(Clearwisdom.net) After the persecution began on July 20, 1999, Falun Gong practitioners became the focus of attention in our workplace. The team leader told us, "You have to write a repentance statement about your understanding of Falun Gong." Because we had the Fa in our hearts, and Master had already told us why this was happening, we knew how to handle the situation. Fellow practitioner A wrote and turned in an article titled "Falun Gong Brings Numerous Benefits to Society and Does No Harm." After the team leader read it, he said, "Falun Gong has been characterized as an evil cult." Fellow practitioner A said, "Falun Gong is not an evil cult. It is a righteous teaching." Fellow practitioner A is one of the most honest employees in the workplace. Everyone, including his team leader and co-workers, was impressed by his calm and peaceful response. The steadfast righteous thoughts and actions that Practitioner A had obtained through cultivating in Dafa made them realize it was impossible to change his mind. The team leader raised his voice, "You are a piece of dead iron sheet! I'm going to use you for setting an 'example' for all." When practitioner A went to work the next day, the staff from the personnel office told him, "You've been assigned to work in the cafeteria, and this is the decision of the party committee." Practitioner A was not moved by the decision. He didn't feel humiliated or regretful. At the end, his team leader didn't achieve what he'd planned.
The team leader saw that all of us were very firm in our belief, so he laid us off. He then planned to organize a "brainwashing class," to try to brainwash us. After sharing, we came to an agreement, that we would not cooperate with him. We didn't want him to commit more sins. After staying at home for two days, we enlightened that we should clarify the truth to him, and expose how the media propaganda had fabricated news. Because of our truth-clarification efforts, the team leader changed his previous hard-line attitude. We told him about the benefits of practicing Dafa, and the lessons we must remember from the "Great Cultural Revolution." We also told him, "When we come across a dilemma, we should always think first, and leave no regret for the future." He said, "Why don't you just write something, so that I at least have something to turn in." We said, "We have already written it. It is "Falun Dafa is good." Seeing that we were firm in our beliefs, other team leaders came up with a "divide and conquer" method which allowed us to come to work one at a time. They would intentionally find fault in a practitioner and penalize him in order to threaten the others. After sharing, we came to understand that all Dafa disciples are one body. We must not allow them to impose any penalty on us, and we must immediately disintegrate the planned brainwashing class.
The next day, they banged on the table and said, "If you are not "transformed", your wages will be cut. You will not be promoted to civil servants. We will remove your titles, and expel you from your posts!"
We warned them, "We didn't break any law, or commit any sins. We conduct ourselves with dignity and openness. Who among you can say that what you are doing is right? You are knifing people! We are not coming back tomorrow. We will file a complaint and find a lawyer to sue you."
The team leader grinned with embarrassment and said, "What do you know?"
"We know everything," we said. Because of our righteousness, the brainwashing class plan collapsed. At that time, our understanding of how to negate the evil wasn't that clear, but we had one thought: saving people. Some practitioners wondered if we were compassionate enough. To tell the truth, working in the company for such a long time and getting along well with all our colleagues, it was not easy to stand in opposition to them all of a sudden. But as cultivators, we should let go of our humanness and sentimentality. What we are doing is being responsible for sentient beings' eternal lives. This is real compassion.
At this point, the evil that manipulated the ordinary people didn't give up. The team leader called practitioner B at home and threatened his family, "It's OK just to write a false statement. That's good enough." Because practitioner B's family were not practitioners, they feared that they would lose their jobs. Thus, they forced practitioner B to write the statement. They even helped him drafted the statement and tried to force him to sign his name. Because he resisted signing, his family beat him up and kicked him out of their home. He was forced to become homeless and destitute. He had no money and no winter clothes. He still had a child who is in elementary school at home. In the face of numerous difficulties and tribulations, practitioner B never wavered in his faith. Out of anger, they stopped our salaries. None of us were moved by it. Then the miracle came. The old leadership suddenly collapsed. After the new leadership took office, we continued our truth-clarification efforts. With righteous thoughts in validating and safeguarding the Fa, we returned to work. Our previously withheld wages were returned to us.
During the process of disintegrating the brainwashing class, we kept in mind what Master has taught us about Dafa disciples being one body. Although we had different abilities, we still needed to work closely with each other and supplement each other's shortcomings. When we saw practitioners whose thoughts were not very righteous, we would point it out, and help them rectify their thinking according to the Fa, so that we could upgrade together. When we had different views or opinions, or got into disputes, we looked inside and took the Fa as the master. Of course, we still have many inadequacies, and in some areas, we have acknowledged the persecution. During this period of resisting and opposing the persecution, although we felt we were very firm, we realized that sometimes we were just validating ourselves. We still have the attachment of competitive mentality. However, we have overcome many difficulties all because of the power of the Fa and the protection of our compassionate Master.
Through this experience of disintegrating the brainwashing class, we have come to understand:
1. Studying the Fa well is critical for reinforcing righteous thoughts.
2. If our basic aim is saving sentient beings, the evil will perish by itself.
3. The overall coordination of Dafa disciples is imperative for doing the three things well.
