(Minghui.org) A fellow practitioner in my area, called Wang, was released from a detention center at the end of 2016. She told us of another practitioner from another area, named Yao, who was still held in the detention center. The local 610 Office was attempting to sentence her to one and a half years in prison, and she was in very low spirits.
Yao was not able to study the Fa and practice the exercises due to the hostile environment. She was so desperate to be released sooner that she pled guilty to trumped up charges during her initial court hearing.
I told Wang that it was not a coincidence for us to learn about Yao's situation.
Master said,
“The next person's things are your things,1 and your things are his things.” (from “Teaching the Fa at the Washington, D.C. Fa Conference” in Teaching the Fa at the Conference II)
We discussed how we could rescue practitioner Yao. Master does not want to give up on any disciple and we felt that it was our responsibility to help secure her release.
We did not know any practitioners in Yao's home district. We then contacted practitioners near her district and asked them to find out why she was detained. However, nobody knew Yao or anything about her detention.
We decided to contact Yao's parents and set off by car to their village, but we got lost on our way there. A thought popped into my mind: look for a taxi driver. We then saw a taxi driver on the roadside who was organizing the trunk of his car. He described the directions in detail to us.
We drove on for a while and got lost again. A thought popped into my mind: go to a gas station. We happened to be right near a gas station. A motorized tricycle was leaving as we drove in. When I asked the driver for directions he smiled and said, “Follow me. I'm going there.” We truly felt that Master was besides us.
We finally arrived at the village of Yao's parents. When we told them the intention of our visit, her parents were reluctant to cooperate with us. I said, “Whatever happens, Yao is your daughter. You would never wish for her to be detained in a cell with over a dozen others, packed in like sardines.”
Yao's father said, “Let her stay there. Otherwise, she'll distribute Falun Gong informational materials as soon as she's released.”
We talked with Yao's mother, also a Falun Gong practitioner. She said in tears, “Her father and I went to the city where she is detained. We tried to visit the relevant government offices to request her release and told the governmental staffers that the Constitution stipulates freedom of belief.
“But those offices shifted responsibility and did not take action. We ran back and forth for over four months, but never got to visit our daughter. Nobody spoke for us. We were so discouraged and could not afford the trips anymore. We feel helpless.”
We fully understood their suffering. We told Yao's mother that we wouldn't give up trying to rescue her daughter no matter how difficult it was, and that we needed to raise awareness of the persecution to request her release.
Later, we contacted practitioners in Yao's district and in her parents' area after rounds of failures to coordinate the rescue effort. Practitioners in our area also joined the effort.
We shared experiences with practitioners in Yao's district about rescuing her. They all agreed to cooperate and to send righteous thoughts.
We also learned that practitioners in Yao's district had contacted her husband, a non-practitioner, several times. In an attempt to get his wife released earlier, Yao's husband hired a lawyer to plead guilty for her, hoping that the court would give her a reduced sentence. Her husband had sought connections and had spent a lot of money on this. But there was no update for nearly a year.
An 80-year-old practitioner in my area decided to go to the city where Yao was detained with Yao's mother to request her release. Yao's mother reluctantly agreed. They arrived at the city after a two-hour trip. They went to the police station, the Procuratorate, the court, detention center, and other relevant departments, but were not allowed in any of the offices. They spoke to the security guards about the persecution.
Distraught, Yao's mother said, “I told you we shouldn't have come. I've been here so many times. We aren't even allowed to enter the offices. Nobody can help us.”
There were also complaints among other practitioners. Some thought that it was a waste of time and useless. Some practitioners in my area said that it was another area's issue and that we had many things of our own to take care of. Some even advised me not to coordinate the effort across districts.
After thinking it over, practitioner Wang and I went to visit Yao's parents again. There was a strong wind and heavy snow as we drove and we could hardly see the road in front of us. Then it suddenly became clear after we drove on for a while.
After some distance we encountered heavy snow again, then it suddenly became clear for a short distance again. I enlightened that Master was giving us a hint that we could only move forward but not retreat, and that however difficult it was, there would be a bright outcome. We met with Yao's parents and offered our encouragement.
We then asked a local lawyer to visit Yao in the detention center. We transcribed some of Master Li's teachings and asked the lawyer to bring them to Yao. The lawyer was upset, worried about losing her job should the Dafa materials be discovered.
We then made an agreement with the lawyer to bring a few simple words to Yao: “Determination, righteous thoughts and denying the old forces' arrangement.” We talked to the lawyer about Falun Dafa and the persecution, and she agreed to quit her membership in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its affiliated organizations.
After the lawyer visited Yao in the detention center, we gave her some information on freedom of belief and the crime of the CCP's persecution from the perspective of the law. We hoped that she could understand the issues.
As we continued to meet with the lawyer, we gave her different information each time, including other lawyers' strong defense of Falun Gong practitioners. The next time we asked the lawyer to visit Yao, she gladly brought Master Li's teachings that we'd initially asked her to bring.
Meanwhile, Yao in the detention center was developing stronger righteous thoughts after a several visits from the lawyer. The lawyer then called me and said that the court suspected that Yao's change was due to her visits and she expressed her worry.
Only then did I begin to see things from the point of view of the lawyer's needs, and I told her that we were concerned about her safety and of any ramifications her involvement might have on her professional career as well. Once when she returned from visiting the detention center, I asked her about Yao's plight. I suddenly asked myself why I only cared about the practitioner who was incarcerated but not about the lawyer. I then asked, “Are you Ok? Did the detention center give you a hard time?”
I enlightened that selflessness is a manifestation of a practitioner's elevation in the Fa.
Practitioner Wang and I went to visit Yao's parents two days before the Chinese New Year. It was our sixth trip there. This time we drove in mixed rain and snow. There was ice on road. Wang couldn't drive and didn't think about the road conditions. She gave me directions along a mountainous road full of steep hills. I drove with both hands tightly grasping the steering wheel and asked for Master's help in my mind. My legs were numb and my whole body was tight. Finally, after half an hour, we were back on flat roads.
Yao's parents were surprised to see us. We said again that we'd never met Yao in person, but that Dafa practitioners are one body and we should try to rescue her. We needed to work together to secure Yao's release. Her father was moved and said, “Only Falun Dafa practitioners could do this nowadays!”
It was snowing when we drove home that afternoon. As we neared home, the sun was high in the sky though it should have been setting at that time. I suddenly recalled Master's poem,
“The heavenly bodies pure and clear, Heaven and Earth made rightThe great calamity has passed, the universe is bright” (from “After the Calamity” in Hong Yin)
I knew that it was Master's encouragement for us to move forward and not give up.
Yao's mother started calling the director of the detention center where she was detained. She raised awareness about the persecution. She was scolded and cursed. We shared experience and encouraged each other.
Practitioners in my area called the judge overseeing Yao's case and talked about Falun Gong and the persecution. The judge initially had a negative attitude and wouldn't allow the practitioners to speak. Under the practitioners' energy field of compassion and perseverance, the judge gradually changed his attitude. Once, the judge listened to a practitioner's explanation carefully and patiently for six or seven minutes. He said he would ask for a new hearing soon.
In mid-February, the second hearing of the first trial was held in the local court in Yao's district. Many practitioners from her district, as well as my area and the city where Yao's parents lived went to show their support and to send righteous thoughts in close proximity to the court.
During the hearing, the judge asked Yao to plead guilty so that she would be released sooner. The lawyer that Yao's husband had hired also made the same recommendation. Yao was not moved. She had regained her righteous thoughts after sharing with practitioners and studying the Fa that we'd asked the lawyer to bring her during their visits.
Yao said righteously and with dignity in the court, “Freedom of belief. There is no wrongdoing in believing in Falun Gong.” No matter what charges the judge tried to get her to plead guilty to, Yao was steadfast and denied them completely.
After the hearing was adjourned, practitioners from the three areas shared a common understanding: we should not let up but should continue to cooperate together to mail letters, make phone calls and send righteous thoughts. Practitioners in my area called the presiding judge again. The judge asked the practitioners not to mail letters or call him. The practitioners enlightened that the evil factors in the other dimension could not withstand the pressure.
Practitioner Yao was released a few days later without any charges against her. I had tears in my eyes as I saw Yao step out of the detention center. She didn't speak to us as she didn't know us. My only thoughts were of deep gratitude to Master!