I am 36 years old, and like so many other practitioners, I began cultivating Dafa in order to keep fit. When I was young, I was healthy and my family was well off. We had money, and my spouse had a motorcycle. We could be called a very happy and joyous family. This good scene did not last long though, and after a few years, I got a serious illness. I went from the village, to town, to county, to city, and finally to the provincial hospitals. The unbearable pain was hard to describe in words. We used up our savings, we sold the motorcycle, and owed debts. My health got even worse, I had a bad attitude, my temper got worse, and I was depressed. My spouse left, the possessions were split, and the family was destroyed.
At this time, June 25, 1998, I had the destiny to attain Falun Fofa. From studying the Fa, practicing the movements, and talking with other practitioners, my disease gradually got lighter and lighter, and finally completely disappeared. I truly attained the amazing results of without pursuits, so naturally gain. I regained my physical and mental health, the Teacher had given me a second life, and Dafa saved my family. From then on I was determined to follow the principles of Dafa and the Teachers requirements, to cultivate with dignity. Starting with small matters of myself, I followed the Truthfulness, Benevolence, and Forbearance standard for cultivation. This made my thoughts and actions rise to an even higher realm.
After studying Dafa, my family and friends all opposed my practicing. When starting, they openly taught and criticized me, and in the end they left me by myself, while talking behind my back. They criticized the Teacher, and said bad things about Dafa. In order to promote and protect Fa, I must start with myself. I must prove Dafa is correct, allow the people at my side to recognize Dafa, reaching the point of the Fa correcting peoples hearts. After they saw the changes in my health, attitude, and even conduct from studying the Fa, my friends and family did not curse Dafa again. They all recognized that Dafa is a great Buddha Law.
Last year after what happened on July 22, we entered into a special cultivation time that has never occurred before. Nearly every true practitioner experienced a life test. Black clouds covered and caged, evil ran rampant, I truly believe that the black clouds cannot forever block out the sun. The rectification of the Fa in the human world is a process that is extremely painful and has danger of dangers. Some fellow practitioners said, The Teacher is correcting and uprighting the Fa, we are just cultivators, we just need to be calm and steadily cultivate. If they do not allow us to practice when it is light out, then we will practice when it is dark out. If we cannot practice when it is dark out, we will practice in the middle of the night. If we really do practice this way, then we have no way of consummating the level of Fa here in the human world. If we just let the evil forces spread rumors, defile and slander, curse and scold, illegally imprison, torture, and senselessly judge, lie to the people and society, then our cultivation environment will continue to receive needless damage. Can you be calm? Can you steadily cultivate? To put it frankly, if it was not for those cultivators that left their homes and gave up their jobs, bringing their wives and children, old and young that went together thousands of miles to appeal, could there be this environment today? I am in pain and am wavering back and forth, am I still fit to be a disciple of the Teacher? The whole day I hear and see propagation all over the country by the government slandering Dafa. They create rumors, curse our kind Teacher, and illegally imprison and beat Dafa practitioners. I am still frightened, am I still a Dafa disciple? I should also stand up, go out and explain the truth to the countrys leaders. The government is practical and realistic, they should be on the path of the people, and they are able to hear the voices of the people. I hope our governments leaders can reexamine and approve of Falun Gong.
Going to Beijing is easier said than done! My family already had nothing, even if I sold our crops, it would not be enough to cover the expenses for traveling to Beijing. I finally was determined to borrow the money. If I could not borrow the money, then I would walk to Beijing. I woke up the second day (March 10, 2000), packed a few things, and headed for the city to borrow some money. I ran around the whole day looking for help, but got no aid. Right when it was difficult to find a way, I met a fellow practitioner; she also wanted to go to Beijing. That night we both got on a train to go to Beijing, but while stopping in Shijiazhuang City, she was interrogated and detained by the police. She had all the money, and I was by myself. I arrived in Beijing without a cent. It was already night, and people were not being accepted for appealing. I had nowhere to go, and finally I found a restroom. I was there for half the night, cold and hungry, and I shook uncontrollably from the wind and cold. It gradually got lighter out, and I left this bedroom. I walked not far and a police officer asked if I practiced Falun Gong. I wanted to say what was in my heart, but then I thought, I have come to appeal, I do not want to be arrested like this. I casually said no. Then I thought, This is not right, why did I say I do not practice Falun Gong? Is this not lying? I turned around and ran over to the police officer to say, I am a Falun Gong practitioner, and I made a mistake. He said, Once I saw you I knew you practiced, I knew you would come back. I asked, Why? He said, Dont you Falun Gong practitioners say Truthfulness, Benevolence, and Forbearance? You dont lie.
I think these millions of practitioners that came to Beijing to spread and protect the Fa, made the police know that Dafa practitioners speak the truth, act truthfully, and are true people. I was first arrested and detained in a jail in Beijing. After investigation, they notified my village and town, and had them send someone to Beijing to handcuff and take me back to my village after fifteen days. Not long after being released, they came again to my home and said, 1. You are required to write a guarantee not to return to Beijing. 2. You must pay 4,000 yuan (roughly $500) as a transportation fee from being brought back. If the money is not paid, your house will be torn down. I said, 1. It will be impossible to have me write a guarantee. 2. As for the money, I dont have any now, but overtime I will think of a way to return it. If you want to tear my house down, then do as you please. There was nothing they could do, so they left.
On the afternoon of May 10, 2000, the town sent someone named Wang and five other people to my home to ask me, Have you written the guarantee yet? Did you get the money? I answered, I cannot write the guarantee. As for the money, I sold part of my crops and can pay part of it. They asked, Do you still practice Falun Gong? I said, I still practice. They did not say anything, handcuffed me, then pushed me into a police car and took me to the village government. They had me spread my hands apart and handcuffed them to a big steel door at the village government for everyone who passed by to see. They let the pedestrians see the fate of practicing Falun Gong. While others watched, a police officer would continuously curse obscenities at me. After half an hour, they came and asked me, How do you feel? I said, Really good. At that time, I thought of certain practitioners that wrote guarantees and signed them, they must have felt bad after this. I thought of how, in order to spread Falun Gong and guide us, the Teacher traveled both east and west, took trains, stayed in little motels, suffered all of the pains of the human world, yet he did not want anything from us. Now the government has issued an arrest warrant, and continues to slander and curse our Teacher. Can true practitioners continue to carry on this ignoble existence? I definitely want to pass every tribulation and handle myself well.
At this time, the burning sun radiated down on my body, I stared at the sun, and gradually it became a giant Falun. Perhaps this was the Teacher pointing out to me to be even firmer. When the police saw how firm I was, they did not try to force me to write a guarantee again. At about 5:00, they saw there were not as many people on the street, so they brought me down and took me to the town jail. They handcuffed my hands and hung me up with a rope so my feet could not touch the ground. They asked again, Will you still practice? I replied, I will definitely. They then just let me hang there, and would not allow me to use the restroom. I do not know how long that went on for. The pain in my hands, arms, shoulders, and back went through to my heart. My hands were swollen, and as the blood ran through my arms, I would silently say to myself what the Teacher said, When it is difficult to endue, you can endure it. When it is impossible to do, you can do it. Working the body does not count as pain, cultivating the heart is the most difficult; every pass must be leaped over, everywhere are demons; a hundred pains drop down together, seeing how one lives. Though it is this way, that kind of pain is difficult to describe in words. Hanging this way, feet not touching the ground, not daring to move, and the pain being so bad that I fainted several times. I was also not allowed to use the bathroom, and all the while they were cursing me saying, Dont you cultivate Truthfulness, Benevolence, and Forbearance? Well, then you can slowly forbear this! If you cant bear it, then call for your Teacher, isnt it his birthday today. I was thinking how the Teacher withstood so much for everyone of us true cultivators, is it not just this little bit of pain of the flesh? I cannot add any more trouble to the Teacher. If I am told to yell out for him, I will not do it.
I said, You can hang, beat, imprison, and kill me, but I will not do anything that violates Dafa. If I die, I will die while protecting the Fa. I will use my Buddha character to triumph over my demonic character. Once upright thoughts came out, the attachment of life and death was given up, not long afterwards I did not hurt so much. On the afternoon of May 12, the police released me and told me to go home.
Before I left, I did not forget to say, I do not blame, nor hate you.
June 9, 2000