(Minghui.org) I would like to share my experience of validating the Fa and clarifying the truth about Falun Dafa while serving a three-and-a-half year prison term for my faith. I hope this serves as a testimony to the extraordinary power of Falun Dafa (also known as Falun Gong) and the immense compassion Master Li, the founder of the practice, showed me throughout those years.
I was arrested for practicing Falun Gong and taken to Liaoning Province Women’s Prison in June 2017. Soon after I arrived, I discovered that the practitioners there did not know that the new version of “On Dafa” had been published. They still recited the old one. The division I was in was divided into six teams, with three to four practitioners in each team. I wanted to share the new version of “On Dafa” with them but faced many challenges.
Every Falun Gong practitioner held there was closely monitored. At least two inmates were assigned to follow each practitioner and prevent her from communicating with other practitioners. Our sentences ranged from a few to many years, and we were not going to be released any time soon. I wondered how I could get them the new version of “On Dafa.”
I thought about writing it down and passing it on to them, but I didn’t have a pen and paper. Falun Gong practitioners were not given access to pens. A practitioner eventually managed to get hold of an old, broken pen. But a new challenge arose—when to write it? I couldn’t find any windows of opportunity at the workshop during the day. As a newcomer, I was strictly monitored. I could only find a little time here and there at night when everybody was asleep.
The inmate on night duty usually made rounds every 20 minutes to make sure everyone was asleep—you were not allowed to not sleep in prison. I only had a short time to write a few words.
With Master’s help, I figured out a system. I lay on my left side with a pen and paper hidden under the comforter. I kept my head visible, so the night duty inmate and the inmates assigned to monitor me wouldn’t get suspicious. Without looking, I wrote under the comforter, one stroke at a time and with as little movement as possible.
One of the inmates assigned to monitor me slept with the top of her head touching mine. I had to be careful not to move much as I wrote lying on my side. My arms grew sore quickly, and I had to take frequent breaks. I wrote on toilet paper because the rustling of regular paper would have made too much noise in the quiet of the night.
My strokes had to be light enough not to punch a hole in the toilet paper, but heavy enough to be legible. The characters needed to be large and neat so the elderly practitioners could read them. To avoid writing on top of the characters, I used my left hand to follow along and cover each character as I wrote it. After finishing each row, I rolled the toilet paper before moving on to the next line.
It was a painfully slow process, which took more than one night. I had to hide the toilet paper and take it with me to the workshop during the day. Before leaving the workshop at the end of the workday, everyone was patted down and searched, which was a huge risk. However, with Master’s protection, I was able to get away each time without being caught.
I finished writing the entire “On Dafa” in three nights, just when the old pen ran out of ink. Before the toilet paper was worn out, a practitioner found some white fabric, so I went through the whole process and wrote “On Dafa” again.
Without Master’s help, I wouldn’t have been able to do that. It shows clearly how extraordinary Dafa is. The imprisoned practitioners cherished the new version of “On Dafa” very much and memorized it quickly.
The guards and inmates in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s prison system have been brainwashed. They bought into the Party’s fabricated lies, were adamantly prejudiced against Falun Gong, and treated us practitioners as if we were a different species. They took away all our rights and freedoms and treated us even worse than the felons and criminals incarcerated there.
To encourage the inmates to mistreat Falun Gong practitioners, the guards promised to reduce their terms as an incentive. Whoever was crueler and more hostile toward practitioners earned more brownie points with the guards and had their sentences shortened. Wanting to get out of prison sooner, the inmates tried everything they could think of to torture us. No matter how we tried to tell them about Falun Gong, they wouldn’t listen, because less time served was more practical to them.
To clarify the truth to the guards and inmates, I decided to write a letter of appeal. I asked the head of the division, Yang, for a pen. Practitioners were not allowed to have pen and paper because the prison authorities were afraid we would use them to clarify the truth. Yang said, “Your complaint can only be that your sentence is too long. You can’t say that you’re innocent.” I thought to myself, “You’ll see when I finish the letter.”
I began the letter by saying, “First of all, I am innocent. I do not acknowledge the charges I was convicted of. I was wrongfully sentenced. Being sentenced for practicing Falun Gong is illegal. Secondly, Falun Gong is not among the 14 cults banned by the law. Falun Gong is not an institutionalized religion. Thirdly, the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance are universal values.
I followed it with my personal experience of how I benefited from Dafa. I was very sick when I was introduced to Falun Dafa in 1997. Soon after I took up the practice, I recovered from all my illnesses. When detained for my faith in 2005, I was diagnosed with kidney failure, heart failure, and a high level of acidity in my blood plasma. The doctor didn’t think I’d live and the prison officials refused to admit me. After returning home, I recovered by simply studying the Fa and doing the exercises.
I was detained in the notorious Masanjia Forced Labor Camp in 2008. The guards tied me to a stretching bed for two days. I experienced a neuronal death on the right side of my body and a broken arm. However, I once again completely recovered by just studying the Fa and doing the exercises. It is a miracle in itself that I am still alive today.
I went on to say that Falun Dafa is a supreme cultivation way of the Buddha School and that there were more than 100 million people practicing in China alone before the suppression began in 1999. Driven by jealousy, Jiang Zemin, the then leader of the CCP, abused his political power as the head of state and launched the persecution of Falun Gong. During an interview with the French newspaper Le Figaro in October 1999, Jiang spoke off the cuff, saying that Falun Dafa was a cult, which was not true.
The persecution has gone on for the past 20 years despite the fact that there is no legal basis for it. It is not among the 14 cults banned by law. It is the ultimate injustice. More than 100 attorneys have defended Falun Dafa and its practitioners in court. The practice has spread to more than 100 countries worldwide. Soon the truth of Falun Dafa will be revealed.
After I finished the letter, I asked one of the inmates assigned to monitor me to turn it in. She hesitated, saying, “Turning in a letter like this, you’ll be put on a torture device for sure.” I told her, “Please. Just take it to the guard.” I was called to the office the next day from the workshop. All the guards working that day had gathered in the office before I got there. Surrounded by dark, suppressing energy, I asked Master for help to clarify the truth to them. I could feel that Master was beside me and thus felt no fear.
The chief in charge of imprisoned Falun Gong practitioners said, “We read the letter you wrote. You’re against the government.” I said, “I’ve been wrongfully convicted. The judge who is supposed to enforce the law broke the law himself.” A guard named Li charged at me as if she was going to strike me. She screamed, “Who did you say broke the law?” I looked her right in the eye and said, one word at a time, “The judge who sentenced me broke the law. It definitely is an injustice.”
The chief shouted, “You’re not the only Falun Gong practitioner here. Nobody has dared to write a letter like this.” I told her, “I just want to tell the truth. When the truth about Falun Gong is revealed to the world, I want to exclude a few guards who still have goodness in them from the list of perpetrators.” The hostile energy in the room suddenly died down.
I knew that Master had cleared out the evil elements behind the guards. One of them said, “We can’t turn this in. You’ll have to have your family appeal for you through other channels.” I returned to the workshop.
The inmates on my team all looked at me admirably when I got back to the workshop. Some shouted my name and waved, even though it was forbidden to do that in the prison. One of the inmates assigned to monitor me said, “I will practice Falun Dafa too after I am released. Auntie, I was so worried, I couldn’t focus on work after you left. I let the inmate on night duty read your letter last night and she told me not to turn it in. She said they’d torture you for sure. I was about to grab your stuff from the cell for you because everybody believed that, even if you weren’t tortured, you’d be confined to a small cell. Not just our team—everyone that knows you was worried.”
After that incident, everyone’s attitude toward me changed. The inmate in charge of pens and needles asked for my help distributing them. She’d take them from the guard and leave them with me. Those who needed them came to me to get them. A Falun Dafa practitioner had never been allowed to be in charge of pens and needles before.
I knew that it was Master who had given me the magic pen. The word “needle” is pronounced the same as “truthfulness” in Chinese, which I took as a hint from Master that I needed to be a true Dafa practitioner.
I was able to use a pen whenever I wanted for the rest of my term. Even when the inmate in charge of pens and needles was released, the inmate who replaced her continued to rely on me to distribute these items. I used the pens to write down Master’s scriptures and poems from Hong Yin for whoever asked for them.
A guard found Master’s scripture on a practitioner at the end of the workday in 2019. The practitioner was confined to a small cell for 12 days. To protest, I shouted, “Heaven will eliminate the CCP. The persecution of Falun Dafa is the greatest injustice in human history.” There were six teams working in the workshop at the time and mine was on the west end. I shouted as loud as I could and hoped everybody had heard me. The inmate assigned to monitor me said sarcastically, “Are you afraid the guards can’t hear you?” Soon after, the prison established a second branch and my entire division was transferred there.
My team worked the assembly line on the 4th floor at the new branch. One day at the end of the workday, the deputy head of the division made all inmates line up with their hands behind the backs of their heads to be searched. I told her, “I am not going to put my hands behind my head. I am a Falun Dafa practitioner. I didn’t commit any crime. The persecution of Falun Dafa is the greatest injustice in human history.” Until I was released, I never put my hands behind my head. Surprisingly, I never got into any trouble for that.
My team was soon moved to work on the second floor. The team lead moved me to a spot right in front of the guard on duty. When I asked her why, she said the deputy head of the division told her to. She speculated that I was sitting too close to another practitioner. I went to the deputy head and was told it was chief Wu’s idea. I went looking for Wu. She brushed me off, saying that she was busy and that she’d talk to me later. I knew these prison guards and officials could hinder my efforts to clarify the truth to the inmates. Those who had already learned the truth now didn’t want to be seen interacting with practitioners anymore.
All four teams on the second floor shared the same cafeteria. Mealtime is a great opportunity because all the teams eat together. I decided to give a speech. “May I have your attention for a few minutes, please? Chief Wu moved me up on the assembly line today, saying I was sitting too close to another practitioner. Has anyone told chief Wu this? I’m concerned because it is unkind to tattle and it is not good for you. Falun Gong is being wrongfully persecuted. It is the greatest injustice in human history. Please do not commit any crimes against Falun Gong, and remember ‘Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good.’ You will be blessed.”
The two guards on duty saw that I was speaking to a large group of inmates, so they quickly walked over just in time to hear what I had to say. They both turned around and walked away without saying a thing. The inmates are usually forbidden to speak loudly, especially during mealtime. I heard an inmate whisper, “Auntie is such a nice person. Who would be so nasty to tell on her?”
After that, the team lead and inmate in charge of materials always came to me for help because they needed a third person in their “task force” to carry out their duties. We often had to go to different floors, which gave me the opportunity to interact and communicate with practitioners on other teams.
I just happened to be on the first floor when the inmates lined up to be searched and released from duty one day. A new guard saw that I wasn’t wearing a badge and started to question me. I told her loudly, “I don’t wear a badge because I am not a criminal. I am a Falun Dafa practitioner. I didn’t commit any crime. Falun Gong is being wrongfully persecuted.” The guard didn’t say anything and quickly left.
The prison authorities organized the inmates to practice marching before the October national holiday. We had to get in single file and practice marching after long days of work. The division head came to check on us one day and saw that I wasn’t swinging my arms. She asked, “Why aren’t you moving your arms.” I stopped marching completely. She was not happy, “Why did you stop? Everyone is practicing marching. Why aren’t you.”
I told her, “I am a Falun Gong practitioner, not a criminal. I didn’t break any law nor commit any crime. I’ve been wrongfully sentenced. The persecution of Falun Dafa is the greatest injustice known to mankind.” “Don’t even start,” she gave me a menacing stare before turning and walking away. When she was about to enter the building, she turned around and said, “Who is her team lead? Make her practice marching at night.” The practice ended early that day for the more than 300 inmates of the entire division.
When we got back to the cell, the inmate assigned to monitor me was upset and didn’t want to go in. She asked me, “Why couldn’t you just march like she asked you to? She didn’t ask you not to practice Falun Gong. The division head will for sure tell chief Li and then we’re all in big trouble.” I smiled, “We’ll see who’s going to make me.”
The resentment in her voice was clear: “Nobody dares to make you do anything. The team lead is going to make me make you march tonight.” I reassured her, “Let’s go eat first. The division head will not tell chief Li. She told you to make sure I practice because she didn’t want to lose face in front of the entire division. She was just giving herself a way out.” Sure enough, nobody mentioned practicing march that night and it was soon forgotten. The inmates became even more respectful of Falun Gong practitioners.
I was released on October 25, 2020. Since I didn’t sign any paperwork while I was detained, I didn’t get a release permit to show the guard at the gate. The two other inmates being released that day had their paperwork in hand. The guard refused to open the gate for me without a permit.
A young guard walked over to me and asked, “What were you convicted for? How long did you serve?” I told him, “I didn’t commit any crime. I am a Falun Gong practitioner and was wrongfully convicted. The persecution of Falun Gong is the greatest injustice in human history.” The guard laughed as he opened the gate for me.
Looking back and examining myself, I’ve found shortcomings and attachments that I failed to let go of for a long time. The evil exploited the loopholes in my cultivation and used it as an excuse to put me behind bars for more than three years.
Compassionate Master encouraged me, helped me get rid of the substance of “fear,” and protected me throughout this great tribulation. Nobody knows how much painstaking care and protection Master has put into guiding me through my cultivation. Despite the greatest tribulations and the toughest tests, I always knew that Master was right beside me.