(Minghui.org) I started to practice Falun Dafa in 1996 and began to memorize Zhuan Falun, the main text of Falun Dafa, two years later.
When reciting I felt my body being cleansed and it enabled me to gain more insights in the Fa. It has also helped me to pass many trials and tribulations on my cultivation journey.
The Onset of the Persecution
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) started to persecute Falun Dafa practitioners on July 20, 1999. Early that morning my son and I went to the practice site as usual to do the exercises. Many police officers and police cars had already surrounded the practice site. They did not deter us, and we continued to do the exercises. When we were doing the second exercise, I opened my eyes and saw a policeman looking at my son with a big smile on his face.
When we learned that practitioners from other practice sites were being arrested, over 20 practitioners decided to appeal outside the provincial government compound on July 22.
We hired a bus and got everything ready.
The night before we were to leave I asked my husband if we should take our six-year-old son with us. He said that we should because he is Master’s little disciple, and besides no one would be able to take care of him if we left him at home. He told me to not be afraid because Master would protect him.
I was still concerned and couldn’t sleep, so I started to meditate. I felt my body levitating up off the ground and kept rising higher. I became afraid and asked Master to let me down. I came down and stopped meditating. Due to my lack of Fa- study, I didn’t realize that Master was actually hinting that I should let go of fear.
We departed early the next morning. As we went passed the practice site we could see practitioners doing the exercises as usual, but more police and police cars were there.
Our bus was stopped by a policeman, and he asked us where we were going. The driver told him that we were traveling. My son waved and smiled, and the officer let us go on our way.
Sneaking Zhuan Falun Into a Detention Center
A practitioner was held in a detention center in another city, and wanted to read the Dafa books. I was asked if I could help.
I was a bit afraid at first, but thinking that this practitioner was eager to get Dafa books I decided to send her a copy of Zhuan Falun. Several practitioners came with me to see her. We asked Master to strengthen us, and recited Master’s poem on the way to the detention center.
“Dafa is what you carry everywhere,Zhen Shan Ren, rooted in the mind;A great Arhat walks the earth,Gods and demons fear with awe.”(“Benevolent Might,” Hong Yin)
We met the practitioner and gave her the food we brought. I then managed to tuck Zhuan Falun inside her clothes. A guard looked at us suspiciously. We sent righteous thoughts and left the detention center safely.
We were doing the most sacred thing. Practitioners need to study the Fa and no one can stop us from doing that.
Detained
I was arrested during the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008, and taken to a detention center. A guard tried to force me to write a guarantee statement to give up my belief, but I refused.
They cuffed my hands onto the window rail. The director of the detention center came in, and I said, “It is not wrong to practice Falun Dafa.” He released me from the handcuffs and took me back to my cell.
One inmate, who was a drug dealer, didn’t eat and cried all day. The director told us practitioners to tell her about Falun Dafa. After speaking to the inmates in the cell a lot of them quit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its youth organizations.
I felt the Fa was more precious, and studying the Fa was very important in the detention center. I asked Master in my heart to arrange practitioners to bring Master’s articles to me. Several days in a row I read Master’s articles in my dreams.
One day the team leader gave me one of Master’s articles, and said that it had been brought in by another practitioner.
There were three practitioners in our cell. We studied the Fa in the evening while the inmates watched TV. We read “Fa Teaching at the 2008 New York Conference” in turn, and over time I was able to memorize the entire article.
Imprisoned
I was sentenced to a three-year prison term and transferred to the Shenyang Women’s Prison in Liaoning Province. I was put in solitary confinement, with two inmates assigned to monitor me. I was not allowed to talk and was forced to watch television programs slandering Falun Dafa. I was deprived of sleep and not allowed to wash myself. They beat me and cursed at me. I was locked in there for five months.
I almost broke down and wanted to commit suicide. But I thought of Master and knew that I shouldn’t die. Master gave me a second life, so how can I be so selfish and want to end it. I pulled myself together and knew that I must oppose the persecution.
They didn’t allow me to talk, so I sang. I sang songs composed by practitioners. Some inmates cried while listening to them. They asked me to write down the lyrics, and learned to sing with me. Some quit the CCP after they learned the truth about Dafa, and even tried to help other practitioners.
One day an inmate gave me work to do. I told her that I wouldn't do it because good people shouldn’t be in prison. She started to curse at me and hit me. I asked her “Why do you persecute good people.”
She said, “The purpose of the state-run prison is to turn good people into bad people.”
I told the team leader what she said. “Don't listen to her,” the team lead replied. “I've been in contact with many Falun Dafa practitioners. They are all good people. We admire those determined practitioners. I don't want to “transform” practitioners, but it's the order from higher-ups.”
I saw sadness and helplessness in her eyes. How pitiful she was! But it helped me dissolve some of my hatred toward those who treated practitioners badly.
I started to clarify the truth to the inmates and the guards.
A team leader told me to sign a form, but I refused. She got angry and threatened to put me into a confinement cell. I looked into her eyes and told her that I was determined to practice Falun Dafa, and my belief was unshakable. She was so scared that she dropped the form and left.
Master said, “...one righteous mind can subdue one hundred evils.” (Lecture Three, Zhuan Falun) The old force elements are afraid of Dafa practitioners. Not vice versa.
One practitioner had been sentenced to 15 years and was tortured. She was not allowed to talk to anyone or have family visits. The authorities even urged her husband to divorce her. Her family members were not allowed to send money to her either, so she wasn’t able to buy daily necessities.
I felt very sorry for her. I sat beside her and recited the Fa and sang Dafa songs to her. She smiled and felt happy. But we were reported and threatened by the guards.
I was called into the office the next day. The section leader asked me what I had said to the practitioner. I told her that we talked about Falun Dafa and I recited Master’s poems and sang Dafa songs.
She said that she would like to listen as well, so I recited one of the poems and sang a practitioner's song. “What a good poem and beautiful song!” she exclaimed. “Please come again. I would like to hear more.”
Master said:
“Should you have fear,it will seize upon youIf thoughts are righteous,evil will collapseThe cultivator’s mindis loaded with FaSend righteous thoughts,and rotten demons explodeGods walk the earth,validating the Fa”(“What’s to Fear?,” Hong Yin Volume II)
I understood that fear had prevented me from helping Master rectify the Fa all these years. I feared that my fame, personal interest and sentimentality would be damaged. I feared death, hardship, persecution, and so much more.
Master said:
“Cultivation is cultivation, and cultivation is about getting rid of one’s attachments, putting a stop to bad human behavior and all kinds of fears, including the human attachments of being afraid of this and being afraid of that.” (“Pass the Deadly Test,” The Essentials of Diligent Progress Vol. III)
“ Fear can cause one to make mistakes, and fear can cause one to lose a predestined opportunity. Fear is a death trap on a human being’s journey toward divinity.” (“Pass the Deadly Test,” The Essentials of Diligent Progress Vol. III)
When I discovered the root cause of fear, I came to understand and was then no longer concerned with life or death. I am a Dafa disciple. I listen to Master and do what Master asks us to do. Everything became much simpler from then on.
Master said:
“If a cultivator can let go of the thought of life and death under any circumstance, evil is sure to be afraid of him. If every student is able to do this, evil will of itself no longer exist. All of you are already aware of the principle of mutual-generation and mutual-inhibition. If you are not afraid, the factor that would make you afraid will cease to exist.” (“Eliminate Your Last Attachment(s),” Essentials for Further Advancement II)
“... just by having your heart unaffected you will be able to handle all situations.” (“Eliminate Your Last Attachment(s),” Essentials for Further Advancement II)
Letting People Know about Dafa
Dafa disciples have the mission to awaken the conscience of sentient beings. People are being deceived by the CCP's propaganda. Their minds are full of negative thoughts about Dafa. They are against Dafa who created them and are in danger of losing their lives.
Eight practitioners walked to a faraway village. We divided into two groups and spent seven hours distributing Dafa materials to every household there.
It was our great hope that sentient beings’ conscience could be awakened by the materials we left with them.
There were no Dafa practitioners in six villages and townships in the region, so two practitioners rented a house in one of the villages and stayed there for six months. They visited every household, gave out brochures, and talked to people about Falun Dafa.
Other practitioners went there frequently to help them. I went there with several other practitioners one day. It was a two-hour drive from the city. We drove into a mountainous area and it started to rain heavily and there were thunderstorms. It became very dark as torrential rain poured down.
We knew that the old forces were trying to stop us, so we sent righteous thoughts, and recited the Fa. We stayed calm. Soon the rain stopped, and it became clear again. We arrived at our destination at the agreed time.
On another occasion, we went to a village but felt something pressing down on us. We became anxious and sent righteous thoughts, asking Master for help. Gradually, we could feel the weight being lifted and our dimensional fields opened up.
We clarified the truth to many people there and distributed a lot of Dafa brochures. One village cadre tried to make us leave, and didn’t allow us to talk to people or give out brochures. She threatened to report us to the police. We were not moved and sent righteous thoughts to stop her from doing bad things to Dafa practitioners, so there was still hope of her to be saved.
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