(Minghui.org) As the persecution continues and Falun Dafa practitioners are incarcerated for their faith, two practitioners share their experiences of helping others learn about Dafa while in China’s detention facilities.
By a Dafa practitioner in China
I was illegally detained in 2018 because I practice Falun Dafa. I was placed in a cell with an elderly woman who was being held for illegally raising public funds. She told me she had been the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) branch secretary of her workplace for 40 years.
She had met two Dafa practitioners before who clarified the truth to her, but she didn’t want to listen. She was the headmaster of a kindergarten for seven years before becoming a CCP branch secretary. There happened to be a practitioner in her workplace who gave her a copy of Zhuan Falun, but she didn’t read it and later returned the book.
She agreed to quit the CCP after I explained the truth about Dafa. She knew that I had memorized “On Dafa” and asked me to teach it to her. She was able to recite it in two days and said “On Dafa is great!” I then taught her poems from Hong Yin and a few other teachings of Master Li Hongzhi (the founder of Falun Dafa). She memorized them quickly and asked if there were any more. I told her there was, but I couldn’t recite them word for word.
A guard called her out of the cell and asked why she and I were so close. He also asked her view on Falun Dafa and she replied, “Falun Dafa’s books are excellent, and practitioners are good people…”
Several other detainees also wanted to learn Master’s teachings. A woman in her 40s memorized them really fast. After teaching them everything I could remember, I was transferred to another cell.
By a Dafa practitioner in China
A practitioner and I were arrested for distributing truth-clarification CDs and pamphlets in 2012. I was illegally sentenced to four years in prison and incarcerated in the 2nd Ward for a year before being transferred to the 6th Ward.
One ward occupied three floors of the building. Because I had committed no crime, I refused to work or cooperate with the guards.
Inmates were forced to do hard labor from 6 a.m. until 7 p.m. Sometimes, they were forced to work more in the evening after dinner. Inmates were treated as tools for making money for the CCP.
The old, weak, and sick were not spared. A job called “flower arranging” was required, in which thin strips of flower petals were threaded together with thin steel wire to form an artificial flower. Inmates had to make a certain number of flowers a day. It was said that the materials contained harmful chemicals.
Xiao Rui (pseudonym) was brought into the ward in 2014. She was the head of a government department and had been sentenced to seven years for a financial crime. Ms. Xiao had been on medical parole because of a serious illness but was now back in prison. Because I refused to work, I was locked in a cell and monitored by other inmates. Xiao Rui was assigned to watch me.
I was on the third floor, and her cell was on the first floor. She had to rest a few times on her way up the stairs. She was sweating and panting when she entered the cell, and her lips were purple. She would hurriedly open the window and try to get some fresh air, appearing to be in great distress.
When I asked her what was wrong, she told me that she had bronchitis, bronchiectasis, heart disease, and high blood pressure. She had been taking anti-hypertensive drugs. She also had a problem with her large intestine and was only able to have a bowel movement every two weeks.
She said that before she was imprisoned, she often had to have her intestines flushed. She had seen specialists all over the country and was told that her bronchial tubes were deformed and could not be treated. She often needed regular injections.
Ms. Xiao couldn’t breathe when she tried to lay down and had to prop herself up with her quilt and pillow. Sometimes, she would awaken when she became short of breath again. She once fainted in the bathroom. She said tearfully, “I can’t live anymore but still have 10 months left on my sentence.”
“I have a way to help you,” I replied. “But I wonder if you can believe it? You should quit the CCP and its youth organizations that you joined and sincerely recite these auspicious phrases: ‘Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good’! They can turn calamities into blessings. Miracles can happen!”
She questioned whether it would work. I replied, “You have 10 months left on your sentence, I have more than a year. Try it. We have time to see if it works.”
She replied, “I believe you and will recite the phrase wholeheartedly!” She then agreed to quit the CCP’s organizations.
Xiao Rui’s condition improved daily, which made her very happy. I told her, “You should not only recite the auspicious phrase, but you should also act in accordance with the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. I saw many inmates peel off the skins on the steamed buns and throw them away. That is wasting food. I told them not to do it, but they didn’t listen. I hope you won’t do that.”
She replied, “I know what to do in the future. There are more than a dozen inmates in my cell. I won’t let them throw away the skins anymore.”
A few months later, she held my hands and exclaimed, “Thank you so much! My illnesses are gone!” I told her she should thank Dafa’s founder, Master Li Hongzhi. “It’s Master who saved you.”
“Thank you, Master!” she said repeatedly. “I’m so lucky! Well-known hospitals couldn’t cure my illnesses, but sincerely reciting the phrases did. It’s incredible! My husband and son came to visit me. They were surprised I was getting better, so I told them: ‘This is a secret. I can’t tell you now, but I will tell you when I come home.’”
Her health soon returned to normal. The prison doctor and guards were surprised! The inmates also asked her how her health improved so quickly. She told them it was because she recited the auspicious phrases “Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good” and she asked them to recite them too.
The first thing Xiao Rui wanted to do after returning home was to tell the facts about Dafa to her relatives and friends, have them recognize the evil nature of the CCP, ask them to quit the CCP’s organizations, and sincerely recite “Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good!” She knows that this will bring them blessings and a safe future.