(Clearwisdom.net) The fifth time I went to Beijing to validate the Fa in November 2001, I was arrested, sent to a detention center and eventually to a forced labor camp. While I was in the detention center, nothing could sway my determination to cultivate, but in the forced labor camp it was a different story and my focus was diverted. With Teacher's hints, I quickly became clear-headed, and with Teacher watching over me, I continually raised my level as a practitioner through my involvement in the anti-persecution activities that followed. With righteous thoughts I successfully walked out of the forced labor camp. When I later reflected upon the progress of my development in raising my level as a practitioner during the past year, I felt that I had made significant progress. At the time I also had a vague notion that I was able to progress so quickly because I was being persecuted.
After returning to work, I persistently rejected everything that the evil forces mandated, and at the same time, sought opportunities to clarify the facts to people who had been misled. In the process, the fear of being caught and re-sent to the forced labor camp took its hold on me, and my acts of clarifying the facts to people became not so very open or straightforward.
One evening, two months after I had left the forced labor camp, the police again detained me and tried to send me back to the forced labor camp. During the previous two months, I had been diligently studying the Fa and reading articles about practitioners' righteous thoughts and righteous actions, so I was prepared with some idea of how to face the persecution. While in the detention center, I searched for my own omissions and discovered that my fear of being caught had created a loophole for the old forces to exploit. Every day I frequently sent forth righteous thoughts, both to negate the arrangements made by the old forces and to clear out all elements that had caused the persecution to occur. I recited the Fa attentively and took every opportunity to clarify the facts to almost all the people who went in and out of the detention center. During my interrogations, I would recite from one of Teacher's articles, "Indestructible righteous faith in the cosmos's Truth forms benevolent Dafa disciples' rock-solid, Diamond-Like Bodies, it frightens all evil, and the light of Truth it emanates makes the unrighteous elements in all beings' thoughts disintegrate. However strong the righteous thoughts are, that's how great the power is." ("Also in a Few Words" in Essentials for Further Advancement II). Alternatively, I would send forth righteous thoughts to clear away the evil factors that were manipulating the police, or I would clarify the facts to expose the evil forces. The police became weak while I maintained very strong righteous thoughts. One of them said, "Don't say any more, we'll be afraid to be here if you speak any more."
Finally they asked me to speak my mind about Falun Dafa, and I said, "I will sign my name for repeating 'Falun Dafa is good!' ten times." A month later, I left the detention center and I know that it was Teacher who protected me so that I could deny the arrangements of the old forces.
After leaving the detention center, I was able to clarify the facts to people in an open and straightforward manner under all circumstances. Somehow I still had a feeling that I was able to raise my level as a practitioner at a much faster pace while I was being persecuted.
A year later, I was again arrested and detained in the detention center. They tried to return me to forced labor camp, and I again denied the old forces' arrangements and walked out of the detention center after a month. When the police later sent me to the brainwashing center, I loudly shouted out, "Falun Dafa is good!" in the brainwashing center. I clarified the facts to the people and regularly sent forth righteous thoughts. They dared not keep me there, so I left the brainwashing center after only ten days. Afterwards, I was returned to the brainwashing center two more times, and both times I kept sending forth righteous thoughts daily and clarifying the facts. The police didn't have much choice but to let me go.
I studied Teacher's Teaching the Fa at the 2004 Chicago Conference and, at the same time, use it to look at my experience in validating the Fa. I would memorize the paragraphs or parts that I had difficulty comprehending. The following are my personal understandings:
1. I didn't have a deep understanding of the Fa at the beginning of my journey to validate the Fa. I believed that the persecution was a natural thing and that being a cultivator was to cultivate oneself while being arrested, detained and persecuted. Teacher said,"When you encounter ordeals during your cultivation, you have got to cultivate yourself and look at yourself--that doesn't mean acknowledging the ordeals arranged by the old forces and trying to do well amidst the ordeals they've arranged, that's not the case." (Teaching the Fa at the 2004 Chicago Conference)
When I verified my experience with what Teacher had said, I realized that at the beginning of my journey to validate the Fa, my determination was just as strong and steady as it is now. The difference was that I initially acknowledged the ordeals arranged by the old forces and was helplessly enduring the persecution, and that was a major problem.
"It's not that you're cultivating amidst the ordeals they created. Rather, you are to walk your own path well while not acknowledging them, not even acknowledging the elimination of their ordeals' manifestations." (Teaching the Fa at the 2004 Chicago Conference)
This is how our Teacher has arranged for us to cultivate.
2. I realized the fact that being arrested twice more after leaving the forced labor camp was exactly what the old forces had planned. I persisted in validating the Fa with unyielding faith and without being swayed by any human notion, which helped me to reject the plan set by the old forces and to walk away from the ordeals. Nevertheless, I fell into the scheme set by the old forces, and was therefore persecuted. Thus, I didn't do well on the cultivation path designed by Teacher. Teacher said, "We're fundamentally negating all of their things," (Teaching the Fa at the 2004 Chicago Conference) and that's the only way to walk well on the cultivation path.
3. Teacher said, "What we need to do is completely negate the old forces." (Teaching the Fa at the 2004 Chicago Conference) During our cultivation, it is not sufficient that we are unafraid of being arrested, being persecuted or being able to negate the old forces while being persecuted; we should furthermore "negate even the very emergence of the old forces," "don't even acknowledge their existence" and "not even acknowledging the elimination of their ordeals' manifestations." (Teaching the Fa at the 2004 Chicago Conference) Teacher asked us to establish our mighty virtue while negating and eliminating the old forces.
4. We must acquire a more thorough understanding of the Fa through studying it in order to achieve what our Teacher requires, and that is to completely negate the old forces. For example, for a long time, I believed that I could raise my level as a practitioner much faster while being persecuted, and I now understand that kind of thinking was the reason for my multiple arrests (of course there were other reasons as well.) There was a practitioner who said, "This is a good thing" when we talked about the capture of other practitioners by the police. Not long after that, this practitioner was also arrested. In my opinion, this was due to the practitioner's deficiency in understanding the Fa principle and knowingly acknowledging the old forces.
5. It would require us to begin examining our each and every single thought if we wanted to fundamentally negate the arrangements made by the old forces. In the past, the old forces have pre-arranged each and every thought; so today they aim at our each and every thought to arrange their interference. If we think according to what has been pre-arranged by the old forces, then we will fall into their trap. They persecute practitioners because our thoughts and actions were consistent with their arrangements. Therefore, we must straighten out our thoughts and actions according to the principle of the Fa, and thereafter negate the old forces completely.
6. Teacher said, "The whole process of cultivation is a process of constantly getting rid of human attachments." (Zhuan Falun) In our cultivation process, we must remember well Teacher's teaching that we should always look within whenever encountering problems, and that if one of our attachments is the root of the problem then we should purge the attachment through studying the Fa. If we were all able to do that, will persecution exist any longer?
7. Teacher said, "During the tribulation, you've taken the persecution of Dafa disciples by evil beings in this cosmos using bad people to be human acts." (In Fa-Rectification Your Thoughts Have to be Righteous, Not Human) The idea that we would not be persecuted or be persecuted less if we didn't do as much Fa-rectification work is consistent with what the old forces have arranged. These thoughts lead us to become timid and tentative in handling things or put too much consideration into how "not to be persecuted," and this is a very dangerous situation.
8. Teacher said, "Have righteous thoughts! However you think something should be handled, just go ahead and do it, and when you run into problems you will naturally know how to solve them. If your righteous thoughts are strong, everything will work out smoothly and it's guaranteed you'll do well. "(Teaching and Explaining the Fa at the Metropolitan New York Fa Conference) Therefore if we handle all the problems encountered with righteous thoughts while validating the Fa, we can then completely negate the old forces.
9. Teacher has said that to cultivate at a high level is to choose to follow the Fa principles. In our deepest thoughts, we can only choose to follow the path that Teacher has arranged for us without acknowledging the path arranged by the old forces. Under this premise, by studying the Fa diligently and measuring everything we do with the Fa, we can negate the interference created by the old forces and take the path of Fa validation well.
10. The persecution was not necessary and it didn't have to occur. We can raise our levels as practitioners through diligently studying the Fa, while completely negating the old forces. "You are to walk your own path well while not acknowledging them." (Teaching the Fa at the 2004 Chicago Conference)
December 10, 2004
