(Minghui.org) I was unable to get out of jail after going on a hunger strike for six months. I then decided to adjust my mentality and treated my circumstances as an opportunity to eliminate the evil factors. I sent forth righteous thoughts, every hour, 15 to 16 times a day. I then found that none of the guards or inmates said anything to slander Dafa; even the most vicious guard would smile when we met, and say, “How were your exercises today?” After I was released, I came across a former inmate who sincerely commented, “For six years, you haven’t changed, but we’ve all changed.”
1. Dafa changed me from being a criminal into a good person
I had congenital heart disease, and due to my condition, neither my parents nor other family members dared to discipline me. I was very spoiled and loitered around and always got involved in street fights. I was sentenced to ten years in prison for violating the law in 1992.
It is almost impossible for a criminal to completely change into being a good person. The prison was like a hub of gangsters, where the inmates shared their criminal experiences and techniques. During the first few years of my incarceration, I learned from the criminals and became even more corrupt.
In February 1994, Mr. Li Hongzhi conducted a Falun Gong seminar in Lingyuan. Soon afterward, some guards and inmates also began to cultivate in Dafa. I was fortunate enough to learn Dafa in 1995. From then on, I repented, and then stopped smoking, drinking, street fighting, and bullying others. I considered others first and gradually earned the respect of both the inmates and the guards. Back then, our practice site was right there in the prison.
One day, a guard escorted us to work outside the prison. On our way back, a car hit him, and he was knocked unconscious. Since he had often mistreated inmates, I would not have cared about him at all had I not cultivated in Dafa. Now that I was a cultivator, I knew I must think about others first. Therefore, I assisted in helping him up and transporting him to the hospital. Shortly after, I realized that my congenital heart disease was healed. Since I had become a good person, I was released ahead of time.
2. Incarcerated for being a good person; eliminating the evil forces in jail
Since the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began to persecute Falun Gong in July 1999, some prison guards were also persecuted because they practiced Falun Gong. I was illegally arrested on April 3, 2004, and I began a hunger strike to protest. The detention center put handcuffs and shackles on me and force-fed me. They used electric batons to shock me. Once, a guard poked his baton inside the window to shock me. Because I refused to go to the window, he ordered the inmates to push me over to the window, but nobody moved. Fearing that the guard would punish the others, I dashed directly toward the electric baton. For some reason, the end of the baton was on fire, and the guard quickly backed away. My clothes were scorched by the fire. Afterwards, they gave me Dafa books to read and no longer stopped me from sending forth righteous thoughts and practicing the exercises.
- Practicing the exercises and clarifying the truth
The first time I went on a hunger strike, I did not eat for 48 days. I believed that my goal was to use it as an opportunity to clarify the truth. I began to send forth righteous thoughts, study the Fa, practice the exercises and clarify the truth. During the day, I sometimes read Zhuan Falun out loud; there was always a group of people reading with me. Some inmates’ illnesses were healed after practicing Falun Gong. When some other inmates asked the guards to give them medication for their illnesses, the guards told them to go practice Falun Gong with me so that they would be healed. Sometimes four or five of us practiced Falun Gong together in one room.
On Chinese New Year’s eve in 2004, the mayor came to inspect the detention center. When he approached my door, I shouted that I was innocent. His entourage hastily ran away when they heard about Falun Gong. The guards were scared and came to tell me not to shout again.
I sent forth righteous thoughts, studied the Fa, and did the exercises every day for over a year and never slacked off.
- Repeating “Falun Dafa is good” to resist the persecution
I was transferred to Nanshan Prison in Jinzhou City in April 2005. In Nanshan Prison, however, they wouldn't let me do the exercises. I told them I would practice Falun Gong until I died. In an attempt to intimidate me, they forwarded my request through all official levels, but I was not intimidated. In May 2005, I was once again transferred, incarcerated this time in Panjin Prison. I refused to cooperate with the prison authorities, so they forced four to five inmates to carry me to the work site every day. On our way to work, I shouted, “Falun Dafa is good!” When I was tired, I clarified the truth, and after a while, I shouted again. They then tied me up on the tiger bench, but that did not stop me from shouting and clarifying the truth. I was tied on the tiger bench for three days without food and water. From then on, they were terrified of me and no longer forced me to go to work.
In October 2005, I received a letter from a practitioner outside of the prison. The guards told me that they could not give me the letter, but I insisted that they give it to me. So I sent forth righteous thoughts to make the guard give me the letter. They finally gave me the letter. The inmates said that it was inconceivable how the guards would pass along a letter from another practitioner. After reading the letter, I decided to leave the prison, so at the end of October, I went on a hunger strike.
I was taken to the hospital and put on an IV. And as a result, my arms swelled and my arteries hardened. Because of that, they could not continue with the infusion. I went without any water or food for two months while tied to the tiger bench. Five to six people force-fed me by inserting a tube into my stomach. I could feel the rubber tube rubbing against my esophagus and stomach, causing severe pain. The prison held a meeting and announced that if anyone could convince me to eat, he or she would get a three-month reduction of their term. Many people spent a lot of effort trying to make me eat, but I patiently and persistently clarified the truth to them.
At the end of April 2006, my family received three critical-condition notices from the jail. The 610 Office intervened, however, and refused to release me. I was unconscious practically the entire time and experienced blurred vision and I lost control of my bowels.
To entice me to eat, they brought me Master’s lectures. I could hardly read because I did not have enough strength to sit up and fell down as soon as I did. Gradually I sat up and enlightened to the fact that being a Dafa disciple, I should not lie down. I wanted to sit up, study the Fa, and practice the exercises.
- Sending forth righteous thoughts to eliminate the evil forces
I began to eat. I was very weak back then, but I gradually began to meditate.
One inmate in the prison hospital often found fault with me and slandered Dafa. One morning while I was doing the exercises, he pointed his finger and suddenly dashed toward me while shouting profanities. He suddenly backed away, however. I constantly sent forth righteous thoughts, and in the afternoon that same day, he fell sick and was placed on an IV.
The new head of the Disciplinary Section of the hospital, Li Gang, attempted to stop me from sending forth righteous thoughts. I ignored him, so he ordered someone to tie me to a bed for three days and nights without giving me any food or water. On the fourth day, as soon as they untied me, I stood up and began to do the exercises
On another day, I was meditating at 2:00 a.m., when Li Gang broke in with an electric baton and started yelling at me. Failing to control my xinxing well, I fainted. When I came to, the first thought that I had was to eliminate the evil forces, and then I continued with the exercises. Afterwards, I wrote a letter to record that atrocity and found someone to mail it for me. Soon afterward, Li Gang was under investigation and ended up being suspended.
On another occasion, I was sending forth righteous thoughts when the Director of Public Prosecutions and the head of the hospital came to inspect the prison. When they saw me sending forth righteous thoughts, they asked people to stop me, but nobody moved. Later, one person touched my feet, and then gestured to them and said that I was asleep.
Similar things happened very often. I had formed a thought in my mind, “No matter what happens, I will not give up.” At the end of 2008, a gang of evildoers suddenly broke into the hospital cell across the hallway and slapped a fellow practitioner to stop him from sending forth righteous thoughts. Without opening my eyes, I strengthened my righteous thoughts. They were there for a long time and eventually murmured, “Don’t bother with him. Let’s go.”
The hospital cell I was in was under 24-hour surveillance. I studied the Fa every day and sent forth righteous thoughts every hour. I went to sleep after sending forth righteous thoughts at 6 p.m. and did the fifth exercise (meditation) after sending forth righteous thoughts at 8 p.m. Three hours later, I went to sleep after sending forth righteous thoughts at midnight. I got up at 1 a.m. and practiced the exercises for three to four hours. After sending forth righteous thoughts at 6 a.m., I practiced the standing exercises until 8 a.m. I would then get up after 9 am to study the Fa.
One night, a guard watched me meditating for a long time; he then saluted me and left. The patient in the same cell told me about this the next morning. They seldom saw me sleeping, and sometimes I purposefully did not sleep to extend my time in meditation. One day, I meditated for six hours, but was still full of energy the next day. At one point, the Provincial Incarceration Administration came to investigate my case. To prepare, I did not sleep at all in the evening, but studied the Fa, sent forth righteous thoughts, and practiced the exercises the entire time. In this provincial incarceration system, I was considered a key target; however, I was also the only inmate who was not obeying a strict regimen.
