(Minghui.org) I started practicing Falun Dafa in 1997. In my more than 20 years of cultivation, I have overcome many distractions and made it through many difficulties. First and foremost, it was important to have a firm belief in Master Li (Falun Dafa’s founder) and the power given by Dafa. My heart is filled with infinite gratitude to Master. Below are some of my cultivation experiences.

The Brainwashing Center

In 2009, I was seized by the authorities and taken to a brainwashing center. At the time, there were four Dafa disciples illegally detained there, each in a separate room. Each room was cold and damp with a dirty mattress on the bed. I only saw the practitioners during meals, but we were not allowed to talk to each other. The rest of the time we were locked in our rooms.

There was a female Dafa disciple who had been on a hunger strike and could not leave her room. Once I passed by the door and saw that her hair was unkempt and her face had not been washed. There were two rooms between me and her. Sometimes I could hear the center guards beating and verbally abusing her. From time to time, I got sad when I thought about the binds the practitioners were in.

There were 15 staff people in the brainwashing center, working three shifts in a day, three people a shift. They did not talk to us. The light switch in each room was controlled from the outside, and the light was left on for a long time. The door was locked from the outside. There was a hole in the door. The staff people could look through the door hole at any time. Practitioners couldn’t communicate with each other. Since the staff were deceived by the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) lies, they were very hostile towards us. This environment was very depressing. At the beginning, I didn’t know how to overcome this difficult environment.

Once, I took the initiative to talk to the brainwashing center personnel, but they refused to listen. A team leader said to me, “Did the people in your workplace avoid you?” I said, “The people in my workplace got along with me very well. They were willing to travel with me, saying that they had a sense of security because of me.” He said, “Really?” He didn’t seem to believe it. I wanted to tell him the truth about the persecution, but as soon as I started, he stopped me and said, “Don’t say anything else. We don’t want to hear it. We don’t believe it.” 

What should I do? From the Fa perspective, I realized that if I wanted to change this situation, I needed to cultivate my heart.

After dinner, I sat in the lotus position on the bed, asking Master to help me while sending forth righteous thoughts. Instantly, the whole building was pitch black. I heard someone shouting in the corridor, “Strange, why is there a power outage? There’s never been a power outage before!” Things were a mess outside, but I was unmoved. I really felt that the dark energy field was getting brighter and brighter. Then, one after another, circles of light appeared in front of me and continued to spread outward. My whole body was embraced by energy. It was warm and comfortable.

The following day, a staff person at the brainwashing center complained that the clothes of the practitioner on hunger strike were so dirty and that they had no clean clothes. I took out some of my clean clothes and offered them. The staff looked at them and asked, “Are you willing to give her such good clothes?” I smiled and nodded. They asked me to help her change. I went to her room. It smelled terrible. She was lying there with her eyes closed. When she heard my voice, she opened her eyes and smiled. I helped her up, helped her change her clothes, combed her hair, and cleaned the room. When I walked out of the room, the attitude of several staff members had changed. One of the people in charge came up to me and said, “It’s a pleasure to see you working in there. You were full of goodness.” I responded, “A kind heart is like gold.” He continued, “Wherever it is, it shines. If you don’t mind, you can come into her room to help her more in the future.” 

The environment changed. Not only was the gap between fellow practitioners being eliminated, but the relationship with the staff had also become harmonious. Sometimes they took the initiative to talk to me. One person in charge said, “I also admit that the Communist Party is corrupt now, but Mao’s era was good. No one dared to be corrupt at that time.” I said, “Actually, the Communist Party has been against Heaven and the universe from the start. There was a saying that you may not have heard before: those who follow Heaven prosper, and those who go against Heaven perish. Mao shouted at the time: ‘Fight Heaven, Earth, and people for endless fun!’”

Seeing that he listened carefully, I continued, “We should not be too arrogant; we should live humbly in the world and know how to revere Heaven and Earth. Otherwise, when the punishment of Heaven comes, no one can withstand it. No matter how powerful the CCP is, it will never be as powerful as Heaven. It is a principle of Heaven that good will be rewarded and evil will meet with retribution. The CCP will be disintegrated for its evil deeds.”

He said, “You have a point. I have never thought about it. Your point is thought-provoking. I should spend more time with you.” Later, they never locked the door of the room, so I cleaned it inside out. 

Once, the team leader was very embarrassed and said to me, “You will not watch those videos [defaming Dafa], will you?” I respnded, “No, you shouldn’t play them either. You already know that Dafa is the most upright, and Dafa disciples are the kindest people. Those videos are all fake. Playing them is also doing bad things.” 

He said that it was not that he wanted to play the video, but that the supervisor arranged it. I said, “If you really don’t want to play it, your supervisor will never mention this matter again from now on.” What I said became true, and no one brought it up again. He was surprised and gave me a thumbs up. Later, he quit the CCP and its affiliated organizations.

I realized that to save people and clarify the truth in this special environment, it was important that our behavior and words were good. Only then will people accept what we say. I also realized that I should speak from different angles to different people.

Once, the head of the brainwashing center and a group of people went from room to room. They yelled at practitioners and demanded to know whether they were practicing the exercises or not. They were arrogant and finally came to my room. As soon as they entered the door, I quickly got up and greeted them with a smile, saying, “Please come in.” The director looked at me and was puzzled at first, then smiled and said, “It looks like I’ve arrived at your house.” 

He smiled and asked me if I still practiced Falun Dafa. Before I could speak, he immediately said, in fact, the exercises we practice are good and that they strengthen the body. I said that it is good to be a good person according to Dafa’s principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. He said that Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance are also good. I replied that we didn’t seem to have much of a disagreement on this matter. And then I said, “There’s one thing you might not understand: the CCP will collapse.” 

The director said that the Communist Party paid him a salary, but I told him that it was not the CCP that paid him a salary; it was the taxpayers who supported the Party. “Not only do CCP members take their salaries,” I said, “but they also collect money on a large scale, embezzle, act corruptly and persecute good people of faith. All these behaviors will result in punishment from Heaven. Just like a tree, no matter how big it is, it will fall if its roots rot.” I then told him, “So keep yourself away from it; that is, keep away from danger. It is really for your own good.”

Another time, the team leader of another session taking place at the brainwashing center, a woman, held up a Falun Gong leaflet and shouted at us, “Look, you Falun Gong [practitioners] have sent the leaflets here, saying that we have beaten you. Have we beaten you? Are you ‘truthful?’” I walked up to her and said to her kindly but with dignity, “Did it say that it was you beating people? Did it mention your name? You didn’t beat us, but can you guarantee that others didn’t beat us? No matter who did it, as long as you participate in the persecution, you will be on the list of wicked people.” 

She said, “I’m not afraid! I dare to hit you.” As she spoke, she reached over and gently touched my face. I said, “This is the first time you’re trying to beat me.” Again, she tried but stopped halfway. Looking at her, I smiled and told her seriously that what I said was true. Her attitude towards me changed after that. 

One day after dinner, this team leader came in to chat with me. I knew that Master arranged this, for her to hear the truth. I sent forth righteous thoughts for a while and told her about the Udumbara flower. I explained, “It’s a flower of the divine realm blooming in the world. According to Buddhist scriptures, the Udumbara flower blooms once every 3,000 years, and it is at the time when the Holy King Who Turns the Wheel descends to save people. The people sitting in front of you are all disciples of the Holy King Who Turns the Wheel. I hope you cherish the opportunity to learn more from them.” She smiled and said that her fortune tellers had told her that she was blessed. She understood the truth and quit the CCP.

Because the staff in the brainwashing center had the opportunity to hear the truth, most of them quit the CCP and its affiliated youth organizations.

In the Detention Center

In 2015, I was arrested and taken to a detention center. The noisy and crowded environment inside was difficult for me to bear. I was stressed, only drinking some rice soup every day, struggling to get by. I lost more than 30 pounds. In the midst of suffering, the only things that could support me were Master and the Fa. I tried to calm down and memorize the Fa. I discovered that I harbored many notions and attachments that were not in accordance to the Fa. When I realized my own shortcomings, I cultivated in a down-to-earth manner, cherished every opportunity to improve, and corrected myself based on the Fa as soon as possible.

In the detention center cell, which was less than 30 square meters, it was dark and damp. More than 20 people with very different personalities were held in there. The air was foul, and people often fought with each other for petty gains. Most of them suffered from high blood pressure and heart disease. Some people often passed out, and others were nervous and depressed. Some cried when they couldn’t take it anymore. It took me a while to adapt to this harsh environment, so I just drank some rice soup every morning and didn’t eat at noon or night. Two months passed like that.

Although I didn’t eat, my mental state was getting better. I looked healthy. The police officer in charge was worried about me and felt it incredible that I was hardly eating. She came to me many times to ask me to eat normally. She said, “It’s been so long. I haven’t asked you for anything else. Every time I talked you, it was about eating. Can you just eat half a steamed bun a day if you are afraid of wasting food? Please eat some food and don’t let me worry about this matter anymore.”

I smiled and told her, “I’m fine, don’t worry. I can’t eat now. I’m not hungry, I will eat when I want.” Once, she looked at me helplessly, and then smiled and said to me, “You are really good, you are in good health.” I said, “If I keep practicing [the Falun Dafa exercises] every day, my health will be better.” She looked at me with a smile, “You really have perseverance. If I could be like you, I would have succeeded in losing weight a long time ago.”

The people in the room started to admire me. Someone said, “You are really different from us. Your body is really amazing. We can’t stand it for a day. You are really protected by your Master. Falun Dafa is good. It’s not an ordinary exercise system. It’s amazing.”

Later, I ate normally, but I still felt that I couldn’t fundamentally change the situation. Someone simply said, “I don’t dare to practice no matter how good it is. Look at you. You were brought to this place to suffer because of your faith. What can you do to them?” I started to write a complaint to the detention center chief. After I finished writing, everyone in the room read it. Some of them burst into tears, perhaps because my cultivation experience and protesting the persecution touched people’s good nature, or maybe it was because the complaint itself told the comprehensive and detailed truth, which was why it was so moving.

Early the next morning, the complaint was handed over to the resident prosecutor through a police officer. Two days later, the prosecutor met with me. He said, “I have read it all. If what you said is true, I will help you.” I said, “I’ll take responsibility for my words.” He said he believed them. Later, he transferred my letter to the director of the court and the presiding judge.

The people in the room could not believe that I could send the complaint, but through this incident, I felt that Master had lifted me up all of a sudden. I became a righteous and upright Fa-validating being. The people in the room also changed. Their animosity towards me was gone, and some asked me to tell them about Dafa and how to do the exercises. They all trusted me and were willing to talk to me about their problems, so they understood the truth of Falun Gong through me. They all learned to respect Dafa and Dafa disciples, and they were willing to share everything with me.

Once, the senior in the cell told me, “The police officer said that whenever someone in the room had a conflict with you, it must be that person’s fault. The officer has a really good impression of you.”

In such a special environment, I kept in mind my sacred mission as a cultivator, and displayed the purity of Dafa and the principle of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, so that these people could understand the truth of Dafa.

Changes in the People Around Me

Since I held myself according to the standards of a cultivator, looking inward in the face of contradictions, not blaming others, and not fighting for personal interests, the environment got better and better. Many people came to me and learned poems from Hong Yin. The most chaotic and lifeless cell gradually became the best cell. There were fewer fights and people stopped using curse words and bad language. Everyone respected and loved each other like a family and lived in harmony. Here are a few examples:

1. Zhang Jie (pseudonym), who was imprisoned for contract fraud, was very resistant to Dafa because she was deceived by the CCP’s lies. She had high blood pressure and often had back pain. When I meditated at night, she looked very scared and kept urging me to stop and lie down. Sometimes when I got closer to her, she ran away and said, “It’s too scary.”

No matter how she treated me, I didn’t pay it any mind, as if nothing happened. Once when she was at work, she fell ill again. She screamed with a frightened expression, “There was a person who looked like me flying out of my body.” I comforted her and told her not to be afraid, “This state also occurs in the cultivation of Dafa disciples, and it is called the separation of the Original Soul from the body. It’s not a disease.” I told her a lot about Falun Gong that day. I saw that she listened attentively. I told her to sincerely recite, “Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good,” saying that everything can be changed.

I was surprised to see that she had a good understanding. She said, “I didn’t come here in vain. I thought you guys were all abnormal. Since you arrived, I have been paying attention to you. I have increasingly found that not only are you not as irrational as they say on TV; on the contrary, you are quite good. You have good manners and are well educated. It feels as if you are otherworldly. Can you teach me to practice?” 

Unexpectedly, she really learned the five sets of Falun Gong exercises, often memorized poems in Hong Yin and sometimes meditated with me. As a result, her speech and behavior became more and more proper. Her blood pressure became normal, and her health was getting better and better.

When Zhang Jie went to trial, she recited the poems from Hong Yin. The trial went smoothly. She was released a few days after the trial ended. Before going home, she insisted on depositing 500 yuan in my detention center account for me, but I politely declined.

2. Li Qiang (pseudonym), who is a Christian, often carried medication for her severe heart condition. She had a bad temper, and often fought with others. She saw that I was in good health and never contradicted others, so she liked to talk to me. I told her about Falun Gong and the CCP’s persecution. When she had conflicts with others, she was willing to share her thoughts with me. She said that only I could touch her heart. 

Once, she fought with someone and the fight was so fierce that no one could break it up. When it was time to go to sleep, the person who fought with her went to sleep on the bunk. She was still angry, so she stood next to that person. I asked her to come over to me. She sat in front of me and looked at me, and I sat with her the whole night. We didn’t say anything, but she couldn’t help herself from crying. She told me that if I hadn’t called her over, she was about to hit that person’s head with a bench. She said gratefully, “You not only saved me, but also saved her.” Later, she memorized many poems from Hong Yin. She said that memorizing the poems made her heart calm. When the police officer talked to her, she said, “No one can control me, only Falun Gong changes me. I believe in Dafa. I won’t fight in the future.” 

3. Li Ning (pseudonym). At first, when I told her the truth of Dafa, she didn’t believe it. Her husband had been sentenced to prison. Her case took a long time because her family didn’t bribe the officials. When she came back from the trial, she said that the procuratorate asked the judge to sentence her to 10 years. She felt depressed. I did my best to take care of her. 

Once she said to me, “You are the only good one in this room. You help whoever is facing difficulties and you don’t ask for anything in return. You never have conflicts with others, and you have a peaceful mind. You never get sick, either.” She also memorized many poems in Hong Yin. 

Li Ning was sentenced to five years. She said that she was wronged and that five years was too long. She wanted to appeal. She asked for my opinion. I encouraged her to appeal if she felt that she was wronged. She wrote her appeal. Before the second trial, she was acquitted. She cried excitedly, understanding that it was blessings that Dafa had brought her. Before leaving, she wrote a touching poem for me.

4. Song Fu (pseudonym), who was imprisoned for operating a small business without a license, was very kind and just. She said that someone had told her the truth about Dafa, but she was busy with her business and didn’t listen. She felt that it had nothing to do with her, but she liked to hang out with me and was willing to listen to me. At first I just told her the basic facts of the persecution and convinced her to quit the CCP. 

One day she asked me, “Can you tell me a little bit more?” I told her about cultivation, the meaning of life, why people come to the world, and that being kind to others is being kind to yourself. She burst into tears. She said, “Why didn’t you tell me about this earlier? I will cultivate too.” 

Once, during a conversation with a police officer, Song Fu talked about how to be a good person. She said that Falun Gong taught her this and she would practice Falun Gong after she got out. A month later, she went home with a suspended sentence.

Every cell has a poster board. Once, the duty officer asked me to write an article. After I finished writing, she looked at it and said the writing was really good. After the article was posted, everyone liked it. Of course, what Dafa disciples write is all positive content, exuding positive energy. Later, I was responsible for editing the poster board, including the composition of the manuscript. 

I thought to myself that nothing is better than Master’s Fa, so I posted a few Hong Yin poems and signed the name of Master. The officer on duty was about to post it, but the police officer saw it and said, “Don’t post this one. If the leader sees it, I will get in trouble.” The officer on duty asked me whether it was okay not to sign Master’s name, but I said no, Master’s Fa must be signed with His name. She said, “Why don’t you write a poem yourself?” I agreed. She carefully put away Master’s poems and said, “Everything is fake. Only Falun Gong is true.” She also asked me to recite Master’s poems in front of everyone, and asked me to teach everyone to sing Be Saved.

Later, I wrote some poems and essays for the posting board and drew lotus flowers, plum blossoms, etc., to inspire people. When the police officer saw them, she said that the handwriting, content, and drawing were good, and the boards in other rooms were not as good as this one.

As the environment changed, I was about to get released. One guard often asked me to go out to have a chat. She said, “The people in this room acknowledge you. I don’t want you to leave, but I don’t want you to suffer here.”

On the day I was released, I walked out of the detention center with dignity and was reunited with my fellow practitioners and family members who were waiting outside.

The entire human society is a great practice site for Dafa disciples. Sentient beings are waiting to be saved, and there is a path that Dafa disciples can walk in any environment, because we have the Fa in our hearts. Master is omnipotent. As long as we believe in our Master and believe in the Fa, stand on the basis of validating the Fa and have the will to save sentient beings, we will be powerful. The more solid our hearts, the smoother our paths. The more peaceful our hearts, the smoother our paths. Thank you again, Master!