(Minghui.org) Greetings, revered Master! Greetings, fellow practitioners!
With Master’s painstaking salvation and benevolent care, I made it through the hardship of a 12-year illegal imprisonment. Although I never had the opportunity to attend one of Master's lectures in person, I have never wavered in my faith.
Falun Dafa Pin Leads Me to Start Cultivation Practice
In July 1996, I noticed an emblem on a pin worn by a gentleman at a beauty salon. It aroused my interest. So I inquired and learned that it was a “Falun” pin, the symbol of Falun Gong. He asked if I was interested in cultivating Falun Gong, but I replied that I wanted to find a Buddha school qigong. The man said this qigong did indeed belong to Buddha school.
This gentleman and his wife were both Falun Gong practitioners, and they bought me the precious book Zhuan Falun. When I finished reading it, I knew this was what I had been looking for my whole life. Then I attended Master’s nine-day video lecture class.
I started out in cultivation and strove to be a good person by returning to righteous thoughts and behaviors. At that time, in order to support myself, I had to work in night clubs. Although I didn’t smoke or drink, it was really hard to be a good person in that type of environment. When I read Master’s scripture “Cultivators’ Avoidances,” I was shocked by the sentence:“Those who are attached to money seek wealth and feign their cultivation. Undermining the practice and the Fa, they waste their lifetimes instead of cultivating Buddhahood.” (“Cultivators’ Avoidances” from Essentials for Further Advancement)
I knew my job was the product of human society’s demoralization and decided to quit. So I found a normal job and soon realized that Dafa was purifying my heart and soul. I was no longer drifting along with the current of everyday people.
Once I started cultivation practice, I made a commitment to join a local Fa study group and do the exercises in the park every morning. Soon, a small Fa-study group was established at my home. My husband is also a practitioner. During the course of spreading the Fa, many neighbors also started practicing Dafa.
It didn't matter if it was hot or cold, windy or rainy, my husband and I always took the exercise music and Falun Dafa banners to the exercise site every morning. If there were new practitioners, we would teach them the exercises. My parents, parents-in-law, elder sister-in law, and younger brother-in law all joined Dafa cultivation.
Going to Beijing to Appeal for Dafa Under the Reign of Terror
In the morning of July 20, 1999, we found out that many Dafa volunteer assistants were arrested the previous night. So we went to appeal to the provincial government.
A large number of police officers and SWAT teams had gathered at the square, arresting and beating practitioners. We were arrested and sent to a school, where our personal information was recorded in detail.
Then on July 22, when I saw that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was broadcasting slander that defamed Master and Dafa, I decided to go to Beijing to clarify the truth. At that time, all the roads to Beijing were blocked, and those people who made it would be frisked at all of the checkpoints.
At the airport lounge, I learned several practitioners were taken into custody, but I successfully boarded the airplane. It was my first time flying, but I was in no mood to enjoy the night view from high altitude.
The highest temperature in Beijing that July reached over 40°C (104oF). Dafa disciples were seen everywhere at Tiananmen Square and nearby underpasses. I went to Beijing and lived in the bathroom of a basement. I took every opportunity to share experiences with fellow practitioners and learn from them. Some practitioners said, “If Dafa's reputation cannot be restored, I will not go back home.”
The police, plainclothes officers, spies, SWAT teams and police vehicles spread all over Beijing’s squares, underpasses, and streets. The atmosphere was terrifying. We wandered around Tiananmen Square every day and didn’t know what we could do.
Three days after I returned home, my colleagues in our store all understood my vow to uphold my faith. Even the store owner voluntarily covered my shifts for three days and helped me protect Dafa books.
Learning About a Dafa Disciple's Duty to Safeguard the Fa
I met a fellow practitioner who shared some cultivation sharing speeches from a Falun Dafa conference in Guangzhou. I was deeply shocked by one of the articles, which explained that if practitioners couldn’t go out to validate Dafa, they would not be qualified to be a Dafa disciple.
I lived through the period when Dafa was initially slandered and attacked by the CCP's media. As a Dafa disciple, I should not just stay at home and practice: it was the sole choice for Dafa disciples to go out in public to validate the Fa.
So I decided to leave my job, but the store owner and manager repeatedly asked me to stay. They said it would bring me more difficulties to go out alone to clarify the truth. So they proposed to make time to go with me. I said, “Faith moves mountains.”
In February 2000, my husband and I went to Beijing again to validate the Fa. We were arrested while practicing the exercises at Jinshui Bridge in front of Tiananmen Square. I was released after more than ten days, while my husband was sent to a forced labor camp. In May, I returned to Beijing with a fellow practitioner to display a Dafa banner at Jinshui Bridge. It read: “Falun Dafa is the Law of the Cosmos.” We were arrested again.
I was illegally detained in a local drug rehabilitation center, and we all protested the persecution by going on a hunger-strike. I memorized Master’s Fa:“Live with no pursuit,Die not caring about staying;Clear out all wild thoughts,Cultivating to a Buddha is not hard.” (“Nonexistence” from Hong Yin)
I felt as if I had melted in the Fa; I had no thought of life or death. Strengthened by Master's benevolent care, I gained freedom 12 days later.
Then in October, I went to Beijing for the third time. This time, many more practitioners came along. I was later arrested at a fellow practitioner’s home and was again released through my steadfast faith.
During the course of validating the Fa in Beijing, my husband and I were arrested several times. We have been separated for 14 years. At present, my husband remains imprisoned.
Validating the Fa at a Detention Center and Jail
Due to interference from my own human mindset, a truth-clarification material production site I was running in 2001 was raided by police. I was taken to a detention center and interrogated. But the one clear thought in my mind at that time was “I am a particle of Dafa with incomparable power!” I managed not to disclose the identities of fellow practitioners. The officers originally intended to use torture to interrogate me, but I successfully resisted with righteous thoughts.
In the detention center, I refused to recite the prison regulations and wear the inmate uniform. I studied the Fa, practiced the exercises and sent forth righteous with other practitioners. I used a toothpaste cover as a pen to write Master’s teachings on soy milk bags and passed them among prison cells.
Many people got to know Dafa is good. I was not good at singing. However, I asked a girl whose name was Yuanyuan to learn the song “Be Saved” from the Dafa disciples in other cells. After she memorized it, she taught all the detainees in our cell block. The melodious song purified everyone's mind, as if deities were calling home lost children. Some detainees’ eyes were brimming with tears.
As Dafa disciples, we should never provide any information or collaborate with those evildoers. But I thought, with a human mindset, that if I took full responsibility, other detained practitioners would get lenient sentences. In fact, I fell into a trap set by the old forces. As a result, I was sentenced to a 12-year prison term.
Because I couldn’t endure the inhumane torture in prison, I compromised and renounced my belief in Dafa. But I came to my senses a few hours later and decided to put down the fear of death. Three days later, I submitted my "solemn declaration" to the police stating that everything I said under duress from torture was invalid.
At that moment, I deeply realized that regardless of the reason for either making a compromise or giving up cultivation, my knowing side knew it was absolutely wrong. When suffering from torture, I felt only that I would rather die than live. Living without dignity, however, was a shame for me.
When I submitted my declaration, I knew revered Master once again lifted me from hell and gave me a new start. He endowed me with the upright cultivation mentality that Dafa disciples are supposed to have. This inspired me to make it through that long, oppressive 12-year imprisonment.
During those 12 years, my arms were tortured to the point of disability, but I recovered magically. I also suffered from 7-year torture induced sickness karma. Initially, I just endured it passively, due not being clear about the Fa principles. But I never had any doubt about Master and Dafa.
At the moment when I was on the edge of mental breakdown, I became conscious instantly. I had tasted all the sorrows of life. In those hardest and darkest days, I suffered ongoing mental and physical abuse. During my struggle with the evil, I stumbled to move forward and clearly realized the old forces were using all kinds of means to destroy my fortitude and ruin me completely. It was Master’s compassion and strengthening, again and again, that helped me survive.
I always wrote letters to the officer in charge of the brainwashing center to clarify the truth, telling her that the CCP is an evil specter and manifests as an evil red dragon in another dimension. When she was on duty, I always found a chance to talk to her and try to persuade her to quit the CCP. (At that time, I had already read Master’s lectures “Teaching the Fa at the Western U.S. International Fa Conference” and “Teaching the Fa in the City of Chicago” but didn’t know about the content of the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party)
This officer retired in 2006. One day, when she came back to pick up her belongings, I talked to her about the “three withdrawals.” She said “You know what?! How many people did the three withdrawals in this prison?” I said there were some people who did it, but they used aliases. She said, “I kept all the letters you wrote to me. Sometimes, I take out them to read.” I told her, “You must withdraw from the CCP and its affiliated organizations, even if you have to use an alias.”
I was transferred to another division in 2006. One of the fellow practitioners in my group was forced to sit on a small stool because she refused to do forced labor. She was beaten as she shouted “Falun Dafa is good.” I shouted, “Stop hitting the Falun Gong practitioner!” Another practitioner echoed me. All the other practitioners stopped working as well and shouted, “Stop hitting her!”
Later on, an inmate told me the scene was too "spectacular," and all the Falun Gong practitioners stuck together as one! However, a number of those practitioners faced ongoing abuse. One, who we will call practitioner A, was placed in solitary confinement. I protested by starting a hunger strike and stopped doing labor.
One of the practitioners who told the guards to stop their beating also went to the duty office and demanded that they release practitioner A from solitary confinement. All the other practitioners banded together and refused to do labor. I then realized it was the time for me to strike against forced labor.
Later on, a practitioner hinted that I should not wear the inmate badge. I hesitated due to a human mindset: I would not be allowed to purchase anything at the prison shop if I didn’t have the badge. How strong the self-interest mentality was! But after two days, I realized my attachment and said to myself, “Could you not give up such a tiny interest?” I immediately tore off my badge, and nobody noticed I was without one.
Cooperating with Fellow Practitioners to Offer Salvation to Inmates
I would be released very soon, so I wanted to persuade all the people who I had a predestined relationship with to do the “three withdrawals.” However, the guards didn’t allow inmates to speak to me. Master knew my thoughts and always created opportunities for me to talk to them. Whenever I tried to persuade someone to do the “three withdrawals,” I always found a good opportunity to talk to them.
For example, when we lined up to get meals, another inmate would be just next to me, or she might ask me to do some favor for her, etc. I could persuade them to do the withdrawals in a few words and told them to remember “Falun Dafa is a righteous Fa.” This is Master’s compassionate, painstaking salvation. Thank you, Master!
Since I didn’t have a pen or notebook (they were taken away by the guards), I started to recite the inmates’ names and phone numbers in order to reach them upon my release.
Joining the Momentum of Persuading People to Quit the CCP and Its Affiliated Organizations
I returned to my mother-in-law’s home after I was released. Three days later, the police chief came with a woman and another officer in an attempt to persuade me not to do truth-clarification outside.
The woman said, “You already endured so many hardships. Do you still want to suffer them again?” I replied, “Are you threatening me?” The police chief hastened to explain, “No, no … ” After a while, they left.
Several days later, he returned with local police officers. I clarified the truth to them and said, “Now, many lawyers are entering not-guilty pleas for Falun Gong practitioners because it is legal to cultivate Falun Gong. Dafa has spread to more than 100 countries. Please think about it: if Dafa is not good, would other countries allow people to practice it?”
I also talked about the fabrication of the “Tiananmen Square Self-immolation” as well as the 200 million-year-old stone bearing the words 'Chinese Communist Party Collapses' in Pingtang County, Guizhou Province." He listened very carefully.
In a third visit, he stopped by with two officers. I sent forth righteous thoughts beforehand, eliminating all the evil beings and factors that prevented them from being saved. Then I systematically clarified the truth to them, such as the magnificence of Dafa, the April 25th peaceful protest, the reason why Jiang Zemin is afraid of Falun Gong, the evil nature of the CCP, etc. The officers said, “You taught us a lesson today.”
I knew they already understood what I told them. Then, I said I would like to make aliases for them to quit the CCP. They stood up and walked out. I guessed that maybe because there were three people, it was uncomfortable for them to say publicly, “I quit the CCP.” The police chief never came back. I told my mother-in-law I hoped to have another opportunity to help him do the “three withdrawals.”
I calmed down to study Master’s Fa and looked within to find why I was persecuted. I also had to increase my efforts to help save sentient beings. I prepared two phones with voice recordings. In addition to playing the recordings automatically, I also made live phone calls myself. I felt it really tempered my xinxing when I clarified the truth over the phone. I encountered people who swore at me, made trouble out of nothing, asked for money, wanted to find a girlfriend, etc.
In addition to sending forth righteous thoughts, I looked inward and didn’t take offense. At the beginning, it was very hard for me to feel confident. After making more calls, my state of mind became steady. Sometimes, I had only one thought: I am sure to save him. If some people hung up twice, I just called back. Sometimes, they were really saved in this way. I felt my insistence paid off. Sometimes, entire families quit, one after another. And sometimes, they agreed to quit after just a few words.
Sometimes I persuaded people face-to-face to quit the CCP or just handed them Shen Yun DVDs. Wherever I go, I always bring along Shen Yun DVDs, the Nine Commentaries discs, amulets, and anti-censorship software. I would hand out these things when buying groceries, shopping, waiting for the bus, wandering around the shopping mall, visiting the park, etc.
Even when I went to Beijing to visit my younger brother, I was unafraid and still persuaded people to withdraw from the CCP and its affiliated organizations. I helped three students declare their withdrawals. When I went out to have my shoes repaired, I also clarified the truth to the female cobbler. She readily agreed to quit after a brief conversation.
I do not approach people selectively based on their appearance. Some people who looked disheveled or unfriendly seemed impossible to save, but they usually agreed to quit on the spot. They also said thanks when receiving Shen Yun DVDs, amulets and software. A practitioner's compassion is extremely powerful! People can feel our kindness and sincerity.
The past year, I didn’t miss anyone with a predestined relationship. I helped 18 people quit the CCP before I left the department store where I had worked for only two months. Some employees' entire families agreed to submit their withdrawals.
It has been more than a year since I was released from my 12-year imprisonment. But I deeply feel that our time is so precious. I need to cherish every day, keep the heart of a true Dafa cultivator, and help save more people. Master’s smile is my only wish! I once again pay my respects to Master!
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