(Minghui.org) I’m a 70-year-old female Falun Dafa practitioner who started cultivating in October 1998. Over the last 27 years, Master has purified my body, uplifted my realm, and protected me from danger. I can’t thank him enough for his profound grace. No words can describe my gratitude!
I was at home the day after the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) launched the persecution of Falun Dafa on July 20, 1999, when the police came and forced me to go with them to the police station. When we got there, I was still holding the cup I was drinking out of at home.
One of the officers asked me, “Who told you to go appeal in Beijing?” I was determined not to tell them anything about my fellow practitioners, so I replied, “Falun Dafa is a great way for cultivating virtue. I follow Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance to improve myself. What’s wrong with being a good person? We went to Beijing to tell the government that it’s wrong to persecute Falun Gong and that we are law-abiding citizens.”
The officer raised his voice and said, “I’m asking who told you to go to Beijing?” I told him, “I went of my own accord.” He grabbed a rubber baton and tapped it on his palm as he said, “You may need a little tap to tell me the truth.” I closed my eyes and recited Master’s poem in my mind,
“In life, nothing sought,In death, regretting naught;Washing away all wrong thought,Buddhahood, with less adversity, is wrought.”(“Nothing Kept,” Hong Yin)
As I recited the poem again and again, the tapping sound ceased. I opened my eyes and saw the officer had gone back to his seat. Seeing that I wasn’t afraid or intimidated, he said, “You have brought your cup here. Are you planning to stay?” I asked him what he meant. He said, “It’s one o’clock. You need to go home for lunch.”
I passed this test under Master’s protection.
In January of 2021, a deputy police chief in a neighboring county and a few other officers broke into my home and searched it. I begged Master in my mind to protect my precious Falun Dafa books. The officers simply couldn’t see my books even though they were right under their noses. They eventually found one small truth-clarification brochure. They got so angry that they took me straight to the police station.
One officer asked me a bunch of questions. I answered, “You don’t need to ask me all these questions. Just take out the laws and the bookZhuan Falun and tell me which part of the book is against which law.” The officer dropped that line of questioning said that a practitioner had reported me. “In what way have I violated the law?” I asked.
The deputy chief jumped in: “Others would quiver with fear during an interrogation. Why aren’t you afraid?”
I said, “We Falun Dafa practitioners are law-abiding citizens. Why should we be afraid?”
He eventually said, “We only found one brochure. It’s not a big deal. You can go home.”
“How?” I asked him. “I live dozens of miles away. You brought me here in your car.” He handed me 10 yuan and said, “Here is some money for a bus ticket.”
In October 2021, a few policemen showed up and told me I had to go to the police station to sign a guarantee statement. When I refused to go, they carried me to their car. They cursed at me in the station but didn’t mention any signature. After whispering to each other for a while, they took me to the detention center, where I was put in a metal cage.
The cage was already crammed. A large bed made of bricks was completely occupied. Someone told me that I could sleep in the opposite direction of her and share her blanket. It was so dark that I couldn’t see her, but I was touched by her offer in such a terrible situation.
I found out later that everyone in the cage was a Falun Dafa practitioner. The person who offered to share her blanket with me, Ailan, was the family member of a government official. I had heard about her from another practitioner, but I didn’t expect to meet her in the detention center and even share her blanket.
Ailan used to have cirrhosis of the liver before she started practicing Falun Dafa. Her doctor had told her family that she wouldn’t live long. Her family had prepared for her death, but Falun Dafa restored her health.
After the CCP banned Falun Dafa, Ailan went to appeal in Beijing. She was arrested and transferred to her local police station. Despite of all the pressure, she refused to sign a guarantee statement not to practice Falun Dafa. She often said, “I can never repay Master for saving my life. The only thing I can do is to cultivate myself diligently.”
In the detention center, Ailan led other practitioners to study and memorize the Fa teachings and woke them up to do the morning exercises together. We all made speedy progress. Our energy was so strong that those in change dared not get close. Several police officers occasionally came in to check on us but didn’t dare to interfere with what we were doing. They even backed out while facing us. When our trial date approached, we encouraged each other, “Don’t worry. It’s a test. Let’s face it with righteous thoughts.”
One day I suggested to Ailan, “You graduated from college. Why don’t you write a truth-clarification letter to validate the Fa?” She asked me who to write it to. I said “To our county’s Party committee, the police chief, and those involved in the persecution in the detention center.” I didn’t see her writing for the next few days, so I decided to write one myself.
It was pretty hard at first, but Master gave me wisdom, and ideas started to come to me. Sentence after sentence came to my mind. I wrote as if my mind and hands weren’t my own, and I’d soon finished an eight-page letter. My mind then went blank. I couldn’t remember how I wrote it, but my whole body felt warm and comfortable. I was amazed. A senior practitioner said that Master had guided me on how to write this letter. Ailan helped me revise it. We made several copies of the letter on toilet paper, the only paper we had.
We gave the first copy to the director of the detention center and later distributed it to others. When a practitioner’s family member came to visit her, we passed him a copy of the letter. Other practitioners outside later mailed it to our county and city government employees, which greatly deterred them from further persecuting us.
We took every opportunity to clarify the truth to the jailers and other inmates. When government officials visited the detention center, we told them more about Falun Dafa. They said they agreed with us, but had to carry out the orders from their superiors. After three months, we felt that we had fulfilled our mission there and should be released. Ailan suggested we hold a hunger strike. We agreed.
The detention center eventually notified our families to come pick us up and never mentioned the guarantee statements again. We left the detention center without compromising. As our jailers gave us thumbs-up, one of them said, “Master Li Hongzhi must have wondrous teachings. His disciples are so loyal! Truly admirable!”