(Clearwisdom.net) I would like to share my understanding of a fellow practitioner's sharing article, "Our Minds Must Be Righteous to Negate the Persecution." This article can be found here: http://www.clearwisdom.net/html/articles/2010/9/15/120011.html.
After reading many practitioners' articles and sharing experiences in person with other practitioners, I realized that it is wrong to not talk about my past experiences with other practitioners. This is an attachment of selfishness, lacking the initiative to validate the Fa so that they don't make the same mistakes, and so that sentient beings don't suffer more losses. I have now come to understand that I have a responsibility to do better, so I decided to share my experiences.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) arrested many practitioners in my county during the time of celebrating its former leader's 100th birthday. Practitioners were sent to a brainwashing center for one month. I was also arrested, but managed to escape ten days later.
It was summertime and very hot when I was sent to the brainwashing center. When I arrived there, I immediately felt very uncomfortable both physically and mentally, and decided that it was not a place for me to stay.
A practitioner who had been detained there for several months seemed to have reluctantly accepted his situation and had a long-term plan for staying in the brainwashing center. When I tried to share my understandings with him, he replied, "This is a good place for cultivation." I did not have many opportunities to talk to him after that.
Several days before I managed to escape, I had a dream where I saw myself and my family members washing the dirt off our bodies. I understood that this was a hint from Master that I must leave this place, as it is not a place for a practitioner. While I was looking for opportunities to escape, I clearly felt a strong energy field around me and heat all over my body. With Master's help, I successfully escaped from the brainwashing center.
Officials at the brainwashing center ordered two collaborators to find me and take me back to the brainwashing center. They asked all around for my whereabouts and waited day and night near my home. I had to become homeless to avoid being arrested again. My escape was embarrassing for the CCP, and actually helped to improve the situation for practitioners. To prevent more practitioners from escaping, the guards were on duty day and night. Inmates were forced to watch each cell without sleep, allowing practitioners to sleep. They also stopped the brainwashing sessions for a period of time, and practitioners were released when celebrations for the former CCP leader's birthday were over.
While I was homeless, the authorities exerted pressure on my elderly parents in an attempt to find me. I took a copy of Zhuan Falun with me and stayed at a relative's place.
I kept studying the Fa and enlightened from Master's words:
"In order to explore this domain, humankind must fundamentally change its conventional thinking. Otherwise, the truth of the universe will forever remain a mystery to humankind, and everyday people will forever crawl within the boundary delimited by their own ignorance."
"This story tells a principle: We should not have to stop taking baths because there are insects, and neither should we have to find another place to live because there are mosquitoes... Meanwhile, people also must have a human living space and living conditions, and these should also be maintained."
"It is known that what actually causes people to become ill is seventy percent psychological and thirty percent physiological." (Zhuan Falun)
I came to understand that the manifestation of the pressure from the old forces is due to my fear, and it targeted my fear. To disintegrate this interference, I must let go of my fear. To conform to the Fa's requirement, I should return home, work, live and cultivate normally, instead of being homeless for fear of persecution. This is similar to the Fa principle that discusses not taking a bath for fear of killing insects. When my fear surfaced, I thought, "I escaped from the brainwashing center. If I go back home, they would catch me and take me back there."
I told myself that there is nothing wrong with my cultivating Dafa. The CCP are the ones who committed a crime by arresting me. My escape from the brainwashing center was to oppose the persecution. There's nothing wrong with it.
When I corrected my notions, I decided to return home. The next day, in a calm state of mind, I returned to work. A police officer came to me and said, "You are back. Do your work well and don't go missing again." I replied, "I was doing my work here until you arrested me. It was you who did wrong." He then left without saying a word. It seemed that my coming back to work made them feel at ease.
I later heard that the head of the brainwashing center wanted to arrest me again, but his intention was soon disintegrated by the Dafa disciples' righteous thoughts.
I escaped from the brainwashing center because I did not acknowledge this persecution. This was being compassionate to the guards who persecute practitioners, as Dafa disciples should not be persecuted.
This is my understanding, and I sincerely ask fellow practitioners to point out anything that is improper.