My Experience of Practicing Falun Dafa in Communist China

(Minghui.org) I learned Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, an ancient mind and body practice, in 1994. I had the honor of attending the last lecture in Dalian given by Master Li, the founder of Falun Dafa. When I saw Master for the first time, he seemed very familiar—as if I had seen him before. I was so excited that I couldn’t stop my tears. I was determined to follow Master’s teaching and to cultivate myself well.

Enlightened When I Was at Rock Bottom

In July 1999, the Chinese Communist Party started the persecution of Falun Gong. I was inevitably involved. To avoid being arrested for upholding my belief, I left home. In 2003, my father passed away. Until the last minute, he had worried about my safety and was scared of being harassed by the police. My husband was hospitalized, but I couldn’t take care of him. At that time, I was told to leave the material production center because the coordinator and I had different opinions. The police were searching for me everywhere, and I had no place to hide. I was under tremendous pressure. It was the lowest point in my life.

That was when compassionate Master encouraged and enlightened me in two dreams. In the first dream, a row of armed police officers with machine guns fired at me. But the bullets just went through me and I kept walking towards them. I was unbeatable. In the second dream, other practitioners and I were taking an exam in a classroom. I handed in my answer sheet with a cover sheet that had large characters on it that said “Defending Dafa with my life.”

Those dreams made a very deep impression on me. After that, the majesty of Dafa was deeply rooted in my heart and enabled me break through all difficulties I encountered on my future path.

Escaping an Illegal Arrest

At the end of the 2008 Olympic Games, four other practitioners and I took a thousand Falun Dafa informational brochures to a remote area to distribute. Local police officers found us and took us to the station. They thought I was the leader of the group and started to interrogate me in a separate room. There were four angry-looking police officers. I sympathized with them for in their ignorance, helping the CCP do its evil deeds. I said calmly, “I came here for you. Do you know that Falun Dafa is the Great Law of the Universe, a Buddhist practice? Following the CCP to damage the Buddha’s teachings will harm yourself. After the Cultural Revolution, the CCP arrested more than 700 public officials, prosecutors, and law enforcement officers and, in response to the public unrest, killed them all.” They listened to me quietly. At the end they wrote “No comment” on the record and tried to close the investigation.

However, the director of the police station thought my case might be a stepping stone to a higher position. So he made it a big deal out of it and reported it to the city police and even the provincial police. At 8 p.m. we were taken to the neighboring county detention center. On the way we kept sending forth righteous thoughts. When we were almost to the detention center, both cars suddenly started to swerve and white smoke billowed out. The officer in the front passenger side covered his chest with his hand and his face turned green. He looked like he was in pain and thought I was cursing him. Terrified, another officer’s face was as white as a sheet. I told them, “I didn’t curse you. But you should take this as a warning from Heaven to please stop taking part in the persecution.”

When we finally arrived at the detention center, we refused to give our names or sign anything. The detention center refused to accept us, and the police officers had to drive us back. 

I looked inward and kept correcting myself and eliminating my fear. I asked Master for help. Around midnight, we were near the city and they stopped at a restaurant, leaving one officer to watch us. I found an excuse to get out of the car and ran towards the cornfield. But one of them caught me and started to drag me back to the car by my hair. I struggled and broke free, ran to the side of the road and tried to hail a passing cab, but the driver didn’t dare stop. Another car appeared right after, and the driver said, “Hop on, I’ll save you.” Just as I got into the car, it became very foggy. Two hours later, I was home. I couldn’t thank the driver enough and paid him double. I was very clear that Master had protected me once again.

Police Officers Aware of the Truth

In 2015, two fellow practitioners and I were out distributing Falun Dafa informational materials. At around 11 a.m., we separated at an intersection. I saw a black car trailing one practitioner and wanted to warn her, but I didn’t know her phone number, so I rode my bike to her home. 

When I got there, I saw the car parked in front of the house and two young men taking pictures. They saw me and took pictures of me. I didn’t think too much, went into her house, and told her that she had been followed: “There are plainclothes officers watching you outside. Please notify other practitioners not to come here for group study this afternoon.”

When I tried to leave, several police officers grabbed me and took me to the station. They locked me in a small room. I calmed down and kept reciting the Fa. I asked Master to re-enforce my righteous thoughts.

Around 5 p.m., I was taken to the interrogation room. Two officers asked me my name and threatened to take me to the notorious Masanjia Forced Labor Camp, which was well known for torturing Falun Dafa practitioners. I calmly explained to them what Falun Dafa was, that Dafa has been embraced in more than a hundred countries, and that millions of people benefit from practicing it. I said that the persecution was wrong. I cited several examples of police officers who incurred retribution after persecuting practitioners. I asked, “How’s the chief of so-and-so police station doing now?” They didn’t answer. Actually the chief had gotten ill and died after persecuting practitioners.

I spoke for a while, and their attitude changed completely. When only the instructor and I were in the room, he lowered his voice and asked, “How do you know so much? Don’t worry, I will release you later.” Then the director came in and asked me my name again. I felt that he had no ill intention, so I told him.

He started to search for information on me on his computer and the 2008 case popped up. He muttered to himself, “What an excuse for a case—just distributing a few flyers. Is that such a big deal?” Then he said, “You can tell your husband to come pick you up.” But I didn’t want my husband involved, so he found my son-in-law’s information and called him.

My son-in-law came. Usually the police would order me to sign a statement giving up my faith. But this time, they simply released me. I told the instructor who came out to see me off, “You will be blessed.” He smiled.

Thinking back on these years, I realized why I was arrested several times. It was because I focused on doing things and not on cultivating myself. I wrote down my experience to remind myself to cherish the path I have traveled and to thank Master for his constant care. The only thing I can do to repay him is to cultivate myself well and to do the three things better.