(Minghui.org) Many Falun Gong practitioners have recounted how their lives changed for the better by practicing Falun Gong. They tell how, when they were imprisoned for their faith, they were able to change inmates and often guards in prisons and detention centers. They clarify the truth to awaken people’s consciences and prevent them from harming practitioners. One such practitioner shares her story, which begins below.
I Finally Found What I’d Been Looking For
My mother told me that I suddenly stopped breathing when I was less than a day old. After she revived me, she asked a fortune teller to read my fortune. She was told that I came from heaven and that my family in heaven had sent me to her. She worried that she would lose me, so she prayed to the immortals for my safety all the time.
I passed out twice due to stomachaches in third grade and stayed home for a semester. I fell out of a tree in fourth grade and broke my femur. My father got medicine for me from a rural osteopath. It was too high a dose for a 13-year-old. The next afternoon, my nose kept bleeding after I took the medicine. No adult was at home. I stopped up my nose, and the blood flowed out of my mouth. When my mother came home, I passed out due to loss of blood and was taken to the emergency room.
As I matured, I had all kinds of ailments. I could only kneel or lie down, but not sit, due to gastroduodenal bleeding. I also had atrophic gastritis, colitis, pelvic inflammation, cholecystitis, and a thyroid tumor among other things. I went to many well-known hospitals in China, but to no avail. I felt I would rather die than live.
Not only were the diseases haunting me, but I resented everything in this world, as if nothing was what I was looking for. I did not want to get married but did so for the sake of my parents. My husband was very nice to me, but I still felt that this was not what I wanted.
In the middle of a summer day, when I was in a daze, I saw a yellow object floating down from the sky to the ground. It was a person dressed in yellow. After practicing Falun Dafa (also known as Falun Gong), I knew it was Master in the yellow exercise outfit, just like in the video.
I was hospitalized again in April 1998 because of a proliferation of the cervical vertebrae. I was dizzy and could not move my head due to lack of blood. My heart beat so fast that I was often out of breath. The attending doctor said, “What can I prescribe for you? You have problems everywhere. You should practice Falun Gong. He then demonstrated the four movements of the second exercise that mimicked holding a wheel and gave me a copy of Zhuan Falun.
That evening, I felt less dizzy and could stand up. Imitating the doctor, I tried to hold the wheel above my head. As soon as I raised my arms, my hair ruffled, as if a breeze was blowing. I quickly lowered my arms and looked up. There was nothing. I raised my hands a second time, and my hair ruffled even more. I put my arms down and didn't dare continue. The next day, I asked the doctor what was going on. He said, “That's a good thing. It's the rotation of the Falun. You have a predestined relationship with Falun Dafa. You should continue!”
I began to read the book Zhuan Falun and thought that this was what I had been looking for my whole life. I was determined to practice well, starting on April 8, 1998.
In less than 20 days, I no longer felt sick or in pain. I felt so light, and a Falun was spinning in my lower abdomen. I became healthy, and my heart was filled with joy. After my family witnessed my recovery, 17 members of my family, relatives, and friends began to practice Falun Dafa.
Seeking Justice for Falun Gong in Beijing
Jiang Zemin, the former head of the communist regime, launched the persecution of Falun Gong in July 1999. The communists began to slander Falun Gong's founder, Master Li Hongzhi. I decided to go to Beijing to tell the world about Falun Dafa.
At that time, police officers tried to intercept practitioners from petitioning for Falun Gong. I wasn’t intimidated. I was ready to go to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong the next day. But the woman we hired got sick, and I was not able to leave. I wanted to embark on the third day, but my husband asked me to wait until the trade show ended. But, we did not get any business from the trade show. I realized all this was interference to prevent me from going to Beijing to seek justice for Falun Gong.
I started my journey to Beijing on December 19, 1999. I just got on a shuttle bus. Many fellow practitioners came to see me off. I was the first one in our area to go to Beijing. One handed me a mask and asked me to put it on so that police wouldn’t recognize me. I said, “Don't worry. I will get to Beijing without a problem given Master's protection!”
When I turned around and sat down, ready to go, I suddenly saw Master standing in front of me, smiling. I shouted, “Master!” I wept. I knew he was encouraging me. As the bus left the county, I was still crying.
Passing by our store, my husband stopped the bus and handed me a large bag of food. When we were 10 miles from the county seat, 27 practitioners got on the bus. The ticket seller kept shouting, “Falun Gong practitioners heading to Beijing to appeal, please get off the bus!” No one got off, and we pretended we hadn't heard him.
In Tiemenguan, Tianjin, a police car stopped in front of the bus. A family member of a practitioner on the bus had reported us to the police. They told us to get off the bus and checked our identification cards, one by one. At that time, Master hadn't talked about sending forth righteous thoughts, but I felt that Master was by my side, and I walked past the police without any rush. Then I waited for the bus in the next village.
Two police officers came over and asked me if I had been on that bus. I didn't answer them. They muttered to themselves, “There’s one person missing. There’s a bag but no owner.” I boarded another bus with only a young woman on it. But after some time, we had to change buses, because it was too expensive to run a bus for just two people. I had to change buses three times before I got to Beijing.
The young woman followed me all the way to my final destination. I knew Master arranged this, knowing I hadn't been away from home before. At the second transfer, the ticket saleswoman of the old bus said to the ticket salesman of the new bus: “This lady has not been away from home before. If you change the bus again, please help her buy a ticket.” I was too grateful to Master to express my feelings in words.
When I got to the bus station in Beijing, it was about 11 p.m., and I didn't think I would be able to do the exercises that day. I had made a rule when I first started practicing: I wouldn’t let a day go by without doing the exercises. A man shouted, “Who needs a hotel?” I said, “Is it okay without an ID?” “Okay,” he said. I followed him to a lounge on the right side of the waiting room. There was one bed left where I could do the exercises.
After I finished, I went to Tiananmen Square. When I got there, I started to do the exercises again. While I was doing the second exercise, a young police officer said, “All right now. You should think of our position. Please stop doing that.” I said, “We left our families and came all the way to Beijing to tell people that Falun Gong is good, that Master Li is good. What's on TV are lies.” The officer stood next to me and watched as I finished all five exercises. But he did not arrest me.
Before dawn, several police officers came and dragged me into a police car. Later, the director of my county Party committee picked me up. As we drove home, I told him many Dafa truths, and he understood them. When I saw him again in 2016, he said, “I still remember everything you said when I went to Beijing to pick you up.” I was released after being held for five days in the detention center.
Clarifying the Truth in a Detention Center
The 2000 Chinese New Year was approaching. I worried that Master was being falsely accused and so many fellow practitioners had been imprisoned. I didn't have the heart to celebrate the New Year. I wanted to go to Beijing. My family was very supportive.
With the help of fellow practitioners, I made it to Tiananmen Square in Beijing with another practitioner. It was already under martial law for the New Year. When we got there, the two of us did four of the exercises. The police arrested us and put us in the police car, where we did the fifth exercise. A police officer from our county's National Domestic Division picked me up. I told the officer the facts about Falun Gong on the way home. He said, “I cannot outargue you. You see, I did not even put handcuffs on you. I would send you home if I could. I can’t believe you went to Beijing to appeal on Chinese New Year!” We were put in custody and illegally detained for 40 days.
During those 40 days, I had the opportunity to clarify the truth to guards and prisoners in the detention center. I wanted to do well so that they would see the beauty of Dafa through me.
Four Death-row Inmates and Four Other Prisoners Change Their Behavior
When my family, relatives, and friends visited me in the detention center, the director joked that more people visited me in one day than visited the entire detention center in a week. I shared everything my family brought me with the other inmates.
At that time, the center was holding a death row inmate. No one visited her, so she had no clothes to change into, as well as lice all over her head. No one wanted to sleep next to her, so I did. When she didn't have something, she stole other people's stuff. Others beat her and yelled at her. She had epilepsy and often had seizures. I advised everyone not to bully her and to be kind to her.
A female guard was very touched when she saw all this. She said, “Ever since you came, there has been no fighting in the cell. In the past, it took a lot of effort to stop the fights. What panacea do you use to keep them from fighting?” I said, “It was Falun Dafa that changed them.”
At that time, there were 10 practitioners and eight inmates in our cell. Four of the inmates were on death row. They fought, cursed, and cried every day. After we came, they were surprised to see our selflessness, our perseverance in the face of suffering, and that we did not fight back in a conflict. Those inmates began to calm down, and we practitioners told them about Dafa.
When I arrived, I could see the knots in their hearts. They knew that they were on death row and would not live much longer. The desperation had left them with nothing to fear. I said to them, “Start over now. If you practice Falun Dafa, your path of life will change. Our Master can give anything, as long as you are willing to learn. Tomorrow we will start to practice Dafa.”
We created an environment to study the Fa. The next day, a practitioner was taken to the police department. She saw a small copy of Zhuan Falun on the desk. She took it and brought it to the detention center. The inmates were willing to follow us to learn the Fa. A treasured book changed everything in that cell.
Master's principles changed the hatred and dark hearts of the eight prisoners. They became lively and cheerful. They all said that if they had met Dafa earlier, they would never have gone down this path, which had ruined the lives of others, their families, and themselves.
One morning before breakfast, the cell captain opened Zhuan Falun to Master's photo in the front. She solemnly put her palms together to show respect and sat cross-legged to meditate. The other seven inmates also sat down and meditated cross-legged. A death row inmate cried and said, “Master, please accept us sinful people as your disciples. If we could only live one day, we would practice Falun Dafa following you.” We 10 practitioners also cried, sitting behind them.
An hour passed, all 18 of us sitting still, crying. No one had a bite of breakfast. A guard on duty heard us crying, looked in the door, and left without saying a word.
After that, there was no time for rest or relaxation, just studying the Fa teachings and doing the exercises. One day we read eight of the nine lectures in Zhuan Falun. With the study, everyone's mind improved. A death-row inmate, Lou, used to be possessed by a snake and gave people healing treatments. After she started studying the Fa, the snake said to her one day, “I've been with you for eight years and helped you earn so much money. Don’t you want me anymore?” Ms. Lou said, “No, I don't want you. I want to learn the Great Way from Master Li Hongzhi.” The snake rolled its eyes and dried up. She had suffered from swollen joints in her hands for many years and could not work but recovered within a few days after learning Falun Gong. She couldn't express her gratitude to Master and Dafa enough.
Because they had chosen to study Dafa, these inmates’ fates changed, too. One death-row inmate was released without charge, two death-row inmates were spared from death, one with a seven-year sentence was acquitted, and one with a seven-year sentence was changed to three years.
There was also a death row inmate surnamed Lang whose execution had been delayed for more than eight months because she was learning Dafa. But she later did not value the Fa anymore.
On the night before her execution, she had a dream that a man drew a line that she and death row inmate Lou had to cross. Whoever crossed the line within five minutes would not be shot. The man shouted, “Ready? Go!” She ran halfway and saw a 50-dollar bill on the ground. She stopped to pick it up, so she didn’t make it in time. While she was telling us her dream in the morning, the police called her out and she never came back.
A guard told us that, when she was about to be shot, she was totally unafraid. She said to the guard, “When the gun goes off, my master will pick me up. Please tell my friends in the cell that I have one of Master's handwritten articles under my bed. I did not cherish Dafa and did not listen to my special friend (referring to me). I am sorry. I'll repay her in my next life.”
A Guard Becomes a Practitioner
A female guard who witnessed the change in the inmates recognized the power of Dafa and thanked me. I later called this policewoman “Big Sister.” She often called me into her office to learn something about Falun Gong.
Once, she made dumplings at home and brought them for me. She also bought me a sweater. I went to her office and said, “Big Sister, don't do this to me. In fact, every one of us has a happy family. But, so that more people can understand the truth of Falun Gong and be spared future calamity, we have left our homes to tell the world that Dafa is good.”
She said, “So that's it! I thought you were all mentally ill and had families that didn't care. I was so wrong about you.”
“Big Sister, I am very grateful we met in this life. It's difficult to acquire a human body, it's difficult to reincarnate, and it's difficult to find the righteous way. But we have this human body and are born in China and have encountered the righteous way, Dafa. How lucky we are! You've been an officer all your life, but you can't change a prisoner. Dafa can make them better. You have seen practitioners tortured, but they healed without medicine; you have seen practitioners viciously beaten, but they did not complain. They are always cheerful because Master is taking care of them.
“This Fa is so good. Join us.” She said, “Will Master take me? I have persecuted his disciples before.” I said, “Master offers salvation to everyone, as long as you have the wish.”
She did, indeed, start to practice Falun Gong. After that, whenever she saw guards tormenting practitioners, she always roared, “Why don't you take care of those who kill and set fires instead of punishing these good people!”
Once, a male guard was going to torture us while she was away. She happened to bump into him and said, “You're persecuting these good people again. Come on, let's go inside and talk!” Since she was in charge of the female cells, the officer waved his hand and left.
On another occasion, two practitioners brought into the detention center refused to cooperate with the guards, who beat them so severely that they passed out. Later they were hung up by their handcuffs. The detention center had an unwritten rule that no one had the right to open the handcuffs if another officer had put them on. The next morning, the female guard saw the two new practitioners in agony. She opened the handcuffs without a word. She ordered two inmates to carry them to a cell and bought two bags of instant noodles out of her own pocket for the practitioners. It was all very moving to those of us present.
Every day she brought a Falun Dafa book to her office. When she finished reading it, she took it with her. Sometimes she gave it to practitioners in other cells. When her family found out that she was practicing Falun Gong, they hid the book Zhuan Falun, saying it had burned. In tears she said, “That book is so precious. It is worth more than my life. Where did you burn it? I need to pick up the ashes.” Seeing that she was so devastated, her daughter-in-law returned the book to her.
The huge change in the female cells made several male guards envious. They came to ask me to help them as long as there was a chance. So I had time to tell them the truth about Falun Gong. The three male guards understood and did not persecute practitioners again. Two male guards asked their wives to buy fruit for me. One guard said to me once, “Do you have anything that needs to be done at home? I want to help you. If you weren't here, I would not have a chance to help you.”
The county governor decided that I should be taken to the labor camp. The wife of a bureau director was released from the detention center. The bureau director said, “She (meaning me) went to Beijing at my wife's request. Please release her, too!”
Master published a new article a month after I’d been released. I wondered how I could pass it on to the practitioners in the detention center. The female guard came to see me. She said everyone missed me, especially the death row inmate with epilepsy. That inmate stood at the door every day, waiting for me and would hardly eat or drink. The guard said I should go back and visit them. At noon the next day, I went to the detention center with Master's new article. In the courtyard, my former cellmates shouted my name, and I waved to them.
Seeing this, the guard defied the rules and opened the cell door. I went in and gave them Master's new article. Everyone held me in their arms and cried. I told everyone, “This is not where you should be. To protect our guard friend, I have to leave right away. I hope you all cultivate diligently and regain your freedom soon. I will be awaiting your good news.” I bowed to them with my palms together to say good-by, thanked Big Sister (the guard), and left the detention center.
(To be continued)
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