(Minghui.org) I am 25 years old and just like most young people in China, I had been brainwashed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) since I was very little. I used to be a radical communist supporter, deeply influenced by the corrupt CCP’s moral standard.
However, I started to cultivate Falun Dafa (also called Falun Gong) in 2015, which awakened my conscience. I recognized the evilness of the CCP and restored my moral character. I hope that my story will awaken communist followers in China.
People my age who have grown up in China have been brainwashed by the CCP’s indoctrination. Hatred and ignorance--the real nature of the CCP--was poured into our hearts, in the name of patriotism. In elementary school, I and my friends liked drawing. All we drew were pictures of killing Japanese. People outside of China cannot imagine, but that is the result of the CCP’s education—violence.
The 2008 Beijing Olympic Games were held when I was in junior high. The radical nationalism reached the climax in China. When I saw that the Tibetans and Uighurs protested at the Olympic torch relay in other countries, but police did not stop them, I was outraged. I started to fight against the democracy activists on all kinds of online forums. Back then I was not only a supporter of the CCP but also a “warrior.” I believed the things, such as that anyone who offends the CCP should be beaten down, the CCP should invade Taiwan, and there will be a war between China and the U.S.
I completely accepted the communism claims taught in history and political science classes, and I worked hard in those classes. I was able to recite the CCP’s policies and political slogans fluently, such as "the capitalist system will crash soon," and I got high scores in those classes.
Consequently, my values and the way of thinking were badly influenced by such education. Without being taught, I learned how to use the CCP’s ideology and philosophy to analyze social phenomena and history. I figured out how to defend the CCP when other people criticize the chaos in Chinese society. I was proud of my “wisdom,” because I thought that I figured this out on my own. I even thought about writing a book that would convince people not to criticize the CCP.
Developing Doubts
High school education was the same. All we were taught was to praise the CCP. Although I realized some of the teachings were fake, I still forced myself to accept them. Educating us in materialism made me value material things. I thought that morality was not real, that it was intangible, and that the governing class used it to fool people. I believed that only material things are real and that any behavior is fine as long as it results in personal gain.
In 11th grade, I had a great history teacher, who had the correct understanding of the CCP’s history and current Chinese society. He often encouraged us to think for ourselves and challenge the teachings in the textbooks. Under his guidance, I read many history books and was surprised to find that many things I was told were wrong. The CCP painted Chinese society before 1948 as a living hell, but people had great freedom of speech; Chinese involvement in the Korean war cannot be justified; the CCP’s political movements killed millions of people; and so on. I realized that the CCP misrepresented history.
I gradually woke up, and the CCP’s image in my mind started to crumble. I started to resist the political brainwashing. Since then, whenever I received any political information from the CCP, my first response was doubt. I tried to find the truth and be my own judge.
But, after all, my mind had been occupied by the CCP’s ideology for many years, and we have bad censorship in China, so I still didn’t see the CCP’s true color, although I had learned some truth. I still had hope in the CCP. I thought that the dictatorship was temporary, and as long as the CCP could develop the economy, China will gradually have democracy.
Being Shocked
I had such illusions until I started to practice Falun Dafa in college.
In my sophomore year, I became an official of a student organization. I worked and studied very hard. The stress gave me bad insomnia. One night, I tossed around in bed. All of sudden, I remembered that my mother had saved the audio recordings of Master Li Hongzhi’s lectures in my cell phone (Master Li is the founder of Falun Dafa). My mother is a Falun Gong practitioner.
When I was little, I did the Falun Gong exercises with her for a short time. Although I didn’t really cultivate Falun Gong, I knew that it was good. I knew about the CCP’s persecution of Falun Gong, but I didn’t know the reasons—I didn’t want to know either. That night, I could not fall asleep, so I decided to listen to the lectures.
Amazingly, I fell asleep while listening to the lecture. Master Li talked about how to conduct oneself. The content was righteous and positive and made me feel safe and comfortable. All the worries were gone, so I was able to fall asleep. Since then, I listened to the lectures every night and no longer experienced insomnia.
I went over the lectures many times. From them I learned what the true purpose of life is, why one should be a good person, how to be a good person, and where lives originated. Other questions of mine, such as the mysteries of the universe and the karmic relationship in the human world, were also answered by the lectures. I decided to practice Falun Gong, because I wanted to return to my true self.
Ever since I was little, I'd had problems with my digestive system. My stomach rejected many kinds of food, and I often threw up. Shortly after I started cultivation, I no longer had digestive problems.
More importantly I learned the Dafa principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. This is something nobody ever taught me before. In daily life, I try to follow these principles. I don’t fight, and the relationship between me and others became harmonious. I no longer worry over trivial things. In the face of difficulties and problems, I can always find a solution in the book Zhuan Falun (the main book of Falun Gong), as long as I read it calmly. I am able to let go of many attachments and improve my level. Zhuan Falun has become a book I must read every day, no matter how busy I am.
Then, there was a question I must face. Falun Dafa is so good, but why does the CCP persecute it? Is the CCP’s propaganda true? I looked for the answers online. I broke through the censorship and found a lot of information that is not available publicly in China. The articles by practitioners on the Minghui website tell how they benefit from cultivation. They solidified my belief that Falun Dafa is righteous, and the persecution is wrong.
I also found that the CCP has published a lot of lies to attack Falun Gong, such as the case of the self-immolation. I saw the brutality of the persecution. Many practitioners passed away due to physical torture. I saw the solid evidence of the state-sanctioned forced organ harvesting from living practitioners. I saw the persecution of the Chinese human right lawyers who defend Falun Gong practitioners.
The truth made me think about the CCP more deeply. Is the persecution of Falun Gong the only crime it has committed in history? So, I started to read the communist party’s history from its beginning in Paris, to the Soviet Union era, to the CCP’s numerous political movements, to its suppression of democracy activists, to the censorship, the brainwashing, and to its infiltration in western society.
The communists have brought countless disasters to China and the world. But many Chinese people never heard about them. I was shocked! What had I learned in the last decade? When the CCP was committing crimes, what did I do? Recalling that I had fought for it and defended it, I felt ashamed.
I completely recognized the evil nature of the CCP. So, I announced in the newspaper The Epoch Times website my withdrawal from the Party and its youth organizations. I also deleted all the articles I had written that supported the CCP, and threw away all the history and politics textbooks. I woke up and abandoned the CCP.
Purge the Party Culture and Restore Morality by Cultivating Dafa
Quitting the Party does not mean getting rid of the indoctrination by the Party. The CCP has implanted the atheism and fighting ideology in Chinese people’s minds and destroyed traditional Chinese culture. Every Chinese is influenced by CCP brainwashing, which is very different from the cultures in other societies.
I myself am a victim of the CCP's brainwashing. I didn’t realize this until I started to cultivate in Dafa. Influenced by the Party's indoctrination, my behaviors and speeches didn’t match the standard of Dafa. It was a big obstacle in my cultivation. I must use the principle of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance to rectify myself and purge the indoctrination.
The most common and obvious manifestation of the CCP's indoctrination is hatred, which was deeply rooted in me. I hated Japanese; I hated Americans; I hated all the opponents of the CCP. In daily life I hated all the things that made me unhappy. I was harsh to the people I didn’t like. Due to this mentality, I took radical ways to do things, and often used harsh tones to others, even my parents.
This mentality is against Dafa’s teachings. Master Li said at the beginning of Zhuan Falun:
“In ordinary human society, people compete with, deceive, and harm each other for a little personal gain. All of these mentalities must be given up.” (Lecture One, Zhuan Falun)
When I realized this, I started to focus on getting rid of the hateful mentality.
For example, many drivers nowadays exhibit road rage. Although I only ride a bicycle, I also give way to road rage. When people got in my way or accidentally collided with my bike, I would be very mad. On the surface I could control myself, since I know that a Dafa practitioner must follow the principle of forbearance, but in my heart I blamed others, so I was not truly forbearing.
One day, a paragraph in Zhuan Falun woke me up. Master Li told a story:
“When I was teaching the Fa and the practice in Taiyuan, there was a practitioner over fifty years old. She and her spouse had come to attend my lectures. When they walked into the middle of the street, a car drove by very fast, and its rearview mirror caught the elderly lady’s clothes. With her clothes caught by the car, the lady was dragged for a distance of over ten meters and brought down to the ground. The car stopped after moving beyond twenty meters. The driver was very upset after getting out of the car: “Hey, you weren’t watching where you were walking.” Nowadays, people behave this way and will first of all avoid responsibility upon coming across a problem, regardless of whether they are at fault. The passengers inside the car said: “Find out how badly the lady was hit. Let’s take her to a hospital.” The driver came to his senses and rushed to say: “How is everything, ma’am? Are you hurt? Let’s go to a hospital and take a look.” This practitioner slowly got up from the ground and said: “There’s nothing wrong. You can leave.” She brushed off the dirt on her clothes and left with her husband.” (Lecture Four, Zhuan Falun)
I had read this story many times, but I didn’t give it much thought. That day, all of sudden, I realized that the lady is very tolerant and forgiving. How can I be mad only because people blocked my way or hit me. Is it right for a cultivator? My behavior was far below the bar set by Dafa. I felt ashamed.
I gave more thought to it. My mentality came from the fighting philosophy I was indoctrinated by the Party. People didn’t block my way or collide with me on purpose. I follow the traffic rules, and they may violate them. But this shouldn't make me angry.
Besides the road rage, I often complained about others at work and home. I was self-centered and never considered anyone else but myself. Isn’t this the extension of the fighting philosophy indoctrination by the Party? Even a person who does not cultivate Dafa should not behave like that, not to mention a Dafa disciple.
Master Li said:
“As you know, when a person reaches the Arhat level, in his heart he is not concerned about anything. He does not care at all in his heart for any ordinary human matter, and he will always be smiling and in good spirits. No matter how much loss he suffers, he will still be smiling and in good spirits without any concern. If you can really do this, you have already reached the entry-level Fruit Status of Arhatship.” (Lecture Nine, Zhuan Falun)
After I understood this, I tried my best to follow the teachings. I found that relationships among people can be harmonious. I had few worries once I stopped complaining, and started to look inward for my own faults during conflicts.
There is another experience that gave me a deep impression. I went to Hong Kong in May 2019 and watched the local Falun Gong practitioners’ celebration activities for World Falun Dafa Day. There is a local organization, which has been bought by the CCP, and often harasses and threatens Falun Gong practitioners. At the celebration, a member of that organization tried to give me a flier that slandered Falun Gong. I was irritated and rolled my eyes. She was embarrassed and left.
Later I realized that my way of expression might have been wrong. She was doing wrong deeds, helping the CCP to spread lies, but she herself is a victim of the CCP’s lies too—slandering the Buddha Fa will result in punishment. She was bought by the CCP but didn’t know she was doing a stupid thing. Isn’t this a pity? Shouldn’t I have sympathy for her? Master Li told us: “Even if you do meet with persecution, you should still handle everything with the benevolence of someone on the spiritual path.” (“To the Practitioners of Vietnam” Team yellow translation)
I felt ashamed compared to the Hong Kong practitioners. At the celebration events, that organization cursed and attacked Falun Gong through loudspeakers. But none of the practitioners fought back. Everybody was calm and peaceful. Facing the attacks from that organization, for many years practitioners have followed Master’s teaching “As a practitioner, the first thing you should be able to do is to not fight back when you are beaten or sworn at—you must be tolerant.” (Lecture Nine, Zhuan Falun) They never treat the evil with violence, but I was mean to that woman. My behavior was rooted in CCP indoctrination.
As pointed out by the book Disintegrate the Party Culture, the party culture teaches people to have a fighting mentality to solve problems. When facing conflicts the first response of people that are influenced by the Party is to fight in a cold and brutal way. But Dafa teaches us to treat people with sincerity, compassion, and forbearance.
Master Li said:
“As practitioners, you will suddenly come across conflicts. What should you do? You should always maintain a heart of compassion and kindness. Then, when you run into a problem, you will be able to do well because it gives you room to buffer the confrontation. You should always be benevolent and kind to others, and consider others when doing anything. Whenever you encounter a problem, you should first consider whether others can put up with this matter or if it will hurt anyone. In doing so, there will not be any problems.” (Lecture Four, Zhuan Falun)
Hatred is just one component taught by the Party. It also includes lying, being self-centered, exaggerating, treating others as enemies, not considering others, and so on. All of these are against Dafa’s teaching of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, and the traditional Chinese and western cultures. Under Dafa’s guidance, I have had chances of finding these problems in myself, and chances of rectifying myself. In cultivation, I am trying to restore morality and purge everything I was indoctrinated with.
Conclusion
Looking back at the process of going from being radical to being calm and peaceful, I deeply appreciate the teachings by Dafa. If it were not for Dafa, I would still be deceived by the CCP, and still be fighting on the internet as a radical CCP’s follower. It is Dafa that has helped me find inner peace, and understand the true meaning of life. I thank Master Li for helping me improve.
The CCP’s persecution of Falun Gong has gone on for 21 years. Practitioners never use violence or any type of viciousness to fight back. We just expose the evilness of the Party to the public, and try to help people quit the Party, hoping that people would not be deceived and be destroyed with the Party when it loses power. The Party will be punished by the heaven soon. Abandoning it is the best way to bring a bright future for yourself.
I hope that all the Chinese, including those who are still following the persecution policies, would sober up and learn what Falun Gong really is. In this chaotic world, knowing that Falun Dafa is good and Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good will bring blessing to everyone.
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