January 5, 2003
(Clearwisdom.net) Last Chinese New Years' eve (Feb. 11, 2002), I was arrested and brought to a detention center. In over half a year's time, I was forced into detention centers three times and brainwashing centers four times. But no matter what methods they used, they were never able to coerce me into abandoning my practice of Dafa, and I managed to leave each time with my righteous belief, righteous understanding in Dafa, righteous thoughts, and righteous actions. Recalling my experiences, I would like to share some of my understandings.
(1) Totally denying the arrangements made by the old forces and overcoming the evil
In the detention center, the guards had different rules to discipline criminals. They are much more cruel to Dafa practitioners. Police guards used the jail rules as a pretext to abuse Dafa practitioners. How could we Dafa practitioners accept such rules? Every day when we were allowed to go outside for fresh air, the police would have everyone squat down and answer with their number when their names were called. I refused to do that and I also did not join their weekly "training." The police ordered several men to pin me to the ground. When I tried to stand up, I was badly beaten. One person stood on my hands with his boots and injured my hands. I warned them solemnly: I am a Dafa practitioner, you are insulting Dafa and Dafa practitioners. This situation lasted for about two months. With me taking the lead, fellow practitioners also refused to cooperate with the guards, so the police failed, and they dared not use jail rules to abuse Dafa practitioners anymore.
(2) "And with no attachment to living or dying
He walks his path of Fa-rectification openly and nobly" ("Righteous Thoughts and Righteous Actions")
During the period when I was indefinitely detained, I thought of our Teacher's words, "Why should you, a Dafa disciple, fear the evil ones when enduring persecution? The crux of the matter is that you have attachments. If not, do not endure passively, and face the evil people with righteous thoughts at all times." ("Dafa Disciples' Righteous Thoughts are Powerful" from Essentials for Further Advancement II)
Due to my urgent requests, a dozen people from the "610 office" [an agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong, with absolute power over each level of administration in the Party and all other political or judicial systems], public security bureau and the political committee came to the detention center to talk with me. They surrounded me in three circles, and acted as if they were going to interrogate me.
Looking at those people, my compassion emerged. I started telling them the facts about Falun Dafa while I kept eliminating the evil elements controlling them from other dimensions. Their aggression disappeared gradually and left them, one after another.
Failing in using a hard-line approach, they turned to "soft" tricks. They sent me to a brainwashing center in order to "reform" me so I would stop practicing Falun Gong, and threatened me saying that I would be sentenced to jail. The brainwashing center was very close to my home. I like freedom, but I cannot do anything that will let our Teacher down or deceive myself. So they said to me angrily: "We should find several people to keep you awake and not let you sleep at all, and see if you'll still keep on practicing." I replied: "Well, just let them in, I'll teach them how to practice Falun Gong." They were scared and did not try to "reform" me any more.
So they sent me back and forth between the detention center and the brainwashing center five times. No matter if they tried violence or temptation, my mind was always on Fa-rectification, and even life or death was not a concern to me.
(3) Eliminating the deviated things inside myself, eradicating the evil outside
Fellow practitioners encouraged each other in the jail, and we refused to write the so-called "three guarantees" [letter of regret, letter of breaking away from Dafa, and guarantee not to appeal]. We felt that this was what defined doing things according to the Fa, but sometimes unbearable feelings may appear. Especially when hearing that something happened to one's loved ones, it was extremely hard to bear, and wrong ideas appeared in the mind. Our Teacher has said: "you are great Gods, and Gods at very, very high levels have been testing you." ("Teaching the Fa at the Western U.S. Fa Conference" from Guiding the Voyage). We realized that this was a kind of interference from other dimensions, so we sent forth righteous thoughts to eliminate it, and that situation disappeared quickly.
For a period of time, a feeling of fear appeared, I tried to repel it, but the effect was not that good.
Reciting Hong Yin, when I recited, "A great Arhat in the world, Spirits and ghosts fear the most" ("Mighty Virtue") I suddenly realized that it's actually the evil that is afraid, as it knows that its end is coming. Having understood this point, my fear disappeared instantly and my body became very light. Teacher said, "Let us talk about the most common illnesses. Somewhere in the body one may have a tumor, infection, osteophytosis, etc. It is because in another dimension there lies a being in that place." (Zhuan Falun). Since then, whenever problems occurred, I would send forth powerful righteous thoughts to destroy the rotten substances in other dimensions, and problems would be solved quickly.
(4) Understanding Dafa correctly, strengthening righteous thoughts, and acting accordingly
Since I was detained, I always wanted to leave the jail. But I had been waiting for some outside force to come and help me, and I had been expecting the day when Dafa rectifies this world to come earlier. That's not a right understanding of Dafa. When one fellow practitioner thought about making use of a disease as a pretext to go home, since his righteous thoughts were not strong, the old forces made use of this loophole to persecute him more harshly and sent him to a forced labor camp.
I realized that if we do not understand Dafa based on Dafa, the evils would make use of our loopholes. "You are Dafa disciples! Each one of you Dafa disciples represents a large, gigantic dimension. What does mankind amount to? It's only that the old forces are using it and have sealed off your greater abilities." (Touring North America to Teach the Fa). Teacher's words empowered me. I thought, "I am a Dafa practitioner, I am indestructible and could rectify everything. How could I allow them to constrain me? There are so many sentient beings who are waiting for me to save them, and I should fulfill my duty. Dear Teacher, please help me leave this detention center." So I sent forth righteous thoughts and refused to eat anything unless they released me. Under the empowerment of our Teacher, and through protesting with a hunger strike, I once again overcame the arrangement made by the old forces. I was released and went back to the current of Fa rectification.
Dear fellow Dafa practitioners, as long as we understand Dafa righteously and act accordingly, we should be able to overcome any difficulty.
The above is my personal understanding, please kindly point out any errors. Dafa should be our teacher and the standard for leading our lives.