In his article titled Genuine Cultivation, our Teacher said, "Whether you can abandon the everyday persons mindset is a fatal test on your way to becoming a truly extraordinary being. Every disciple of genuine cultivation must pass it, for it is the dividing line between a practitioner and an everyday person." During the past year, the practitioners in China have been put through a serious test, where Falun Gong was branded a "cult" and our Teacher was placed on the "most wanted list" by the Chinese government. Many practitioners in Linyi have given up thoughts of their personal well-beings, and taken the righteous path of "assisting the teacher in the human world."
Zhang Xiuxin, an associate professor of political science at the Linyi Teachers College, has been practicing Falun Gong for several years. After July 22 of last year (when the Chinese government began its full-scale persecution of Falun Gong), the authorities of the university had a talk with him, asking him to give up practicing Falun Gong. Professor Zhang listed a number of indisputable facts, proving how much health benefit Falun Gong has brought to its practitioners, and how much society has improved as a whole due to the rise in practitioners moral characters. He expressed his strong determination to continue practicing Falun Gong. Not wanting to cause any trouble to the university, Professor Zhang submitted a resignation letter and a personal statement declaring that he was no longer a member of the party. The university authorities, after asking for guidance from their superiors on how to handle his situation, refused to accept his resignation. They remove him from his post as an associate professor, and sent him to work in the security department of the university. The job itself was just a pretense; the purpose was to have the security staff keep an eye on him. When Professor Zhang went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong, he was arrested and sent back to Linyi. He was first sent to a local detention center, and then moved to a prison where he was jailed for more than 70 days. He repeatedly asked the prison staff to allow him to practice Falun Gong and study the Fa (the teachings of Falun Gong) in the prison. After his request was repeatedly turned down, he decided to conduct a hunger strike to protest. On the 8th day of his hunger strike, the leaders of his university visited him to try to persuade him to stop his hunger strike, but he refused. It was only after the 11th day of his hunger strike, when the university leaders agreed to get him out of the prison, that Professor Zhang resumed eating. The amazing thing was that despite the length of his hunger strike, his health suffered no ill effects, and he felt just normal.
A senior manager of a local company and his wife are both practitioners, and the couple went separately to Beijing to appeal for Dafa. The senior manager was held at the local detention center for a month and then released; his wife was first sent to the detention center then held at her workplace for more than 50 days. After talking to fellow practitioners, she realized that the reason she was being held this long was that she was still very afraid and did not want to cause any more trouble for herself. The only way to break out of her detainment was for her to give up her own fear. So she went to her employer, and said, "You have no right to detain me like this. If you do not let me go, I have no choice but to conduct a hunger strike." Even after 5 days of hunger strike, her employer still refused to back down. She was getting weaker and weaker, but told herself that she had to continue even if the hunger strike resulted in her own death. In the end, her employer finally realized how much courage and persistence she had and let her go home.
One practitioner in the district of Dongguan was detained in the office of the districts residential commission. After the Chinese New Year, she realized that she had to request for a better environment for herself to practice Falun Gong and decided to conduct a hunger strike as well. After four days of hunger strike, the head of the residential commission began to worry after all, they were close neighbors, and she did not want to be responsible for the practitioners death. In addition, she was only detaining the practitioner because her superiors ordered her to do so. The practitioner was allowed to go home that evening. She went home, cleaned up the house, and even did a bit of laundry, before grabbing a bite to eat and getting together with fellow practitioners. Everyone asked how she felt during her hunger strike. She said that once she gave up her fear of death, she felt her entire body was getting lighter. Even though she had not eaten for days, she did not feel hungry at all, but instead felt as if she had more energy than she could possibly spend.
In the district of Linshu, more than 20 practitioners were detained in the local police station. The police hung the practitioners by their hands on a tree, lifting their feet off the ground, and only released them after they lost consciousness. Moments after the practitioners regained consciousness, their faces were covered with heavy quilts until they were almost suffocated to death. At one police station, one practitioners hands were tied behind his back, and he was hung by his arms in the air. The police officers then went out and came back completely drunk. The next morning, when the police woke up from their drunken stupor, both arms of the practitioner had been ripped out of their sockets, the muscles in both of his shoulders were permanently damaged, and he was near death. At another police station, one practitioners hands were hit with a bamboo stick. After one blow, both of his hands swelled up immediately like balloons.
During these trials and tribulations, the vast majority of practitioners have followed the principle of "Truthfulness, Benevolence, and Forbearance," and managed to behave as genuine practitioners in the numerous tests that came their way. But at the same time, we want to appeal to the just and kind-hearted people all over the world: we practitioners have no pursues in this world, and try to behave well in everything we do. Why do certain people in the government hate us so much? What kinds of laws have we broken? Please ask the law enforcement authorities to stop the illegal persecution of Falun Gong practitioners!
Practitioners in Linyi, September 1, 2000
