Two Months' Cultivation at Chang-Ping Detention Center of Beijing

In order to protect Falun Dafa and uphold justice, on September 5, 1999, I overcame various obstacles to go to Beijing for the second time. Because the first time I was arrested, I was brought back after I released my name and home address , I made up my mind that this time I would not expose my name and return home unless the situation had been rectified.

At noon on September 6th, as soon as I arrived at the Tian-An-Men Square, I was arrested and taken to the police station, which had been occupied by about 70 to 80 Falun Gong practitioners from all over the country. In the cell of 90 sq. feet or so, we tried to make the best use of this precious opportunity in life to share the cultivation experience, and recite Lunyu [Master Li's opening article in his book Zhuan Falun] together. Furthermore, we even held a short experience-sharing meeting at dusk. Although we were not familiar with each other and not able to call one another by name, we still had discussions comfortably and freely. It was the mighty virtue of Falun Dafa that bound us together. The harmonious, solemn, and glowing atmosphere also attracted the policemen to come over constantly with questions...

At night, the practitioners were taken away successively by the policemen, leaving only 8 of us refusing to disclose our names. They interrogated us once more, still we said nothing. Around midnight the eight of us were taken to the Chang-Ping Detention Center, where I started my two-month sentence.. From this two-month treatment, I came to truly understand that the law of Buddha reaches beyond normal. As long as we keep the law in our hearts and conduct ourselves according to it, there is no pain that we cannot endure, no barrier that we cannot overcome.

Upon my arrival at the Chang-Ping Detention Center, I noticed that there were many Falun Dafa practitioners who refused to release their names. To protect Falun Dafa with our lives, we started a group hunger strike. On the third day of the strike, the guards forced us to stand in the baking sun in the hope that those who couldn't take it might expose their names. It was September, and the sunshine was so intense that some practitioners fainted, some collapsed, and some couldn't help from throwing up. Even so, our firm faith and the determination for protecting Falun Dafa were not changed a bit, and nobody released their name. With no choice, the policemen took us back to the detention center.

In the detention center, we sincerely perceived the implication of what the master had said "when hundreds of tribulations come together, it is time to see how you will survive." The policemen hit us with screwdrivers, resulting in bloody noses and swollen faces. Our bodies were covered with so many bruises that we could not go to sleep . They kept asking for our names as they beat us, but we all insisted that we are Falun Dafa practitioners no matter how many times we were asked or beaten. The shining words of "Falun Dafa practitioners" bear the faith built with all our flesh and blood, engraved into our hearts. Then all kinds of tortures fell over. Some of us were punished with "flying" (facing downward, head and arms up, with the body bending 90 degree) for as long as 4 or 5 hours, and were made to sweat. Some were left in a windy place for an entire night to suffer from the freezing cold. However, while facing the torment and intimidation, we all knew that we are on our way back home and thus felt calm and peaceful. We confronted the earthly inhumane torture with no resentment or regret.

In the detention center, we remembered all the time that practitioners should study the Fa and practice the exercises. The policemen were so irritated by our group practice that they hung two handcuffed practitioners over the window. We developed sympathy and fear in our minds upon seeing these two elderly practitioners being tortured, and d not to practice for a while. Would we stop practicing in the detention center just like this? I realized that it was a test for us to see where we practitioners position the great law of the universe - whether to put it beyond the human laws or not. Master's words encouraged us, "Whenever someone or certain forces in the society ask you to stop practicing, you will quit. Do you cultivate for them? Will they be able to give you the right fruit of practice?" "With the Fa and the master around, what is there to be afraid of?" Meanwhile, we also got to understand the great realm of 'sitting in peace even when the head is cut off'. This is not something to just talk about; rather, it requires action in practice. With such awareness, we all stood up again to practice the exercises and study the Fa. The policemen got so mad that they hit us in the face with slippers, and even said in anger, "If anyone dares to practice, he is going to die and we do not care." We realized that it was another test of life or death. The Master stated, "You are a god if you can detach yourself from life and death, otherwise, you are just a human being." "However, a great enlightened being is the one who can, when confronting critical trials, lay down himself and all kinds of thoughts of ordinary people." Several days later, we all resumed the study of Fa as well as the practice of the exercises, and thus passed the test as a whole.

Because of practicing the exercises, they punished us more severely. We were handcuffed in the back every day, and the handcuff was linked to the manacles through a very short chain so that we couldn't even stand straight. Being handcuffed in the back, we felt great pain in the shoulders. When we went to sleep with shoulders contacting the beds, the pain was beyond imagination. Some of us could not go to sleep for an entire night due to the pain. Our hands and feet were swollen as a result of the chaining. One practitioner's hands even looked transparent because of the swelling. When the policemen went to loosen the handcuffs for her, she said no, as the suffering was too little when compared to what the Master has taken for us.

For fear of our practice and Fa-study, they then forced us to stand facing the wall for about 20 hours a day. Some practitioners stood for 20 days, and some for 10 days. They woke us up to stand at about 5:00AM every day; sometimes they did not even give us time to brush our teeth and wash our faces. We were allowed to go to bed at about 1:00AM or 2:00AM. Previously, we had two pieces of steamed bread with some preserved vegetable per meal. Since we were forced to stand, it was reduced to one small piece per meal, sometimes even without any preserved vegetable. For a couple of days, we were left to stand in the open rest area. The freezing cold wind blew extremely hard in the fall of Beijing, chilling us to the bone at midnight. Wearing summer clothes, we stood in the rest area with glimmering lights. Tired, sleepy and hungry, we tried to withstand the suffering minute by minute, second by second. My mind once wasn't steady, and thought of returning home upon giving them my name. But I once swore to dedicate myself, even my life, to Falun Dafa. What kind of practitioner am I, if I cannot take this little bit of hardship? Once this thought came into my mind, I became firm again. I also realized that this was an opportunity for me to accumulate the mighty virtue as well as to get rid of the ordinary people's attachments and pursuits. I have to fundamentally change my conventional concepts. Non-practitioners are afraid of suffering, while we practitioners should take it with pleasure. And Falun Dafa reaches beyond normal, how can we be restrained by this human environment? When I really came to understand the Fa, and assimilated my whole heart and soul to it, a miracle appeared. Previously every day felt like a year while I was standing, and that feeling was gone all of a sudden. I felt lighter and lighter and my mind achieved tranquility as soon as I stood there. Even though handcuffed in the back, I felt like holding a Falun [Law Wheel] in front of me. I didn't feel hungry with only one piece of steamed bread every day, nor did I feel uneasy if there was no preserved vegetable. I didn't even feel sleepy with as little as 3 or 4 hours' of sleep every day. It is so true that "If everyone of you can comprehend the Fa from the bottom of your heart, that will be the real manifestation of the boundless power of the Fa, the reappearance of the mighty Buddha's Fa in this human world."

After around 20 days' standing, we were punished to sit 20 hours a day for 40 days or so for some practitioners and over 10 days for some others. I never forgot to study the Fa, no matter whether I was sitting or standing. Sometimes, I could recite Lunyu 81 times a day, together with many other essays written by the Master. At the spare time certain attachments of ordinary people also emerged in my mind, but many of them were discarded through reciting the Fa. After a period of time, the situation improved. We got two pieces of steamed bread per meal again, and the policemen also changed their attitude. I believe this is the power of Falun Dafa. It was our compassion that transformed them. Some of them asked, "Why do people as good as you have to stay in such a bad place?" Some even puzzled, "How can your teacher foster so many Liu Hulan (a heroine in a Chinese civil war)?"

On November 5th we were taken to a mental hospital. There we stayed 3 days, and everyday we were tied to the bed and forced to have medicines and injections. The policemen said, "Don't you ever take medicine or injections? This time you will take them. Let's see if you still want to stay." How can non-practitioners understand that this Fa is boundless? The practitioners can never be controlled by any means in this human world. The injections and the medicines were taken, but there was no effect at all. Still, nobody announced his name.

More brutal torture followed. The policemen planned to stab us with electrical needles. The first practitioner they chose suffered so much as to scream. She couldn't take it any more, and told them her address. The second one was trembling due to the electric shock, but she managed to say nothing with teeth tightly clenched. At that moment, we all prepared to die. Then a miracle took place; the electrical needles broke down before the third practitioner got tortured. We passed the last trial.

On November 10th, we were cheated that we would be freed unconditionally if we disclosed our names. But what was waiting for me was the continuous detention in the police department of Chang-Chun. During my two-month stay at Chang-Ping Detention Center, I truly understood the mighty virtue of Falun Dafa and the difficulty of cultivation. As long as we practice according to Falun Dafa, any barriers will turn out to be trivial, and will not be able to hinder our firm paces to go back home.

(Translated Mar. 26, 2000)