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My Experience of Starting Cultivation in Prison

April 30, 2014 |   By a Falun Dafa practitioner in Anhui Province

(Minghui.org) In 1998, I was arrested for violating the law at my job. While I was held in a detention center in October 2000, I met Falun Dafa practitioners. I could tell from their behavior that they were good people. The police told them they would be released if they would agree to write the following statement: I will not practice [Falun Dafa] any more. None of them would agree to write it. At that time, I couldn't understand why.

When I asked them about it, they told me they had been imprisoned for remaining steadfast in their belief in Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance, and for saying “Falun Dafa is good” in public. I admired their integrity and decided to try to become like them.

For the rest of my time in the detention center, I did Falun Dafa exercises and recited the Fa with them. I also required myself to follow their standard of behavior. Even though none of them woke me up at night to do the exercises with them, I would feel as if someone had patted me while I slept and told me to wake up. I would then join them. I now believe it was Master Li's law body that woke me up to do the exercises.

My body began to be cleansed after only a few days. They told me they believed I must be someone with great inborn quality. I didn't understand what they meant at the time.

A new Falun Dafa practitioner was later sent to the detention center for appealing for Falun Dafa in Beijing. She told us about the magnificent Fa-validation she had witnessed. She also brought Master's new poem “The Knowing Heart.”

Other practitioners were brought to tears upon hearing this practitioner's experiences. I can now understand how much they missed Master Li.

I will never forget the three months I spent with Falun Dafa practitioners in the detention center. It's my most cherished memory. I have been thinking of them ever since I left.

Lost and Found

I was eventually sent from the detention center to prison. Before I left the detention center, I wrote down all of the Fa I had learned on pieces of clothing and sewed them into my coat. This way, I was able to take them with me to prison. However, I slacked off as time passed by. I forgot my determination while living in that environment and didn't follow Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance as I should have.

Fortunately, however, I maintained my deep respect for Falun Dafa.

One time, the prison authorities ordered us to watch a video about the staged self-immolation incident and write a response. I wrote, “I don't believe it.” I was able to keep this righteous thought, at least. Even though I gave up cultivation during that time, I now understand that Master never gave up on me.

I was released in 2005 and went to live with my brother. He often brought home Falun Dafa fliers, Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party , and other Dafa materials. After reading them, I wrote a statement of my intention to withdraw from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its affiliated organizations, and posted it publicly. I told my sister-in-law, “This [Falun Dafa] is good. It teaches compassion. I have met these people. They are so wonderful!”

I asked my brother, “Can you find the people who gave you these materials?” My brother said he had found the materials in his mailbox, but didn't know who put them there. How I then wished I could find them and read the book Zhuan Falun ! The practitioners I had met in the detention center had told me it was a book from heaven.

I moved out of my brother's home in 2008. In 2009, another brother of mine gave me a Falun Dafa charm he had gotten from a friend. I begged him to introduce me to this friend, and although he agreed, he never did. I finally managed to find his friend's phone number one day and called her myself.

I was able to get the book, Zhuan Falun from this Falun Dafa practitioner on March 15, 2009. I held it tightly to my chest, hurried back home, and read it through without stopping. I was so grateful Master had given me a second chance!

This fellow practitioner then shared her Falun Dafa study materials with me, so I gave her 1000 Yuan to produce truth-clarification materials. I also asked her, “What can I do for Dafa?” She told me that their current Fa-study site had been noticed by the police and asked if it would be okay to move the group study to my home. I agreed immediately. My home then became the group-study site for six people. I was immersed in the compassion of the Buddha Law. Happiness and excitement filled my heart every day.

Upon finding out that I was practicing Falun Dafa, all of my relatives were against it. They asked me, “Didn't you suffer enough in prison?” My son even threatened me with a knife. I refused to budge. I told them through my tears, “Trust me, it's good!” They were finally touched by my determination. My son put down his knife.

At this time, I lived with and took care of, my 90-year-old mother. We watched the videos of Master's lectures together every day. We normally played it quite loudly. One day, local police came to our home for household registration, and I forgot to turn off the TV. After they left, I realized the TV had turned off by itself. I knew then that Compassionate Master must have been protecting us.

Validating the Fa

Two fellow practitioners in our Fa-study group were abducted by police in 2010. One was the practitioner who gave me the book Zhuan Falun . Her mother was too old to visit her in the detention center, so I went to visit her. The guard asked me who I was, and I said I was her cousin. I fearlessly took out my I.D. to show the jailer, and they allowed me to visit this practitioner from that point on.

Whenever I visited, I would bring her Master's new articles, and once I brought her a copy of Hong Yin .

Once I had an opportunity to meet a veteran Dafa practitioner who shouldered a lot of coordination work. I expressed my wish to produce truth-clarification materials. Thinking I was a new practitioner, she exhibited a great sense of responsibility and spent a lot of time studying Master's various lectures with me.

Before she moved to another town at the end of 2010, she bought me a printer. Another fellow practitioner gave me a CD burner. I started producing truth-clarification materials at home.

One year later, I bought a color printer and gave my old printer to another production site. I was able to make a large variety of truth-clarification materials, including fliers, anti-blockade software CD’s, and the Nine Commentaries on Communist Party CD’s. I allocated 10,000 yuan of mine, printed truth-clarification phrases [such as “Falun Dafa is Good”] on currency, and then exchanged the bills with my fellow practitioners who wished to spend them.

I also learned how to make Shen Yun Performing Arts DVDs. Of course, I couldn't have done all of these things without Master's arrangements and my fellow practitioners' help.

Now that I have a day job, I usually rest for two or three hours after work and make truth-clarification materials at night. I often work through the night but don't feel tired afterward. I am able to stay energetic through the next day. Sometimes I distribute the materials with other practitioners, and sometimes I do it by myself.

Once, another practitioner gave me some stickers with May 13 Falun Dafa Day information, and told me to work with other practitioners to post them that night, because the next day was World Falun Dafa Day. As most of the others were elderly, I decided to do it myself. I worked until after midnight and finished posting them all.

I became less diligent with Fa-study after I started working during the day. Master then made arrangements for me to join a Fa-study group in the early morning. This created a great cultivation environment for me. We often shared our experiences with each other, and I was often moved to tears by my fellow practitioners' sincere words.

I firmly believe Falun Dafa is great! I'm determined to do my best to follow Dafa and Master. Since I'm part of Dafa, I must shoulder the responsibility of doing the three things and offering salvation to sentient beings. Master is with me and taking care of me.

My greetings to Master! Fellow practitioners, please kindly point out anything inappropriate.