(Clearwisdom.net) In October 2000, I was illegally sentenced to a five-year prison term by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). I was arrested and taken to Jidong Prison in Hebei province. I suffered cruel physical and mental persecution in the prison. I would like to share a few stories about how I improved my cultivation environment by confronting the evil face to face.
1. “Prison Regulations” - Not for Me
In Jidong prison, all new prisoners face the first test, which is memorizing the “Prison Regulations.” Prisoners weren't assigned any work at the beginning, and were required to focus on memorizing the regulations well. At first, I recited them for a couple of days like the others. However, I didn't understand why I wasn't able to focus, and my mind kept going blank. I didn't make any “progress” in memorizing the regulations.
One day during a meal, an inmate quietly asked me, “The Falun Gong practitioners in other teams all refused to memorize the prison regulations. What is wrong with you?” At that moment, my head felt like it was being bombarded, and I suddenly realized that Teacher was guiding me using this inmate's words.
At that time, the Team 2 leader sent people specifically to “help” me memorize the prison regulations. I explained to him that Falun Gong was being persecuted, that we weren't criminals and the so-called prison regulations were not for me at all. I wouldn't have anything to do with them.
When the team leader randomly selected people to check their progress in memorizing those regulations, I was among those selected. I refused to recite the regulations, so the team leader compromised and said, “It's OK, as long as you recite just one regulation.” I said, “I can't remember even one of them.” The team leader shook his head and stopped asking. From then on, reciting the regulations was not required of me. Similar to memorizing prison regulations, they also made inmates praise the CCP and show “remorse.” I used the same strategy, and my reasoning was always “I am a Falun Gong practitioner. These things are not my business.”
2. Facing Grueling Persecution with Righteous Thoughts
On January 23, 2001, the CCP staged the “Tiananmen Square Self Immolation” incident. After that, the persecution against Falun Gong became more severe across the country, and Jidong prison was no exception. At first, they started to brainwash practitioners in various ways. Wang Guosheng asked me to cooperate with and support him. I said, “People practicing Falun Gong are all good, but you treat good people as criminals, and at the same time, you consider criminals to be good people. What kind of person are you?”
His face turned blue. His mouth trembled and he couldn't even speak a complete sentence. In the afternoon a few days later, the prison organized an event to deal with all the practitioners who refused to write their repentance statement to give up their beliefs. That was the first time that I was tortured with electric batons.
About five guards stood around me. Two guards held batons in each hand. The others twisted my arm behind my back and pushed my shoulder down. At the team leader's command, they started the torture. I felt surges of burning and pain. I clenched my teeth, closed my eyes and recited Teacher's poem continuously:
In life, nothing sought,
In death, regretting naught;
Washing away all wrong thought,
Buddhahood, with less
adversity, is wrought. (“Nothing Kept” from Hong Yin)
Gradually, the pain went away, and I felt normal again. A few days later, even the burn marks disappeared.
Once, Di Shijin, the person responsible for persecuting Falun Gong at the prison, yelled at me: “If you refuse to transform, I'll kill you. You have to transform!” That day, Di and two guards approached me with fierce looks on their faces. Before they completed two sentences, they kicked my thigh hard when I wasn't watching. I felt excruciating pain, but at the same time it made me clear-headed. I focused on the thought: “Don't beat me. I'll make you unable to beat me!” Instantly, the situation changed dramatically. Each time Di raised his arm to strike me, it was stopped by my hand and then was thrown in the opposite direction. His body also shook with the movement. After half an hour, they weren't able to beat me and were all exhausted -- sweating, panting, and frustrated. I said, “Whatever you've done and whatever you've said, although I can't record it with a pen, I've memorized everything. Once I get out of this place, I'll expose you to the whole world.” To my surprise, Di repeated several times, “Please don't, don't do that.”
3. Being Proactive
During my five years in Jidong Prison, I kept telling people: “Falun Dafa is wonderful,” “Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good.” I held the thought that Teacher and the Fa were with me, so what was there to fear? Finally, I made it through with dignity. I realized that the more determined I was, the more wretched and helpless the evil became, and the environment improved.
Once, a captain with the last name of Zhang wanted to “transform” me. He exerted all of his effort for two days and didn't even go home that weekend. At the beginning, he tried to persuade me that I only needed to write the guarantee statement. I refused, so he changed his strategy and asked me to make a “verbal declaration.” He even prepared a simplified guarantee statement and only asked me to read it, but I still refused. Zhang became so angry that he said, “If you don't transform, I'll beat you!” Even before he could finish his sentence, I stood up, pointed at him and said loudly, “How dare you! Do you dare to hit me?!” Unexpectedly, Zhang was dumbfounded. After several minutes he said, “Fine. It is too late today. Go back and sleep.”
I realized that we must be more solid on what a practitioner should do at these moments. We should start with ourselves first, by further enriching our minds with the Fa. For example, whether I was forced to do labor and was heading to the workplace, returning from there or at work, I never slacked off. Whenever possible, I recited Hong Yin repeatedly and recalled some paragraphs in Zhuan Falun (I couldn't recite the whole book at that time). I realized that when there was only the Fa in my mind and my mind was full of the Fa, there was no room for other useless stuff. That was the true state of emptiness and the best cultivation state.
The second thing is to be proactive. I talked to the captains whenever I had free time, depending on the circumstances. Once, Captain Zhang showed up. We hadn't seen each other for a long time. I walked closer and tried to talk to him. He told me that he'd been in a car accident and had been unconscious for three days. He returned to work after several months. He lamented, “Human beings are so weak. Even a slight hit can put you into a coma.” The weather was getting warmer at that time, but he wore a cotton hat. I answered, “That's true. Exposed to natural and man-made calamities, human beings are truly tiny. But do you know why? As long as you think about what you've done, you'll find the reason.” In fact, Zhang already knew from reading the truth clarification materials, that good is met with good and evil receives retribution, and he had experienced it himself this time. I told him that as long as his conscience was not destroyed and he kept this lesson from the accident in mind, he would have an opportunity for a good future. He nodded and seemed to understand.
Also, we should never forget to clarify the truth and save people under any circumstances. I realized that even in relatively relaxed environments, we are given urgent opportunities to save sentient beings. We can't slack off. I met a prisoner while I was detained in Team 2. I talked to him and mentioned how wonderful Dafa was. He told me that he was suffering from depression and insomnia, but felt hopeless. At that moment, I suggested that he recite Teacher's lessons and told him that as long as he really had faith, there would be a good effect. I wrote down poems from Hong Yin that I could remember on a piece of paper for him to recite.
Soon after, his insomnia went away. He looked energetic and was no longer sick. After that, his attitude toward Dafa changed completely. He declared to me that when he got out of the prison, he would truly learn to practice Falun Gong and become a good person.
When I was released from Jidong Prison, officials drove me home. Director Mr. Wang Guosheng asked me, “Will you keep practicing after you go back?” I answered, “Of course I will. I must practice and will never stop.” He said, “You haven't changed a bit since you've been here these years, but became more firm instead.”
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