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Persevering Through the Storm with Righteous Thoughts

July 10, 2006 |   By a practitioner in Hunan Province, China

(Clearwisdom.net) I was illegally arrested twice during the past several years while saving sentient beings to validate the Fa. Once I was abducted and taken to a brainwashing "class" where I was tortured severely. I had stumbled along the path of cultivation, but I got up and continued to move forward. With unwavering faith in Teacher I overcame the insurmountable difficulties step by step, under Teacher's care and safeguarding.

The brutal persecution of Falun Dafa started on July 20, 1999. Every practitioner had his or her own understandings of the complex situation. My physical and mental health improved markedly since I started practicing Falun Gong. I am very certain that there was nothing wrong with practicing Dafa. Jiang's regime made a mistake. I persistently practiced Falun Gong at home and never stopped. Later, I learned that many practitioners went to Beijing to appeal for Dafa, so I decided to go and speak out for Teacher and Dafa. I went to Tiananmen in 2000 and did exactly what I intended. I exclaimed "Falun Dafa is good!" I was detained, fined, persecuted and even my retirement pay was terminated.

The situation later became worse. The authorities established brainwashing "classes" all over the country. They tried to forcibly "transform" Dafa practitioners, and I was also forced into one of them. I adopted a human notion to face the high pressure tactic, "As long as I can get out, you can do nothing to me, and I will continue practicing Falun Gong." Thus I left a blemish in my cultivation and caused damage to Dafa. I looked into myself afterwards and discovered my attachment. I went to Beijing to validate the Fa so that I could reach Consummation. My trip to Beijing was for the purpose of "passing the test" towards my Consummation. There was also the subtle attachment of showing off. I was showing off that I studied the Fa well, and that I had courage. The evil old forces exploited this omission and picked me as their target to persecute.

Afterward, I had more time to study the Fa with a tranquil mind and I wanted to rectify my mistake and the damage. Teacher said,

"The Fa can break all attachments, the Fa can destroy all evil, the Fa can shatter all lies, the Fa can strengthen righteous thoughts."("Drive Out Interference" from Essentials for Further Advancement II)

I strengthened my righteous thoughts by studying the Fa. I realized that I must step forward to clarify the truth and save sentient beings, and that I must be a real Dafa practitioner during the Fa Rectification period. I took some truth clarification materials from another practitioner out of the area, and went to distribute the fliers with two other practitioners.

One evening the three of us went to distribute the fliers. We were a bit tense since it was the first time for all of us. But as soon as we reminded ourselves that we were saving sentient beings and we were doing the most sacred task, our hearts settled down. We distributed all the fliers without a glitch.

After the first time, we distributed many fliers and self-adhesive type banners. One time there was a picture posted in our workplace's propaganda display window, viciously attacking Dafa and Teacher. We posted fliers saying, "Falun Dafa is good, Zhen-Shan-Ren is good" flyer on the window every day until the picture was removed. Another time we had a large scale distribution of fliers in our workplace that really stunned the evil.

After a few years of smooth operations I gradually generated an attachment of zealotry. Last year the evil again exploited my omission and I was arrested and taken to the detention center. This time I was very calm, and used my righteous thoughts facing the evil. I persisted in studying the Fa and doing the exercise in the detention center. The cell boss told me she had Dafa books that were left behind by other Dafa practitioners. She showed them to me and they were hand written Zhuan Falun Lectures 5 to 9. The handwriting was very neat. Right away I bought two notebooks and started copying word by word every day. There were some loose leafs of various articles and Hong Yin I and II. They were all transcribed by Dafa practitioners from memory. I used a month's time to copy them down. Every day I recited "Don't Be Sad"

Imprisoned as you are,
but don't be sorrowful or sad
With thoughts and actions righteous,
the Fa is with you
Calmly reflect on the attachments you have
Let go of your human thoughts
and the evil will naturally die

I also recited "The Master-Disciple Bond":

Four years has the wild evil surged
A steady helm has assured the right course
The Disciples of Fa have gone through evil trials
And though great the pressure, their will is unbowed
There is no affect between Master and disciple
The Buddha's grace remolds heaven and earth
When disciples have ample righteous thoughts
Master has the power to turn back the tide

Under the Teacher's compassionate care and encouragement I felt full of energy in my body. I truly experienced the atmosphere of,

"In life, nothing sought,
In death, regretting naught,
Washing away all wrong thought
Buddhahood, with less adversity, is wrought."

(Hongyin)

When the police interrogated me, threatened me with, "If you do not reveal the source of information, you will be sentenced to labor camps, and your children will lose their jobs, etc." I asked them if they finished what they wanted to say, they replied, "yes." I told them they could leave after they were done. They left enraged in a hurry.

A few days later, the police squad car transferred me to the labor camp. I had only one thought along the way, "Labor camp is not the place for me to stay, I must return to the Fa Rectification movement to save sentient beings." I asked Teacher to save me. When the labor camp did the physical examination, they refused to accept me due to high blood pressure and heart symptoms. I broke out of the evil's dungeon.

I profoundly experienced the divine power of "When disciples have ample righteous thoughts, Master has the power to turn back the tide."

I also had a better understanding of Teacher's words,

"Your path is, and I think you've all seen this now, actually very narrow. If you deviate just a little bit you won't measure up to the standard of a Dafa disciple. There's only one very righteous path we can walk on, and we can't deviate even just a little bit, because this is required by history, and required by the lives of sentient beings in the future cosmos. The cosmos in the future can't have any deviation or errors due to your having omissions during the Fa-rectification, so it's important for you to walk each and every step well during your own validating the Fa." ("Teaching and Explaining the Fa at the Metropolitan New York Fa Conference" April 20 2003)

October 20, 2005