(Minghui.org) When I think back to the time right after the start of the persecution of Falun Gong (also known as Falun Dafa) on July 20 1999, one thing we did that had the greatest impact in counteracting its evilness was exposing the local persecution to the local residents. Its lasting effect was not something I could have foreseen. Only after more than a decade later did I gradually come to appreciate the immense power and sanctity of Dafa. It became increasingly clear to me that the surest way to avoid harm is to align ourselves with Dafa. Nothing will get in our way if we truly follow Master’s teachings.
I was released from the forced labor camp in January 2003 after two years of incarceration. I had wanted to make known my ordeal in the camp in order to expose the atrocities committed by the Chinese Communist regime. It would have involved naming the director at the local security bureau, and I felt really scared. I was very reluctant and unsure as to whether I should put forth my real name. Would what I wrote give them an excuse to further persecute me? Since the local police were involved, would they not strike back against me? The more I dwelled on it, the more fear I had about my safety. I did finish composing my story in the end, but I never sent it to anyone.
Master said,
“Exposing the wicked policemen and bad persons and publicizing their evil deeds is extremely effective at shocking and restraining those irrational, wicked people. At the same time, by clarifying the facts to the people on a local level it most directly exposes, and generates public awareness of, the wicked persecution. It is also a great way to save the people who have been poisoned and deceived by the lies. I hope all Dafa disciples and new students in mainland China will do this well.” (“Comment on a Student’s Article” from The Essentials of Diligent Progress Vol. III)
I knew what I had to do, but my fear was stopping me. I resolved to strengthen my righteous thoughts by reading Master’s words above over and over again. I kept telling myself I have to heed Master’s words, his words are the Fa and doing what he says will be the safest option.
Finally, I made up my mind - I would put my real name in my written story. First I enlisted the help of some local practitioners in reviewing my story and had it printed into pamphlets. Teaming up with some local practitioners, we divided into a few groups and went around distributing the pamphlets, from dusk to dawn the next day. The pamphlets had reached almost everyone I knew including the local security bureau. It was already morning when I got home.
The persecution campaign was at its height in 2003. It was unleashed on Falun Dafa practitioners with brutal impunity. The general public, largely misled by the Chinese communist regime, either refused to read any truth-clarification materials or just destroyed them if they got their hands on them. However, this time on my way home in the morning, I hardly saw any pamphlets being thrown out in our village. Both my own name and the local security bureau director’s name were printed in the heading of the pamphlets. Since the heading was so attention catching, everyone wanted to find out more. The pamphlets were passed around and generated much discussion among villagers. Apparently, they were taken to some schools where the teachers read them out in class and received positive feedback. I am grateful to those fellow practitioners who helped with the reviewing and editing of the pamphlets. This also confirms that if we practitioners cooperate well, the powers of Dafa will be more evident.
As my story became more and more widely known, my negative thoughts were resurfacing and I was terrified. It did not help that practitioners came to me asking, “This is quite a significant matter. Why didn't you talk it over with the others? Will this bring trouble to us practitioners as a whole?” I was also turning it over in my mind: Would that security bureau director take revenge on me and send his men over to my house? I would sit at home and constantly look out the windows to see if the police were coming, I could not concentrate on anything else. It was really ridiculous when I think about it now, but my fear then was so absolutely overwhelming. I dared not stay home any longer. I left my village and went to stay with my uncle. But that feeling of unease kept bugging me: "I am supposed to be exposing the persecution and eliminating the evil elements, so why is it that I was chased away instead? I have to go home." On my journey home, I kept sending forth strong righteous thoughts.
Almost all the practitioners who knew about my story also assisted in sending forth righteous thoughts. Two days later, the aforementioned security director came to visit me. The moment I saw him, my heart pounded and my face was all flushed. All I could think of was: “Oh no, what is he doing here?”
The unexpected happened! He scrambled to offer his explanation that it was all out of his control with little choice on his part and I should try to understand his position. He also insisted that he had never said anything bad about Dafa in front of other people and he would never say anything bad about Dafa again in the future. I could see this event had him utterly humiliated – he had lost face.
It was hard for me to imagine how it could have all ended in such a way, I wasn’t sure what to make of it. It was unbelievable! From a regular person’s point of view, what I had done was risky and stupid. However, this event had helped me make many personal breakthroughs as well as transformed the cultivation environment in my village. Since then, no further persecution of Dafa practitioners occurred in our village. Practitioners in our village, usually after their dinners, could now openly carry their Dafa books to different Fa study groups. No one was afraid of being seen with their Dafa books. I usually went to a practitioner’s home to do Fa study in a group of seven or eight people. That practitioner was not afraid at all to host Fa study sessions at her house. Once a relative of hers dropped by and found us studying together, “You tiger! You bring all these Falun Gong people to your house every day, why don’t you go their houses instead?” Our host just responded with a smile to reassure everyone nothing untoward would happen.
That kind of freedom lasted almost ten years in our village and no harassment from the police occurred. As for myself, after having lived through the event of 2003, I was no longer afraid. I went on to carry out many Dafa-related activities such as distributing loads of truth-clarification materials, transporting materials around, and taking photographs of police personnel, all without giving any thought to the concept of fear. Another positive outcome of this event was that I had since been left alone and had absolutely nothing to fear. No police ever came to harass us for 13 years.
I have experienced the immense power of Dafa by breaking through my human preconceived notions and adhering to Master’s teachings.
I went to live in another city in 2006. A policeman in the eastern district of the city was so steeped in all the lies spread by the communist regime, he always responded enthusiastically to any new orders to clamp down on Dafa practitioners. He would spring into action, taking the lead in knocking on doors and arresting practitioners. Sometimes while things were rather quiet in the other districts, he would cook up some excuses to harass practitioners. As a result, the practitioners in the eastern district were always fearful, severely restricting their ability to do the three things. They had no Fa study groups and there were very few practitioners going out to distribute truth-clarification pamphlets or to clarify the truth face to face.
Together as practitioners, we decided to do what Master has told us to do – expose the local police’s misdeeds to local residents. We wrote to this policeman in the eastern district of the city (and his wife), but thought it inappropriate to write to his high-school age child as well. The letter was carefully composed to expose his many crimes in his flagrant misuse of power and mistreatment of Falun Dafa practitioners. We also included an account of the irreversible pain and suffering he inflicted on the families of his victims. We thought the letter was a show of kindness by the benevolent nature of Falun Dafa and its cultivators.
Copies of the letter were printed and widely distributed and posted in and around the area he lived as well as around his wife’s work place. After reading the letter, many people who knew him advised him to change his ways. A senior person was known to have gone to speak to him with a copy of the letter in hand. All these reactions seriously shocked him, so for once he really did come to understand the lies about the persecution of Falun Dafa and changed for good. A real change in the area thus came about.
The whole eastern district of the city had been transformed. Once a keen persecutor of Falun Dafa practitioners, this policeman was now ashamed of his past actions. He backed off completely and became much more wary about orders from the top, no longer wanting to do their dirty work for them. What followed was a huge improvement in our cultivation environment, making it more amenable for practitioners in the area. Gradually practitioners started to team up to go out distributing truth-clarification materials.
Soon after, we started forming Fa study groups. Because we were able to study together, we all felt uplifted by the power of Dafa and more and more practitioners felt compelled to go out and about to clarify the truth to the public. We also helped them to withdraw their memberships in the Chinese Communist Party and its affiliated youth associations. Later, we formed groups of seven or eight and together traveled to different rural villages. We went from house to house to spread the truth and managed to persuade more than a hundred people to withdraw on a daily basis. Once more the power of Dafa had transformed our cultivation environment and our personal cultivation condition.
That was one of the happiest and most meaningful times we spent together as Falun Dafa cultivators. Exposing local persecution to local residents has indeed been very beneficial to myself.
Master said,
“I hope all Dafa disciples and new students in mainland China will do this well.” (“Comment on a Student’s Article” from The Essentials of Diligent Progress Vol. III)
I wrote this article hoping it would be an encouragement to fellow practitioners in China. Let’s all work together to do well what Master has encouraged us to do.
Please kindly point out any bias or misrepresentations in this article.
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