(Minghui.org) Greetings, Master! Greetings, fellow practitioners!
I started to practice Falun Dafa in 1997, two years before the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) ordered the unprecedented suppression. During the past 24 years, I have remained firm in Dafa, endured the pressure, and raised awareness about the persecution despite the imminent danger. Looking back, it’s been a journey that has allowed me to transcend myself and become a better person.
Bursting Out in Rage at a Police Station
Both my wife and I practice Falun Dafa, and both of us were fired by our workplaces as we wouldn’t renounce Dafa in the face of the persecution. My wife was arrested many times and the police often came to harass us. The persecution left everyone in our family living in fear, from our three-year-old child to our elderly parents. I often felt very frustrated and upset about the harassment. Considering myself a practitioner who followed the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, I tried to suppress the anger and not argue with the police officers. But I couldn’t always control myself well.
One day, my wife and another practitioner were arrested and taken to the police station. When I found out about their detention location, I learned that they had been on a hunger strike for three days. Upon seeing her curled up helplessly on a dirty bench inside a metal age, I could not take it and burst out in rage. I ran to the police director, pointed at his face and shouted, “What have you done? How could you treat her like this? If my wife dies, I will carry her body to Beijing to appeal!”
Many police officers came out of their offices upon hearing me. The police director was terrified and tried to get away. Zhang, the officer responsible for my neighborhood, yelled at me, “Stop! This is a police station. You are a Falun Dafa practitioner. If you continue messing up like this, we will arrest you too!” I reached out my hands for him to handcuff me. He was surprised and didn’t move.
Moments later, a deputy director of the police station who knew me came to help. “This is the government policy and we police have to listen to the higher ups,” he said. He asked me to come inside to cool down a bit and then discuss the solution. This way, the situation did not get out of control.
Thinking back, I knew my anger and human emotions got the best of me. I took the persecution personally. After all, we are not everyday people and the persecution didn’t happen just because the regime wanted to target another group of people. There are deeper reasons behind it. What I did was not rational or wise, and I was not compassionate. It was not something that Dafa disciples should do.
Compassion Emerges for the Police Officers
Through the continued study of Falun Dafa principles, I learned the police are the ones who are truly being persecuted, as they are forced to carry out crimes for the regime and are being led down a destructive path. Instead of resenting them, I should help them. Despite this realization, I still developed strong negative feelings about the police, as soon as I thought of how many Dafa practitioners were tortured or even killed by them. When I wrote sharing articles, I still referred to them as the “evil police.”
One day Zhang and several other officers came to my place. “Why did you change your address on the household registration without telling us?” he called out. Later on, I learned that the household registration of my wife and child had been with my father-in-law. The police over there secretly moved it here, so that the police here would be responsible for monitoring us. Zhang did not know this and he was reprimanded by the 610 Office agents who discovered it.
From my interactions with Zhang this time, I realized that he wasn’t that evil towards us. In fact, he was rather honest, and was often taken advantage of by his colleagues. I thought I should find time to clarify the facts to him. But due to fear, I did not do it at the time.
Later on, Zhang left and Wang became the new police officer responsible for my area. One day, Wang came with a police supervisor. I explained to them what Falun Dafa is. Because I was eager to convince them that Dafa is good and the persecution was wrong, I sometimes argued with them. Still both of them listened. When I said many high-ranking CCP officials involved in the persecution had fallen in recent years, the supervisor also gave some examples of how corrupt officials were in my area. He also seemed to be tired of it.
Upon leaving, Wang took a picture of a poster with Falun Dafa phrases. “I need to look this up since most of the information on it is new to me,” he said.
“Please do not blindly follow the Party in doing bad deeds. Treating the innocent practitioners well will bring blessings to yourself,” I added.
They agreed and thanked me.
Another time, several plainclothes officers arrested me at work. I had a USB drive with me and it contained lots of materials related to Falun Dafa and the persecution. They detained me for five days and then released me on house arrest. I didn’t stay home, but went to Beijing and found a job there. Since the police couldn’t find me for six months, the police chief was furious and threatened to punish the officers. When I returned home for the Chinese New Year, the police arrested me and held me in a metal cage.
Shortly after my arrest, local practitioners reported my case to Minghui.org. One of the officers in charge of my case received many phone calls from practitioners outside of China seeking my release. He was upset and his supervisor also reprimanded him. Seeing him being frustrated and fearful of being held as a scapegoat, I felt pity and said, “This job is no good. Why don’t you find a different job?”
“It is not easy,” he replied. “I have no connections and no one could help me.”I took the opportunity to tell him about the evil deeds the CCP did in the past and urged him to quit the Party. He agreed with no hesitation.
Zhou lives in the same apartment complex with me and he works for the city police department. He lives with his parents-in-law, both of whom were retired political officers from state-owned enterprises. The entire family are die-hard followers of the CCP. They often threatened to report me when they saw me talking to people in the neighborhood about Falun Dafa and the persecution.
One day in the hot summer, I heard a loud noise on the roof and went up to take a look. It turned out that Zhou’s father-in-law asked him to repair the solar panels on the roof. Zhou worked there under the sun for a long time, sweating profusely, but could not put the screws in the solar panels.
“You have put them in the wrong way,” I said to him. He still could not do it. I went up and fixed it along with other problems. He was very grateful. I said it was not a big deal and asked him to go home and take a shower.
From then on, his family always greeted us and also treated my wife well. This experience showed me that many police officers have been deceived by the lies of the CCP. With rationality, compassion, and wisdom, we can help save them.
I remember reading reports saying that many police officers in China live in stress. Some struggle with depression and many commit suicide every year. I believe they didn’t want to do evil for the CCP, but were forced to do so against their conscience. Under the brutality and lies of the CCP, everyone is a victim.
Power of True Compassion
Once when my wife told others about Falun Dafa, a plainclothes officer arrested her and took her to a police station that I was not familiar with. When I received the phone call from the police station, I had strong thoughts of making the best use of this opportunity to save them.
I hurried to the police station and saw a scene similar to one over 10 years ago: My wife had been on a hunger strike for two days and she lay in the metal cage motionless. It seemed that she was having difficulty breathing. When I demanded her release, one officer said, “We do not have the say and it’s up to the police department to decide. Because she had a record of promoting Falun Gong before, she may face criminal detention this time.”
The police instructor asked if I was a Falun Dafa practitioner too. I didn’t answer him directly. I sat down and asked him along with other officers sincerely, “There are many bad things in this society such as gambling and drugs. Between Falun Dafa’s principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance and those crimes, which one do you say is better?”
“You can just practice Falun Dafa then,” one officer replied. Others in the room all laughed.
“In the past 20-plus years, you must have met lots of Falun Dafa practitioners. I believe you know too well that they are good people.” I said to them.
I urged them to do good things and release my wife; our entire family would thank them and their families would receive blessings too; otherwise, it would not be good for anyone.
The police instructor did not say no. He said it was not up to him. “The police department is paying close attention to this case. If we can, we won’t make things difficult for you,” he said.
I thanked him and asked him to read more information about Falun Dafa. The persecution had lasted a long time and it shouldn’t continue further. Plus it was against the Constitution in the first place and it’s absurd to target such a big group of good people.
Then the police instructor asked me a question. “I agree you treat family members well, work hard, and are nice to others. I respect you for this. But why are you against the Communist Party?” he asked.
His tone became very serious. He continued. “China is ruled by the CCP. If you are against the CCP, you are disturbing society. Shouldn’t you be suppressed for that?” he asked.
In the beginning, I thought he was intimidating me. But then I realized that he misunderstood us on this and he might also try to find some justification for the persecution. I needed to clarify this to him.
I tried to control my mentality of fighting. I looked at him with a smile. I asked, “If you really think about it and look at the facts, you would know your question does not make sense.” He was surprised and stared at me. Other police officials also appeared to be stunned.
I told them Falun Dafa practitioners are good people. But former CCP leader Jiang Zemin defamed Falun Dafa and suppressed practitioners with tactics from the Cultural Revolution. They made up countless lies such as the staged Self-Immolation Incident at Tiananmen Square to deceive the public. Falun Dafa practitioners just shared their experiences and told people what Falun Dafa really is. This is not being against the Party.
“You said the Party is vicious. Isn’t that being against the Party?” he asked.
“Look at the political campaigns the Party has had in the past few decades. The Party suppressed this group today and another group tomorrow. We have all experienced this. From the Great Famine to the Cultural Revolution, from the Anti-Rightists Movement to the Tiananmen Square Massacre and to the persecution of Falun Dafa, many innocent lives were affected and their families all suffered,” I added.
I continued, “In the past three-year pandemic lockdown, many people lived a miserable life and the death toll was countless. You police officers probably know more than everyday citizens. The Constitution protects the freedom of belief and practitioners just want to tell people the facts, with no intention to seek personal or political gain. If you read Zhuan Falun, the main teachings of Falun Dafa, you would understand everything.”
As I was talking, I felt surrounded by an energy of compassion and continued. “Seeing that you are so busy and often working overtime, and stressed out, do you know how I feel about it?” I asked.
“How do you feel?” asked the police instructor.
“I feel sorry for you. Really,” I replied.
“I would be happy if you do not hate us. How could you feel sorry for us?” he asked.
“By suppressing Falun Dafa practitioners and the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, the morality of society declines so quickly. Looking at society today, there is so much chaos and conflict. You police witness it first hand and you suffer when people vent their anger on you. There had been reports that many police officers suffer from stress, insomnia, and even mental disorders. But not many people care about you. We Falun Dafa practitioners do and we really wish you and your family well,” I said.
As I finished talking, I saw tears in his eyes. He was moved and I could also feel the energy. The vicious elements were dissolved. That day, they gave up the plan of sending my wife to the detention center, but released her on bail instead.
Epilogue
Master said,
“Compassion is an enormous energy, the energy of righteous gods. The more compassion that is present, the greater this energy becomes, and it can disintegrate anything that is bad. This is something that has never been taught, be it by Shakyamuni or cultivators of the past. The greatest manifestation of shan is compassion, and it is an expression of tremendous energy. It can disintegrate all that is not right.” (“Fa Teaching Given at the 2009 Washington, D.C. International Fa Conference,” Collected Teachings Given Around the World, Volume IX)
Master told us all this a long time ago. But I have not been able to achieve this. After all, cultivation practice is serious and we have to follow Dafa’s teachings solidly. This requires strong righteous thoughts and letting go of fear. Whenever we are interacting with police officers, it is an opportunity for us to tell them the facts and save them.
Thanks to Master’s teaching, I no longer treated myself as a victim in the persecution when dealing with the police. I tried my best not to be moved by my emotions such as resentment or anger, but to follow the thought of being kind to them and saving them.
I know I still have many attachments to remove. I will seize the remaining time to cultivate myself better. The above is my experience. Please point out if there is anything not in line with the Fa.
Thank you, Master!
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