Hello Master: Hello fellow practitioners:
My name is XX, and I am a student seeking for a doctor's degree in the field of computer science. I received a letter from my mother a few days before I came to this conference. Now, I know why my mother was not there to answer the calls when I had called her since six months ago. I was always told by my family that my mother happened to go to my aunt's. And I also know that the practitioners in China have been calling upon people's conscience with their blood and lives. They want to say that Falun Dafa is good. I am going to take this opportunity to read my mother's letter, which will tell you what happened to her in the past year.
"My Dear Son:
I originally thought about going to the U.S. to visit you, but my visa application was rejected by the U.S. Embassy twice. I came home and figured out that it was not just a coincidence, and I should continue my cultivation in the most difficult environment. But I was afraid of being jailed, beaten up, handcuffed, sent to psychiatric institutions, and the venereal diseases from the prostitutes in the jail. I was also afraid that I would be dragged into politics, etc. I tried all I could to stop other practitioners from going to Beijing, and I felt sorry for those who did not listen to me and finally went to Beijing, though I admired their courage to sacrifice their lives for the Dafa. As time passed by, and as hinted by Teacher Li and my improved Xinxing, I suddenly came to realize how wrong I used to be. How could it be wrong to tell the truth and to make our request to the government with compassion? How could I call it "politics" when practitioners never resist, or even complain about police's physical and verbal abuses? After a period of struggle with myself over this issue, I finally stepped forward for the first time to revalidate Dafa, and to remove my attachment of fear at the same time. However, once I had this thought, I cried for several hours, kneeling down in front of Master's portrait, and feeling like a child who had just found his home. I did not know why I was crying. I felt guilty and regretful, and in the meantime determined. After the crying, I was much more determined. I attained the Dafa in 1995, and I am a veteran practitioner. It was Master Li who gave back my health and a meaningful life. Otherwise, I could have died. Dafa made me understand the true meaning of my life at a time when I had finish most of the journey of my life: the true purpose of it is to cultivate myself to return to the original, true self. In the days of terror when Master is silently taking all the slanders and when so many practitioners are protecting the Fa with their lives, how could I not stand up and say: "Master Li is innocent."
I took a train to Beijing on February 29, 2000. I was followed by the police right after I made the contact with other practitioners in Beijing. I took the practitioners by hands, and changed several alleys and finally we got into the home of your mother-in-law. Your mother-in-law, after learning that we were going to Beijing to appeal to the government, had tears in her eyes and did not allow us to go. Everyone knew at the time that stepping outside the door could mean our disappearance forever. I knew that it was my test, and I comforted her instead: "the purpose of my coming to Beijing is to file my complaint." Your mother-in-law knew that she was unable to change our minds, so she took us to the bus stop after the police left the area.
In the afternoon of March 1st, I was arrested before I made it to the Bureau of Citizen Complaint Processing, and I was detained in Beijing for four days. In the detention facility, I met many practitioners from XX Province. It was a small house with only around 100 Square Feet, and new practitioners were delivered in everyday, and the old taken out. I was able to be with new practitioners everyday. Some of them were mothers with kids, and some old ones held by their children. The room held over 20 practitioners, and we all had the same voice: we would sacrifice our lives to prove to the people that Falun Dafa is the most righteous, and the best, and it is not an evil cult. We would not have come to Beijing if it weren't for telling this to the government. We would not otherwise come to Beijing even if there were gold to dig. We shared our experience day and night, and we recited Master's books, and encouraged each other. The detention room actually became our cultivation base, and I even thought about staying at the base and not going back to XX
Four days later, four people consisting of police officers from the police precinct in charge of the household registration, and the special agents from the government dealing with Falun Gong showed up, and took an old lady and me to my precinct. The head of the precinct was very mad when he saw us, alleging that we were going to get him fired. The husband of that old lady is a division chief in the public security bureau, and her daughter was in charge of Falun Gong issue. The daughter demanded that her mother be sent to her office. So, the police took us to a place for detaining Falun Gong practitioner at the XX District, where the terrace and stairways were full of police guarding the building. Some police officers were asking the head of the police why they arrested so many Falun Gong practitioners? The head said that they weren't as many as 2% of what we arrested.
Each one of us was held in one small room, and there were two female police taking the night shift guarding each room, and two others take the day shift. Therefore, each practitioner had four people guarding. You can imagine how ridiculous that the government has invested so much manpower to guard the old ladies like myself. The female officers first took us as devils with the dark faces and Dracula-like teeth. Later, they thought that we were worry-free old playing children. They said that we were all nice. On Mach 20, the police said that the most sensitive time was over, and they took me out to their office to write repentance letter. I refused. I was longing to go home because the practitioners had started hunger strike, and I was scared of doing it. I knew that my head would swim and my legs would be like spaghetti if I missed one meal, and it would take my life if I stopped eating and drinking anything for many days? Just at this moment, I had "the heart of an ordinary person" printed in my brain, and I suddenly realize that it was Master Li who was giving me a hint. A cultivator is a supernatural person, and what would I be afraid of when Master is with me and when the Fa is with me? I quieted down and started reciting the book: "The Budha's Fa is the most profound, and it is the most mystic and supernatural science among all the theories in the world..."
As a cultivator, I should take all opportunities to validate that Dafa is a science, the most advanced science, and not a superstition. I happily joined in the hunger strike. The next day, we were transferred to another place, which was used to be a detention center. We were not allowed to have family members visiting. The place was full of dust as if no one had lived in the place for a long time. We began to clean it from day to night. We worked on the room but we did not eat. If we had some time, we would sit down to recite Master's books. When evening came, we would do the exercises. In the late night, the police would take some of us out to torture us until early in the morning. I was included. The police asked me not to practice Falun Gong anymore. I told them: "The reason I am detained here is that I will be able to practice it. If you cut my head off, my body will still be here sitting." The police said that I was too tough. Soon after that, the police did not bother with us when we practiced.
On the fifth day, I felt nausea in my stomach, and vomited constantly yellow stomach fluid, until nothing could come out. I was unable to sleep due to the vomiting. Only when I did the sitting medication exercise on the floor, could I feel better. People ware sweaters and thick pants in March, while we did the sitting exercise for the whole night on cement floor with only thin, one-layer shirt and pants. None of us caught the cold. The staffs were all communist party members and they could not believe that Falun Gong could do miracles. On the seventh day, there were only three practitioners left including me who were still not eating or drinking anything. On the eighth day, they had the doctors in, and they wanted to take a measurement of our blood pressure. We told them that it would be enough to prove that Falun Dafa is a supernatural science if we were all normal. If you gave us shots, we would smash our head against the wall. So, I held out my arms for the measurement while I held the wall with the other hand in order to support my body. As a result, all three us were normal including heart beat, blood pressure, and body temperature.
The doctors left, and the police was so curious that they began pacing behind us saying: "It has been eight days since you didn't eat and drink anything, and you are still in such a good shape. Are you old deities? Can you drink some water?" I smiled to him and said: "I will say the same thing. I won't eat and drink anything here. If you don't release me, you will have to take my body home." On the ninth day, another check-up showed normal in all the categories. I realized that the body of a practitioner is supernormal. I stopped vomiting on the seventh day and I felt better and better after that. I tried to talked to the police telling him that they had seen the power of Falun Dafa, and if they still did not believe, we would continue the hunger strike. They said that we were just human and would not sustain for more days.
They finally allowed your father and your aunt to see me. Your father had a fight against the police, and he said that if I die in the detention, he would sue them. Your father also told the police that they would be fully responsible for my death because I did not violate any law. They eventually released me. They released three practitioners as a result of the hunger strike, and the young practitioner was on the strike for eleven days. After I returned home, I told our relatives and friends my experience under police custody. They all said that if the government continued persecuting Falun Gong, their tolerance would have a limit. The reason I did not tell you all this was because that I did not want you to be worried about me. I am fine now, and I feel very good. I would not be afraid of anything if I am arrested and tortured again.
The above is the entire letter from my mother. I graduated early this month and I invited my mother to come to the graduation ceremony. My mother applied for the visa and she was once again rejected. After Master's speech at the Great Lake Area Experience Sharing Conference was publicized, my mother phoned me and told me that she had finally understood everything. She said: "the reason that Master does not want the overseas practitioner to go to China is because they are more needed there to expose the persecution to the people of the world. It is not a coincident that my visa application was rejected three times, because I am needed more here. If I were to go to your place, I would not be able to do anything else except for participating in the Dafa promotion activities. And even that I would only be another practitioner showing up because I don't speak English. But in here it is different: I am a veteran practitioner and I know a lot of people, both the practitioners and the ordinary people alike; I can promote the Dafa among the ordinary people and clarify the truth about Falun Dafa to them; I can use my personal experience under the police's custody to inspire the good side of the people; I can also share my experience with practitioners who have not yet stepped forward to protect the Fa, and I can take them with me to put up Dafa-promotion posters. I will be a real particle of Dafa in China." My mother continued: "if one day I were to be arrested again and lose my life because of hunger strike or other reason, you must tell people in the world that your mother gave her life for the great Falun Dafa of the universe. If you have children, you must remember that the children of the practitioners are the evidence that the Fa will be passed down from generation to generation, because Master's arrangement for them will be the same as the arrangement he made for you: to promote the Fa among people in the world is most meaningful. Don't worry about me. I have a lot to do though it is very difficult to do something here in China and many of the young practitioners I know were arrested and are never seen again. I will talk to you more when we see each other."
Fellow practitioners: My mother is just one of the thousands of practitioners who risk their lives to protect the Dafa. Evil people are still out there today, and countless practitioners are still suffering today, and our Master is still being slandered and mistreated... We, the overseas practitioners, should do more and do better in promoting the Fa and to tell the truth about the Fa to people. We shall never forget our promise to assist our Master to save all sentient beings.
Thank you.