(Clearwisdom.net)
Visiting Beijing to Validate the Fa and Leaving Prison with Righteous Thoughts
I began to practice Falun Gong after I attended the third series of lectures given by Teacher in Guangzhou. When the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began persecuting Falun Gong on July 20, 1999, defamatory propaganda and lies filled every corner. From that point on, I started to appeal for justice for Falun Gong. I visited Beijing four times, was detained three times, sent to a forced labor camp for a year, and spent over a year at a brainwashing center.
In May 2000, four other practitioners and I held a banner that said "Falun Dafa is Good" at Tiananmen Square. The uniformed police, undercover police, and armed guards immediately tried to take away the banner. We held on tightly. One practitioner was struck by an armed guard with a megaphone, causing his nose to bleed profusely. The police put us in a vehicle. I was pushed to the floor of the vehicle when I tried to reason with one of them.
We refused to tell the officers our names when we arrived at the
police station in Qianmen, Beijing. One policeman thought that I
was from Singapore, so he took me to the basement. On the way to
the basement, I saw many practitioners locked behind bars on every
floor. The policeman took me to a room and told me that I was not
allowed to display banners in Beijing. I said, "I came here to tell
the government that Falun Dafa is good, and
Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good. I wanted to stop the
persecution, and that is why I came." The policeman asked me to
recite two poems from Hong Yin. My mind was blank and I
could not remember any poems. I realized that I had not studied the
Fa well. I was too busy with work at the assistance center and
did not study the Fa diligently. I felt ashamed! What should I do?
I recited the poem "An Upright Person" from Hong Yin and was
able to finish it. It was unbelievable! The policeman took me one
floor above and I saw the practitioners who came with me to
Beijing. Their hands were cuffed behind their backs and they were
tied up and sitting on the floor. I went over and loosened the
ties.
Later in the evening, a policeman took me to an office. A police
deputy asked me, "Did you reserve a hotel room?" I said, "No." He
added, "We welcome you to visit and tour. But you are not allowed
to display banners in Tiananmen Square. This is not the law but a
Tiananmen regulation." I told them the reason I came to Beijing was
to express my thoughts. The policemen wanted me to leave, but I
refused to leave unless they released the practitioners that came
with me. So the policemen left me outside the main gate. The next
day, I saw a practitioner who had been released from the police
station. He said that it was futile for me to come to Beijing
because the police did not beat me. Did we have to be beaten to
prove that we had validated the Fa? I was confused by his words.
After I read Teacher's lectures, I understood that stepping forward
was to validate the Fa, and to be jailed and beaten was not the
goal. One's righteous thoughts are so important. Do we do things
according to the Fa or the old forces' arrangements? Subsequently,
this practitioner was sadly severely persecuted.
On New Year's Day in 2001, I traveled to Beijing with another practitioner. The persecution was very severe at the time. Many Dafa information material sites were destroyed. A coordinator rented a place and established an information material site for us to operate. The two of us and other Beijing practitioners did not know how to use a computer. We brought the computer home, and the coordinator bought four printers and other materials. When everything was set up, a practitioner who knew how to use the computer contacted us, and we began the operation. We printed color photos of Zhao Xin, a practitioner who died as a result of the persecution, and gave them to the practitioners. Practitioners placed the photos with other information material inside envelopes and greeting cards and sent them to other provinces. Practitioners who worked at the material site led a difficult life. We had two meals a day. In the morning, we ate noodles and salted vegetables, and in the afternoon we had some salted vegetables with rice. We rarely ate meat. We worked at the site for about a month. After the Chinese New Year, we shared, and decided that it was best that we return to our own cities to coordinate the local truth clarification work.
Upon returning to my home in southern China, I heard that a warrant was issued for my arrest. I could not go home and was destitute and homeless. Later, the authorities tracked me from my cell phone and I was arrested. After two months of detention, I was sent to a forced labor camp for a year. At the camp, it pained me to see practitioners taking the wrong path. The guards were lenient toward the practitioners who were "transformed." They did not have to work and were allowed to read books, play sports, or watch television. Those who refused to be "transformed" had to work fifteen-hour shifts and were not allowed to see visitors. We had to wear a red sign and were strictly supervised. Practitioners were not allowed to talk to each other. I thought that we should not acknowledge the persecution and told practitioners that we should not work, but go on strike. The following day, the atmosphere at the camp was very tense and the brigade responsible for managing the factory was quiet. They took away scissors and other tools. Practitioners had their eyes on me, and I smiled back to encourage them. Because I was calm, other inmates raised their thumbs to show their support. Around noon time, a guard took me to meet with authorities. The camp manager, the management department chief, the education department chief and the managing brigade instructor surrounded me and verbally attacked me. I continued to reason with them. They ran out of ideas so they transferred me to the third brigade.
At the third brigade, we worked fifteen-hour shifts and made handcrafted objects. We produced all kinds of toys, hair clips, beaded jewelry, and artificial flowers. We ate molded rice, vegetables cooked without oil, gourds, and no meat. Officials deducted 120 yuan from our accounts to pay for the meals. We were forced to jog as a group at nine in the morning and two in the afternoon. We were sent back to work once we were "energized" from the run. The guards participated in many beatings. They beat anyone who was slow at work, and claimed that if the inmates didn't make money, the guards would not get their bonuses and would be criticized. I refused to cooperate, but every practitioner's cultivation state was different. Under all kinds of pressure and coaxing, practitioners cooperated and jogged with the group. I always refused to join the group and stood under a tree. The guards did not know what to do with me and said that I had high blood pressure and could not jog, even though I never had high blood pressure.
When it was time for my release, the authorities extended my detention by another month, claiming that I was too stubborn to be "transformed." The day of my release, in order to create fear and to scare other practitioners, I was stripped naked and searched on the field. They handcuffed me and escorted me out. People from my unit and the police from the 610 Office were waiting for me and took me to the brainwashing center. The brainwashing center was at a shelter, and was managed like the forced labor camp. Each practitioner was "controlled" by two people.
On Teacher's birthday in 2002, we went on a group hunger strike and requested unconditional release. The second time I went on a hunger strike, I was taken to the hospital. In the middle of the night, I thought that my life was over, and I probably wouldn't see my child again. I was sad that my child endured many hardships the last several years because my spouse and I were arrested. Although it was hard to let go of my child, at least he was Teacher's young disciple. Many practitioners' families were in danger, and some of them even died. What else could I not let go of? My consciousness became blurry. Suddenly, my body turned into sand, and the particles scattered everywhere. At the end, I was barely conscious, and thought that I was on the brink of death. At this time, Teacher's Fa appeared in my mind,
"I can give up to the greatest extent possible everything of mine, and that is why I can resolve all of it." ("Teaching the Fa at the Conference in Switzerland")
"In my practice you come through cultivation that way, so I carry these things. As you sit here you all feel that it's harmonious, and nobody has bad thoughts in his mind--the urge to smoke doesn't even come up. Later on as you discipline yourself to live by our Great Law, the gong that emerges in your cultivation will be this way, too." (Zhuan Falun)
My consciousness became clear. I'm Teacher's disciple, a new life transformed by Dafa. If Teacher can resolve it, I can resolve it too. The particles of my body that left continuously came back to me; when they united, I woke up as well. It was 2:30 in the morning. Then the poem "Visiting My Hometown" from Hong Yin appeared in front of my forehead. I cried non-stop after reading it. The next day, the supervisor at my work unit came to see me. People at work were punished because I practiced Falun Gong and were arrested; many of them hated me. I had also resented them for cooperating with the authorities to have my wife arrested. That day, I did not have any resentment, but boundless compassion toward sentient beings. They did not carry any hatred either and said that I was a good person. It was like what was described in the poem "Fa Rectifies the Cosmos": "Mercy can melt heaven and earth into spring." (Hong Yin II, translation version B)
While I was at the brainwashing center, many practitioners were unwilling to take the initiative to talk to the 610 Office agents, including the so-called education assistants. However, I realized that the old forces wanted us to passively accept everything. Fa-rectification will rectify everything that is not upright, so how could we allow them to do whatever they wanted to? Therefore, every day, I asked to talk to the 610 Office agents and authorities of the brigade and the brainwashing center. The 610 Office agents could not endure my daily request and asked the unit leader and policemen to deal with me. The police chief wanted to send someone to monitor me daily, so I said to him, "According to the law, the area monitored should be the city limit where the person lives and not a detention center. I'm not a criminal suspect, and did not go through the legal procedures. Dafa practitioners are being persecuted. What you are trying to do is illegal." He began to make derogatory remarks about Dafa so I responded, "Falun Dafa has spread widely. People have learned to be kind and their health has improved. This is very beneficial to the people and the nation. So how could this be bad? If we use the six criteria of a cult established by the CCP's Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, then the CCP fits all the criteria of a cult." (The Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party had not been published at that time.) Since the officers could not reason with me, they said, "You only have a junior high school education." And I replied, "You all graduated from university, so why can't you reason with a practitioner with a junior high school diploma? It is because Dafa is righteous, and as long as I'm speaking from a righteous perspective, then I cannot be wrong. Whereas you are looking at this issue from the wrong point of view, so no matter what you say, it will always be wrong."
The CCP's persecution of practitioners who were arrested was most intense during the second half of 2002. The male practitioners at the brainwashing center recited Teacher's lectures, sent forth righteous thoughts, and practiced the exercises in the evenings. We did that consistently as a group, and the environment became more relaxed. I was released after spending one year in the brainwashing center and returned to work.
My coworkers now know that Falun Dafa is good and want to hear truthful information about it. The CCP member that used to monitor me also quit the CCP and its affiliated organizations. People often ask me to speak at meetings because they think that I do a better job than the unit leaders. I seize opportunities like this to tell them why the CCP persecutes us, and about the benefits of practicing Falun Gong. Practitioners should validate the Fa and clarify the truth in all kinds of environments and situations. Practitioners are sentient beings' hope to obtain salvation. When sentient beings obtain salvation, the surroundings improve as well. Otherwise, if practitioners do not dare to openly validate the Fa, then the environment will remain bad and the sentient beings' wicked nature will be stronger.
Become a Flower Amidst a Bed of Flowers
At first, other practitioners supplied us with information materials. Although I wanted to buy a computer, I did not understand the English alphabet. In addition, I was on the CCP's black list and was not sure if it was safe to make information materials at home. I studied the Fa and looked inward and I realized that I had an attachment of fear. Even if I was on the black list, how could I acknowledge the CCP's words?
After I bought the computer and printer, my wife and I began to learn the basics of operating a computer. We learned little by little. First we learned to go online and download information. We read Minghui articles every day and kept up with the process of Fa-rectification. Then we learned to print individual sheets, make small booklets, burn DVDs, and print the Nine Commentaries. Later we taught other practitioners and set up a material production site at each person's home. Thus, we were able to make as much material as we needed. We often shared the technical aspects of the computer and the selection of the material.
I was very afraid when I first distributed truth clarification material. I was so nervous walking on the street, and chose mailboxes that were accessible. After I gained more experience, I went inside the buildings, from the first floor to the top floor. My hands trembled when I slid the DVDs between the crack of the doors. My heart palpitated and my legs were weak. My son was afraid too when he sensed my fear. Why was I so terrified while carrying out the sacred mission of saving sentient beings? It was because I did not have the correct understanding. Dafa practitioners are the main characters of this play, while sentient beings of the world are waiting to be saved. If I was so terrified of handling such a great mission, wasn't I acknowledging the old forces' arrangements? I did not have enough confidence in Dafa. Later, I sent righteous thoughts before distributing the fliers, my state of mind improved, and Teacher led me toward areas that were accessible. It was as if sentient beings were waiting to hear the truthful information. Sometimes when I arrived at a building, the iron gates at the staircase could be easily opened, or someone was leaving the building and opened the gate for me. Things became smoother and my son was less afraid. Now we can work well together and distribute more materials. One night, we were inside a building distributing material. As I was about to slide the DVD into the crack of a door, a lady opened the door and faced me. If that had happened before, I wouldn't have known what to do. But this time, I was very calm and hid the material inside my clothes. She did not seem to have noticed anything and left. After she left I asked my son if he was afraid. He said he felt as if he were floating. I suppose that if I am calm, my son will be stable too.
I have not cultivated well in many areas and feel that I have not done enough. Therefore, I have not dared to tell Teacher about it. In addition, I only have a junior high school diploma and did not know what to write. It was not until I read a Minghui article, "If Teacher Were Sitting at the Rostrum," that I decided to write an experience sharing article. Practitioners have followed Teacher's Fa-rectification and encountered many things along the way. We should write about our precious experiences and not fail to meet Teacher's merciful salvation nor disappoint sentient beings in their expectations.
