(Minghui.org) I have been practicing Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, for 21 years. I am from the countryside in Northeastern China. The local police and 610 Office personnel seriously damaged the cultivation environment in our area after the persecution started on July 20, 1999.
My husband, son and myself went to Beijing to appeal for the right to practice Falun Gong. My son was detained briefly, but my husband and I were taken to a labor camp.
Many Falun Gong practitioners in our area stopped practicing when the persecution started, as the authorities were actively arresting practitioners every day. Practitioners were sent to brainwashing centers and forced to write guarantee statements to stop practicing Falun Gong.
The atmosphere of terror made us feel as if the “Cultural Revolution” was back. Those who did not practice Falun Gong were too afraid to be in the company of practitioners and would not even talk to us. Former practitioners were even afraid of taking care of our son while my husband and I were illegally detained.
When our son came to visit us in the labor camp, he said, “The most difficult hardship is being alienated and ignored.”
He was distressed while we were imprisoned, so I told him, “We all have Master and the Fa, and must persist in our cultivation practice. We can change the unrighteous things.” I kept encouraging him to try and stay positive and upbeat.
Recreating Our Cultivation Environment
I wrote letters to the provincial Department of Justice, the provincial Party Committee, and the City Council at the end of 2001 to inform them of the torture that I was subjected to in the labor camp. Before long, high-ranking officials came to the camp to investigate. Officials at the camp did not want me to be there, so they released me two months earlier.
The District Police Department sent an official to the local police station to talk to me. He called me in and told me that he was determined to have me stop practicing Falun Gong. However, I didn't cooperate with him and was soon released.
The first thing I did after being released was to find other practitioners and restart our Fa study group. I asked Master to strengthen me, for I was determined to rectify the cultivation environment in our area.
The persecution was very rampant at the time, so it was difficult to convince practitioners to join the Fa-study group. But to assist Master in Fa-rectification is not just a slogan—it was something that I had to do.
Dafa is righteous. The persecution of Dafa practitioners is illegal. Group Fa-study is Master's requirement that absolutely cannot be damaged.
I spoke to some practitioners and studied Master's recent lectures with them. We studied the Fa and did the exercises together. Soon we were able to re-establish our Fa study group. In some way it felt like our cultivation environment before July 20, 1999.
The purpose of a Fa-study group is for practitioners to form one-body and improve in cultivation together. Only by studying the Fa well can one become clear-minded and cooperate well with others in doing Dafa work.
Determined to Help Save Sentient Beings
Our group became determined to help save more people. We distributed Dafa fliers and put up banners and posters with information about Dafa on them. This was done regardless of a practitioner's age or the weather conditions. Nothing stopped us from helping Master to save people.
We advised everyone we met to quit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), beginning with our families, friends and neighbors.
Some practitioners did not completely understand the purpose of advising people to quit the CCP, and did not behave rationally in doing so. Some were reported to the authorities, who in turn sent over some personnel to investigate. They decided that Falun Gong was “anti-CCP” and had to be seriously dealt with.
We looked within and strengthened our righteous thoughts to eliminate any old force elements that might be preventing people from listening to us and quitting the CCP. As a result, nothing happened to us.
Our village is large, and we went from door-to-door to let people know about Falun Dafa and the persecution. If one practitioner had difficulty at a particular household, another practitioner would step in to help, while others would send forth righteous thoughts. Before long, most people in the village had quit the CCP and its affiliated organizations.
So many people have gained a positive understanding of Falun Gong, and our cultivation environment has undergone fundamental improvements.
For example, the police, officers from the 610 Office, the township government, and the village committee—those who had previously participated in the persecution—have changed after learning the truth about Falun Gong. Although the persecution is still ongoing, it is less rampant in our area, and Dafa practitioners are rarely arrested.
Our environment changes with our hearts. It is because we have rectified ourselves while assimilating to the Fa that we can develop righteous thoughts, and our environment can undergo huge changes.
For my fellow villagers, the process of them changing from being afraid of Falun Gong to understanding Falun Gong and Dafa practitioners, is reflected in our cultivation process.
I have come to understand that we need to constantly let people know about Falun Gong, and we must adhere to Dafa's principles no matter what happens. Moreover, we need to maintain a moral responsibility that is higher than that of everyday people, and not to be drawn into arguments with them.
Only by doing so can people not develop any negative thoughts towards Dafa. Wouldn't we have then rectified our local area and saved them?
Master said:
“I have often said that during the Fa-rectification I don’t hold the past faults of any sentient being against him, and that I look only at a sentient being’s attitude toward Dafa during the Fa-rectification.” (“Turning the Wheel Towards the Human World” in The Essentials of Diligent Progress Vol. III)
I hope more people can learn the truth from Dafa practitioners and be blessed with a bright future. I also wish that practitioners in China who haven't participated in group Fa-study can let go of their human notions and organize a local Fa-study group, or attend one.
It is my understanding this is the fundamental test of whether or not a Dafa practitioner can safeguard the Fa.
