(Clearwisdom.net) The following describes my experiences using legal procedures to appeal to the authorities about the persecution suffered by my family and me. In addition, I'd like to share how our local fellow practitioners have improved in the Fa as a whole.
Since July 20, 1999, when the persecution of Falun Dafa began, I have stepped forward to validate the Fa, and because of this I've been subjected to brutal persecution and torture. However, no one could shake my determination and righteous thoughts of validating the Fa. During the past five years, I walked to Beijing to appeal to the authorities. I was illegally detained at police stations, detention centers, brainwashing classes, and forced labor camps. But my righteous belief in Teacher and in the Fa has helped me to survive all the inhumane tortures and brainwashing. My righteous acts greatly encouraged fellow practitioners in our local area and intimidated the evil. Malicious police officers closely monitored me. But they never stopped me from doing my work of validating the Fa, clarifying the truth to save sentient beings, and exposing the evil. More and more local fellow practitioners came out to work on various kinds of Dafa projects, and together, we became mature. As a result, the severity of the persecution decreased considerably in our area, while the local environment improved a lot. However, in our Fa-rectification work, we had some omissions, and we didn't correct these problems in time. We didn't fundamentally look inside to dig out the root causes of the problems. Therefore, on the night of July 19, 2004, police officers came and searched my home. They beat my wife and me and illegally confiscated a lot of our truth-clarification materials. They also took some money. It was a loss to my family and to our local fellow practitioners.
I came to realize that it was an incident where the evil tried to interfere with our efforts of clarifying the truth and saving sentient beings. It was part of the evil's crazy and unreasonable plan. Therefore, we decided not to passively bear it any longer. After this incident, with help from our local fellow practitioners, we immediately sent a report to the Clearwisdom web site to expose the persecutors. Meanwhile, my wife and I didn't sit at home and wait passively. The day after our home was searched, we went to appeal to the People's Congress in our city to report the incident.
After we stated our complaint, some of the officials we talked to became very angry with those police officers. They commented that they had acted like gangsters. They paid us lip service but we could tell they were afraid to show too much sympathy. We then took the opportunity to share with them our personal stories of the good deeds we did after we obtained the Fa. We told them that Jiang launched the persecution simply out of jealousy, and that he abused his power and used the country's media and propaganda tools to fabricate and spread lies about Falun Gong. We pointed out to them that Jiang has been using them and other people as tools to stir up hatred against Falun Gong practitioners. We made them aware that they didn't know the truth about Falun Gong and that they had been committing crimes when persecuting Falun Gong practitioners. Therefore, when the persecution ends, they will be sacrificed by Jiang to protect himself. When they asked me questions, I rationally explained the truth about the so-called "Tiananmen Self-Immolation Incident" and told them that Falun Gong practitioners overseas have sued Jiang. I also told them how Zeng Qinghong hired gunmen to shoot at Falun Gong practitioners in South Africa. The people we talked to had been thoroughly deceived by Jiang's regime. In addition, they were very attached to power and money. Still, we took the opportunity to tell them about the Fa's beauty and to expose the hidden purpose of the persecution. Some of them came to know the truth and supported us. Others still said some degenerate things, although they learned the facts about Falun Dafa even as they threatened us. One head of a department introduced us to the District Government and the District Appeals Department personnel. During this process, we rationally clarified the truth and exposed the evil to governmental officials who had been completely brainwashed by state propaganda.
After we came back, my wife and I discussed what we had done and shared our experience with local fellow practitioners. Then, with peace in our hearts, we studied the Fa and practiced the Falun Dafa exercises. We kept sending forth righteous thoughts. We continued to clarify the truth to people we met. All the people we talked to supported our resolve to file a lawsuit against those vicious police. Two days after we had gone to the People's Congress, we decided to go to the Politics and Law Committee of the District People's Congress. Fellow practitioners spent a whole morning sending forth righteous thoughts to help us eliminate the evil in other dimensions. With righteous thoughts, my wife and I talked to the head of the department in charge of monitoring public security officers, legislative departments, and procurement departments. We submitted our case to him. He read it and then said, "This is a major case. We have to meet to discuss it. You can go home now and wait for further notice." We took the opportunity to explain some facts [about Falun Gong] to him. Two days later, I called him and we talked for over forty minutes on the phone.
He said, "You are on parole. However, you didn't cooperate with the police. Instead, you tried to interfere with their work."
I calmly and kindly answered, "I'm not a criminal. I'm a good person. Any charges against me are illegal in the first place. I cannot support or cooperate with any illegal search of our home, especially when the police had no evidence and didn't show their identification. I was safeguarding the justice of the law and the constitution. I was safeguarding the rights of a citizen. I have the legal right to refuse any illegal search of our home."
He said, "You're so stubborn. I know you work hard during the daytime. Yet, you go out to distribute Falun Gong fliers at night. The government has banned Falun Gong. You have been disturbing the peace."
I said, "Before I practiced Falun Gong, I only cared about money, and I would take advantage of anything to further my material interests. My moral standards were very low. It is Falun Gong that turned me into a selfless person, a person who considers others before himself. I distributed truth-clarification materials to people in order to help them know that Falun Dafa is righteous and good. I wanted them to know the truth about the persecution so they can be saved. The society and the country will improve if everybody considers other first and tries to be good. However, Jiang Zemin made this impossible. Do you know anyone who went out at night to distribute Falun Gong materials before July 20 1999? We are doing this now only because of the persecution. How can you say I'm wrong? You should say the persecution is wrong."
He said, "The police shouldn't have beaten you up and taken away your personal belongings. However, you lost your personal security only because you practice Falun Gong. You have become an enemy of the people, which justified the police officers' acts. Now, if you write a guarantee letter to denounce your belief in Falun Gong, I can help you get your belongings back. I can also investigate those cops and punish them. However, I can do nothing if you remain partial to Falun Gong. This decision comes from my boss. I suggest you take my advice."
I said, "The search of our home was illegal. The cops shouldn't have beaten us up. I'm filing a lawsuit against them based on the law. It is my legal right. I had great hope in you. I came to you because I thought you would handle this fairly since it is your job to do so. However, it is unfair of you to give me such an answer since it shows no respect for the law. I don't think you are trying to solve the problem based on the law. Instead, you are helping those cops who broke the law. Your act is in violation of the law already. The government now claims that it manages the country based on the law, and that the current human rights conditions are the best in Chinese history. However, from your attitude, I can tell that these are simply words used to deceive foreign countries. You are supposed to monitor the actions of the police. However, you don't even handle our complaints based on the law. I understand why you do so. It is because you don't dare to safeguard justice and compassion. You are afraid that you might lose your job and your power. You clearly realize that this is wrong. However, you agree to do it because the victims are just everyday people while the policemen and their bosses have power. Have you ever thought about this? You are violating the law. You are helping the evil. The result is that you are helping to lower the moral standards of society even further."
He said, "You can file your lawsuit in court or anywhere else. However, I'll tell you that no one will dare to accept the case since it involves Falun Gong. You should understand that I'm unable to do anything about it." I analyzed the so-called "Tiananmen Self-Immolation Incident" for him and I also told him that Jiang Zemin has been sued in several countries.
He said, "I know about you. You are good people. You are simply being used."
I said, "Do you know why there are so many people who became better after they started practicing Falun Dafa? It is because Falun Dafa is good. Nobody can use us since we want nothing but to help people know the truth. Don't ruin your life and your future because of one thought."
Eventually, he said, "I can't help you. Otherwise, you would disturb the order of the society even further. I know the cops were wrong. However, I still can't punish them. If I did, no one else would ever dare to handle Falun Gong and Falun Gong practitioners. Still, if you can guarantee that you won't practice Falun Gong any more, I will handle your case. I will punish the cops and get your personal belongings back for you. I will make them apologize to you. However, if you continue to practice Falun Gong, I won't be able to do anything." I tried to talk to him some more, but he hung up.
This was the end of our appeal.
The whole process constituted an opportunity for our local follow practitioners to improve as a whole. We identified some of our shortcomings, and after sharing our insights, we became more clear-headed and rational, and we could better perform the three tasks that Teacher gave us. After the day our home was searched, some fellow practitioners suggested that we leave our home to avoid further persecution, since they were afraid that we might be arrested. My personal understanding was that we needed to deny the persecution. The purpose of the persecution is to interfere with our efforts of clarifying the truth and saving sentient beings. We are innocent, and from the perspective of everyday people, we are victims. Therefore, it is not right for us to simply run away. We should take advantage of this critical moment to use legal procedures to file a lawsuit against them. Some practitioners don't think it will be useful to do so. They said it might make the environment more dangerous for practitioners. Let's think about this. From the start, we left everything behind to go to Beijing to appeal to the authorities. In doing that, we stepped out of the everyday people's realm and safeguarded the Fa with our lives. The purpose was to let more people know the truth of the persecution, and to save more people. Now, as the Fa-rectification period is about to end, the evil has totally lost control. From Zeng Qinghong's hiring of gunmen to shoot at Falun Gong practitioners in South Africa to the irrational persecution going on in China, we can tell that the evil is gasping its last breath before it is completely defeated. Therefore, we should take advantage of the opportunity to expose the persecution. Filing a lawsuit against those malicious policemen is a way to completely deny the old forces' persecution of Falun Dafa practitioners. Our righteous thoughts and actions will dissolve the evil factors that tried to damage the Fa. Meanwhile, we can help everyday people to more clearly see the essence of the persecution. Wherever we go, we clarify the truth so that local people learn more about the Fa and the persecution. This is a chance for them to better position themselves. We need to help the people working in governmental positions learn the truth, since they've been deceived by the fabricated lies and controlled by the notions of power and money too long. We shouldn't miss any opportunities. We should fully use our Falun Dafa practitioners' wisdom to disclose the purpose of the persecution and to tell everyone around us that Falun Dafa is good.
I came to realize that as Fa-rectification period Dafa disciples, we shoulder great responsibilities. We need to remain brave throughout this senseless persecution and step forward to validate the Fa and save the sentient beings. We need to sue the main instigator while he is still in a position of power. We need to use legal procedures to file lawsuits against those vicious police, and the officials operating in Jiang's name. By doing this, we will be able to take away Jiang's tools for carrying out the persecution and eradicate the factors interfering with Fa-rectification. We should be brave and truly walk the righteous path to validate the Fa. We should assist Teacher in rectifying the Fa to successfully fulfill the pledges we made earlier.
After sharing with each other, we all found some of our shortcomings. We all looked inward to dig out our unrighteous elements. The persecution happened because we had slacked off as a whole. When the situation improved a little, we tended to pursue personal comforts. Our attachments returned and interfered with our Fa-rectification efforts. In some places, some of the practitioners didn't do any of the three tasks that Teacher required of us. Looking back at the past five years, we should have been more clear-headed. We should have known that the evil was watching us every second, ready to exploit our attachments. When they find our attachments, they make them grow bigger, until eventually we follow the path arranged by the old forces. Then, malicious people are able to persecute us, in order to interfere with Fa-rectification and our saving of sentient beings. Therefore, during the last minutes of the Fa-rectification period, we should be strict with ourselves. We should eliminate everyday people's attachments and notions so we can walk the path arranged by Teacher. With each step that we take, we are getting closer to the time when the Fa rectifies the human world.
This is my personal understanding. Please correct me if I said anything inappropriate.
