(Clearwisdom.net)

Jiang and his followers have been persecuting Falun Gong for four years. Except for creating mental, physical and financial tribulations and suffering for Falun Dafa practitioners, they cannot sway genuine cultivators' determination to cultivate. Even if they stumble on the path of cultivation, with the inspiration of Teacher's compassion, genuine cultivators stand up resolutely, start all over to do better and fulfill the vows made before history.

In December 2002, all Falun Dafa practitioners detained in the 2nd Unit, 1st Division of the Jilin Province Heizuizi Forced Labor jointly declared that the so-called "transformation-letters" that they were forced to write under pressure and threats were null and void, and that they would continue to practice Falun Dafa steadfastly, that they would redouble their efforts to make up for the losses their brainwashing had caused and closely follow Teacher's Fa-rectification progress. After this incident happened, every policeman in the forced labor camp was shaken by the practitioners' resolve. This incident also greatly motivated and inspired many other Falun Gong practitioners who were detained to be more resolved in their belief.

Ever since July 20, 1999, Jiang's group has been relentlessly persecuting Falun Gong practitioners. Any practitioner that spoke out, saying, "Falun Gong is good" or "Falun Gong is the righteous Fa" was put in dark prison cells and forced to endure cruel torture. Under such high-pressure persecution, and because of their fear, some practitioners compromised with the evil. The suffering they incurred from renouncing their beliefs grew increasingly stronger among practitioners in the 2nd Unit. Receiving both mental and physical persecution like that in a forced labor camp, some practitioners lost themselves. Everyday they were burdened with huge loads of one labor task after another that were assigned to them. If they failed to meet the deadlines on the assigned workload, they were beaten, verbally abused or penalized in some way. Yet the mental persecution was even more severe: every time they were required to watch a brainwashing video containing propaganda that defamed Falun Dafa, the forced labor camp staff would force them to write statements supporting the propaganda and denigrating their belief. If practitioners' comments did not meet their criteria, the authorities persecuted them. As time passed, practitioners began reflecting on this issue, secretly communicating and discussing with each other. Finally, they came to the conclusion that these occurrences were happening because practitioners had not studied the Fa solidly so that they developed a profound understanding of Falun Dafa. As a result, the evil had an excuse to take advantage of this point and inflicted endless interference and damage to the practitioners. Meanwhile, due to constant bombardment of propaganda and the long-term brainwashing in confinement, many Falun Dafa principles that practitioners had once understood clearly began to become eroded from practitioner's memory by the evil. If practitioners wanted to do well again, they needed to study the Falun Dafa principles more. As Teacher said:

"The Fa can break all attachments, the Fa can destroy all evil, the Fa can shatter all lies, and the Fa can strengthen righteous thoughts." (From "Drive Out Interference", July 5, 2000)

Having understood this, practitioners all felt that they had awakened. The 2nd Unit consisted of Falun Dafa practitioners between the ages of twenty to sixty whose labor camp sentences were between one to three years. But where could practitioners find the books to study the Fa [universal principles espoused in the book Zhuan Falun] in such an evil environment? They wrote down all the Fa principles they had memorized and distributed them to everyone. They memorized the Fa principles while police instructed them to do forced labor. Later, they gradually acquired more and more of Teacher's articles from the outside world. For example, "Fa-rectification Period Dafa Disciples," "Path," "Dafa is Indestructible," "Teaching the Fa at Washington, D.C. Fa Conference," "Righteous Thoughts," and Teacher's other new lectures after 2000. The inspiration and excitement practitioners felt in their hearts was beyond description. Every one knew deep inside that it was Teacher's benevolence to practitioners.

By studying the Fa more deeply, the righteous thoughts of practitioners who were detained in the 2nd Unit became stronger. Every one was hungering and thirsting for the Fa and seized every opportunity to memorize the Fa while they did forced labor, walking, washing their faces or sleeping. Practitioners opened their Fa-study environment to everyone. Looking back, the situation can be explained with Teacher's words:

"Being able to study the Fa well is the fundamental guarantee that you can head towards Consummation, it's the fundamental guarantee that you can emerge from here." (From "Teaching the Fa at the 2003 Atlanta Fa Conference")

These words of Teacher's exactly describe the feeling of every practitioner in the 2nd Unit. After studying the Fa for a while, everyone all made some improvements. At that time, practitioners learned of the three tasks that Teacher requested of everyone: studying the Fa, sending righteous thoughts and clarifying the truth to expose the evil. Practitioners did not have problems doing the first two tasks, since they were always studying the Fa, and everyone reminded each other to consciously and immediately quiet their minds to send righteous thoughts at the top of each hour. Although they could not erect their palms, everyone was able to use very pure and righteous thoughts to eliminate the evil. However, in terms of the third task, the difficulty encountered by practitioners of the 2nd Unit was extreme. Because of the long-term persecution, everyone's fearful mentality had grown stronger, in the face of the evil their attitude was more or less evasive. How, then, could they break through this obstacle? Everyone unanimously felt that they should still study the Fa more. Only by studying the Fa well could practitioners truly eradicate this obstacle.

Through studying the Fa for a period of time, practitioners deeply understood the true meaning of Teacher's words,

"A Dafa disciple completely opposes everything arranged by the evil old forces."(Dafa Is Indestructible, June 23, 2001)

Having righteous faith and righteous thoughts, what followed were righteous actions. At last, once when policemen conducted a survey with something called "bottom line questions," practitioners were no longer evasive; instead, they directly answered the questions by choosing words that they had kept hidden in their minds and did not dare to say out loud before. Dafa practitioner Xu Yushun, a Korean national minority from Yanji City answered a question with openness and dignity, telling about Falun Dafa's unique features: Falun Dafa is a righteous teaching; whoever practices Falun Dafa benefits from it; it is the great law of cultivation. Also there were Sun Zhongmin, Zhang Lekun, Ann Rongfan, and so on. Most practitioners also spoke out about their true feelings that they had kept locked away in their minds for a long time due to fear of retaliation. They also stated that Falun Dafa is a noble and virtuous teaching that teaches people how to be good. These statements were like a bombshell that made the policemen so furious that they began cursing in fury. The policemen slammed the door and left. Nevertheless, every Dafa practitioner in the 2nd Unit felt that they had never been so free and determined. At the same time they had a better understanding of the meaning of Fa-rectification. This incident greatly shocked the police.

The next day the police started persecuting those steadfast practitioners who "spoke out." They used electric batons to shock Dafa practitioner Sun Zhongmin (a resident of Shulan). Not only did she not become afraid, she erected her palm [to send forth righteous thoughts] to eliminate the evil in other dimensions that was controlling the police. Consequently, the policeman's electric baton flew far away from his hand. This action shook the evil with great power. In a brainwashing class conducted by the labor camp, a Falun Gong practitioner in the 2nd Unit named Sun Jingyun (a resident of Jilin City) replied in an open and dignified manner when she was being interrogated by the police, "Falun Dafa is the righteous Fa and I'm determined to practice Falun Dafa." Upon hearing her statement, the police were speechless. This incident also greatly shook all policemen in the labor camp. This unified action by the 2nd Unit validated the Fa and at the same time it also declared to the police in the labor camp that their forced brainwashing program had collapsed, not achieving its result. After this incident practitioners all understood why Teacher keeps stressing "one whole body," and making an all-out effort as "one whole body." As a Dafa disciple, each and every one of us is an indispensable particle in the Fa.

Not long after that, a Falun Gong practitioner in the 2nd Unit named Zhang Jingbo (a resident of Yanji city) calmly and undauntedly submitted to the policemen her first statement which she had had prepared for a long time. In the statement she declared that her transformation under forced brainwashing was null and void; meanwhile, she also declared that she was determined to practice Falun Dafa and would closely and firmly follow Teacher's Fa-rectification progress. This was the first time a Falun Gong practitioner ever dared to confront the policemen and submit a declaration statement. While shocked, the police were puzzled; they could not figure out who was influencing the usually silent Zhang Jingbo to commit such a bold act. After the first declaration statement, then the second, third, fourth statements...landed in the policemen's hands. Policemen of the 1st Division were shocked and sent in the collaborators [former Falun Gong practitioners who have been brainwashed and now assist the police in forcing their fellow practitioners to renounce their belief in Falun Dafa] to investigate who was the main person responsible for this incident so that they could suppress that person. However, in the end they couldn't find anything. They hastily closed the case with their question of "Who is the leader?" answered by "They are all leaders." Falun Gong practitioners' righteous thoughts and righteous actions not only manifested in the 2nd Unit, they also encouraged the entire 1st Division.

A few days after practitioners in the 2nd Unit submitted their declaration statements, practitioners in the 1st Unit submitted their statements. Subsequently, a wave rippled through the 3rd , 4th, and 5th Units: practitioners in these units all submitted statements declaring their intention to cultivate in Dafa steadfastly and take the path of Fa-rectification. The restrictive atmosphere and environment immediately changed. Although every day each practitioner only had the opportunity to walk past each other, they took the opportunity to erect their palms to remind each other to do well the three things Teacher has requested of us. Faced with Falun Dafa practitioners whose righteous thoughts grew increasingly stronger, the evil started to recede. During this period, when writing the so-called "thought report" requested by the police, practitioners took the opportunity to write words that exposed the evil and explained the facts of the persecution of Falun Dafa, completely validating the Fa and requesting that the government restore the reputations of Teacher and Falun Dafa. Every day when they wrote articles sharing the benefits that Falun Dafa gave them they solemnly ended each article with the quote, "Falun Dafa practitioner so-and-so completely opposes the illegal forced labor." Every practitioner opposed it. Ever since Falun Dafa practitioner Liu Changchun was taken to the labor camp by force, with a definite and firm conviction and maintaining righteous thoughts and actions, no evil persecution could sway her determination to cultivate. Together she and three other Dafa practitioners, Zhao Chunyan (a resident of Changchun City), Zhang Guilan (a resident of Changchun City) and Zhang Wenzhen (a resident of Liaoyuan), who were all very steadfast at the time, resolutely safeguarded Dafa. The environment in the 2nd Unit also changed for the better. Dafa practitioner Wang Xiaohui (a resident of Meihekou) was sentenced to two years of forced labor. After she arrived at the labor camp, she completely opposed the old forces' persecution and no persecution could sway her mind.

After a series of incidents happened, policemen started their counter-attack. They transferred Falun Dafa practitioner Li Shujie from the 2nd Unit to the 1st Unit and proceeded to persecute her. Instructed by policemen, at midnight, several collaborators beat Li Shujie to the point that Li couldn't stop screaming. The horrifying screams could be heard throughout the 1st Division. Finally, Falun Gong practitioner Liu Yuexia in the 2nd Unit was the first one who stepped forward to stop the collaborators and questioned them loudly, "Why did you collaborators beat people? Who has given you permission to harm practitioners?" Meanwhile practitioners from other units also stepped forward. At the time, fearing that the situation would escalate, policewoman Li Ying stepped out and loudly cursed those practitioners who dared to step forward. With regard to this, practitioner Sun Jingyun in the 2nd Unit wrote several articles to expose this incident, thoroughly exposing labor camp police's instructing collaborators to do the following: savagely beating Falun Dafa practitioners in order to force Falun Dafa practitioners to renounce their belief, imposing force and violence on practitioners who refused to break away from Falun Dafa, etc. Sun Jingyun was not fearful of life and death and directly handed articles which explained the facts of Falun Dafa to the police. Faced with Sun's righteous thoughts and actions, the policemen receded. Fearing that their evil deeds would be exposed, they later used the excuse of being "totally unaware of the situation" as a cover up and hastily closed the case. Through this incident, Sun Jingyun understood Teacher's words

"...no matter who is interfering, it's all temporary, all illusions, not the main body, and it's all just like air flowing through." (From "Fa-Lecture During the 2003 Lantern Festival at the U.S. West Fa Conference")

It didn't work when the evil used tough tactics, so they used gentle tactics to earn people's trust in order to use them.

In March 2003, the police reduced the prison terms for Falun Gong practitioner Wang Shuzhen (a resident of Songyuan) and Wang Shuqing (a resident of Changchun) in order to earn people's trust and manipulate practitioners into working for them. However, when lured with personal gain, Wang Shuzhen's and Wang Shuqing's righteous thoughts and righteous actions were not affected by the reduced prison term. In addition, they proceeded to validate the Fa on the spot, which enraged the police. Immediately, they ripped up the prison term reduction papers. Their righteous thoughts and actions again shattered the policemen's dream to force them to renounce their belief. Also, Falun Gong practitioner Sun Shulan did not cooperate with policemen when she was asked to make materials that slander Falun Gong to help brainwash practitioners; therefore the policemen slapped her across her face. These incidents of righteous thoughts and righteous actions by Falun Dafa practitioners were pretty common in the 2nd Unit. Practitioners all persisted to coordinate well as a whole body and view everything from the standpoint of the Fa and do well the three things Teacher requests of them.

From December 2002 to April 2003, practitioners signed several hundred statements that supported Falun Dafa . This message spread throughout the labor camp and the Head of the labor camp was shocked. He subsequently ordered policemen in the 1st Division to brainwash all Falun Dafa practitioners who had declared that they were "Falun Dafa practitioners" in their articles. After his order was given, police in the 1st Division started targeting all practitioners in the 2nd Unit for severe persecution. Their primary target was Falun Dafa practitioner Liu Yuexia. They made her write down her thoughts and sign the paper under the name of "a forced laborer." But Liu Yuexia did not yield to electric baton shocks, beatings, sleep deprivation or other torture. She signed her own name with dignity as "Dafa practitioner Liu Yuexia" on every article she wrote, which made the police even more furious. They switched their tactics from electrically shocking Ms. Liu once a day to twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening. All practitioners in the 2nd Unit united to send righteous thoughts and concentrated their energy on eliminating the evil, and regarded Liu's situation as their own.

The Head of the forced labor camp dispatched the most vicious policemen in the entire forced labor camp, including Zhang Xiaohui, to the 2nd Unit in the 1st Division and planned to suppress the situation. On his first day of work, being haughty and arrogant, this policeman declared that he would find some "leaders" and proceed with his persecution. Practitioners in the 2nd Unit were not intimidated. In addition to studying the Fa, they used every moment of their time to send righteous thoughts. They suppressed the evil with the righteous thought of letting the perpetrator receive his karmic retribution in due time. Within a few days, a car hit policeman Zhang Xiaohui, who received her karmic retribution for the crimes she committed against practitioners. After policeman Zhang had recovered from her injuries, she dared not return to the 2nd Unit for fear that her reputation had been ruined because she failed to handle those practitioners.

During this period, the persecution and crimes the policemen imposed on practitioners had all been documented by Falun Gong practitioners. Nevertheless, the policemen kept the labor camp totally isolated from the outside world; therefore practitioners could not submit their articles with eyewitness accounts of the torture and brutality they experienced to the Minghui Website. With regard to this, in addition to studying the Fa, every Falun Dafa practitioner started to reflect on this issue, "All we do is validate the Fa here. Is this standpoint right?" "Is this environment in which we cannot study the Fa or practice the exercises a place for us to stay?"

Through studying the Fa, practitioners realized that everything Dafa practitioners do is for the purpose of saving sentient beings. Therefore we should completely oppose the old forces' arrangements, go out into world to study the Fa, practice the exercises and clarify the truth to save sentient beings. When their starting point for Fa-rectification was clear, they sent righteous thoughts to completely oppose the old forces' arrangements. Soon after, under Teacher's protection, Dafa practitioner Zhang Jingbo was released on bail for medical treatment. She was the first one to walk out of the labor camp in an open and dignified manner and return to the grand current of the Fa-rectification. Dafa practitioners Sun Jingyun's and Wang Dongmei's prison terms were originally extended by the policemen when their term had expired. However, with righteous thoughts and righteous actions, they changed an established rule and returned home after completing their original term, and threw themselves into clarifying the truth to the people about the persecution of Falun Dafa. Falun Dafa practitioner Liu Changchun also resisted the old forces' arrangements resolutely. When she was persecuted in the labor camp, she became so critically weak that in the end she was carried home. But as soon as she returned, the miracle of Falun Dafa manifested in her body. She completely recovered not long after returning home. She knew deep inside that Dafa had given her a second life and she is now assisting Teacher's Fa-rectification to save sentient beings. There is also Wang Xiaohui who walked out of the forced labor camp with righteous thoughts. In addition, a large number of people in the 1st Division also walked out of the forced labor camp with righteous thoughts.

Looking back at these heart-wrenching scenes, it is really beyond description. Yes, indeed we Dafa practitioners do not talk about "unity" like everyday people do, however we are all doing our best for Fa-rectification. Therefore, the next person's things are your things, and your things are his things. As long as we think from the perspective of a Falun Dafa practitioner and act from the standpoint of the Fa-rectification, and unite all Dafa particles together into a form, the evil will not be able to take advantage of our loopholes.

I've written the above. Please kindly correct me if there's anything improper.

Editor's Note: Under any circumstance a Dafa practitioner must maintain righteous thoughts and actions and strictly follow Falun Dafa's requirement to not commit suicide. We should not endure the persecution like a warrior or an everyday person who violates Falun Dafa's principle to protest the persecution. Dafa's power is unlimited. As long as we persist in doing well the three things Teacher has requested of us, everything will come from this, and we'll be able to oppose all arrangements and persecution by the old forces' dark minions.