(Minghui.org) I am ashamed of my past. I was a member of the 610 Office in China after the persecution of Falun Gong began on July 20, 1999. My main task was to work with police to persecute Falun Gong practitioners.
I was deeply poisoned by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and rarely thought for myself; I just followed their orders. I blindly carried out any assignment they gave me. When I was assigned to work at the 610 Office, I did not know what its function was, or that it was illegal.
I was deceived by the CCP and was told that Falun Gong was a cult. I worked hard to transform practitioners, forcing them to give up their belief. I not only did not know the truth, I was completely unaware that practitioners were merely exercising their legal right to practice their spiritual belief. At the time, I felt good about my work, which was to persecute Falun Gong practitioners. This is my lifelong regret, and I now realize that I was committing grievous crimes.
Years have passed, and I've forgotten the practitioners' names. But deeply etched in my mind are those scenes in which I participated in persecuting practitioners.
On July 20, 1999, the 610 Office I worked at began to monitor all the local Falun Gong practitioners. An elderly practitioner had to leave her comfortable home in the city to avoid the harassment. In order to carry out the upper level authorities' order of transforming practitioners, we chased her to a remote village and finally found her in a thatched shelter.
She told us that she used to be very frail and had many illnesses, but became healthy after practicing Falun Gong. Not only did we refuse to listen to her, we threatened her and prevented her from practicing Falun Gong. Her health deteriorated because she was not allowed to practice, and she developed heart disease and hematuria. Her legs also became badly swollen. Finally, she was sent to the hospital by her family for emergency treatment.
The 610 Office not only caused physical harm to practitioners through torture and abuse, but we also cut off their financial resources. A senior couple had a nice restaurant with a good income. We frequently led the police to their restaurant to harass them merely because they were Falun Gong practitioners. In the end, the restaurant had to close due to our harassment. The couple's entire family lost their source of income. I will never forget how sad and helpless the old couple looked!
Another practitioner had to leave home because of us. We tried every way we could to find her and even went to her granddaughter's school to question the child about her grandmother's whereabouts. All the teachers and students in the school knew her grandmother practiced Falun Gong and started to discriminate against the little girl. She suffered from her classmates' discrimination and harassment every day, which resulted in severe mental trauma.
We illegally arrested one young lady because she refused to give up practicing Falun Gong. On the way to the detention center, she told me and the police officers that Falun Gong was good. Her father sat next to her and helplessly watched his daughter, knowing she would be detained, or even illegally sentenced to prison. I can never forget her father's sad and pained expression!
I started to think, “The CCP launched so many political movements in the past, killing millions of Chinese citizens. Every time the people were forced to do the CCP's bidding. Why is it that only Falun Gong practitioners have managed to persist in their belief, even when their families were broken apart, and their wealth was stripped away by the CCP?”
One of my friends began practicing Falun Gong in 1996. I witnessed her positive physical and mental changes and tried in vain to persuade her to give up practicing. But she persisted in her belief and was sentenced to several years of imprisonment for passing out informational materials about Falun Gong.
After she was released, I visited her often to persuade her to give up practicing. She did not get angry, but told me the truth behind the alleged “Tiananmen Square Self-immolation” and other lies spread by the CCP.
After I thought it over rationally, I gradually realized that I had been deceived by the CCP's propaganda. Falun Gong was nothing like what we were told on TV. The truth is, it was the 610 Office personnel who were brainwashed by the Party. They are the miserable ones.
One day, I went to my friend's home and discovered she was watching Master Li's Fa-Lecture video series. She invited me to watch with her. I learned that Falun Gong was not a cult, but very righteous and upright. Later, when I read Zhuan Falun, I realized that it teaches people how to be good and cultivate themselves.
I deeply experienced how magnificent and sacred Falun Gong is and finally understood why all the practitioners persisted in their belief despite the brutal persecution. This is the great Law of the Cosmos. How could one give up something so solemn and profound?
I often think that if all the people in the world can acknowledge Falun Gong and use the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance as a guide in their daily lives, society would become very harmonious.
I am now practicing Falun Gong and am very grateful for Master's compassionate salvation. I also feel most fortunate to have become a practitioner. Without Master's guidance, I would never be able to repay all the sins I committed as a former 610 Office member.
I still have deep regrets about my past and want to bow to all the practitioners I ever persecuted and say “I am sorry” thousands of times. I know that no matter how deeply I regret my crimes, I can never compensate them for the harm I caused. I can only use the pain I feel as motivation to cultivate and move forward as a Falun Gong practitioner. This is the only way I can honor their tremendous courage and sacrifice in the face of this terrible persecution.
Thank you Master for compassionately saving me!