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Looking Inward while Rescuing a Fellow Practitioner

July 7, 2020 |   By a Falun Dafa practitioner in China

(Minghui.org) Practitioner Yan was arrested in the summer of 2018 and held in a detention center. A bus driver had reported her to the police for clarifying the truth about Falun Dafa to people on the bus.

We visited her family, hoping that we could help get her released. The family didn’t want anything to do with us, however, and even threatened to report us to the police.

After discussing the incident at our local Fa study group, which Yan also attended, some practitioners were afraid of being reported. Some also complained about the family, and some left the group because of fear.

Yan’s family didn’t visit her in the detention center, nor did they take her any clothes or money. This went on for nine months.

Some practitioners who knew Yan’s older sister tried to contact her, but she was not willing to work with us. We could only send righteous thoughts for Yan, look inward, and wait for a breakthrough.

Talking to People in Bus Terminals

Master said,

“Wherever a problem arises, that's where you need to clarify the facts. No matter what the end result will be, through doing this you will have chances to interact with more people and you'll clarify the facts on a large scale.” (“Teaching and Explaining the Fa at the Metropolitan New York Fa Conference,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. III)

Yan had been reported by a bus driver, so I decided to take this opportunity to talk to the staff at the two bus terminals near Yan’s home.

There were about five staff members at the first terminal. I explained my concerns regarding Yan’s case, but I was not calm in my mind. I knocked a cup off the table when I turned around, but fortunately it didn't break. I apologized and picked it up, only to knock off another one.

One of the bus drivers cursed. I initially thought he was cursing at me, but he was actually scolding others for putting the cups there.

I calmed down and began talking to them about Yan’s case and the truth about Dafa.

One person in the dispatch room asked me which bus route was involved. I didn’t know, so I left and didn’t talk to them any further.

I went to the second bus terminal, and the manager there took the time to talk to me. I told him about Yan’s case, and about Dafa.

Contact with Yan's Sister

After group Fa study, practitioner Qin said that some practitioners had brought clothing and had collected 3,000 yuan to take to Yan.

However, we needed Yan’s detention photo ID from her family to enter the detention center. But since Yan’s family was refusing to talk to us, Qin asked another practitioner if he could make a copy of his detention photo ID issued when he was previously detained.

I didn’t think this was right, and was about to share my thoughts with other practitioners when Master’s Fa entered my mind,

“... as a Dafa disciple, if in such cases your thoughts are righteous, and what you are thinking about is cultivation, about being responsible, and about how it’s something that should be done well, then you should quietly take whatever it is that you feel is lacking and do it well. That is in fact how a Dafa disciple should handle it. If all Dafa disciples could manage to handle things in this manner, everything out there would go extremely well, for sure.” (“Be More Diligent,”Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. X)

I realized that I should not comment on the right or wrong aspects of that approach and that I should just do what I can to make it right.

I said, “Please wait. Let me contact Yan’s sister. Please send forth righteous thoughts.”

Everyone silently sent righteous thoughts while I called Yan’s sister. I said to her, “Yan went to visit my husband twice when I was arrested to see if she could help me, and now she is in detention. We all want to do our best to help her.”

I told her the reason for my arrest, detention, and sentence, as well as the situation in the detention center.

Yan’s sister cried, and said, “I didn’t expect you to show your scars to others. You're not afraid that we will report you. Don’t worry, I would never do that. For nine months we have tried asking many people, but no one wants to help us.”

We agreed to meet the next day.

After the call, I felt like crying and was a little excited.

Productive Meeting

When I met with Yan’s sister I realized that she cared so much for Yan and that the reason for her anger was that Yan didn’t live up to her expectations.

We talked for about three hours. In the first hour, she kept complaining about Yan and Dafa.

At the same time, I looked inward to see if I had anything in myself which was disrespectful to Master and Dafa. She complained about the poor standard of living of practitioners, which made me realize that I was not fond of doing the housework.

She talked about how practitioners gave people a bad impression, which I was also tempted to complain about. I also wanted to complain that she was complaining about Yan.

She asked me, “Why was it always Yan who got caught and not others?” which also irritated me a bit.

I remained relatively calm, however, and tried to explain the issues based on my understanding of Dafa.

When Yan’s sister complained about how it always seemed to be Yan who got caught and not others, I said, “We shouldn't really hope for others to suffer the same just because our loved one has suffered. A good person will never have such a thought.”

I realized that I had such negative thoughts deep in my mind too. I complained about why it was always me who took care of this matter.

Although Yan's sister didn’t always agree with me, her attitude changed during our conversation and she gradually calmed down.

Our talk later focused on how to best help her sister.

I looked inward after our meeting and found traces of hatred and jealousy in my mind. I sent righteous thoughts to eliminate them.

Family Joins the Defense Team

Yan’s sister told me that the police threatened her not to hire a lawyer, and said that if she did, the lawyer should only agree to a guilty charge so that Yan could get a reduced sentence.

I told her how my husband cooperated with a lawyer to resist the persecution. I said, “If you confess guilt you are agreeing to have done something wrong, when you haven't. Then you're just waiting to be sentenced. However. If you don’t admit guilt and stand up for what is right, then it's the judge who will be in the wrong for sentencing an innocent practitioner to prison.”

Her thinking slowly became clear, She said, “You're right! We've been too afraid!” She decided to hire the lawyer recommended by practitioners.

We had several follow-up meetings, where I brought her the book Zhuan Falun, the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party, a copy of my defense statement and verdict, and some booklets on the law.

As I was about to leave home for our first meeting, I saw six or seven police officers in our community garden. I didn’t know why they were there, but I had the thought that they couldn't interfere with me.

I took what I needed from my home and went out.

After several meetings with Yan’s sister, I noticed that she was much more energetic.

She told me that she and her husband had decided to join Yan's defense team. She said, “After my husband and I read your defense statement and verdict we found it difficult to believe that the police faked the evidence. So we decided that we must help the lawyer.”

Yan's sister said she was no longer afraid and decided to go to the police station to talk to the staff there.

She was later allowed to send a package to Yan, which was not allowed before.

Thank you, Master, for giving such an opportunity for our study group to improve together! Thank you fellow practitioners for your selfless help!