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An "Iron Rose" Blossoming in the Cold Winter Written by a Falun Dafa practitioner in China
(Clearwisdom.net) In November 2003, I was hospitalized in the Maoqiao
Hospital of Nanning City, Guangxi Province, which was the designated prison
hospital of the province. Iron railings, iron-grated windows and iron doors
reinforced the prison section of the hospital on the third floor. In the morning
on the day of my arrival, I heard a not very clear voice. By listening closely,
I distinguished that someone was reciting the poems of Teacher: "As gong surges
forth, evil spirits wail and scream. The Dafa disciples ascend to the heights of
the heavens" ("The Foretelling"). After that I heard the rhythmical and
continuous voice reciting from morning to night, every day, most of which I
could tell to be: "If you are not afraid, the factor
that would make you afraid will cease to exist." ("Eliminate Your Last
Attachment(s)" in Essentials for Further Advancement II) Non-existence To live with no pursuits, To die with no regrets; All excessive thoughts
extinguished, Cultivating Buddhahood is not
difficult. (from Hongyin) I also heard the voice reciting sections from Zhuan Falun, including,
"Your Master Consciousness Needs to be Strong" and "Your Thoughts Have to be
Proper." In time, I learned the story about the young woman who continually recited
Teacher's words. Miss Lin Tiemei (in Chinese, Tiemei means an "iron rose"), around 30, single,
was a graduate student at a medical school in Beijing. She looked very young but
was presently emaciated. She was arrested in May 2002 when she went to Tiananmen
Square to say "Falun Dafa is great!" When she was held in Beijing, she refused
to give her name and address even though she was cruelly tortured by the police
in many ways, including being tortured with the electrical tiger bench (a
special device for torture). She was also brutally beaten and her mouth was cut
so badly that it required stitches. As a result of this injury she could not
speak clearly. The policemen judged from her accent that Miss Lin was from
Guangxi Province, so they transferred her to the Guangxi Women's Forced Labor
Camp. It was said that Tiemei had been on a hunger strike for more than one year,
to protest the illegal detention. Two months ago she has been transferred to the
prison hospital for forced feeding because her life was in danger due to the
cruel tortures she suffered in the labor camp. To avoid any trouble, the guards
at the prison hospital simply shackled her feet with heavy fetters and
handcuffed her hands in opposite directions to the iron railings at the head of
the bed. She was restricted to the bed for force-feeding and was not allowed to
use the toilet. She could not do any personal cleaning or have baths unless the
guards were willing to unlock the shackles. The labor camp assigned two
criminals to guard her, but they did not regard her as human being and often
slapped her on the face for no reason (it was not long before, that Ms. Lin had
appealed against the violence to the superiors and the labor camp assigned
another two criminals to guard her because they wanted to save face). The
fetters were so heavy that her ankles were crushed. Every night after the forced
feeding she was injected against her will with tranquilizing drugs. It was said
that when she was awake she always tried to sit in the lotus position with her
body stretching backward so that she could hold her shackled palm erect in front
of her chest. At the same time she didn't stop reciting the Falun Dafa articles
or the Fa-rectification verses. It was really amazing that she maintained such a
great power to recite the Fa without any food or drink for such a long time. When her family came to see her, they usually had tears in their eyes. Her
supervisor from the medical school in Beijing also flew in to see her. Many of
her friends and relatives worried about her life but could do nothing to help.
The prison doctors and other people all said to each other, "They committed no
crimes, and they just believe in the principle of Truthfulness, Compassion and
Tolerance. How can it be possible to change a person's personal beliefs through
arrest, torture and coercion? She should have been released a long time ago
under such circumstances." "They do not give in to high pressure, force and
violence. Falun Dafa practitioners they are even more persistent than Sister
Jiang and Liu Hulan (two Chinese woman heroes who gave their lives for other
people). Could we tolerate such suffering if we were thrown into such
circumstances?" It was clear that all the people in the hospital who knew her
story admired her very much. Later, I left the prison hospital. But I will never forget Lin Tiemei, whom I
have never met except through hearing her voice. She was like a rose forged out
of diamond, emitting a wonderful fragrance that will never disappear from my
heart. In her, people can see the aura of an enlightened woman in this ordinary
world, where people fight for material benefits and don't know what true belief
means. Posting date: 2/13/2004 |