(Minghui.org) I am 71 years old and I have been practicing Falun Dafa for more than 20 years. In 2008, I was reported for telling people the truth about Dafa and distributing fliers in a rural area. I was arrested and sentenced to five years in prison. I was tortured severely many times in the detention center and prison but was able to escape death with the protection from our compassionate Master. I have never given up my belief in the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. My faith in Master and Falun Dafa has never wavered.
While I was detained, I always cooperated with fellow practitioners to clarify the truth and tell people how precious Falun Dafa is. Many people began to speak out for and protect Dafa after understanding the truth, and they themselves were blessed.
Maintaining Xinxing and Being Kind to Others
In the detention center, I was in the same cell with two other practitioners. There were dozens of other prisoners in the cell, which was dark, humid, and dirty. People often got into fights. The three of us followed Dafa’s principles, maintained our xinxing, and treated everyone kindly.
We were not afraid of enduring hardship and were willing to do the dirty work. When the toilet was clogged, I put a plastic bag on my hand, and reached inside the toilet to take out the clog. Sometimes the feces splashed on me. When others offended me, I tried not to complain or argue. When new people arrived at the detention center, we gave them clothes and daily necessities. When someone was sick, we took care of them and comforted them, just as if they were our own family. I hardly ever ate any good food or used anything nice. I almost always gave all that away.
I felt that it was not a big deal to endure the hardship. I wanted to follow Master’s teachings to be a good person in any environment, follow Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, and not damage Dafa’s image in any way. There were about 200 prisoners in the detention center, and they were all willing to listen in us clarify the truth about Dafa. More than 90 percent of them quit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its youth organizations.
We told people about the principles we learned from Dafa. We told them that virtue is extremely precious and they would receive blessings by doing good deeds and avoiding doing bad deeds. Due to our subtle influence, gradually there was less cursing and more and more laughter in our cell.
We taught everyone Master’s poems and Dafa songs. Their favorite poem was “An Upright Person” in Hong Yin. I was often moved to tears when the prisoners recited the poems or sang Dafa songs. I always silently thanked Master in my heart for letting these people hear the Fa while they were detained.
From Life Imprisonment to Bail Pending Trial
Yaping, an inmate in her early 30s, used to be the CEO of a very large company. She committed a multi-million dollar fraud, and it was thought that she would be sentenced to life in prison. She was under great mental pressure and always looked sad. She often had such intense stomach pain that she would be covered in sweat.
Whenever she was taken to the detention center doctor, the doctor would give her an injection, but the pain never lessened. Once I heard a prisoner say, “Those injections are just distilled water. Of course it won’t work!”
I always did my best to take care of her. I covered her duty shifts and gave her new clothes and socks that my family brought me. I told her about the principles of gain and loss, and the truth of the persecution of Falun Dafa. I also told her about the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party.
I explained that the CCP deliberately destroyed China’s traditions and values, causing a great decline in people’s moral standards, which is why today’s Chinese people do not believe in Gods and Buddhas and do bad things just for money. I said that only by withdrawing from the CCP and returning to traditional values can we get through the final catastrophe and enter the future. I asked her to sincerely recite, “Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good.”
After she understood the truth, she withdrew from the CCP and recited the two phrases whenever she had time. She also did everything she could to help practitioners. Those practitioners who could recite Master’s teachings from memory wrote them down, and she would help pass the pages to other practitioners. She was very smart and capable and always handled things quietly.
She said, “If I get out one day, I will also clarify the truth about Dafa and ask the people I know to quit the CCP organizations.” When I was illegally tried, she put her hands together and said to Master sincerely, “Master, please help Dafa practitioners. They are the best people in the world and they shouldn’t be sentenced.” She regarded Dafa practitioners as her family.
Understanding the truth did bring her blessings. Her stomach pains occurred less and less, until she didn’t have to resort to any treatment. They also became less severe. More amazingly, even though she was facing life imprisonment, she was eventually released on bail pending trial due to insufficient evidence.
Prisoners Who Understood the Truth
There were three deaf mutes in the detention center. People referred to them as Old Mute, Big Mute, and Little Mute. Big Mute and Little Mute often used sign language to communicate. Big Mute could read and write and I clarified the truth to her by writing. She understood and was very grateful. She always protected me and told Little Mute not to bully me.
One day, Big Mute rushed back to the cell from outside. When she saw me, she began to make gestures that I could not understand. She became even more agitated and gestured with her hands. After a while, I finally realized that she was making the movements of the Falun Dafa exercises. When she was out, she saw fellow practitioners in other cells doing the exercises and quickly came back to tell me, “They are doing the Dafa exercises. Hurry up and do them, too!”
There was a drug dealer who was sentenced to death. Whenever she thought of being executed, she became very frightened. Her face was pale, she often shivered, and she suffered from several ailments. She wore heavy shackles every day and made a lot of noise when she walked. Because she had serious kidney disease, she urinated frequently and had to go to the restroom often. At night, this really disturbed everyone’s sleep. I put a small basin next to her to use and emptied it in the morning. This went on for nearly six months.
She was very grateful to me and knew that Dafa practitioners were all good people. If anyone bullied a practitioner, she would speak up. She told me that, in the past, she had helped a practitioner the guards had tortured so badly that she could no longer defecate. She organized a few people to help the practitioner defecate using their hands. I thanked her for that unknown practitioner.
For over 10 years, many practitioners clarified the truth in that detention center. The guards saw the miraculous health effects of Falun Dafa with their own eyes and often asked sick prisoners to do the exercises with us. Whenever there was a fight and the guards wanted to investigate, they would ask a practitioner what happened, because they knew that practitioners would not lie. They also told the prisoners to learn from us and not fight or curse.
Getting Through the Most Difficult Times
After I was sentenced and taken to prison, the “transformation” experts took turns to try to forcefully “transform” me. Because I refused to comply, I was severely tortured twice in 2009 for over eight months and in 2010 for four months. I was forced to stand at attention in a corner facing the wall for more than 18 hours a day. If I closed my eyes or bent my legs, they would hit me, kick me, or shock me with electric batons. In summer I was exposed to the hot sun for long periods of time. They slapped my face very hard and I became deaf in my left ear. They also kicked me below the waist.
They once handcuffed my wrists and held them up above my head. The guards then ordered other inmates to pinch my armpits. I tried to flinch, but I couldn’t move. The pain was excruciating, and I felt like I was being torn apart.
After I was arrested, I recited articles and poems from Essentials for Further Advancement, Hong Yin, Hong Yin II, Hong Yin III, and Master’s other lectures. Whether I was waiting in line, walking, working, about to go to bed, or just waking up, as long as I didn’t need to think about anything, I would recite the Fa. Master’s Fa enabled me to not give up my faith, to not resent anyone, and to be extremely kind and forbearing while facing the most cruel persecution.
Under the ceaseless torture that exceeded the limits of the human body, I began to have symptoms such as a high fever, blood in my urine, lower body pain, dizziness, and stomach pains. I would stumble even when I was standing up and needed help just to walk. Master gave me a hint that I should tell someone in authority what was going on, so I spoke to the section chief when she was on duty. When she saw me, she was shocked and kept asking, “How did you end up like this?” Although I didn’t harbor any resentment for the guards and the prisoners who tortured me, I did not want the evil people to go unpunished and continue to harm others. I told her about the torture I was being subjected to in detail. After hearing me out, she said calmly, “I got it. I know what to do now.”
Right afterward, our section was reorganized, and a warehouse used by inmate Ling was put to other uses. Ling was one of the three prisoners who tortured me. Ling paid guard Hong a lot of money, and Hong let her use the warehouse. She could enjoy herself all she wanted in there. She could eat, drink, and lie down in there and no one would see her.
Hong and Ling planned most of the torture I was subjected to. Losing access to the warehouse was undoubtedly a blow to Ling. The section chief then told Ling that she would now be on duty at the front door. This seemed like a nice job on the surface, but it was actually very hard and tiring—and the person was often reprimanded. Hong, meanwhile, was transferred to another section, so Ling’s money and gifts were all in vain.
Later on, Ling came to me and said that if they ordered her to torture a practitioner, she would never do it again. I was happy for her timely awakening and hoped that she could change and wash away her sins.
The section chief also specifically told the guards to provide me with enough hot water at all times, as normally there were strict schedule limits for drinking hot water in the prison, and one could not have hot water just whenever. She also asked for ginger candies to help me heal, took me to the hospital to be examined and treated, and excused me from any physical work so I could rest. Basically, she did everything within her power to take good care of me. When she was later transferred out of my section, I asked her to treat all practitioners well no matter where she went.
One felon I met had been in prison for a long time. The guards valued her abilities, so the inmates were all afraid of her. But she had come into contact with many practitioners and was very sympathetic toward Dafa. Whenever she passed by, she would come over, pat me on the shoulder, and say a few words, which made the other prisoners jealous.
When the guards ordered the inmates to torture me, she scolded and cursed at those inmates. They then tried to be part of her group, but she said that she would not join in their bad behavior, and she also found ways to punish them. She didn’t tell me any of these things, and I didn’t find out about it until many years later.
On the day I was released from the prison, I unexpectedly received a precious gift at the prison gate from her that she had asked a guard to bring me. It was a poem that she wrote. I have always kept it.
In those five years, I formed unforgettable bonds with many kindhearted people, and I brought them the precious news of Falun Dafa, allowing them to find their true selves and preventing them from getting lost in this world.
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