with my work while reciting the Fa and sending forth righteous thoughts. My mind became more and more clear, and the righteous thoughts were very powerful.
During this period, the captain talked with me once. I told her, "These kinds of actions are very brutal and inhuman. They are crimes. Not only should we stop them, we should also punish the perpetrators. Anyone with human thoughts and a conscience can tell immediately who is right and who is wrong. I am not over-reacting. If I am mistreated for this, I will not give up. I will continue to appeal. And these kinds of persecutory actions are not good for you and the inmates. I definitely will stop it."
Some inmates from the jail raised their thumbs in approval towards me. They could not imagine that under such circumstances, there were still people who are not afraid of violence and dare to speak out. Actually, I only did what a Dafa practitioner should do.
The branch temporarily became silent.
At dawn, things changed dramatically. The captain found me, smiled and said, "It turned out great! Don’t worry about it any more. We can assure you that those kinds of things will not happen any longer. You are so capable! Honestly speaking, until today, no one else has dared to step out to stop this. Our branch head said that other peoples' opinions can be disregarded. In the future, you can find her any time and she will listen to you. Ah!" The captain breathed deeply. She probably never thought that it would turn out like this.
From this incident I enlightened that a lot of times it was not that we were helpless, but that we did not put in the effort. It is not that steadfast practitioners will be persecuted more, but that when we don’t have enough righteous thoughts and do not do well, we should look inside to see whether our human notions and fears have given them a loophole to do evil. Unbreakable righteous thoughts are what the evil is most afraid of. Teacher said,
"Why should you, a Dafa disciple, fear the evil ones when enduring persecution? The crux of the matter is that you have attachments. If not, do not endure passively, and face the evil people with righteous thoughts at all times. No matter what the situation, do not cooperate with the evil’s demands, orders, or what it instigates. If everyone does this the environment won’t be this way." ("Dafa Disciples’ Righteous Thoughts are Powerful" from Essentials for Further Advancement II )
Be guided by Teacher, help to validate Dafa, and do what a practitioner during Fa-rectification is supposed to do. This is what we should do as Dafa practitioners during Fa-rectification.
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