Safeguarding Falun Dafa Disciples’ Dignity

(Minghui.org) Several brainwashing sessions have been held recently in our county and region, and many practitioners have been forced to attend them. Under the authorities’ threats and tricks, some practitioners, including some who’ve done well on truth clarification, signed guarantee statements against their will, promising not to practice Falun Dafa. I was saddened to hear this, and I would like to share my experience of countering the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) harassment last September.

I read an experience-sharing article titled “Safeguarding Our Divine Dignity with Our Lives” just before the CCP’s harassment began. The article deeply impressed me.

I was cooking in my busy restaurant around noon the next day, when the head of our village and the local CCP secretary came to tell me that someone from the authorities needed to talk to me. A group of eight people came about ten minutes later. I recognized one of them as a Domestic Security Division police officer.

I stopped cooking and asked why they came. One of them said, “Let’s find another place to talk. There are too many people here.” I replied, “I have nothing to hide. Let’s talk here.” They insisted on going somewhere else. As I hesitated, I recalled the title of the article, “Safeguard Our Divine Dignity with Our Lives.” I immediately felt assured and didn’t mind going to another place with them.

We went to another room. They sat down and asked me to sit down as well. I declined and told them, “I don’t want to talk to anyone without knowing his identify. Could you each introduce yourselves?”

They looked at each other in embarrassment. The first one said he was so-and-so from the county’s Political and Legal Affairs Committee. The second one said that he was from the Domestic Security Division. I said that I recognized him because he had come to eat in my restaurant before. The others looked at each other in surprise before introducing themselves.

After they finished, I asked what they came for. They said that their supervisors wanted me to go to a class, and all I needed to do was to sign something at the end of it. If I cooperated, my name would be taken off a list. I asked who their supervisor was, but they wouldn’t tell me.

I said, “I know what you’re trying to do. You are trying to trick me.” The village head interrupted and said, “Don’t say ‘tricking.’ The leaders are doing this for you and your family’s benefit.” I disagreed, “The local police came before the 18^th National Congress and told me that they would take me off the list if I stayed home while the Congress was in session. That was many years ago. Have you taken me off the list? I have never done anything illegal. Why should I be on a list to begin with? What’s the point of promising to take me off the list?”

The village head said, “You are on the blacklist as long as you practice Falun Dafa. It will affect you as well as your children. They won’t be able to work as government employees.”

I said, “I’m a law-abiding citizen and I practice Falun Dafa openly. All the villagers know I’m a good person. They all come to eat in my restaurant because they trust me to use quality ingredients. Blacklist? I don’t care about working for any government offices, like you.” They were speechless. The secretary of the CCP branch tried to smooth things over. Seeing my refusal to cooperate, they didn’t know what to do.

As our conversation reached a deadlock, my wife came in and said, “You have talked for so long! Can’t you finish quickly? Many customers are waiting! Hurry up and get to cooking!” They took the cue to wrap up and left hastily.

They didn’t completely give up though. The village head and the Party secretary told my father and my uncles to persuade me to go to the class. I told my father and uncles the facts about the staged Self-Immolation on Tiananmen Square, as well as other facts about Falun Dafa. My fourth uncle warned me that the government could take action against me. I told him that I hadn’t done anything wrong, so I wasn’t afraid.

After the local authorities failed to get me into the last brainwashing class, no one else came to talk to me about it. The authorities in our village and county asked my father to talk to me, but my father already knew about the CCP’s persecution of Falun Dafa and quit all the communist organizations he had joined. He simply told me to stay safe.

Because I held firm to the Fa when I talked to them, I felt the power of the Fa and viewed the evil as nothing. If Dafa disciples during the Fa-rectification period treat the evil persecution with human notions, we will bring shame to Dafa and ourselves and regret it later. The evil takes advantage of our loopholes of human notions to inflict persecution, but doesn’t this give us a great opportunity to eliminate our human notions? If we can break through the restriction of human notions with strong determination and face the persecution with righteous thoughts, wouldn’t it be our way of safeguarding our divine dignity with our lives?

The above is my limited understanding. Please feel free to point out anything inappropriate.