(Clearwisdom.net) Teacher said: "So when it comes to those evil beings and their arrangements, as long as your righteous thoughts are strong enough you can reject them, repel them, and make them helpless." (Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Philadelphia, U.S.A.). From my own experiences escaping persecution with righteous thoughts four times during Fa-validation, I indeed realized that as long as we are full of righteous thoughts, Teacher can do anything to help us; the righteous gods of the universe will help us too. No matter what kind of situations we encounter, we can always turn peril into peace. Moreover, we can refute all the arrangements of the old forces completely from a fundamental level. Here are my four experiences to share with other practitioners.
At around noon on July 6, 2001 I was distributing truth-clarifying materials in a residential area. A misguided person who did not know the truth about Falun Gong reported me to the police. I was arrested and taken to the local police station. When I arrived at the police station, I was very calm, full of righteous thoughts and I immediately recalled what Teacher said, "...expose the evil and clarify the truth to those people who are doing the reform work, and tell them about the cause and effect relationship of 'good and evil always have consequences.'" ("A Suggestion" from Essentials for Further Advancement II). Whenever there was an opportunity, I clarified the truth to the police and security staff. Most of them know that Falun Dafa practitioners are good people. However, some people said, "You can do whatever you want as long as you practice Falun Gong at home. No matter what, don't go out and do things against the government!" I would further tell them why we came out to clarify the truth. We are not against the government. We are helping people. At about 3:00 p.m. that day, two people came from the city police sub-bureau. One was an official who interrogated me. I felt very happy because an opportunity to clarify the truth had appeared. This was just the right moment for me to use my special expertise. I am an internal medicine specialist with 30 years of clinical experience to help me clarify the truth. I am a western style medical doctor. Why do I firmly believe in Falun Gong? I have witnessed true situations in which the kind and evil received their corresponding karmic retribution during the cultural revolution. I told them the relationship and distinctions between medical treatment and Qigong treatment. I pointed out the questionable points in the Tiananmen Self-immolation. I told them everything I wanted to say. Finally I said, "What Falun Dafa is suffering from is the most severe injustice in thousands of years, and yet we are not allowed to appeal for justice and we are not allowed to speak the truth. We went to Beijing. Through many difficulties, we had barely found the gate of the Appeals Office of the Central Government when we were immediately arrested and sent back. Therefore, the only thing we could do was to print truth-clarifying material with our own money to tell people deceived by the state-run media the truth about the persecution of Falun Gong. This is something that some misguided individuals who work for the government have forced upon us." The consequence was that the interrogation turned into an environment for me to clarify the truth. The officer said: "You appear to be very determined." I said: "Yes!" The officer then left without anything else.
When I arrived at the police station, four policemen were dispatched to ransack my home. As a consequence, they found 800 copies of truth-clarifying materials, some VCDs, videotapes of Teacher's Fa lectures, and some Dafa books. Seeing these precious materials were confiscated, my heart ached. I regretted that I left a loophole for this to happen. With so much evidence, I would be sentenced for at least three years in a labor camp according to their regulations. The next day, two policemen and a security staff accompanied me to a hospital for a physical check-up. They thoroughly examined me from head to toe. I firmly believed: "They want to send me to a labor camp, No way! The path of my cultivation is arranged by my Teacher. What they say doesn't count. As long as I am full of righteous thoughts, what my Teacher says will manifest. Teacher just sees the heart of a practitioner." I never accepted their arrangement. I sent out determined righteous thoughts, "It won't take more than two days before I go home."
At about 4:00 p.m. the next day, opportunity came. Because it was Saturday, except for the policemen on duty, all the other police and security staff members were off duty. At that moment, I saw that only one security staff member was left to watch me, and the other staff members had gone somewhere on an errand. When I heard no movement outside of my room, I started to look for opportunities to escape. I sent forth a righteous thought, "Let the security staff be unable to move and the policemen unable to see me." I walked out of the gate to the police station! I stood by the gate to flag down a cab. Several cabs passed by but no one stopped. At that moment, I realized: This was a hint from Teacher that I shouldn't go this way. Realizing this, I returned to the police station.
After I returned, my heart calmed down immediately. At about 6:00 p.m. the police station asked the officer of the retirement office in our working unit to take me home. I thought, "They must have a purpose for sending me home. It could be that they did not get the information of where I got the truth-clarifying materials and they want to see who I'll contact in order to find the person who delivers clarification materials to me." Therefore, I did not do anything after I was sent home. I did not try to escape, either. At 5:00 a.m. the next morning, my husband saw a young security staff member standing at the gate of our building. At about 8:00 a.m. the officer from the retirement office came to my house to get me. We went to the police station together. Less than an hour later, the policeman on duty said to the responsible person, "Because she could not pass the physical examination and she has coronary heart disease, she has been redirected to the brainwashing class. Send her home to prepare." They again drove me home.
When I got into the car, I realized that: "Isn't it Teacher who is sending me home!" How poor my enlightenment quality was. Teacher has sent me home twice, but I am only realizing it now. I will no longer cooperate with them when I go home this time. After I arrived home, I locked the door from the inside. About a half-hour later, the person from work called and asked me to come down. I told him, "I am sorry. I cannot go to the brainwashing class. I cannot go anywhere. I have to take care of my mother who is over 90 years old. She relies on me." Immediately, the director from the security bureau called: "I cannot answer to the higher authorities if you do this." I said: "There is nothing you can't answer to. It is not your fault." They never called me again. Nobody ever came to my house, either. After I came home, I calmed down and examined myself carefully. I read six Dafa books without stopping. These six books were saved for me by our Teacher. Teacher thought of everything for practitioners. Although the policemen ransacked my home twice, they did not see these six books. The books were placed very conspicuously in a plastic bag on a loudspeaker right next to the door. I studied the Fa with my heart, looking inside myself while I was studying. I found many attachments. I realized that the fundamental reason I was arrested was because of my insufficient emphasis on Fa-study. Every day, I was very busy doing things and could not calm down to study the Fa. Another reason is that I did not take seriously the sacred task of distributing truth-clarification materials. I just did it when it was convenient with an ordinary human heart. Moreover, I did not send forth righteous thoughts very seriously. When I was seen, my heart was very unstable; my righteous thoughts were not sufficient. Therefore, I was arrested.
At about 6:00 p.m. on September 27, 2001, when I just had finished preparing the four truth-clarification posters that I had planned to post in the evening, a fellow practitioner called me and said, "Today it is very windy, you should not go downstairs! You shouldn't go anywhere." I immediately understood what this meant. It was Master who was protecting me. So I did not go outside that evening. Next day, the fellow practitioner's husband, who is also a Dafa practitioner but unknown to the police, came to my home and told me what had actually happened. He said, "There is a white van outside your building; the van belongs to the "610 Office," and inside the van are four to five people waiting in ambush to arrest you. They also often look up toward the building." After listening to his words, I looked through the window and did see a white van, which was parked by the roadside under a tree and not far from the building's entrance.
In the following two or three days I sent forth righteous thoughts, studied the Fa, and practiced the exercises in my home. By the fourth day, October 1 [the Chinese National Day], I thought that tonight I should go out to validate the Fa and finish putting up the four truth-clarification posters. I sent forth righteous thoughts in daytime whenever I had time. In the evening, when it was past 7:00 p.m., I got an opportunity; none of the other family members were home. I also found that the white van was not there. So I went downstairs while sending forth righteous thoughts. I got on a bus unhindered. Since I had only four posters, I wanted to go to a place where many people passed by, so as to let the posters fully use their power of validating the Fa. I got off the bus at a stop where there were many people passing by. I noticed that the number of people in the evening there was particularly large and they came out to watch the fireworks. How could I finish putting up the banners quickly and safely? I suddenly saw the opportunity! Whenever the fireworks were in the air, people would look up to the sky together to watch the fireworks. I simply used this opportunity and put up a poster. Although people were everywhere close to where I was, I kept sending forth righteous thoughts saying in my mind, "People! Watch the fireworks and do not watch me!" and was very calm. In this way, I finished putting the posters in the places that I had intended.
When I returned home, none of my family members had come back yet. One fellow practitioner went to her daughter's home at 8:00 p.m. and immediately saw the truth-clarification banners after she got off the bus. She was very happy and at the same time surprised. With so many people around in such a popular, noticeable place, and the posters being so huge, how were people able to put them up?
The police stayed inside the white van for five to six days without catching me. They had used much manpower and resorted to all kinds of means to try to lure me to come out. Just according to what I knew, they used at least three people. Two of the three were former practitioners who had written statements indicating they were giving up Falun Gong. The other one was my neighbor. The white van was sometimes there and sometime not. The police changed shifts all the time. They stayed outside the building for eight to nine days. In fact, during this period of time I went downstairs five times, both in the daytime and in the evening. When I saw that there was no vehicle outside I would calmly go out while sending forth righteous thoughts. I would return home after I successfully finished my work. The police stayed there for so many days and they just dared not to come up to my home. This made me again realize, just as Master has said, "However strong the righteous thoughts are, that's how great the power is." ("Also In a Few Words" from Essentials for Further Advancement II)
A few minutes past 8:00 p.m. on the night of October 18, 2001 a policeman illegally arrested me when he noticed that I was putting up Falun Gong truth-clarifying flyers. We arrived at the police station at 8:40 p.m., and only a policeman and a security guard were on duty there. They called in a city branch special agent to search my apartment. Late that night, at 11:00 p.m., the agent returned with VCD's, pictures, and Dafa books taken from my residence. Holding all the things he confiscated from my home (only a few items really) and waving them in front of me, the policeman said, "This time you are really in trouble."
The next morning, two city branch employees came to the police station. One of them was the officer I just mentioned. Upon seeing me he said, "This time you are really in big trouble!" Then he entered the office. I understood in my heart, "What's this big trouble? My heart is full of righteous thoughts. Only my Master's words count, and what you are saying doesn't matter. Like last time, I will be freed in only a few days because there are too many important things waiting for me to do!" My heart did not agree with their arrangement, and my refusal was more solid than last time. This time, the words "forced labor" did not even enter my mind. The two city branch employees conversed with the policemen at the police station for nearly two hours, but they then exited the office and left without saying a word.
After 3:00 p.m. a retired lady co-worker who had been sent by my workplace to look after me arrived at the police station. When we met, she said, "I have been told to be here to accompany you for a medical examination." I replied, "Why another medical examination? They just finished their last examination, so the result will be the same if they do another exam." My heart was not moved, and I invited her to sit beside me so that I could tell her the facts about Falun Gong. While listening, this lady kept nodding in agreement. She even raised a few specific questions asked by people at our workplace. We chatted for more than one hour, and did not go to the medical examination. She was later told to go home. Immediately after she left, my husband came and told me he was asked to sign some paperwork so that he could take me home after paying bail of 5,000 Yuan (1). I told him, "Do not pay even one cent. If they demand bail or fines, I'll stay here and you can go home alone." Then, without paying anything or signing any paperwork, I was released. They simply said that the paperwork would be completed sometime later. At that moment, I thought to myself, "This time had been much easier for me to get off than last time. They did not even question me about the source of the truth clarification materials. It must be due to my setting my heart properly." This incident cannot be explained with everyday people's principles. The police had been guarding my residence for 7 or 8 days straight from downstairs, and they tried so many ways to deceive me to get me out of my room so as to arrest me, but all in vain. Now I was in their hands and they had even remarked that I was in big trouble, yet after only one day and one night they set me free. Using everyday people's logic, this series of events is unexplainable. However, I know this: Master looks at his disciples' hearts. My heart was more righteous and pure than last time, so naturally I encountered fewer difficulties and left sooner this time." Everything is up to Master, and my experience is explained perfectly by what master taught in "Touring North America to Teach the Fa," "If in that environment they can truly put aside the thought of life and death, though, the situation will be different. For example, after some Dafa disciples are arrested, they are able to maintain an unshakable calm, and they have no fear. You'll see that the old forces don't dare to persecute them. It's because they know that unless they beat them to death, any persecution of them won't do a thing, so they don't touch them."
Later, on November 14, 2001, the local police station suddenly called for my husband to go there for some makeup paperwork. I told them he was not at home, and they said that I could go in his place. At first I did not care about any makeup paperwork, but I was then reminded of an important task and this was a good chance to take care of it. In October, when they took me to the police station, I had 60 copies of Falun Gong truth clarification materials in my two pants pockets. At that time, I thought, "These precious materials that can save others must not be seized by them. I should find somewhere in this station to hide them for later retrieval." Pondering to myself, I realized that the crack between the file cabinets and the wall across the hallway was the only good hiding place, but three security guards sat close by there. I understood that if I ignored their presence and sent forth righteous thoughts, I would surely succeed. I wrapped up the 60 copies of materials in a newspaper, quickly walked over and hid them behind the file cabinets. The three security guards sitting to the left of the cabinet remained still without any reactions whatsoever. At that time I thought, "Later on I will pick these up and distribute them". However, I did not have the chance to retrieve my hidden materials the next afternoon when they let me go. Now the opportunity finally arrived. At the police station I saw a security guard sitting to the left side of the file cabinets. I entered the office and took care of the paperwork swiftly. Upon my exit, I turned to the right side of the file cabinets and extended my arm behind the cabinets trying to pull out my hidden materials. When I hid my materials, I had purposely pushed everything far into the crevice for fear of being found and taken by others. It was now difficult for me to reach that far back, and no matter what I tried, I could not grab the materials. Furthermore, I stood in a hallway, so if anyone passed by, he would see me. But I thought, "No one can see me. This belongs to me. I must take it away, and I can certainly succeed." As I tried harder, my fingertip finally touched something. With two fingertips, I grabbed the newspaper package and pulled it out hard with force. Then there came the popping noise of my materials spreading all over on the floor. At that moment I remained calm, and I quickly kneeled down and blocked from view the fallen materials with my body. Also, I tried to transfer everything into my backpack as fast as possible. All throughout my scramble, I had only this one thought, "These materials are too precious, and they cannot land in the hands of the police. This all belongs to me, so I must take it all away. No one can see me and no one can interfere." From beginning to end, five full minutes must have passed before I picked up everything, and yet not a single person walked through the hallway. After putting on my backpack, I walked swiftly out of the police station's front gate with it. Strangely enough, from the start of my quest to its conclusion, I did not panic once. When the Falun Gong materials dropped out and spread all over the floor of the police station, my mind was still comfortable, and my heart was as stable as Tai Mountain. I learned that, with a pure heart, one could accomplish sacred things. Soon afterwards, I went to a residential area and distributed the truth-clarifying materials to each household. I felt happy and reassured in knowing that more people might be saved.
At 4:00 p.m. on January 16, 2003 someone knocked at the door and claimed that they had come to check the gas meter. I opened the door and saw three police officers: two male and one female. I recognized one of them. He once arrested me and ransacked my home. He said to me when entering: "We had to deceive you into opening the door. Someone just sent you some materials. You'd better turn them in." I replied, "What materials? I don't know what you are talking about." He said: "We know that someone just came a moment ago. Give them to us or we will search your house." I realized then that the practitioner who came to give me the truth-clarifying materials thirty minutes ago must have been arrested. It must have happened while he was distributing the materials.
The policeman said: "You must go with us and tell us who brought you the materials." I told them, "I cannot go. You see, I have an over-ninety-year-old mother and a little granddaughter. What are they going to do if I go?" He asked, "When is your husband coming back?" I told him, "After 6:00 p.m." They immediately called their supervisor asking for direction and then told me, "We will wait until your husband comes back and then take you with us." I did not say anything. But I was very clear that I would never go with them. Although I did not have a clear idea of how to avoid being taken away, I stayed calm and sent forth righteous thoughts. I offered them seats and water. I thought: First let them calm down. I will come up with an idea. Teacher will help me. I then started clarifying the truth to them. Starting with the principle of good and evil being repaid, I told them true stories about people in our work unit during the Cultural Revolution and how vicious people received karmic retribution. I also told them true stories about evil police who received karmic retribution. The three of them listened to me quietly. I told them that if they treat Dafa practitioners kindly, they and their families will be paid back. The atmosphere was relaxed and peaceful. The other two police officers whom I didn't know also started talking. Knowing that I am a physician, they asked about some of their diseases. I still constantly sent forth righteous thoughts.
I was amazed by my granddaughter's behavior. She rarely plays piano for people she is familiar with, let alone for strangers. But that day when we were almost finished our conversation, she walked to the piano and offered to play for them. They were very pleased. I then went to the bedroom. I sent forth righteous thoughts and asked for Teacher's help: "Teacher, I am having some difficulties. I will never go with them. Please tell me what to do." An idea came into my mind right away: get out through the window. I immediately collected all the things I needed. I walked back and forth several times and moved those things to the room that has a balcony and a chair under the window. I also collected my granddaughter's things.
At 6:30 p.m. my husband and my child came back. Police told them the situation and said, "Let's go." I said, "I need to change clothes." I then entered the room with a balcony and locked the door. Although there was a policewoman, she did not follow me. I put on a coat and shoes, stepped onto the chair, opened the window and climbed to the outside of the window. I slipped through the metal bars for hanging clothes and held the security rail. Without fear or nervousness, I easily made it to the ground from the second floor as if I just climbed down a ladder that had been prepared for me. I walked to the back entrance of the building very quietly. After over ten minutes, I arrived at the place I planned to go. Police were still searching for me all over the place. They must be shocked. An over-sixty-year-old grandma disappeared without a trace under the nose of three police officers!
I enlightened to the fact that as long as we keep righteous thoughts and firmly believe in Teacher and Dafa, no matter what urgent situation we are in, we need to stay calm and determined, and not recognize the arrangements of the old forces. Teacher will do everything for us and help us to get out of the dangerous situation.
(1) Yuan: Chinese currency, the monthly salary for an average Chinese urban worker is about 500 Yuan.