(Minghui.org) Through my 26 years of cultivation of Falun Dafa, I have learned that no matter how strong the evil may appear to be, it amounts to nothing when we have a righteous mind.
Falun Dafa is a mind-body practice based on the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. I started my practice in 1996. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), out of its atheist nature, has been persecuting Falun Dafa since July 1999. Practitioners in China face arrest, imprisonment, torture, forced organ harvesting, harassment, isolation, financial pressures, and many other dangers simply for upholding their faith.
Resist the Pressure of Signing Guarantee Statements
In the early days of the persecution, my employer frequently asked me to sign documents to promise not to contact other practitioners and not to promote Falun Dafa. I did so, but felt something was not right.
Teacher’s words kept showing up in my mind:
“(N)o matter how hard you cultivate, the fact remains that at the crucial moment you aren’t up to it. It’s not like I’m just saying you’re not up to it—it’s that you aren’t up to it.” (Teachings at the Conference in Singapore)
I said to my wife, also a practitioner, “Looks like we are truly not up to it.”
After studying the above teaching over and over, we realized that if we take one step back, the CCP will take a step forward; if we take two steps back, it will take two steps forward; it will never stop. But, what can they do if we no longer step back?
China's National Day holiday, October 1, 1999, was approaching. My employer asked me to sign guarantee statement again. I refused to do so this time.
The deputy Party secretary slammed the desk, “Even if others do not sign it, you must! Otherwise this won't stop!”
Whatever he said, I just refused to sign. They eventually left me alone.
“Looks like we did it right this time! If we don’t step back, they have no other choice,” I said to my wife.
Released after I Refuse to Renounce Dafa
The authorities started detaining practitioners. One practitioner was detained at the school he worked at when he answered “yes” to his supervisor’s question whether he’d continue practicing Falun Dafa. The other one was detained at the local police station for giving the same answer to the same question asked by the police.
Around October 1999, the municipal police department called me to go to their office. My wife and I felt that I might not be able to come back home since I would definitely answer “yes” to the question. She thus prepared some extra cash for me and had me put on a warmer coat just in case.
A police manager asked me the same question. I answered “yes.” He said that he was curious why someone with a high education like me would practice Falun Dafa – the CCP had always attacked Dafa as “superstitious” and “anti-science.”
I explained to him my understanding of Dafa, how Dafa cured my illnesses and enabled me to improve my character. Two hours passed. He said, “You can go home now.”
I didn’t believe what I heard, so I kept talking to him. He said again, “You can go home now.”
“Then I will leave,” I replied, still not believing they would just let me go.
“Go,” he smiled, “I am not planning to serve you dinner here.”
My wife who was crying at home became so surprised when I showed up, “How come you are back? I didn’t prepare dinner for you.”
We couldn’t figure out why I was released at that time. After we understood what cultivation means during the Fa-rectification period, we realized that I had met the requirements: clarifying the truth and saving sentient beings. I wasn't afraid at that moment and told people the benefits that Dafa brought me. Teacher then resolved the tribulation.
Not Running Away in the Face of Potential Arrest
My employer sent a colleague of mine who also practiced Dafa to a brainwashing center in June 2003. Another practitioner told me that he heard they also planned to take me there and suggested that I leave the city to avoid being arrested.
It was a xinxing test for me. I was just released a few months ago after serving three years in prison for practicing Dafa. I was afraid of being arrested again. But where could I hide and for how long should I hide?
I discussed it with my wife and decided that I should not hide. Not only should I not hide, but I should also face the evil directly.
My wife and I went to the head of the 610 Office at our workplace. I told him that I heard they planned to arrest me and pointed out the persecution was illegal.
He could not say much, but promised there was no such plan.
Nothing happened to me in the end.
Teacher said,
“And this is why it’s said that one only needs to focus on practicing and one’s teacher will handle the rest. It is actually he who handles things, whatever you might hope or try to accomplish.” (The Second Talk, Zhuan Falun)
Not Allowing the Police to Ransack My Home
Someone knocked on our door one night in 2005. I opened the inside door (Chinese families usually install two doors to prevent theft or robbery) and saw several police officers outside. They said they were here to check our residential registration record.
Recalling Teacher’s words on not to comply with the evil, I questioned them, “Why didn’t you come during the day but at night?”
They then said they were here to ransack my home and produced a blank search warrant.
I questioned them, “How can you raid people’s home with just a blank search warrant? Tell me what crime I committed that you must search my home. Do you have a warrant?”
They couldn’t answer but threatened if I didn’t open the door, they would break in.
“Then you are violating the law by trespassing on private property.”
My wife opened the window and shouted, “You don’t take care of the real crimes but instead targeting good people.”
The police left. My wife shouted again, “Do not persecute good people!”
Later we heard that a practitioner in our neighborhood opened the door for the police and suffered losses.
“Teacher is really watching us,” my wife told me. She recalled that an elderly practitioner came to our home hours before the failed police raid. She told the practitioner that she was quite afraid. He said to her, “What's to fear? We are on a divine path and the police are human.” He also shared his thoughts and actions when he faced the police and authorities. It was quite encouraging to her. On his way out, he said again, “Remember, we are on the divine path and they are human.” She said the elderly practitioner usually didn’t talk much and she was wondering why he became so talkative that day, when the police suddenly knocked on the door. “It was all for us!” she said.
The police also attempted to harass us in 2015 when we filed the law suit against Jiang Zemin, the head of the communist regime who launched the persecution of Falun Dafa. With the righteous understanding of Fa, we played the role of the main actor – we took the opportunity to clarify Dafa truth to them and then they were no longer evil to us.
Similar things also happened during the “Zero-out” harassment campaign this year when the authorities tried to force every practitioner on the government’s lists to renounce their faith.
Throughout these years of cultivation, my wife and I came to this understanding: we may face dangerous and difficult situations during cultivation, but as long as we firmly believe in Dafa, let go of our fear and other attachments, and fulfill our mission, Teacher will help us overcome the difficulties!
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Category: Clarifying the Truth
