(Minghui.org) I started practicing Falun Dafa in March 1999. Thanks to Master’s protection, I was able to overcome tribulations and hardships. I could thus fulfill my vows and carry out my mission.
Reciting the Fa in the Forced Labor Camp
I was arrested and taken to a forced labor camp during the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008. I regretted so much that I couldn’t recite Master’s Fa except “On Dafa” and a few poems from Hong Yin. I was not scared when I recited the Fa in the forced labor camp. I recited whatever I could remember and recited the Fa every minute and at any place. I firmly believed in the Fa and refused to be “transformed.” I believed in Master completely. No matter how the guards treated me or wherever they took me, I recited the Fa in my mind all the time, and didn’t let any selfish thoughts take advantage of me.
Master saw my heart and arranged for me to be moved to another cell. A practitioner in that cell could recite a lot of Fa. She looked weak and skinny. She wrote down the Fa she could remember on a piece of paper under the weak light within her blanket, despite the cell being monitored at all times. She then passed it to me. I tried my best to memorize it.
The evil was very scared that we practitioners circulated the Fa among ourselves. The guards checked practitioners’ clothes, blankets, and everyday necessities every few days. They tried every means not to let us study the Fa, while practitioners tried so hard to recite the Fa. As long as one practitioner in a cell could recite a Fa poem, other practitioners in the same cell could soon recite it. As long as the practitioners in one cell could recite the Fa, the practitioners in the other cells could recite it very soon. I memorized “Teaching the Fa at the 2004 Chicago Conference” at that time.
We were like a lonely boat that had been lost at sea and suddenly spotted a lighthouse. We were longing for the Fa’s enrichment, guidance, and salvation more than ever. By reciting the Fa a lot, we laid a good foundation for our future actions against the persecution.
Countering the Persecution by Not Reporting
“Numbering off” is a supervision system to manage the prisoners in the forced labor camp. Every prisoner must number whether they collected their meals, did the political study, or did the labor work. We are Dafa disciples who speak the truth, adhere to the truth, and were not prisoners. Our counter persecution action started with not numbering.
One day the practitioner who taught me to recite the Fa refused to number off when collecting the meal. She was in the line not far from me. I saw the guard on duty scolding her loudly and dragging her out of the line. I stepped out of my line and said calmly that I would not number off either. The guard on duty was in panic. She might be afraid that she could not control the situation if all the practitioners refused to number off. She took the practitioner into a solitary confinement cell, and took me back into the cell.
No practitioners ate the meal that day. The cell was very quiet, although I was worried and felt uneasy. But practitioners knew that a practitioner was reminding us to wake up. We were determined to oppose the persecution. When we were downstairs collecting the meal, we agreed that all practitioners would not number off the next day, as to show our support for the confined practitioner.
The guards were at a loss at our action, and were in an extreme panic. Dozens of guards, from the duty-room section to the monitoring section to the education section, came and dragged all the practitioners downstairs, and outside to the snow-covered ground – to freeze us. We were not allowed to wear coats. Those practitioners who had been detained for a long time were not able to bear it.
Master’s poem came into my mind:
“In the chaotic world, like pure lotus flowers—plum blossoms, a hundred millionCold winds only accentuate their beautyThe interminable snowfall and rainare the tears of gods,Who look longingly for the plum blossoms’ returnNever, ever get preoccupied with worldly thingsSteel your righteous thoughtsFor all [that you have gone through] since ancient times,Was for none other than this time around.”(“Plum Blossoms,” Hong Yin Volume II)
I had mixed feelings in my heart. For quite some time I didn’t hear the guards’ shouting.
One of the practitioners fainted and fell to the ground. She was in poor health due to the long-time persecution. I ran to her even though the guards were staring at us, moved her to the side, and hugged her. I just wanted to warm her with my own body. My pure heart might have touched the guards. None of them moved, they just looked at us. This particular scene might have been fixed in a particular dimension. This scene verified what 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.” (“Teaching the Fa at the Western U.S. International Fa Conference,” Collected Fa Teachings Vol. VII)
The tribulation was dissolved quietly.
Practicing the Exercises Collectively
Because we refused to number off, all six practitioners were held in the same cell and didn’t need to collect the meals, or buy necessities by ourselves. When we saw the guards, we didn’t need to report either. This was the first exception ever in the forced labor camp. We thus had more time to study the Fa, and share with each other. As we studied the Fa more, we realized that we had to do more to stop the persecution. We decided to do the exercises collectively and tell inmates the facts about Falun Dafa.
As soon as we were doing the meditation exercise, the guards on duty were terrified and ran into our cell with electric batons. The guards and the prisoners on duty dragged our legs down, cursed at us, beat us and shocked us with batons. That didn’t affect us. We kept doing the exercise and tried our best to tell them the facts about Falun Dafa. The guards didn’t listen to us, but persecuted us more cruelly. They handcuffed us to the bed frames around the clock.
One practitioner requested to use the toilet. The guard on duty shocked her with an electric baton without saying a word, and she fainted. After a while she came to. Although she looked weak, with determination she asked the inmate on duty to pass her word to the guard on duty that the practitioners wanted to see the leaders of the labor camp.
Going on Hunger Strike to Protest the Persecution
Because we were deprived of our basic right of using the toilet, we started a hunger strike to protect our dignity. Two days later the guards inhumanely force-fed the practitioner who requested to use the toilet. They then force-fed all of the other practitioners. We knew those guards’ lives were in danger because of their persecution of practitioners.
We were not willing to see the evil utilize the guards to persecute practitioners, thus losing their futures. We tried to tell them the truth with compassion. But they stopped us repeatedly. We then recited Master’s poems one by one. We recited dozens of poems.
Everyone was overwhelmed by the powerful energy. The camp doctors simmered down. The inmates, the guards, the head of the guards, the director of the forced labor camp simmered down, and exclaimed that every practitioner was so talented. Falun Dafa opened their minds and woke up their conscience so that they still had the hope of being saved by Dafa.
The camp management team subsequently often called us in for a talk. They asked the practitioner who sang songs well to sing Dafa songs for them. We told them what basic human rights were, how precious human life is, and how wonderful Falun Dafa is. We told them that everyone was responsible for his/her life, and encouraged them to choose a bright future for themselves at this critical moment in time.
The guards changed their attitudes towards all practitioners. We no longer wore the prisoners uniforms, didn’t do forced labor, and didn’t attend the political study. The guards kept silent and didn’t interfere. Many inmates knew the truth and realized that practitioners were good people. They thus protected us secretly.
We will never forget May 13, 2009. All practitioners stood in one line and sang the song “Ode to Master’s Grace” with tears in our eyes. Our voices resonated in the air of the forced labor camp. Through the windows of the cell, we saw that the sky was beautifully blue that day.
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