(Clearwisdom.net) As Master taught us in "Eliminate Your Last Attachment(s)," "If you are not afraid, the factor that would make you afraid will cease to exist." At first, Auntie Chen's story sounds very common [Note: In Chinese culture, calling a woman of one's acquaintance "Auntie" is a term of respect for an older person and does not connote kinship]. Like many fellow practitioners, she once went to Tiananmen Square to appeal against the unjust treatment of Falun Dafa. She was then detained and was forced to give her name and address to the authorities [Note: practitioners try to refrain from giving this information to avoid bringing on trouble to other authorities, their job supervisors and family members in their hometowns]. What followed these incidents, however, was very surprising.
On July 20, 1999, Auntie Chen, along with many other steadfast Dafa practitioners, went to the Provincial Committee, and the Provincial Government offices to say some just words for Dafa. They were illegally detained for several hours. After forcing them to write down their names, the police released them. Since then, the situation in Mainland China has been very severe. Officials from the Neighborhood Administration Office and the Police Station always came to harass those practitioners, whose names had been written down. Auntie Chen was the only person who had not been interrogated. It seemed like those officials had forgotten about her. During the period when the evil persecution was the most severe, she still held Fa-conferences at her home with sometimes ten or even more than twenty practitioners attending. She is also one of the practitioners who distributed and posted flyers to clarify the truth. Another fellow practitioner told me that Auntie Chen had done very well, and that she was fearless. That was the first time that I heard of her. On one occasion, when they were posting truth-clarifying flyers, they saw a police car, and several policemen next to it talking with each other. While passing by the other side of the car, they stuck a truth-clarifying flyer to a door of the car.
Around New Year's Day of 2001, Auntie Chen, together with another practitioner went to Tiananmen Square. They had planned to unfurl a banner on Tiananmen Square's city gate. However, when Auntie Chen successfully went through the passage of the city gate, where police were stationed, her fellow practitioner, who went together with her, was stopped. Auntie Chen was also arrested as a result, and was detained. Police asked for her name, but she didn't tell them. They were sent to a big courtyard, where over 1,000 Dafa practitioners were held. All of them obeyed the vile policemen's order and stood still, except Auntie Chen, who walked back and forth as if nothing had happened. She talked with fellow practitioners that she knew. When the police saw her, they fiercely asked, "Why are you walking around?" Auntie Chen just ignored them, so the police stopped saying anything. Then the police released her unconditionally. She had been illegally detained for two days, but during this period of time nobody beat her.
She went to the West Station in Beijing to buy a ticket for home. She happened to meet two Dafa practitioners from Southern China. The three practitioners clarified the truth aloud to the travelers at the West Station, and many people surrounded them and listened. One policeman from the railway station was very scared when he saw them clarifying the truth in public. He said, "Auntie, please lower your voice, there are many plainclothes policemen here." But they were not scared at all, and continued telling the facts to the people. After the people left, the policeman went up and told them that he has relatives that also practice Falun Gong, and they are very kind and nice. While they were talking, they met another fellow practitioner from Southern China. He wore only thin clothes though it was winter in Beijing. The policeman gave his own clothes to this practitioner.
After arriving at home, Auntie Chen continued to spread Dafa, post flyers, hang banners, and distribute CDs to clarify the truth. Meanwhile, she still held Fa-conferences in her home. In addition, she sent truth-clarifying materials and Teacher's new articles to other practitioners, who didn't have access to them. Several months passed, but nobody came to bother her. One day, somebody knocked at her door. She opened the door. The person said she was from the Neighborhood Community Office. Auntie Chen was neither worried nor scared; instead she treated her politely by asking her to take a seat and bringing her a cup of tea. The official was ashamed, and asked Auntie Chen, "I heard you practice Falun Gong. Are you still practicing it?" Auntie Chen questioned her uprightly, "Who will give up practicing such a Great Law of high-virtue?!" The official had nothing to say. Then Auntie Chen introduced Dafa to her. One hour passed, and the official wanted to leave. Auntie Chen said, "Watch your step, you're welcome to come to my home anytime." The official acted very awkwardly, and agreed to do so.
Several months later, that same official from the Neighborhood Community Office came to her home again. Auntie Chen still treated her as politely as before by asking her to take a seat and bringing her a cup of tea. The official said that she only wanted to visit with Auntie Chen. Auntie Chen introduced Dafa to her. After that, Aunt Chen told me, "What I was thinking at that time was that since she had come it was an opportunity, so I must tell her about Dafa." One year has passed, and the official never came to bother Auntie Chen again.
Teacher said in "Eliminate Your Last Attachment(s)" (Essentials for Further Advancement II),
"If a cultivator can let go of the thought of life and death under any circumstance, evil is sure to be afraid of him. If every student is able to do this, evil will of itself no longer exist. All of you are already aware of the principle of mutual-generation and mutual-inhibition. If you are not afraid, the factor that would make you afraid will cease to exist. This is not to be self-imposed, but is achieved by truly and calmly letting go of it. "
In Touring North America to Teach the Fa, Teacher told us once again,
"If your righteous thoughts are truly strong, if you're able to put aside the thought of life and death, and if you're solid and unshakable like diamond, then those evil beings won't dare to touch you, because they know that other than killing you, any type of persecution will be useless. The evil will have no choice but to leave you alone."
I hope this experience-sharing article will encourage fellow practitioners.
