(Clearwisdom.net) After reading an article entitled "Special Performance for Kind-hearted Police" on the Minghui website (Chinese version of Clearwisdom.net), I was very touched. The article recounts how when Mei Xuan (an Erhu player in Shen Yun Performing Arts) suffered persecution, she received help from some police officers. I have also had similar experiences several times. I was persecuted at several prisons in Ningxia Autonomous Region for more than 2,000 days, during which time I witnessed and experienced differing attitudes towards Dafa from many guards and prisoners.
The persecution became more harsh in 2001. Through careful planning, the 610 Office in Ningxia transferred male practitioners to the Hedong Brickyard at Yinchuan Prison. After I was sent there, I suffered harsh abuse, including severe torture and beatings by guards and prisoners directed by guards. I was then put into solitary confinement.
While in solitary confinement, I was given only two meals per day, with each meal consisting of a half-piece of steamed bread and half-bottle of water. In addition, it was extremely cold there. One prisoner, named Liu, was assigned to watch me. After I told him the facts about Falun Gong and the persecution, he often gave me an extra piece of steamed bread and a bottle of water when he had a chance. I was placed in solitary confinement several times, and Liu took care of me each time. He saw that I did the exercises, and he never reported it to the guards. Upon seeing that I was shaking from the cold, another prisoner whose last name is Ma asked a guard with whom he had a good relationship to give me some clothing. This prisoner also gave me food many times and helped me transfer information to fellow practitioners. The evil planned to destroy my will with hunger and cold, but these people's kindness helped me disintegrate the evil.
During the winter, practitioners were placed into solitary confinement, and each of us was watched by several inmates. Qi, one of the inmates, gave me a radio, with which I could listen to Radio Free Asia and Voice of America Radio. He also helped me exchange Dafa books with fellow practitioners. Although this was discovered and he was put into solitary confinement, he didn't complain after he came out.
In Hedong Brickyard of Yinchuan Prison, Mr. Wang Yuzhu was the most seriously persecuted practitioner, but he was also the most determined. The prisoners admired him very much, and called him Mr. Wang Ironman. The guards once sent a prisoner (A) to watch me. I clarified the truth to him, and he told me that he admired practitioners. His family once brought some drinks for him, and he gave some to Mr. Wang first. He told me that I could do the exercises freely and he was on the lookout for me.
One practitioner who was sent to Hedong Brickyard with me couldn't withstand the torture and forced labor. The practitioner complied with the evil and agreed to make a speech that slandered Dafa at a meeting arranged by communist regime agents. The guards then arranged for him to do only light work. One day he was assigned to write some words on the entrances to the brick kilns with the help of prisoner A. Prisoner A had to push a cart, on which there was a shelf that the practitioner would stand on to write. There were about forty to fifty entrances to the brick kilns, and they had to move from one entrance to another. That practitioner didn't want to walk anymore and asked prisoner A to pull the cart. Prisoner A said, "If you were Mr. Wang Yuzhu, it would be fine to pull you. However, who are you? You are a turncoat." Prisoner A's words jolted that practitioner. Afterwards, I spoke to that practitioner several times and advised him to firmly believe in Dafa, and about a month later, he renounced his prior words publicly.
There was a prisoner called Qian Wanxi, who graduated from Ningxia University and worked as a teacher. He was given six years of imprisonment because he had raped a 6-year-old girl. The 610 Office selected him as the lead prisoner for doing brainwashing sessions at the prison. He did many bad things to slander Dafa and persecute practitioners. Prisoner A said to me, "Even when that guy is walking around, he is still thinking about how to harm others. I had planned to beat him many times, and I haven't done it just because I haven't yet received my commuted sentence." One evening, more than two months later, the guards announced the list of those who had received a commuted sentence. Prisoner A was on that list. The following day, prisoner A assaulted Qian Wanxi. Prisoner A had expected to be put into solitary confinement, but nothing happened to him.
This incident created a shockwave among the prisoners. Many of the inmates who had previously helped the evil backed off. We realized that this was partly due to the change in our cultivation states. Another important reason was that the compassion and forbearance that practitioners expressed awakened the conscience of many prisoners. The persecution was very unpopular in the prison.
We can't accept the persecution that the evil has forced on us. Some practitioners started to break through the interference, and did the exercises. The evil then used various kinds of torture against us, including putting us into solitary confinement. The practitioners however, continued to do the exercises, and the inmates later no longer stopped us from practicing the exercises. Instead, they just wrote down when we started and for how long we practiced the exercises, and reported it to Qian Wanxi. Eventually, the Ningxia government separated practitioners who persisted in doing the exercises by sending them to several different prisons in Yinbei, where the persecution was the most severe.
Before I was sent to the prison in Yinbei, the guards there had a meeting and were informed that Falun Gong practitioners were coming, and they discussed how to deal with me. They forbade anyone from speaking to me, but they allowed others to verbally abuse me. They forbade anyone from having any two-way interaction with me, but they allowed others to watch my every action. They turned the prisoners against me and tried to pressure me into giving up cultivation.
Thanks to Master teaching me Dafa and Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, my every cell is full of supernormal energy. Instead of succumbing, I changed others because I had the energy field that Dafa gave me, and this field can rectify all abnormal conditions and benefit others.
After I experienced various types of persecution at Yinchuan Prison and other prisons, I was no longer afraid. Sometimes I had compassion and felt pity for them. When they beat me, I faced them with dignity. When they cursed at me, I handled it compassionately. After a while, most of the guards and inmates treated me better. I clarified the truth to them as much as I could. Master taught us,
"The power of true compassion can dissolve all deviant factors, and when you talk with a person you will be emitting energy outwardly that dissolves evil things, and the evil in other dimensions will not dare to approach or control that person anymore. When you then reason with that person, he will listen, and you will be able to purge the lies infused into him by the wicked CCP, thus removing the block in his mind." ("Fa Teaching Given in Manhattan" in 2006)
I usually spoke very little, but when it came to clarifying the truth, I feared nothing. I talked to both guards and prisoners, and over time more and more of them showed respect to Falun Gong.
I was sent to the prison in Yinbei because I did the exercises openly in Yinchuan Prison. However, I still continued to do the exercises in Yinbei. I was at first subjected to solitary confinement and beatings by the inmates, but when I steadfastly persisted in doing the exercises, no one stopped me. A short time later, a guard asked the head of inmates to beat me when I did the exercises, but his order was not obeyed. A short time later, a guard asked another head of inmates to beat me. This head of inmates interfered with me at first, and then no longer stopped me after a few times. I asked him why he stopped, and he told me that "everyone has a good relationship with you, if I beat you, others will complain." During my several years there, the evil replaced many guards and inmates on duty, and sent me to several prisons, but I kept on doing the exercises until I was released. No one was able to stop me, and someone once secretly followed me to learn the exercises.
There was one inmate who treated me very badly and then later changed for the better. After I heard that a fellow practitioner in another prison had prepared a copy of Master's new lecture for me, I asked this inmate to bring it back for me because he was about to travel to that prison. I kept that copy until I was released. He told me that he had insomnia for more than ten years and couldn't cure it, so I told him he should sincerely recite, "Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good." The next morning, he told me happily that he had a very good sleep after reciting those nine words. One month later, he again happily told me that he had gained more than ten pounds because he was sleeping well for the first time in a long time.
The last evening before I was released, a group of inmates came to say goodbye to me. I again urged everyone to recite "Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good." After I got home, I received letters from the inmates asking about my safety.
In the past several years after I was released, I wrote some articles for the Minghui website, to expose the persecution, however I rarely wrote about the help I received from those kind inmates. But every time I think back about those days, their kind faces clearly appear in my mind.
While exchanging experiences with fellow practitioners, we all seem to feel that the inmates controlled by the CCP are even more cruel than the guards. The guards get off work every day, but the inmates are with us every moment. Many fellow practitioners have been beaten to death by those inmates. At the same time, there are also some inmates who still have a conscience. They help practitioners overcome the hardship. Most Dafa books that practitioners read in prison are brought in by those kind inmates, and they also help to ferry out information about the persecution. They often help practitioners when we experience hardship, and they often secretly give support to practitioners, overcoming the evil by giving them a cup of water, a bowl of rice, a piece of clothing, or a few words of comfort. As I write these words, I want to give my appreciation to those inmates who have helped practitioners. I think that articles on the Minghui website will be left for people in the future. Therefore, we should give them a full understanding about this period of history.
"Who is really the prevailing, gallant lead in this gigantic play? I made this single trip just for the sake of sentient beings." ("Descending to the Earthly World," from Hong Yin Vol. II)
On the surface, practitioners are on the defensive, as we are detained and persecuted. However, if we consider things on a deeper level, we are Dafa disciples who have obtained Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, the highest universal principles. Regardless of where we are, we are playing the leading roles in this drama, even though we are in prison. As long as we have strong righteous thoughts and firm belief, we can change the environment and ultimately rectify it. My experience in prison verifies one phenomenon. When I had strong human thoughts, the evil was rampant, when I had strong righteous thoughts, the evil was afraid of me. I even heard one guard say quietly that he admired practitioners very much. We should not be persecuted in prison, but since the persecution has taken place and many fellow practitioners have experienced a hard time there, we should also do our best to live up to the Dafa disciples' standard.
The above is just my personal understanding. Please kindly point out anything that is improper.
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