(Minghui.org) I began practicing Falun Dafa in 1997. I would like to share my experience while working with practitioners in our region to rescue an arrested practitioner in 2008. The process was a testimony to the mighty power of Dafa.
Setback in Our Efforts
In the months leading up to the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) intensified its harassment of Falun Dafa practitioners. Many local practitioners were monitored and the town Party officials visited them every morning around 5 o’clock. The arrests of practitioners in my county put us under enormous pressure and everyone was on edge.
A practitioner from the neighboring county visited me one day and told me that my husband had been arrested. In 2002, my husband participated in tapping into the state-run cable TV to broadcast factual information countering the regime’s propaganda that slandered Falun Dafa. After the event, he fled his hometown to avoid being captured by the police. He was placed on the CCP’s most wanted list and a 10,000-yuan reward was offered to anyone who helped locate him.
A few of our local practitioners got together and made plans to petition the police department for his release. Our initial effort failed and one of us was even arrested. We refused to let this setback discourage us. We kept going to the police department and clarifying the truth about Dafa.
When a second practitioner in our group was arrested a few days later, however, our hearts sank.
Clarifying the Truth to Everyone Around Us
I was at a loss about how to proceed. While working in the fields one day, I thought, “Practitioners are the leading force, so why am I so passive? How do I become the leading force?”
After I had that thought, it was as if a light bulb came on, and I realized that Master had already made arrangements regarding the rescue. We should use this opportunity to tell people what Falun Dafa is and why it’s wrong to persecute practitioners. Even if we could only help one person a day understand the truth, we would be making progress.
The arrested practitioner had many friends and family members. If we convinced them to help us and to support Dafa, we would be helping them choose a bright future.
Excited about this new direction, I quickly wrapped up what I was doing and visited one of the arrested practitioner’s relatives. I told him and his family why I was there and explained that the practitioners broke no laws and that the persecution was wrong. I asked for their help.
I explained how, during the Olympic Games, the police were unlikely to report the case to higher officials or to release the practitioner on their own. It was the perfect window for petitioning the local police department. If everyone worked together toward the same goal, we could even move Mt. Tai. Because we were doing the most righteous thing, there was nothing we could not achieve.
This gave the family great confidence. They took it to the village officials and even the County Commissioner but were told that there was no way the practitioner would be released. One of his relatives recruited other villagers to visit the village officials and request his release.
A few practitioners and I paid several visits to the village Party secretary. He said, “You are not here to ask for help. You’re here to convert me.” We told him, “We are asking for your help but are also telling you the truth about Dafa and the truth surrounding the wrongful persecution.” To encourage him to put a word in at the police department, I offered to go with him. He said he’d go by himself.
Due to our ongoing efforts to clarify the truth to everyone in the area, many villagers learned that practitioners hadn’t broken any laws and were actually victims of the wrongful persecution. It was Jiang Zemin, former head of the CCP, who abused his power and lied to us using the regime’s propaganda machine—the media. The villagers expressed their support and used their connections and positions to help us.
An elderly man understood that Dafa was good and told us he’d like to help. He took a bus to visit his relative who worked for the public security system and asked for help getting the practitioner released. After we clarified the truth to the former director of the village Women’s Federation, she held a meeting for the neighbors to talk about getting the practitioner released.
Some people in the village, however, refused to listen. When I felt defeated, I examined myself carefully. I saw that my motive was selfish and I was attached to results. I readjusted myself to refocus on clarifying the truth—I knew, based on the Fa, that we needed to continue to clarify the truth.
I said to everybody I ran into, “Please help us.” Some replied, “I don’t have any connections or power. I can’t help you.” But I told them, “That’s not necessary just as long as you are on our side. Just think, ‘This Falun Dafa practitioner didn’t commit any crimes. He strives to be a good person according to Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. He didn’t break any laws.’” Most people agreed and said, “Sure, I can do that.”
Clarifying the Truth to the Police Chief
Fellow practitioners and I visited the county police station. I told the officers how the arrested practitioner used to be in poor health with severe stomach problems. He said the pain was so bad it felt as if his stomach was on fire. However, his health was restored after he began practicing Falun Dafa.
The police chief kept walking around his office muttering to himself, “Practicing Falun Dafa can heal illnesses.” I couldn’t tell what he was thinking.
Several officers cut me off rudely and chided me. They said that the arrested practitioner was going to be sentenced to at least a few years in prison. I left and planned to return and talk to the chief alone.
Just outside the detention center, I saw the chief’s car passing by. He rolled down his window to greet me. I told him Falun Dafa was a righteous practice and that I hoped he would help the practitioner.
I ran into the chief on two other occasions. Although we couldn’t talk for long, he never denied the truth.
Working Together to Clarify the Truth at the Police Department
Saving people is every practitioner’s responsibility. Practitioners from every practice site in the region joined us in our effort. We divided into two groups to send righteous thoughts near the police department and the detention center. Those who couldn’t come sent righteous thoughts from home. We created a strong righteous energy field.
Each practitioner did what he or she could to help. Some wrote truth-clarification letters to government officials, some provided a place for us to meet, some gave us the contact information of key decision makers and officials, and some focused on sending righteous thoughts. The only thing we lacked was ways to expose the evil doers.
The first time I went to the police department, my son accompanied me. We circled the facility wishing we had come with a practitioner with strong righteous thoughts. We parked our electric scooters and walked toward the entrance. I was so nervous that my heart was pounding.
I suppressed my negative thoughts and told myself that the pounding was only Falun rotating. I instantly felt energized and my mind was clear. I knew my duty as a Dafa practitioner so I made up my mind: “If Master thinks I am up to the task, I will give it a try.”
A young female officer met with us at the Political Security Unit. She showed me the arrest warrant and made a sarcastic comment that they would have sent me a copy but didn’t know my address. I reminded her, “You ransacked my home just a few days ago. How could you not know my address?”
I told her I would not acknowledge the arrest as the practitioner didn’t break any laws. I told her the difficulties my family and I had been through because of the wrongful persecution. She didn’t say anything and left. A young man came in and repeated what the female officer said. I continued to clarify the truth about Dafa to him. When he left, only my son and I were left, and my son suggested that we send righteous thoughts. We stayed until lunchtime.
The next time I went to the Political Security Unit, a middle-aged man met with me. After finding out who I was, he opened a drawer in his desk and looked at something. I sat facing him and couldn’t see what he was looking at. He looked up at me, then down again. When he looked up again, he said, “Do you know who I am?”
I only knew his name at the time and didn’t find out until later that he was the director of the Political Security Unit—exactly the person I was looking for. Perhaps he thought he would be well-known among practitioners as he was involved in many local practitioners’ cases. I said I recognized him as he had been with the officers who ransacked my home a few days before. I told him my story and how my family and myself were persecuted. I told him Dafa was good and asked him to release the practitioner.
As I talked, another officer in the room growled, “He won’t be released. He broke the law.” I asked, “What law?” He cited Article 300 of the Criminal Law and threatened me: “Are you a Falun Dafa practitioner? We can arrest you, too. You have to answer my questions, or we won’t tell you anything.”
Each time I returned from a visit to the Political Security Unit, I shared my experience with other practitioners and asked for their feedback. We also read the Fa. We agreed that this was an opportunity for us to reach out and clarify the truth. We stayed focused on the process without being attached to the results and did what we were supposed as Dafa disciples.
The local practitioners were a great support to our effort. They gave me many good ideas and were willing to drop everything to help me no matter how busy they were. While attending to her crops, a practitioner heard that I needed help. She promptly put down the sprayer and came with me. Another practitioner was about to harvest peanuts when I asked her for help. Her husband wouldn’t let her leave. She told him, “The more practitioners, the more powerful our efforts.” He finally agreed.
A practitioner and I visited a law firm. The two attorneys who met with us were both very kind but their thinking was heavily influenced by the Party. They didn’t think it was wise to plead not guilty and suggested that we focus on minimizing the punishment.
Convicting Falun Dafa practitioners based on Criminal Law Article 300 does not make any sense. When we explained this to the attorneys, they were curious and eager to learn more about Falun Dafa and why and how the persecution had started. To be able to argue against anybody citing Criminal Law Article 300 in the future, we decided to copy the entire section. After that, they did not mention this piece of legislature.
We used all of our free time to clarify the truth, from villagers to the village officials, from local police stations to the regional police department, from the director of the Political Security Unit to the chief police, from former to current government officials, from the Complaints and Proposals Administration to the detention center.
Each time we went to the police department, we asked to visit the arrested practitioner at the detention center. Although we were never allowed to see him, we were able to talk to the guards and clarified the truth to them. I talked to all the guards that I knew from when I was detained there, including the former director of the county police station who harassed me at home multiple times. We offered them another chance to hear the truth about Dafa.
When We Changed Our Thinking, Things Turned Around
When the practitioner was arrested, no one thought he would be released. They all speculated that he would be sentenced to a few years in prison at the very least, since all the other practitioners arrested at the same time were given eight to more than 10 years in prison. I knew this was different from any ordinary people’s matter. I tried to deny it, but in the back of my mind, I was willing to accept a less-than-ideal outcome, maybe a sentence of a few years in prison or forced labor. I failed to fundamentally deny the old forces’ arrangement.
I talked with other practitioners and asked for their suggestions on how to completely deny this arrangement. We read the Fa together for three days. A practitioner raised a question: If a finger hurt, how do we deny it fundamentally? Another practitioner said we just go about our day as usual, ignore it and deny it even if it hurts.
We realized that, as long as we followed Master’s requirements, the bigger the challenge, the more people we could save. We should be respected instead of becoming targets of the persecution. The arrested practitioner didn’t commit any crime and should be released. That changed our thinking fundamentally. The next time we visited him at the detention center, he was transferred back to jail.
After the Olympic Games, more practitioners took the initiative to visit the police department and clarify the truth. If each practitioner represents a universe or a celestial body, the many practitioners in our county and the two neighboring counties constituted a spectacular heavenly army.
I returned to the Political Security Unit again and again and followed the chief around. Wherever he went, I was there. I kept showing up and clarified the truth to him regardless of how hostile he was or how he tried to avoid me. Whenever he left his office, I walked right beside him. Sometimes other practitioners followed behind us to send righteous thoughts. I could tell the evil behind him was weakening.
Finally, he said, “Fine. Here’s an option. You just pay a ‘fine.’” I asked him how much and he said 10,000 yuan. I told him I didn’t have that kind of money.
I thought about it one day and realized that, even though I’d interacted with the chief on so many occasions, I had not truly saved him. “I have to save him today,” I decided. I practiced a long speech in my head on the way there, but when I knocked on his door, he wouldn’t let me in.
I took a step forward before he could shut the door, and told him, “I just want to tell you three things. Don’t persecute Falun Dafa. Release the practitioner. Get a different job.”
Placing Complete Faith in Master and Denying Economic Persecution
One by one, a few practitioners from our county who had been arrested before the Olympic Games were released. Two practitioners each had 8,000 yuan extorted from them, and one was sentenced to forced labor.
The practitioner that we had been trying to rescue was still detained. Some practitioners suggested that we pay the “fine” and said, “If we can’t come up with that much, maybe negotiate for a lesser amount and work something out. Others have done this.” I asked, “Why can’t we set the precedent of not paying?” We had a discussion based on the Fa and our thinking changed. We decided that we couldn’t pay as it would be cooperating with the CCP and its economic persecution.
However, it was more easily said than done. Some practitioners still had worries about the CCP’s tactics. Some encouraged me to go through with it but they themselves were not convinced that it would work. In fact, their attitudes reflected the back and forth I was going through in my mind.
While reading “Heavenly Circuit” inZhuan Falun with other practitioners one day, I suddenly realized that we needed to rise above the notion of having to pay anything to have the practitioner released. At that moment, I was very confident that we could do it without paying.
When I got home, however, my thought karma and human notions interfered with me. I tried to control and suppress these thoughts for most of the night and eventually felt that I had gotten the upper hand. I told myself, “I will only walk the path arranged by Master. I cannot control the fate of the arrested practitioner as it is all up to Master. The cause of my worries are my human notions.”
The Practitioner Was Released
We were notified to pick up the practitioner after he was detained for 55 days. We arrived at the jail early in the morning but the guards told us he wouldn’t be released until later, maybe around 9 a.m. When we went back at 9 o’clock, we were told to try again around noon. When we showed up again at noon, the guards said the officials were still in a meeting and they had not received the final word to release him.
Hearing this, some practitioners started to have doubts. One said, “Let’s go home. We haven’t done a solid job clarifying the truth. Let’s try again later.” Most of us remained optimistic. I told them, “Let’s not leave yet. Let’s divide up into two groups and send righteous thoughts separately at the police department and the jail.” We were determined.
There was still no news at 3 p.m. and I was urged to visit the police department, “Aren’t they in a meeting? It is the perfect opportunity to clarify the truth.” Before, I’d have gone to the police department without hesitation. At that moment, however, I felt that I had done all the talking I could and I had nothing more to say. I quietly sent righteous thoughts toward the police department.
It was almost 5 p.m. and I couldn’t wait any longer—we had to get our practitioner today. We went to the jail and met up with four practitioners who also planned to negotiate for the practitioner’s release. Their understanding was that even if we could get the practitioner released one minute earlier, it would be denying the old forces’ arrangement.
The person who met with us was the former director of the county detention center. Some of us knew him from when we were detained there. We asked him to release the practitioner but he threatened to send him back to the detention center. We talked to him for a long time about Dafa and the truth surrounding the CCP’s persecution campaign. In the end, we asked him to release the practitioner, “It’s almost dark and we live far away.” He replied, “But I just wanted to talk to you guys a little bit longer.” It turned out that he was eager to learn more about Dafa.
When the arrested practitioner finally walked out of the jail, nearly 100 practitioners from the region were waiting outside. Everybody waved and greeted him with a smile. It was an incredible experience.
Everyone thought it was amazing that he was released. Our neighbor told me, “No wonder you didn’t pay up. You were confident that he’d be released.” I said, “That’s because I have complete faith in Master and the Fa.”
Thank you, Master. Thank you, fellow practitioners and everyone who helped us.
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