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Strengthen Our Righteous Thoughts: To Fellow Practitioners in Forced Labor Camps

September 17, 2003 |   By a Dafa practitioner from China

(Clearwisdom.net) Master has constantly told us not to acknowledge any persecution that the evil forces have subjected us to. Even if we acknowledge a tiny bit of it, isn't it to exist in the realm of the old forces, to leave a space for the evil to commit crimes?

I remember the one time when I was arrested for sharing experiences with fellow practitioners and was detained in a very vicious detention center. More than a dozen people were detained in the cell. I was detained in the same cell with another two practitioners. All detainees there were forced to do heavy manual labor for over a dozen hours a day to make a profit for the detention center.

The detainees in our cell were forced to weave straw hats. Every one had a quota to make three hats a day. If one did not complete the task, he or she would not be permitted to sleep. If the quality was not satisfactory, we had to do it over and could not go to sleep until completing the task. It is unimaginable how vicious the detention center was. The rough straw destroyed some prisoners' hands. The rough straw caused their hands to swell, suffer abrasions, bleed and ooze pus. Had the straw hat not been lacquered, the bloody spots on the hats from our wounded hands would be visible all over. All these hats were for export. It was said that the hat was priced at US$15 each. Those who buy the straw hats would be disgusted if they were told how these hats were made.

As Dafa practitioners, we should never provide any opportunity for such vicious acts to be committed by the camp authorities. So I shared my understanding from the perspective of the Fa with two other practitioners and made up my mind to resist it. I briefly told all the people in our cell how we were illegally arrested, and told them that we should refuse to work. The head of the cell was so anxious that he reported it immediately. A guard then called us three practitioners right away.

The guard sat on a stool and told us to sit on the floor. All three of us immediately sat in the double leg-crossed Falun Gong meditation position, which shocked the guard. I explained to him what Falun Gong was, based on his level of understanding, and guided his mind toward the righteous way. I felt that we three practitioners were united as one body. A strong righteous field was around us. Anything unrighteous would be dissolved once it would get into this field.

I felt the one who was indeed pitiful was this guard. I told him how similar things were between the Culture Revolution and the persecution of Falun Gong. During the Cultural Revolution, those policemen who had persecuted the senior officials were punished severely afterwards. I wished for him not to follow their path; instead, leave a way out for himself and treat this persecution correctly. When I saw him become moved by my words, I told him that the detention center should have detained bad people, not good ones. We practitioners hadn't done a single bad thing. We were arrested only because we spoke a few words with each other when we were together. Wasn't arresting us an obvious injustice and misapplication of law?

This guard said that since it was a regulation that Dafa practitioners could not be together, then you should not be together; that since the practice had been banned, then you should stop practicing it. So I asked him, according to such logic, if several members of a family all practiced Falun Gong, would you break up their family? Who does not have relatives or friends? Just because these people practice Falun Gong, why can't these relatives and friends be together? There is not such a provision in the country's Constitution. Wasn't any law made based on the Constitution? Are the rules made without complying with the Constitution legal?

He could not reply. I then clarified to him the definitions of "nation" and "individual will," as well as the difference between the two. He had no word to say. I said, "That was the only thing I wanted to say." I pointed to the other two practitioners and said to him, "They haven't said anything yet." Hearing this, he was so scared that he jumped up waving his hands, "They don't need to say anything. You have said it all."

I could tell that he had already understood that this persecution was wrong. I said to him, "Arresting and detaining us here is already illegal. Now we are ordered to do the manual labor. According to the law, it is also illegal." When he heard that, he called the head of cell right away. He pointed to us and told him, "They don't need to work. Don't give them a hard time." For a while the head of cell could not understand it, then the guard again said loudly to him, "Have you heard what I said?" Then the man realized and nodded his head, "Got it!"

Since then, three of us kept practicing Falun Gong every day. No common prisoner dared to say a single word. On the contrary, many of them were secretly trying to learn the exercises. Even when a very violent guard was on duty, we kept practicing, no matter how he screamed at us. Once a vicious guard attempted to instigate the common prisoners to give us a hard time. None of them complied and told the guard, "It is sinful to persecute a person who cultivates Buddhahood. That will earn you karmic retribution. We dare not do that." The guard was so angry that he called in the criminals from the other cell. Three of us sat motionless in the double leg-crossed meditation position. Momentarily I felt that we three had been connected into one body. A huge Falun [law wheel] was turning around us. All unrighteous elements could be dissolved in our single thought. Tho criminals sent in were so scared that they trembled, and dared not to step close to us at all. Seeing those criminals didn't dare to come over, the guard was so angry that he wanted to punish us by himself. But once he stepped foot into the cell, he lost his courage and could not continue. Then we successfully finished our exercises.

I indeed experienced the importance of Dafa practitioners' being one body. I felt it was really Dafa practitioners who control everything. From Master's teaching, I understood that we Dafa practitioners were playing the real key role in this world. We must strengthen our righteous thoughts in the Fa and our role as key players well, since it is Dafa practitioners who are validating Dafa.

The environment in the labor camp was much darker than that of the detention center. No matter how fierce the evil force looks like on the surface, no matter whatever cruel methods they used, including sentencing, causing excruciating pain, heavy manual labor and all kinds of torture, we should deny and resist all of it with our righteous thoughts endowed by Dafa.

It is already illegal to sentence Dafa practitioners to forced labor camps, isn't it also illegal to force us to work as heavy laborers? Isn't unquestionably accepting the sentence the same as condoning the evil forces' persecution? Isn't complying with demands for forced labor the same as accepting the evil's persecution? We should never unquestionably accept or passively endure any persecution in the labor camp. That is an insult to Dafa.

Our own minds have made everything in this world. Let go of those human attachments that we could not let go of. Is it difficult? Think about all that Master has sacrificed for offering salvation to all the beings in the cosmos! Have we ever heard Master saying a single word, such as "difficult" and "painful"? Again, think about all that Master has endured for offering salvation to all the beings in the cosmos! Have we ever heard Master saying a single complaint, such as "bitter"?

Many of us have previously lost our lives many times and experienced endless tribulations in order to obtain the Fa. Nowadays we have obtained the Fa but did not strive forward amid the illusions the evil has conjured up. We are Fa-rectification period Dafa practitioners. We must position our heart righteously, correct every single one of our thoughts and minds, find the root of the "pain," correct it and let go of the mistakes.

From now on: all fellow practitioners detained in labor camps; please use your righteous thoughts and wisdom with which Dafa has endowed to us to firmly resist all the persecution, resist the illegal detention, resist the illegal sentencing, resist the forced labor, resist the excruciating pain, resist all kinds of torment and torture. Let's destroy all the evil in the labor camps with a Dafa practitioners' righteous thoughts and righteous acts, assimilate every single thought and mind of us into the grand current of Fa-rectification. We absolutely will break out of the darkness!