An “Illiterate” Who Can Read, Write, and Draw

(Minghui.org) An elderly practitioner from out of town once handed me a thin notepad. It was a letter she had written about Falun Dafa and the persecution.

She claimed to be “illiterate” and needed someone to edit the letter. She wanted to make several copies and mail them to the public security officers. The letter was five pages long, and the handwriting was nice and neat. Although there were redundant sentences and the misuse of some Chinese characters, the message was legible and relevant.

She talked about the benefit Falun Dafa has brought to society and the country, the spread of the practice around the world, the moral character of practitioners, and the consequences of the persecution.

Her logic was sound, and the tone was kind and sincere. This was certainly not written by an illiterate person!

I was impressed and wanted to find out more. The practitioner is 81 years old, never attended school, and could not read a single word before starting Dafa cultivation.

She previously had many illnesses, and her family lived difficult lives. However, something unusual happened in 1998. Her daughter recovered from an illness only a few days after practicing Falun Dafa, She felt law wheels (Falun) spinning in her forehead and lower abdomen.

The practitioner thought this was interesting and began practicing with her daughter. All her illnesses went away in few days; she was 58 years old then.

Another amazing thing happened when the practitioner first attended a group Fa study. Although she could not read, she looked at the characters attentively while others read.

She then sensed the presence of a tiny figure with the appearance of a Bodhisattva holding a string, walking along and pronouncing each character, as if teaching her to read.

The next day, she summoned her courage to read on her own and finished one page! Everyone was astonished!

Soon she could read Zhuan Falun with ease, but could not read other Dafa books and information pamphlets. With the help of practitioners, she bought a dictionary and learned the pinyin system (romanization system for standard Mandarin Chinese).

After that, nothing could stop her from learning Chinese. After she managed to learn to read, she then wanted to learn how to write. She started by copying Zhuan Falun, and after copying the book twice, she could write letters about Falun Dafa.

Speaking Up Against the Persecution

This practitioner was arrested seven times and detained five times between 1999 and 2019, after the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) launched the persecution. Of the seven times she was arrested, two of those were extensive prison terms―three years and twelve years.

She went on a hunger strike every time she was detained, each time for a different amount of time―twelve days, nine days, and seven days.

She was once fined two thousand yuan and sent home after the fourth day of a hunger strike.

The guards in the prison forced her to work overtime doing hard labor, made her sit on a tiger bench, handcuffed and hung her up for two days without sleep, and then added three months to her original prison term.

She had endured unimaginable tribulations. After her first release, she wanted to illustrate her experience in prison, so she learned to draw in a short period of time.

Master Li, the founder of Falun Dafa, guided her and transformed her into a moral and healthy person who could read, write, and draw.

After her first release, this practitioner wasn’t afraid of the persecution and sent out 3,000 letters to clarify the truth, distributed Dafa brochures, posted flyers, and talked to people about the persecution.

She was arrested a second time for sending out letters. Each time she was arrested, she yelled out, “Falun Dafa is good! Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good! We are good people doing good deeds!”

Whenever they tried to get her to wear the prison uniform, she threw it into the trash and exclaimed, “I’m a good person, and I won’t wear this prison clothing. Good people should not be in prison or eat prison food!” This is why she went on multiple hunger strikes.

She was distributing Dafa brochures with other practitioners in 2009, and was arrested again. She claimed that she was responsible, and no one else was at fault.The authorities then ransacked her home and detained her two sons for two months. The guards beat them up until they nearly passed out.

The younger son developed an illness because of the maltreatment. Her grandson, with a postgraduate degree, was blocked from entering his workplace due to being implicated from the arrest.

During an illegal trial, two officers pushed her head down and made her bend over, then declared she was a “new counter-revolutionary” and sentenced her to 12 years in prison.

She said, “I don’t know what revolutionary means, or which revolution I’m against. I only know how to be a good person, and I’m trying to awaken people. I’m doing this for your own good, and you treat me like this. This is not right!”

When the police asked where she was from, she said she was from heaven; when they asked for her name, she said her name was Falun Dafa.

They gave her a physical examination while in prison, and her blood pressure read 228 mmHg. She was also diagnosed with coronary heart disease, hepatitis B, diabetes, tailbone degeneration, and bronchitis.

She didn’t agree with the results and refused to receive treatments or medication. So the guards pried open her clenched teeth with a metal spoon to force medication down her throat. As a result, she lost a tooth, and a few teeth were pried loose.

Despite the mistreatment, she continued to talk about Falun Dafa and perform the exercises. She didn’t care if they took points off her prison score. A guard twisted her leg backwards and injured it when she was doing the sitting meditation. This leg still hurts today.

From then on, she did the exercises in the prison restroom in the middle of the night. A guard told her more than 3,000 people outside of China had called and written to the local public security bureau and the prison to pressure them to stop abusing her.

He was surprised she had that many supporters and connections. She realized Master was protecting and encouraging her, so she was more determined to speak out against the persecution.

One day three guards carrying electric batons and belts stood in front of her. She told them, “Electric batons and belts won’t do the work. Why don’t you stab my heart with a knife?

“If you hurt me or kill me, the world will find out and won’t let you off the hook! Divine beings in heaven and on earth will know too, and they won’t let you get away.” The three guards left and didn’t touch her again.

The prison head wanted to improve the transformation rate, so he instructed two guards to hold her hands tightly and forced her to sign the “transformation statement.” She was heartbroken.

Besides speaking out when being mistreated, she tried her best to protect other practitioners as well. When seeing other practitioners being abused, she would warn the guards, “Stop! Or you’ll be responsible for hurting or killing them.” And the guards stopped.

Additionally, when she thought she was being too aggressive or lacked compassion, she would rectify herself. When her cultivation state was good and she clarified the truth effectively, the guards deducted less points from her prison score, and she even received better care.

Normally, a prisoner needs to follow the prison requirements or be subjected to sitting on the tiger bench to obtain a reduced sentence. She was once forced to sit on the tiger bench and was released two years early.

She lived with her husband after her children got married. During her sixth year in prison, her ill husband wanted to see her before he died, but the authorities refused to let her out.

By the time she was released in 2019, her husband had been dead four years. Her home was ruined from being ransacked several times as well. It was covered with dust and cobwebs.

The CCP destroyed her life! But being a cultivator, she let go of sadness and emotional attachments, wiped off her tears, and moved in with her children.

This practitioner is 81-years-old now and in good health. Her heart is filled with just one wish: To awaken more people.