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My Cultivation Journey

March 9, 2008 |   By a practitioner from Shandong Province

(Clearwisdom.net) On July 20, 2999, Jiang's regime started persecuting Falun Gong. In the spring of 2000, my family and I, along with two other practitioners from my village, went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong at Tiananmen Square. We were detained that same day at a police station in Xicheng District. The following day we were taken back by the people from the local township police station and detained temporarily in a house with a leaking roof. The police soaked the floor with water to prevent us from sitting or sleeping on the floor. The eight of us practitioners in the same room could only stand or squat on our heels. The police monitored us constantly. Any practitioner who fell asleep was slapped in the face and forced to kneel on a brick. On the third day two township officials came to the room. One was drunk. He claimed that I was the local coordinator and brutally kicked me while I was squatting. He shouted, "I cannot believe that we can't eliminate Falun Gong!" He stopped kicking me after becoming tired. Another persecutor dragged him away. Some of the practitioners cried as they watched me being brutalized. I told them, "I have Master and Dafa, and I am not afraid." As soon as I said that, I felt energy throughout my body and did not feel any pain. While we were detained in that broken-down house, we tried to memorize Master's Essentials for Further Advancement and other new articles, over and over.

I was called into the township office the next day by the official who had kicked me earlier. He told me that he was drunk and had kicked me intentionally. He also asked whether or not we Falun Gong practitioners would hate him. I told him in all sincerity that Falun Gong practitioners were good people, and that we do everything according to "Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance," which is what Master has taught us. I asked him not to abuse Dafa practitioners in the future, as good is rewarded and evil punished. He said, "No wonder my back hurt so badly all night that I could not fall asleep." News of this incident soon spread to the whole area, and we were released several days later.

In fall 2001, the police station political head and three police officers unexpectedly showed up at my door. He told me in a lowered voice that they had received an order from upper level officials to take me to the police station, and that I would be detained for a couple of days. I was immediately aware that they wanted to arrest me right then. I told them, "I did not commit any crime. Why should I be arrested?" The officers forced me out of the house. I found an opportunity to escape and then had to become homeless. Because the police failed to capture me, they have kept my family under long-term surveillance.

During the time of my homelessness I was involved with distributing Dafa truth-clarification materials. Working with other practitioners, we delivered flyers to many households. Another practitioner from a neighboring county, who had also decided to become homeless to avoid further persecution, mentioned a recent large-scale arrest that taken place in his county. Practitioners had not distributed truth-clarifying materials in his county for a quite long time. With several hundred copies of truth-clarification materials loaded on a bike, we rode for 35 kilometers (22 miles) to that county to distribute the materials. We did this from 7:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. We had covered more than half of the urban area and had only a dozen flyers left. Just as we walked into a residential area, we saw a police car parked about eight meters away from us. The fellow practitioners said, "Let's leave this place quickly!" I told him, "Don't be afraid. They cannot do anything to us." I walked toward the police car. One officer stuck his head out the window, and we said hello to him and left in peace. By studying the Fa well all potential troubles can be dissolved.

In the summer of 2002, because I left home, my family had carried a lot of burden for me. I realized then that living like this was another form of persecution, and that I should not endure it. I decided to return to my parents' place. That same night several police officers arrested me. The police chief called me into his office, removed the handcuffs and offered me a seat. He said, "We asked you the last time to come to the police station, but you escaped. We were panicked and worried that you might go to Beijing again. If that had been the case, we all would have been punished." I responded, "You cannot detain me without any reason. You are the ones who have caused these troubles."

The next day, the political head and three police officers came and told me they had received an order from the county police department - I would be transferred, and the local police station officials could not release me. They were planning to detain me for fifteen days.

While they were preparing the paperwork, I told the police that I had previously been ill with rheumatic psoriasis for more than ten years. Medication had not cured my disease, but had instead made it even worse. Forty percent of my skin was damaged, and I had spent all my family's money on the treatment. People in the village labeled me "poor and medication dependent." Before I began practicing Falun Gong, I also had rheumatoid arthritis, hemorrhoids and other ailments, and I had lost the hope to live. It was Master and Falun Gong that saved my life. I also told them of the significant differences in me before and after Falun Gong practice. The group of eight police officers listened to my cultivation experience for about twenty minutes, and then one spoke up, "Don't let him talk anymore. Otherwise, we will be interested in practicing Falun Gong." This Fa-rectification experience at the police station has built a foundation for the future Fa-rectification environment.

During my detention, I constantly worked to memorize Master's articles and I clarified the truth of Falun Gong and told people of my cultivation experiences wherever I went. Many criminals came to understand the truth. On the second day of my detention I began a hunger strike to protest the illegal detention. On the fourth day, psoriasis covered my whole body, and other criminals would not let me go into the cell. The detention center chief had to report the incident to upper level officials. Two doctors came to examine me, and they concluded that I had an infectious disease and should be released to avoiding further spread. Local officials took me home. I told them that if they bothered me again they would have to accept responsibility for their actions. I walked out of the police station four days after the onset of detention, using righteous thoughts. From that point on, they no longer arrested or detained me.

I was incarcerated seven times between 2000 and 2002, three times at a detention center and four times at a local police station, and also had to pay fines of two thousand yuan.

Practitioners' great compassion has touched human hearts. In 2003, the township government built a road through our village. Local police officers were there, directing traffic. I passed by the scene with my bike. I had several watermelons in my basket, and I stopped and offered my watermelons to the police. They were embarrassed after they saw me and said, "Please leave. You Dafa practitioners are good people!"

As long as we practitioners have compassion in our hearts, those who would do evil stay away from us. Except those who have committed severe crimes and should be eliminated, most of the people we encounter are destined to be saved.

After the Epoch Times introduced the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party in 2004, the cooperation of Dafa practitioners has helped make possible the distribution of the Nine Commentaries to people in our village and in nearby townships and villages. We have provided more opportunities for people to position themselves for the future. Many of our village officials have withdrawn from the Chinese Communist Party and its affiliated organizations.

During the past eight years of Dafa cultivation under the persecution, with Master's protection we have walked forward step by step. Master has reminded us many times that studying the Fa well is the key. If we study the Fa well, we can do well the three things that Master requires, and can be worthy of Master's enormous and powerful grace and salvation.