(Minghui.org) Falun Dafa practitioners have been severely persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) regime in the city where I live. Since the wave of lawsuits against Jiang Zemin, former head of the CCP, started in 2015, several hundred practitioners in our city were harassed, arrested, homes ransacked, detained and even sentenced for filing criminal complaints against Jiang Zemin for launching the persecution in 1999.
Many practitioners talked to people about Falun Dafa and the persecution, and resisted the persecution. However, there were also practitioners who gave up their cultivation practice.
Besides holding fear and attachments to fame, personal interests and sentiments, they wavered in their belief in Master and Dafa. At the critical moments when facing the persecution, they did not have strong righteous thoughts and their ordinary thoughts prevailed.
Leaving a Stain on My Cultivation
I went to the provincial government to petition for justice for Falun Dafa in July 1999. On my return home, I was detained in a local brainwashing center. Facing the tests of fame, personal interests and human sentiments, many practitioners compromised.
Feeling great pressure, I begged Master, “Master, please let me see a Falun, just for one time. If I could see a Falun I would be able to remain steadfast and not renounce Dafa.”
I did not see a Falun and gave up Dafa. I left myself with a stain on my cultivation.
Refusing to Cave in Under Pressure
When taken to a brainwashing center, located in a forced labor camp in early 2001, I was the last steadfast practitioner.
“You must write a guarantee statement, or you will be sentenced to forced labor. No one has ever walked out of here without writing such a statement.”
I was under enormous pressure. In my mind, being taken to a forced labor camp was the same as losing almost everything I had in this world. During sleepless nights I thought, “Compromising with the authorities means giving up Dafa. Refusing to compromise means losing everything I had in this world.”
When I asked myself if I firmly believed in Dafa, I thought, “I firmly believe in Master and the Fa!”
The moment I held this thought, I came to realize that if I kept thinking about being transferred to a forced labor camp, my thought would form those factors in another dimension. I decided that I would negate the persecution and walk out of the center with dignity.”
The next day my employer sent a car for me to the center. Before I left, the head of the administration section said, “I admire you and another practitioner for not caving in under pressure.”
Networking Stops Harassment
Staff from the 610 Office and my employer wanted to take me to a brainwashing center in 2002. Through studying the Fa I came to understand that becoming homeless and destitute was also a form of persecution. I should just believe in Master and the Fa. Nevertheless, I kept sending righteous thoughts to reject the persecution.
The situation changed soon. The wife of the secretary of the local political and legal affairs commission was my father’s colleague. My father talked to her and she talked to her husband about me. The secretary immediately called the head of the local 610 Office and no one harassed me any longer.
On the surface, it appeared as if ordinary people helped me. But, the situation changed because I believed in Master and the Fa.
Rejecting Negative Thoughts
A local practitioner was arrested by the domestic security police from the neighboring county. My wife, also a practitioner, the practitioner’s family members and I went to the domestic security division of the neighboring county. We demanded the release of the practitioner.
My wife found out the phone number of the division’s head and it was immediately exposed on the Internet. This resulted in my being monitored by the police.
One of my relatives worked in the police department. He went to the domestic security division and saw a list of practitioners from the neighboring county, including mine. He notified my family immediately.
I thought about becoming a displaced person again. However, I rejected the thought as soon as it came up.
I took a day off at work, read the Fa at home and sent righteous thoughts. My mind was reeling with different thoughts. To strengthen my righteous thoughts I recited Master’s poems “What’s to Fear?”, “The Master-Disciple Bond” and “Don't Be Sad” (Hong Yin II) over and over again.
Gradually the negative thoughts weakened and I could let go of my fear. My righteous thoughts got stronger. I felt that ‘a single move of my mind could break mountains in half’ - as a practitioner wrote in his sharing article “Eliminate Demonic Nature (With Master's Comments)”.
After I told my wife that I could no longer be persecuted, the sky cleared up and sunlight shone through our window.
Master said,
“If upon encountering trying circumstances your thinking can be truly righteous, then, when faced with the evil's persecution and when faced with interference, just one sentence of yours fortified with steadfast righteous thoughts can instantly make the evil disintegrate (applause), and it will make those who are being used by the evil turn and flee, it will make the evil's persecution of you dissolve, and it will make the evil's interfering with you disappear without a trace. One thought born of righteous faith is all it takes. And whoever can hold firm that righteous thought and go the distance will become a magnificent god forged by Dafa.” (“Teaching the Fa at the Western U.S. International Fa Conference” from Teaching the Fa at the Conference VII)
True Righteous Thoughts Bring Release
I submitted a criminal complaint against Jiang Zemin in 2015. However, the document was turned over to the local 610 Office, who had me arrested and taken by the local police to a detention center. They believed me to be the organizer of the lawsuits against Jiang Zemin in our local area.
They pressured me and my family, and created an illusion in my mind that, if I refused to compromise I would be dismissed from my job and sentenced.
Several years of a relatively relaxed cultivation environment had nourished my ordinary thoughts; the attachment to comfort infiltrated my mind and my cultivation had not been diligent for a while. Thus, I used ordinary methods to get out of the detention.
I asked my classmate, a police officer, to release me. He was unable to help me. I tried to network, but my tribulation worsened. Then, I hoped that I would have some illness symptoms that would get me a release. After asking Master for help I had hypertension and a rapid heartbeat, which even scared the police and the doctor. But, I was not released.
I then finally awakened and let go of any more ordinary thoughts. Instead, I recited the Fa, talked to the people about Falun Dafa and the persecution, and sent righteous thought.
I looked inside and found that I held the attachments to comfort, fame, personal interest, lust, and fear. I was determined to let go of these attachments.
When I stood by the window and looked at the electric fence on top of the high wall, I came to realize that all of these were illusions. Master’s law bodies and many gods were protecting me, and gods’ eyes were everywhere. Righteous thoughts arose in my mind and I calmed down. I was released that afternoon.
Dissolving the Persecution
I came to understand that practitioners must firmly believe in Master and Dafa, and follow Master's arrangement. Practitioners must negate the old forces’ arrangement and look inside for the reason when persecuted. Once the practitioner corrects him or herself based on the Fa and sends strong righteous thoughts, he or she will dissolve the persecution.
I have encountered dangers many times and each time the danger was dissolved given Master’s benevolent protection. However, I had to hold a firm belief in Master and Dafa.
I came to understand that when facing difficulties and hardships in cultivation, what thoughts we have is critical. If we hold ordinary thoughts, we are ordinary people at that particular time. Then, the ordinary thoughts would be a loophole for the old forces to attack us. Thus, we must hold strong righteous thoughts at all times.
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Category: Improving Oneself
