(Clearwisdom.net)
I obtained the Fa in May of 1999. Looking back at my 4 years of cultivation and Fa-validation journey, I have deeply felt Teacher's boundless compassion and the sacredness and almightiness of Dafa. Although I have been through so many tribulations, nothing could change my determination to practice Dafa. What's more, I have become more and more clear-minded, reasonable, and mature.
Less than 2 months after I started to practice Falun Dafa, Jiang's regime started to persecute Dafa. Although at that time I still could not understand Dafa from a deeper level, from reading Zhuan Falun cover to cover I had already come to know that Dafa was a great cultivation way that promotes ethical behavior and compassion for humanity. With these few superficial understandings, I embarked for the first time on a journey to Beijing to appeal to the Central Government.
In February 2000 three other fellow practitioners and I went to Beijing to clarify the truth about Falun Gong to the Central Government. We ended up being arrested right at the local train station and were detained for two weeks, during which time we were forced to do hard labor. After they took me back, my local police station would not release me to go home. They forced my non-practitioner husband to pay a fine of 1000 Yuan before they would release me. From then on, people from our neighborhood's residential office, the local police station, and my work unit would visit me every other day to force me to write the "Letter of Guarantee" not to appeal to the government and to give up cultivation. Under this intense pressure I remembered Teacher's words, "Isn't any form of pressure a test to see whether your faith in the Buddha Fa is fundamentally strong? If you still are not fundamentally resolute in the Fa, everything else is out of the question." (From For Whom Do You Practice Cultivation?) In spite of this fake "compassion," coercion and deceit I would not budge even a tiny bit. I would never give them the opportunity to take advantage of me in order to persecute Dafa. Instead I took the initiative to clarify the truth about Falun Gong to them. I shared with them how I benefited from Dafa. I told them the truth of the persecution. As a result they did not insist on pursuing me any more.
After continuous Fa study and recitation, I started to understand Dafa on a deeper level. I started to understand that this is a great, universal Dafa being taught in the human world. It is an honor for us Fa-rectification disciples to co-exist with Teacher. It is our sacred duty to protect Dafa, validate Dafa, and save sentient beings. After I enlightened to this Fa principle, I decided to go to Beijing to validate Dafa again. On July 13, 2001, I embarked on a second trip to Beijing to carry out Fa-rectification. July 13 was the date set to celebrate the successful bid to host the Olympic Games. Lots of people were at Tiananmen Square, including many foreigners. I thought this was the perfect opportunity to demonstrate a Dafa disciple's peacefulness with reason and the spirit of determination in validating Dafa. I carried a "Falun Dafa is Good" banner and went straight to the center of Tiananmen Square. I immediately unfurled the banner and shouted, "Falun Dafa is good," "Falun Dafa is the righteous Fa," "Restore my Teacher's good reputation," and "Restore the good reputation of Dafa." I shouted as I walked, without any fear. Upright and proudly I walked like this for about 200 meters. For those few moments the police were deterred by the righteousness of a Dafa disciple and did nothing, while the other people on the Square were all looking at me. The whole Square was echoing with the righteous voice of a Dafa disciple. After a while, a dozen police hurried over, threw me into the police van, and sent me to jail.
In the jail, we were forced to sit on a bench all day long. Every 2 or 3 days I would be interrogated, sometimes twice in one day. During the interrogations, I would seize the opportunity to clarify the truth about Dafa to those police officers while they would use scare tactics, coercion and deceit on me. If I would not tell them where I was from, they said they would detain me for a long time. They said that in the US there is a kind of spray that would make people talk. I immediately sent out righteous thoughts and was afraid of nothing. They had to let a local government representative in Beijing in to see us, so I started to recite Teacher's words to eliminate the evil through righteous thoughts. It ended up that the local government police representatives just briefly asked me a few questions and then left.
During the illegal two months' detention, I was eliminating karma for 12 days. Two of those days were very serious. I got a high fever and could not even sit up straight. Then I said to myself that it would be great if I did not have to sit on that bench for a long period of time! That night the prison guard came and told us that we did not have to sit on the bench for a long time as torture and everyone could go to sleep. The other inmates were all murmuring that they would never have expected such a good thing to happen. I knew what was happening and thanked Teacher quietly from my heart for His compassionate care of me, which encouraged me a lot in overcoming karma and evil. Whenever I was forced to sit on the bench for a long period of time as illegal punishment, I would recite the Fa. Quietly, more than 2 months passed. One day before I went to sleep, a criminal inmate suggested that I go on a hunger strike, and I thought he was right. I should not just sit and passively endure. I should go out to clarify the truth and save people. So I began a hunger strike, taking no food or drink. During the hunger strike, prison guards would beat, curse, and force-feed me while I would recite the Fa and send righteous thoughts. My righteous thoughts and righteous actions deterred the evil. Nine days after beginning my hunger strike, I got myself out of the Beijing labor camp.
One day in June 2002, security agents from the security section of my work unit, together with police officers, broke into my home, arrested me, and threw me into a brainwashing class. In the class, the police forced me to watch videos that defamed Dafa and Teacher. I took the opportunity to clarify the truth and expose the evil. When I kept doing the Falun Gong exercises and sending forth righteous thoughts, the police found a dozen collaborators [Former Falun Gong practitioners who have gone astray due to brainwashing and torture] to hold me to the bed, force me into a lotus position, twist my arms backwards, and tie me up completely from behind. One collaborator said, "You like to practice, right? We will let you practice forever. We will wait and see how long you can bear it." Because these collaborators were afraid of being exposed to the outside world, they shut me in a small cell alone. I was thinking how some practitioners could do the sitting meditation for over 8 hours, so I thought I could also do it. Right after that thought, I felt energy flow into my body like electricity. I knew that it was Teacher giving me strength, and I felt no fear. Although I was tied up for 5 hours, I never felt pain in my legs. During that time, I recited Teacher's Fa and sent forth righteous thoughts to eliminate the evil. In the end their persecution did not succeed. I told those police officers and those that did their dirty work that I would certainly expose their atrocities against practitioners. They found that I was not cooperating, so they sent me to jail.
On the way to jail, I recalled Teacher statement, "They don't dare touch him, because they know at that time that if this disciple has taken a righteous path and conducted himself well and someone still dares to persecute him, it doesn't matter that they're the old forces or what the old principles are--I absolutely won't spare them." (From Touring North America to Teach the Fa) I thought I had done well in the brainwashing class, without faltering once, so why was I still being sent to jail? As I had this thought, I immediately realized that this was an attachment. What did I come here for after all? Wasn't I here to validate Dafa and save sentient beings? I should do well in any circumstances and always carry on my cultivation aboveboard. Upon arriving at the jail, I started immediately to clarify the truth to the other inmates. Under the positive influence of a Dafa disciple's compassion, each inmate had righteous thoughts. Some inmates even obtained the Fa.
While I was in jail, agents from the work unit in charge of case investigations and representatives from my own work unit came to interrogate me. They tried to force me to write the "Letter of Guarantee" to not practice Falun Gong. I would never write such a thing. Instead, I clarified the truth to them while strengthening my righteous thoughts by reciting Teacher's Fa. Teacher said, "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. No matter what the situation, do not cooperate with the evil's demands, orders, or what it instigates. If everyone does this the environment won't be this way." (From Dafa Disciples' Righteous Thoughts are Powerful ) Because I was very determined in my righteous thoughts, they asked my family members to put pressure on me emotionally. Neither my sister's persuasiveness nor my husband's eyes filled with expectations could make me doubt my righteous belief and determination. I told them from the bottom of my heart that I was not a person without any emotions or love. What I was doing was exactly because of my love for them all and exactly for people like them to have a wonderful future! It was such invincible and righteous belief that made it possible for me to pass this test.
After a month in detention, another practitioner came to my cell, and we talked. She said that we should not continue to endure this detention passively. We should take the initiative to suffocate the evil, validate the Fa, and break through the evil's persecution. I also enlightened to the fact that we should not endure passively. The only thing we could do was go on a hunger strike to protest our illegal detention, requesting our immediate release without any pre-conditions. So both of us started a hunger strike to protest the illegal persecution.
On the third day of our hunger strike, a prison guard called me in and tried to force me to squat. I said, "I am not criminal, so why should I squat?" The guard then kicked me brutally and slapped my face. At that moment, I saw a beam of light glancing off the guard's hand. I did not feel pain on my face at all. The guard then pinched my lips when he saw I still was not squatting. Although I did not feel pain, my lips started to swell. I knew it was Teacher who was protecting me and enduring this for me. I started to recite Teacher's Fa to suffocate the evil. "As a Dafa disciple, your steadfast, righteous thoughts are absolutely unshakable, because your renewed being is formed precisely amidst the Fa-rectification." (From "Dafa is Indestructible") After a while, another prison guard gave orders for me to be fitted with the very largest fetters, which weighed 36-jin (40 lbs). That evening, I was also handcuffed and chained to a metal bed. In this position, I was not allowed to use the washroom. They also punished my fellow inmates by not allowing them any personal items brought to them by their family members and relatives, such as additional food, TV's, etc. But none of the other inmates in the cell blamed me. On the contrary, they were trying to help me.
The prison guards started to force-feed me on the fourth day. I would never cooperate with the evil. If I vomited, they would force-feed me again and again to torture me. Twice a day and then after trying to feed me they would restrain me again in fetters and handcuffs on the bed so that I could not move at all. On the evening of the sixth day after the force-feeding, they sent me back to the jail for a physical check-up. The results were not good, so they started me on intravenous feeding. As soon as they left, I pulled the needle out of the vein in my hand. After they came back, they re-inserted it. I was not cooperating, so they slapped me. Then I saw a bright beam of light again glancing off the guard's hand. I knew Teacher was beside me. Then I decided to send righteous thoughts to eliminate the evil's persecution against me, asking Teacher to strengthen me.
On the seventh night, I was taken to a hospital and forced to accept the intravenous feeding. In the morning of the eighth day, they illegally sentenced me to a 2-year term in a labor camp. I would be sent to the notorious Masanjia Labor Camp. On the way there, I was always reciting the Fa, sending forth righteous thoughts to eliminate the evil, and completely negating the persecution inflicted upon me by the Old Forces. Consequently, when I arrived at Masanjia, the medical staff just did a quick physical check and refused to take me. The guards had to take me back and extorted 4000 Yuan from my family for my release.
After I returned home, the police took away all my Dafa books, tapes, and other Dafa materials. They extorted 1000 Yuan from my husband, threatening that if he could not give them the money, they would not allow him to go to work.
During these 4 years of Fa-rectification, I have not fallen under these tremendous pressures. I have validated the greatness and indestructibility of Dafa and felt the profoundness of Dafa. Cultivation is a very serious matter. I have felt honored to be a Fa-rectification disciple. Embarking on my future cultivation path, I will use the righteous thoughts and actions of a divine being to do well in the three things that Teacher has called upon us to do to fulfill our great, sacred, and historical duty to Dafa with which we have been entrusted.
