(Clearwisdom.net) Teacher said in "Teaching the Fa at the 2003 Atlanta Fa Conference"
"You know that when I disseminate the Fa I don't pay attention to what group in society a person belongs to or his social status, and I don't differentiate between rich and poor, the various professions, or a person's status at his job. I don't look at anything except a person's heart. You should do the same when you clarify the truth. Don't think about him being some elite figure and create an extra mental obstacle for yourself, as if you're there to ask for his help. What's actually happening is that you're saving him, and you're giving him a chance to choose his future. That's for sure. So you should consider saving the world's people as the primary objective of clarifying the truth."
During my years of cultivation and process of clarifying the truth to people, I believed with all my heart that it was extremely urgent and essential that I explain the facts of the persecution to the police and my working unit's leaders. Yet, my fear and notions formed during this lifetime created many mental obstacles, which prevented me from clarifying the truth. Especially after being released from a forced labor camp where I had served a three-year term, I struggled continuously with the fear that the police were after me and trying to arrest me. How could I go and talk to them? So for a long time I stayed away from my home and missed precious opportunities to clarify the truth to my working unit leaders and the police. They were deceived by the media's propaganda and committed many sins against Dafa. The evil forces used my loophole to rampantly defame Dafa and persecute practitioners. I felt pained but I was just not motivated enough to break through my own mental barriers.
I. Clarify the Truth to Working Unit Leaders to Change the Cultivation Environment
After July 20, 1999, when the persecution against Falun Dafa began, my department section head talked to me almost daily, trying to convince me to renounce my belief in Falun Gong. He threatened me that he would report me to the City's "610 Office" (1) if I did not submit to his wishes. After I found out that the Security Department head was in charge of the "Falun Gong" issue, I talked to him. Because there were other people in the room, he was reluctant to listen to me. I started by telling about how my diseases were cured after practicing Falun Gong. He began to show interest in what I had to say. Then I asked him not to commit any acts against Falun Dafa from now on. I talked to him about the principle of "Good is rewarded with good and Evil is rewarded with karmic retribution." Finally I told him sincerely, "In the future, whenever my department head had a discussion with me, I will come to your office and tell you the facts about Falun Gong. It will be very beneficial to you." He did not have a negative response. After I had talked to him twice, he no longer was reluctant to listen whenever another person was present. I can now openly talk to him about Falun Gong. The police who were there also learned the facts about the persecution of Falun Gong. When I went to his office for the third time, he smiled and said, "Your department head talked with you again? I already asked him not to disturb you again." Since then, my department head no longer asked me to renounce my belief in Falun Gong.
After I returned from Beijing in September 2002, the security department head and the other two leaders of my working unit came to talk to me, "We will not question you as to where you have been, nor do you have to tell us. If it makes you happy, practice it in your home, just let us know when you need to go on a trip." I smiled and said, "Why do I need to inform you how I spend my legal holidays and weekends?" I continued to clarify the truth to them and they smiled at me nicely. Later, the security department head was transferred to another working unit.
In September 1999, the staff from the Discipline Investigation and Monitoring Committee and Party office came to talk to me. They asked me to choose between the Party and Falun Gong. They told me that a Party member is not permitted to practice Falun Gong. I told them I would not stop practicing Falun Gong, nor would I quit my membership in the Party. I explained my position and revealed that our teacher asked us to become better persons and model workers. "Doesn't the Party also need such good members? If you expel me from the Party, it would damage the Party, so I will keep both." During the 2000 new-year's dinner party, four important leaders of my working unit approached and greeted me.
II. Clarifying the Truth to the Police Who Persecuted Me
1. Since November 2000, my home phone has been monitored. When the police heard, in any conversation, the mention of Falun Gong, they would order me to come to the police station. Thus, the more I visited them, the more they learned the truth about Falun Gong. They suggested that I change my phone number. When verifying the phone record on Falun Gong practitioners, they would just glance at the information or ignore it. One time I noticed that there was a portrait of our teacher on their shelf. They had taken it during a search of a practitioner's home. I told them that they must not burn it, and to please give the portrait to me. They gave the portrait to me.
2. In June 2000, a practitioner from another county was arrested. Under torture, the practitioner was coerced into telling the police that he was in contact with me. This information was submitted to the provincial Public Security Bureau, transferred to the City Public Security Bureau, and later transferred to the district Public Security Bureau. They took me there to verify the statement, but did not get the "evidence" they wanted. They sent two people to my home to search it. On the way to my home, the two policemen said that they would search my home carefully, yet in a sarcastic tone as if they were making a joke. Indeed, they sat there without taking any action after arriving at my home. I clarified the truth to them while sending forth righteous thoughts. One of them started to develop pain in his lower back and felt very uncomfortable. I gave him some medicine to take and gave him the remaining pills in the bottle. He appreciated it and said, "You had no earnings for months and cannot get medical expenses paid by your working unit." I said, "Thanks to Master Li and Falun Dafa, I have a much healthier body and suffer from no illness. This drug was purchased before 1996 for my lower back pain. Now I am fine after practicing Falun Gong, and no longer feel pain, so it is no longer useful to me." I talked a lot to them. At last they said to the bureau leader on the phone: "There is nothing in her home, let her stay at home, and we will return."
3. In September 1999, the city's Falun Dafa Assistance Center main contact person and I were arrested and taken to the police station. We studied the Falun Dafa teachings and practiced the exercises; therefore, the police were deprived of their bonus. They thus locked us up for an entire day in a cold, unlit place, and this was during the frigid November weather. We held a hunger strike to protest our mistreatment. One of the policemen came to talk to me, and I clarified the truth to him. His attitude towards Dafa and his frame of mind seemed to have changed quite a bit after we talked a few times. At last he asked me whether the exercises could cure heart-disease. I said yes. He said that he would practice Falun Gong when it is redressed in China. He said to me that I could eat something, but he would not report to the higher officials. I said no, that was not what practitioners who practiced "truthfulness, compassion, tolerance" should do. I was released three days after I went on the hunger strike.
4. During the "Two Meetings" of March 2003, police from the Criminal Investigation Section of the District Security Bureau came to my home and stayed for three days. They wanted to find some "evidence," but failed. Then they arrested me and searched my home. I sent forth righteous thoughts to eliminate the evil arrangement, and negate any forced labor sentence (fellow practitioners also sent forth righteous thoughts to support me when they learned that I was arrested). Immediately I felt a warm current pouring down from the top of my head. What should I be afraid of? The police had been deceived and manipulated by the higher authorities too. They were also among those that needed to be saved. I knew should save them with benevolence. While I was thinking these thoughts, I noticed that they were no longer angry. One policeman remained while the others left. I clarified the truth to him. He listened carefully, and said, "My mother also practiced Falun Gong, and I know you are all good people." Shortly afterwards the two policemen who went to ransack my home came back. One of them said, "Old lady, you hide things very well, we did not find anything." The other policeman was too tired. He did not even come into the room (I knew this was because of Teacher's strengthening power and fellow practitioners' cooperation). He also said, "Your daughter-in-law helped you so much, she is really great!" In the afternoon I was sent to the National Protection section. The chief of that section smiled at me when he saw me and said, "I have not seen you for many days, you look younger." I smiled and said to him, "The more I practice, the older I grow. Also, you are arresting people who practice Falun Gong, who dares to practice it?" He told me that if I would accept the forced labor camp verdict, I would be released on bail after only one or two months. I told him that I did not do anything wrong and thus should not stay for a single day. He said, "You are truly a good person. Let me ask the city bureau." I sent forth righteous thoughts while he called the City Security Bureau. He told them that I was over 60 years old (actually I was only in my fifties) and of bad health. He also told them that I had one-year detention, and it was safer to release me on bail. The city bureau agreed. He then called my family and asked them to come and get me. I went back home in the evening in a proud and upright manner. This experience taught me that I still held many attachments, such as the attachment of fear, pursuit of results, vanity, and showing off. I should strengthen my Fa study.
III. After Clarifying the Truth to the "610 Office" Personnel in the Working Unit, I was No Longer Homeless
1. Teacher said,
"If you are without the Goodness (Shan) that a Dafa disciple has, then you are not a cultivator. If a Dafa disciple cannot validate the Fa, then he is not a Dafa disciple" (On "The Dignity of Dafa" from Essentials for Further Advancement II).
In the course of clarifying the truth to sentient beings and saving them, I realized that it was honorable because of Dafa practitioners' benevolent behavior. Ordinary people believed what Dafa practitioners said to be true and realized that Falun Dafa is good. Every single word and action of ours is to validate Dafa. However, since the beginning of 2001, I have been unable to go back home and stay. I found this to be due to the lack of depth in my truth clarification. Through Fa study and Teacher's hint, I realized that I should go home. I returned home in February 2002, but I developed the attachment of fear. Every time when there was the sound of a police car, or even the noise of any vehicle, I would think, Are they coming to get me? When someone was going upstairs, I would look at him through the peephole on the door to make sure that he was not the police. Whenever I saw the police or a police car, I would retreat. The more I became afraid, the more frequently police cars parked in front of my home. Teacher said,
"As I've said, everything that happens today in the ordinary society is the result of Dafa disciples' thoughts ("Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Philadelphia, U.S.A.").
Due to my own heart not being righteous, I remained within tribulations for a long time. Through continuous Fa study and looking inwards, I decided that I should clarify the truth to the police. After this righteous mind emerged, the police cars parked less frequently in front of my home. Sometimes they came but left immediately. One time, I actively went to clarify the truth to the two policemen who came to watch me, telling them why I chose to practice Falun Gong, the changes I experienced after practicing Falun Gong, and other important issues. I said to them, "We are all good people who follow the standard of 'Truthfulness, Compassion, Tolerance.' We want to be good people. Why are you guys staying here to watch good people?" They said they knew practitioners were all good people; they were just following the orders from the higher authorities. They also knew that some people criticized them for not distinguishing between good and bad, as well as not catching bad people, but catching good people instead. They said, "We won't do this." And they did not come back to my home again.
2. After I returned, the chief of the "610 Office" personally came to my area to see whether I still practiced Falun Gong. Some people challenged him: "Why do you come to ask about her, why don't you ask your mother whether she is still practicing Falun Gong?" The chief's mother once had brain thrombosis. He sent her to the practice site where his mother's disease was cured after practicing Falun Gong. This was well known to many people. When I heard about his coming to monitor me, I first sent forth righteous thoughts to eliminate the evil controlling him, and then I went to his house to wait outside for him. I saw him leaving with his wife, so I approached them to say hello. He said, " It is good you came back." I said, "Did you come to watch me the other day? I heard that you kept on asking other people whether I came back or not and whether I still practice or not. I have a few words to tell you, you know Falun Gong is good, because you sent your mother to the practice site and thus her illness was cured. How could you return goodness with a bad deed? Instead of appreciating Dafa practitioners, you even assisted in the persecution! Since you are assigned to work in the '610 Office,' you should keep a clear mind and should not commit any wrong doings in persecuting Falun Gong." He insisted on his own point of view and said, "Now Falun Gong practitioners have changed from what they used to be." Later I tried different ways to clarify truth to him. Besides, I often took truth-clarifying materials to his parents' home. I took every possible chance to talk to him and his parents, and told his parents to urge him not to do bad things that damage Dafa. Whatever he did was only for a bit of temporary profit. I also told them that it was not too late to stop his wrong doings. One day before the citywide mass arrest campaign in 2002, his father told me that the district police station was planning to search every single house, those who had Falun Gong books and materials were to be taken away if they did not sign the guarantee to give up Falun Gong. He told me to hide somewhere. I immediately told all fellow practitioners. During this mass arrest campaign, our region had the least losses. This tells us that whenever a person understood the truth, he will make a right decision to position himself well. Later this person left the "610 Office."
Teacher said in Teaching the Fa at the Washington, D.C. Fa Conference,"
"Wherever there's a problem, that is where you need to clarify the truth and save people."
Every morning and afternoon between 6 and 7 o'clock, the security people in my working unit went to the residence buildings to search for and remove Dafa truth clarification materials. Sometimes they came early in the morning, around 3-4 o'clock, to arrest Dafa practitioners. Enlightened by Teacher's words, I thought: These people had enough chance to read the materials, yet they still believe what the lying TV propaganda told them. I need to clarify the truth to them. So I went to the leader of the security personnel and talked to him in a compassionate manner. In the beginning he argued, yet after my second visit his attitude changed a lot. In order to better clarify truth to him, I went to the grocery store owned by his family and talked to his entire family. In the meantime I looked inwards to improve myself and the way I clarified the truth to him. Three visits later, he told me not to distribute materials one apartment after another, because it was too obvious; otherwise they would not care since they were also tired of trying to catch Dafa practitioners. He said. "If one of us sees you distributing materials, it is OK; two of us, fine; but it is hard to not do anything if three of us see it." I also talked to the patrolling police, telling them they were committing bad deeds against Dafa. In the meantime, we also adjusted our way of distributing the truth clarification materials, tried to be less eye-catching by putting materials in some apartments of one building and some more into the other building. Those patrolling police said that they would not care either since their leader did not. Indeed, when the patrol police saw me later handing out materials, they did not try to stop me. During the years between 2002-2004, our distribution of materials has become very easy, and we had few losses. No one in my working unit was arrested.
IV. Clarifying the Truth to the Leaders Who Persecuted Me and Demanding Full Restoration of Working Benefits
Since the wide-scale arrests in April 2002, I was forced to leave my home to avoid further persecution. My work unit stopped my salary and all working benefits. I understood that I should not passively bear the persecution; instead I should talk with the leaders and explain the facts about the persecution of Falun Dafa. But the leaders did not want to talk with me, and used excuses to not to meet with me. So I wrote them letters (I made six copies every time and mailed them) to expose their persecution of me. I told them the principle of "Good is rewarded with good and Evil meets with karmic retribution," and suggested they choose the right path for their future. I stated clearly in my first letter that if they still did not understand the truth or refused to solve my problem, I would continue to write to them. After my second letter was sent out, I still heard nothing from them. I looked within myself and found my attachment. I rectified this omission. Four days after I sent out the third letter, the secretary of the Senior Cadres' Office came to tell me that they received my letter and would have a meeting to discus the problem of my salary, and they wanted me to write a "Guarantee Letter."(2) I said, "Can anyone of you write a guarantee letter to me to promise I would not catch any illness? Since you still don't know the facts about Dafa, I have to keep writing my letters until you all understand." At the same time, I looked within myself for an attachment. If I did not do things based on the Falun Dafa principles, as a practitioner, then the power of Dafa would not be part of me. I wrote a letter again to them. Several days later, the secretary came to my home, "The person who is in charge of the Human Resource Administration said that you were too stubborn to write any guarantee letter. So The Senior Cadres' Office will write a report for you, I will sign it, and have the secretary of Human Resource Administration sign it, then it will be done." But 2 weeks later, I still did not have my salary. My understanding was that I had to clarify the truth to more of these people. I called the secretary of the Senior Cadres' Office. The secretary said, "The secretary of Human Resource Administration refused to sign the report because you did not write a guarantee letter." I realized that I explained the facts of Falun Dafa to all leaders and members of party committee except the secretary of the Human Resource Administration. I wrote him a letter exposing his wrong doings of persecuting Dafa. I wrote, "You are a recognized official to serve people's needs. Besides, you read Dafa books before, I believe that you will not do anything to harm Dafa. I will write you a letter every day to clarify the truth to you. When you have time, please read my letters. I also carry responsibility for not telling you the facts earlier. It is not too late to correct yourself and do the right thing from now on. Don't wait for the day when justice is brought to the all perpetrators. Otherwise, you will feel too guilty to face your friends, relatives, and coworkers." After I sent out the sixth letter, the section head of "610 Office" and the secretary of the Senior Cadres' Office came to my home and apologized, "I came here in a hurry and didn't have time to change out of my police uniform, do you mind?" I said, "No, I don't mind. My teacher says that we should only look at people's hearts and intentions." He said, "We come here to deliver the three decisions made by the secretary:
1. Without the permission of the working unit, the city and district public security bureaus cannot come to arrest the working unit's practitioners.
2. Restore all your working benefits.
3. From now on, no one will interfere with your practicing Falun Gong. I will leave my cell phone number with you. My cell phone will be on 24 hours every day. Whoever comes to harass you, just give me a call."
I thanked them. From the bottom of my heart, I am grateful that our Teacher gave me the opportunities to clarify the truth, and I witnessed Dafa's mighty power.
Through years of cultivation and rectifying the Fa, I experienced our Teacher's benevolence and Dafa's nobility. I also realized that our practitioners' every word and every behavior actually are a way to clarify the truth. Though I eventually got rid of many human notions and attachments, these notions and attachments slowed me down, made me unable to clarify the truth to the leaders earlier, and thus they committed wrongs against Dafa for a period of time. I will be more diligent in the future fulfilling my promises and take every opportunity to let more people hear the truth of Dafa.
(1) "610 Office": a bureau specifically created by the Chinese government to persecute Falun Gong. It has absolute power over each level of administration in the Party, as well as over the political and judiciary branches.
(2) "Guarantee Statement" - A statement to declare that one is remorseful for practicing Falun Gong and guarantees not to practice Falun Gong again, not to go to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong, and never again associate with any Falun Dafa practitioners.
