(Minghui.org) Since the persecution of Falun Gong started in July 1999, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has conducted mass illegal arrests of practitioners during the so-called sensitive dates. They would then be detained at government funded brainwashing centers across China in an attempt to force practitioners to renounce their belief.

Many of the short-term brainwashing centers would be dissolved after the conclusion of the so-called sensitive dates. In our area, however, practitioners are often arrested and detained at permanent brainwashing centers, with the goal of “transforming” practitioners and enticing them to betray one another.

Ulterior Motives of the Evil

The brainwashing center in our area is notorious for its evil conduct, and many practitioners taken there could not endure the cruel persecution; therefore, they pretended to give in and be transformed. When they were released, they would publish solemn declarations on the Minghui website and start cultivation practice again. Unfortunately, the evildoers knew of this tactic very well.

In order to completely destroy Dafa practitioners, the 610 Office and the brainwashing center forced practitioners to betray their fellow practitioners and used this betrayal as a criterion to judge whether or not the detained practitioners were truly transformed.

Those who had been declared transformed were forced to disclose whom they had obtained truth-clarification materials from and to whom they delivered them. They also had to provide contact information about all the Falun Gong practitioners they had contact with.

Consequences of Betraying Fellow Practitioners

For individuals who have betrayed their fellow practitioners, the betrayal meant they lost the opportunity to start afresh because they found it very hard to face the fellow practitioners they had betrayed.

The serious consequences of these betrayals resulted in the destruction of informational materials production sites, interference to Fa-study groups and further arrests of local practitioners.

This has formed a vicious cycle that brings damage to the whole body of practitioners and is the main reason why the brainwashing center in our area has expanded to become a brainwashing school, running year round.

Some practitioners who had been betrayed were forced to leave and became homeless to escape further persecution. In fact, we all intrinsically know that we must not betray our fellow practitioners, but in a lot of cases, what detainess “confessed” were things they did not think were important or things they thought would not directly result in assisting the evil to expand its persecution.

A few years ago, practitioners in our area who were forced to “transform” at the brainwashing center all claimed that they had received materials from practitioner A, because they felt she had already been detained a number of times and had strong righteous thoughts. Plus, the authorities already knew about her anyway. Consequently, this practitioner was subjected to severe persecution and was force-fed with poisonous drugs. Upon release, she had to move elsewhere to live with her daughter.

After practitioner A left, practitioners taken to the brainwashing center started to betray practitioner B with the same mentality, thinking that he was already known to the authorities and was not at home, so the evil could not find him anyway. Upon release, some local group members informed practitioner B, “We have reported you, so stay away and don't come back for a few years.”

In fact, every betrayal would place more pressure on the practitioner being betrayed. With so many practitioners pointing at practitioner B, they have, in fact, brought unnecessary hardships upon him, forcing him to lose his former cultivation environment. The authorities also persecuted him financially and even went to his relatives, saying they knew where he was and threatened them into not to giving him any financial assistance. They also forced them to report on his whereabouts.

The persecutors can use anything you confessed as evidence to persecute other practitioners, whether you thought your confession was important or not. Those disclosures were usually recorded and used to interrogate other practitioners. Under fear, the identified practitioners found the evidence overwhelming and confessed, which often led to immediate prison sentences.

The brainwashing center actually did not release those who had betrayed others right away. They would start an investigation and send police to arrest those who had been identified. If there was any discrepancies between what the newly-detained practitioners said and what was originally disclosed, they would force those who had confessed earlier to make further confessions.

Last May, one practitioner confessed and even took the evildoers to the place she knew where they would find truth-clarifying materials, Shen Yun DVDs, computers and printers. They said she had cooperated well and would release her by June. But she ended-up being held until August because they said that practitioners they had arrested later had connections with her, so she had to make further disclosures.

The evil aims to destroy people. Practitioners we have contact with are usually our relatives and friends. We cannot allow the evil CCP turn us into someone who is heartless, disloyal and someone unworthy of the designation of a Dafa disciple.

My Bitter Lesson

I have learned a bitter lesson myself from betraying fellow practitioners. Last year, I was arrested and taken to the brainwashing center. I was required not only to confess about my current situation, but also everything related to my cultivation in the past ten plus years, including who taught me the exercises, whom I taught the exercises to and where and to whom did I promote Falun Gong, etc. The evil wanted me to betray myself, Master, my fellow practitioners, and to completely give up Falun Gong practice.

One of the tricks the evildoers employed was to tell me that whatever information I provided them with would not be of any use, and they would not bother to track down anyone involved. They said they would not look into things that happened so long ago and everyone already knew about.

I started to think about providing information that was either unimportant, or what they already knew about. In the end, my confessions included those who stopped cultivation after the persecution started, those who had passed away as a result of the persecution, those who had left our area before the persecution started, and those who had already been sentenced.

Huge Hardships My Action Brought to Fellow Practitioners

I could never measure the hardships my action brought to fellow practitioners and to myself. But I know clearly they were huge.

One of the things the evildoers knew about was practitioner C, who was taken into custody with me, but escaped with strong righteous thoughts. I thought they knew her anyway, so I told them about the things we did together. As a result, the cultivation state of this practitioner has not been good; she is not as diligent and is suffering a big tribulation with her family. Her mother, who used to be a Dafa practitioner, has given up cultivation and is difficult to reason with.

On another occasion, they said they knew that both my parents practiced Falun Gong, and it would not make any difference whether I confessed about it or not. I believed them, thinking it was safe because they were just doing the exercises before 1999 when Falun Gong was encouraged by the government. I thought this could not be used as evidence against them, so I confessed that I taught my parents the exercises.

To my surprise, when some CCP superiors came to inspect the brainwashing center one day, the head of the center, feeling pleased with himself, boasted that “This one was transformed completely. She even betrayed her parents.”

I was shocked! I knew then about the evil nature behind their tactics. At the same time, I felt extremely ashamed. It is such a tragedy that I betrayed my parents. I was turned into someone who felt despised by all, even the evildoers looked down upon me.

In fact, the trap set by the evildoers was very destructive. Whenever local practitioners were taken to the brainwashing center they would be asked if they knew my mother, attempting to find reasons to persecute her. But each time, their attempts were dissolved by my mom's strong righteous thoughts.

In my “confessions” I mentioned a practitioner who I thought had given up cultivation after the persecution started. Unfortunately, a few days later, I heard that she in fact has been practicing cultivation all this time.

I also mentioned a fellow practitioner I thought was unimportant, one who had already been sentenced to prison. I then heard that he was doing odd jobs elsewhere and being very careful to avoid further harassment. His elder brother and sister-in-law had been forced to become homeless as a result of persecution. They were taken into custody again during the New Year period this year.

My confessions put me under enormous stress and became a hindrance to my cultivation. Recently, two fellow practitioners were arrested, and I even worried about whether or not my lack of righteous thoughts added to their tribulations.

Betraying Fellow Practitioners Is Betraying Oneself

To disclose a fellow practitioner's identity during interrogation means one does not cherish fellow practitioners and, ultimately, does not cherish him/herself and does not cherish the path one has traveled. Master said, “Cherishing the path that you travel is cherishing yourselves.” (“What is a Dafa Disciple”, Fa Teaching Given at the 2011 New York Fa Conference)

The issue of betraying fellow practitioners can be traced to the history of the Party Culture imposed upon the citizens of Mainland China. The various political campaigns waged by the government taught people to distrust and not care much about one another. How could we allow ourselves to do such things? Are we not cultivators upholding virtue? By being so weak-willed, we have given the evil an excuse to commit atrocities.

Only by Using Righteous Thoughts Can Walk out Uprightly

I was awakened by this bitter lesson: If we use human thoughts, we cannot get anywhere. Only by adhering to the divine, righteous thoughts of a cultivator can one truly make a breakthrough and walk out uprightly with zero confessions. If we all cherish this fundamental code of conduct, then no further arrests will occur, and the brainwashing center would not be able to continue to exist.

I have exposed the sin of betraying fellow practitioners, as well as the deceptive means used in brainwashing centers. We must stop the persecution and disintegrate the brainwashing centers. There have been various obstacles to my writing this article, but I finished it with the help of Master's boundless compassion.