(Minghui.org) I went to Beijing to appeal for justice for Falun Dafa for a second time on Chinese New Year Day in 2000. I was detained for 40 days, during which time I had the opportunity to talk about Falun Dafa to a female guard. Eight inmates also came to understand Falun Dafa and changed their behavior after learning how practitioners treat others.
Many of my relatives and friends visited me at the detention center. They brought me a lot of food and clothes. The director of the detention center joked that I had more people come to see me than all the other inmates combined. I gave all the food to the inmates in my cell and to other cells.
One inmate on death row had lice and nobody liked to sleep beside her. I slept beside her, however, and I became infested with lice as well. Her family members never visited her. She didn't have a change of clothes or any additional food. So I gave her my clothes. She stole food from other inmates and was beaten. She suffered from epilepsy and often had seizures. I asked the other inmates to treat her kindly and not to bully her. She soon stopped having seizures.
The cell became peaceful. The female police officer was very moved and said, “There has been no fighting in the cell since you came. How do you manage to stop the fighting?” I told her that Falun Dafa changed them for the better.
There were eight female inmates in the cell. Four of them were on death row. They used to fight, quarrel, cry, and shout. After practitioners came, they changed and became peaceful because they saw practitioners' selflessness, forbearance in enduring hardships, and their caring behavior. They were touched. The practitioners told them often about the wonderfulness of Falun Dafa. There were altogether 10 practitioners in the cell.
The inmates were desperate because they felt their days were numbered, so they fought and screamed. I said to them, “You should turn a new page in your life and start all over again. If you start to practice Falun Dafa, your life will be changed. Master Li (the founder) can help you. If you agree, we can study the Falun Dafa teachings together tomorrow.”
The next day a practitioner brought a copy of Zhuan Falun into the cell. All the inmates liked to read it with practitioners. Falun Dafa indeed changed them. They became open-hearted and took turns reading Zhuan Falun. They looked for their shortcomings when they shared. They said that if they had known about Falun Dafa earlier, they wouldn't have come to this point in their lives where they had destroyed other people's families and happiness, as well as their own.
One morning the head of the cell opened the book to the page of Master's photo and put it on top of the heater. She paid respect to Master by sitting cross-legged and conjoining her hands. The remaining seven inmates followed her example and paid respect to Master. One death row inmate said with tears, “Master, please allow us to be your practitioners. Even if we could live for only one day, we would follow you and practice Falun Dafa.”
An hour passed and no one moved. The inmates were in tears, and they did not eat breakfast. An on-duty police officer looked in the cell and left without saying anything.
The inmates soon started studying the Falun Dafa teachings and practicing the exercises. One day they studied eight lectures. Everyone's mind and heart nature improved. An inmate named Liu became determined to cultivate in Dafa and recovered from joint pain in her hands soon after she started the practice. She was very grateful to Master and Falun Dafa.
The legal cases of some inmates changed as a result of the choices they made to practice Falun Dafa: An inmate facing a death-sentence was acquitted; two death row inmates had their sentences reduced to suspended death-sentences; an inmate who had been sentenced to seven years was acquitted; another inmate who had been sentenced to seven years had her term reduced to three years.
During this time, however, an inmate named Liang gave up Dafa. She was executed after being given an eight-month suspension. She felt such regret that she did not treasure Dafa before she died.
Female Guard Starts to Practice Falun Dafa
A female guard named May (alias) saw the changes of the inmates and witnessed the miracles that Dafa had created. She thanked me sincerely. She often called me into her office and asked me to tell her about Falun Dafa.
She brought dumplings for me and bought sweaters for me. I told her that as practitioners we had happy families, but in order to let people know that Dafa is good and help people stay safe from disasters, we left our homes to appeal for justice for Falun Dafa. She apologized for misunderstanding practitioners.
I told her that it was a very fortunate encounter for us to meet and for her to be able to learn more about Dafa.
I asked her if she would like to practice Falun Dafa. She worried if Master would accept her because she had persecuted practitioners. I said, “Master saves anyone as long as they believe in Falun Dafa.” She started to practice Falun Dafa soon after that.
When she saw other police officers persecute practitioners, she stepped in and stopped them. One day two practitioners in the cell were beaten severely and hung up to a clothesline pole with their hands cuffed. The next morning she saw these two practitioners and opened the handcuffs for them despite a prison rule that prohibited other guards from opening handcuffs that they did not lock. She put the practitioners into a cell and brought two packs of instant noodles for them and fed them personally.
This guard also always kept a Dafa book in her bag. Sometimes she sent Dafa books to practitioners in other cells. One day her daughter-in-law hid her book Zhuan Falun and told her that they burned it. She cried and said that Zhuan Falun was more precious than her own life. Her daughter-in-law then gave it back to her.
Several male guards were very impressed with the changes in the female cells. They approached me whenever they had some work for me. I told them about Dafa, and they stopped getting involved in persecuting practitioners. They asked their wives to bring fruit to me when they were on duty.
When one of Master's new articles was published, I had been released for more than a month. I did not know how to deliver the article to the inmates. May then came to see me and told me that the inmates missed me very much, especially the one who had epilepsy. She asked me to visit them.
So the next day I brought Master's new article to them. May opened the door for me. I did not stay too long out of consideration for May's safety. I told the inmates to cultivate diligently and to get released as early as possible.
Seventeen years have now passed. The stories in the detention center are still vividly imprinted in my mind.
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