(Clearwisdom.net) I am a woman from a rural area. I started practicing Falun Gong in June 1999. In the beginning, I did not have any Dafa books. I only listened as practitioners read aloud at the group Fa study site. I felt that Dafa was very good and made up my mind that I would continue to study the Fa. Later, I obtained a copy of Hong Yin and one of Master's lectures. However, at that time, because I did not know too many practitioners, I did not know that Zhuan Falun is the main book that provides guidance for practitioners.
Appealing for the Fa in Beijing
Not too long after I started practicing, Jiang's regime started the brutal persecution of Falun Gong. However, because I did not pay attention to the news, I did not know that the persecution had started. One day I went to the group Fa study site as usual, and I found myself the only one there. I waited for half an hour, but nobody came. At that time, the practitioner who provided the site came to tell me, "You should go home. Nobody will be here today." I was puzzled, but I didn't ask why and left. I then went to a different Fa study site next to the park and thought, "There should at least be somebody there." When I got there, I did see many practitioners whispering. The assistant said, "Based on the current situation, we should study the Fa with a group of three or five practitioners. Let's not study the Fa here anymore. We'll see how it goes and decide on the next step." It was then that I learned that the media had been slandering Dafa and some assistants had been arrested. Some Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials had contacted this assistant the day before and had pressured him.
No matter where I looked I couldn't find any Fa-study groups anywhere. I had the thought of going to Beijing to appeal on behalf of Dafa, but I hesitated: My son was only five years old and was still quite dependent on me, and I could not take him with me. My husband didn't do much around the house. I take care of everything in the household. If I left, how would they manage? I had this mind-set until one day when Master gave me a hint in my dream. I still remember that dream clearly: I needed to go out. So I told my husband, who was about to fall asleep, "I need to go out to do something. The door is not locked. Please keep an eye on it." He said, "Fine." I walked out the door, but becoming worried, I looked back after taking several steps away. I saw an old gentleman with a white mustache waving at me and assuring me not to worry. I then made up my mind that I would go to Beijing to study the Fa.
It was December 1999. Another female practitioner also had the same thought to validate the Fa in Beijing, so we went on the train to Beijing together. On the train, we discussed that we should study the Fa more, so she started reciting the Fa that she had already memorized. When she was reciting Lunyu, I asked which book this was from because I had never read this. She told me that this was from Zhuan Falun. In this way I learned about Zhuan Falun after practicing for several months.
We reached Beijing safely. There were thousands of practitioners going to Beijing to appeal for Dafa every day. We ran into an assistant from our area. She arranged for us to join a Fa study group in the suburbs. We took several buses and successfully found the practitioner that we were supposed to meet. He arranged for us to study the Fa with practitioners from different areas of the country and share experiences. I felt my level was raised from the sharing. The assistant arranged for the practitioners to go to Tiananmen to appeal for Dafa. Several days later, the two of us went to Tiananmen Square. There was another practitioner from Heilongjiang Province who went with us. The situation was extremely serious at the time. Practitioners had been arrested at Tiananmen Square. Plainclothes and uniformed police officers kept demanding information from the people there.
When they approached us, we did not answer them. When we first arrived there, we saw a group of young practitioners who were all teenage students. They formed a circle and started practicing the exercises. They were beaten by the police. The Heilongjiang practitioner who was with us could not help shouting out, "I am a Falun Gong practitioner, too!" The police officers immediately came up to us and pulled us to a police car. The practitioner who was with me was beaten by an officer. Later, the two of us were detained in our local liaison office in Beijing, where we met several practitioners from our county. They had also come to Beijing to appeal for Dafa. One practitioner was surprised at my situation: Even though the persecution had started just one month after I had started practicing, I had persisted in studying the Fa at home on my own despite losing our local Fa-study environment. I came to Beijing to appeal for the Fa when I had not even read Zhuan Falun.
We were taken back to our hometown and held in the detention center. The guards in the detention center tried everything to coerce us to write the guarantee statement to give up on our belief. Practitioners refused to cooperate. Later, the guards wrote out the guarantee statements themselves and attempted to force us to just sign it. Practitioners still would not do it. At last, one day, several guards tied me up and attempted to put my fingerprint on it. When they put my palm down on the guarantee statement, I tore it up. They had to let it go. After 45 days of detention, we walked out of the detention center with dignity.
Persisting in Practicing the Exercises Outdoors
After the persecution started on July 20, 1999, fellow practitioners lost the environment of group practice. I continued to practice the exercises on top of the building of my rented apartment, because it never occurred to me to think that there was anything to hide, so I just kept on practicing the exercises out in the open. Why couldn't I practice the exercises with dignity? I lived in the city. In the morning, when I practiced the exercises on top of the building, many people could see me, but I have been practicing the exercises without interference. I have only been interfered with twice.
One morning while I was practicing the exercises, the head of the county 610 Office came up. I did not pay attention to him and continued to practice. He took my tape recorder. I continued to do the exercises without it. He walked downstairs and saw that I did not chase after him. He just placed the tape recorder at my door and left. He never returned again. Another time while I was practicing the exercises, one person grabbed my hands and forced me to follow him to the police department. It turned out that he was the new head of the Politics and Security Section. I asked why we had to go to the police department. He said it could only be clearly explained there. He then forced me to the police department. He asked me why I was practicing Falun Gong on top of the building. I said that we follow the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance to be better people. We do not do anything bad, so why can't we practice the exercises on the building? This made him angry and he beat me. I was not afraid and I did not hate him. I did not feel much pain, either. I knew it was Master who helped me. Later he said to me, "Because I know one of your relatives, I'll let you go this time." Then he called my relative and asked him to take me home. The whole incident happened within two hours. After I returned home, I continued to practice the exercises on top of the building. No police officers ever disturbed me about it again. I practiced the exercises outdoors until April 2002.
Disintegrate the Brainwashing Center with Righteous Thoughts
In the spring of 2001, I suddenly heard somebody knocking on my door, saying they needed to talk to me. I opened the door. Immediately several people came in, pushed me into a car, and took me to a detention center. The next morning, I found out that five other practitioners from the county also were detained there. It turned out they had been illegally arrested in the same fashion. Soon, the people from the Politics and Security Section came. Before they started talking, I said to the head of the 610 office, "I have a question. Why are you arresting us here this late at night? What law did we break?" The head of the 610 Office said, "We are organizing an education ("reform") class." I said, "Do you have to use this approach for the education class--knocking on our doors late at night like burglars and arresting us? We all have our jobs and families. Aren't you interfering with our normal lives?" The 610 Office head said, "Can I count on you?" I said practitioners are all accountable. He said, "OK, then, you can go home first. Every day, you can come to the hotel where the education class is. We'll see who will 'transform' whom." I said "A demon will never surpass the Tao." Another 610 Office agent interjected, "That was nicely said." I knew that, because our righteous thoughts were strong, Master helped us suppress the evil. Because our level of understanding was not high at the time, we partially followed their arrangements and thus did not completely negate the brainwashing center.
At the brainwashing center, we practitioners mostly maintained righteous thoughts and righteous actions and clarified the truth to the 610 Office personnel. We refused to watch the videos slandering Master and Dafa. At the end, when they played the videos, only their own personnel were watching them. Some of the other people there also knew it was not true. We went home and shared our experience with fellow practitioners. Practitioners then went to the brainwashing center to support us. Later, more and more practitioners came. One day, there were several dozen practitioners there. The 610 Office personnel called for police officers from the Politics and Security Section. When they arrived, they started beating practitioners and attempting to arrest practitioners. I shouted at them, "Look, they are beating people again!" The head of the 610 Office ran out and shouted, "Stop beating people! Stop it!" The police officers stopped and left. We practitioners went home safely. The brainwashing center was finished, and there has never been any other attempt at setting up a brainwashing session in our area since then.
Lessons on the Cultivation Path
I went to clarify the facts about Dafa to the village residents one evening in the spring of 2002. On my way back, I distributed some informational materials, too, but I was reported by the head and the administrator of the village. Officers from the National Security team and the police station arrested me. They handcuffed me to bars on the window in the hallway and then went off to play cards. Nobody was watching me. I discovered that I could easily slip my hands out of the handcuffs, but I did not realize that I should leave that evil den. I was merely thinking that I did not do anything wrong and was not afraid of anything. Thus, I lost an opportunity to escape.
The next morning, I was taken to the county police department. In the office, they hung me up and beat me. They attempted to coerce me to tell them where the truth clarification materials came from. I did not feel much pain. I only had one thought in my mind: Even if I die, I will never do anything that would let Master down or betray my fellow practitioners, so I didn't say anything. The head of the National Security Team saw that I did not give in. They decided to break my arms. One of my arms was immediately broken. They tortured me from 8:00 a.m. until that evening, but they didn't get a word out of me. They saw that I could not hold up anymore, so they let me down and held me in the detention center. What was strange was that, in the detention center, I threw up anything I ate. The guards thought I was on a hunger strike. After six or seven days, the 610 Office personnel came over. They gave me a bowl of rice porridge that they bought from outside. I threw up again several minutes after I ate it. When they saw this they were afraid of taking any responsibility for my condition, so they let me go. Seven days later, with Master's protection, I walked out with dignity.
After I was released, I should have studied the Fa more and looked inward more and identified any loopholes, including paying attention to safety and security while validating the Fa. I should have learned my lessons and done well going forward. But regretfully, I did not do that.
Soon after, when I was distributing informational materials with another practitioner, we were arrested again. When a policeman asked me where I came from and where I got the materials. I said, "There is nothing to tell." He immediately choked me and pushed me against a wall. I thought, "Even if I die, I will not say anything." He suddenly let go and smiled. It was truly a case of:
"When disciples have ample righteous thoughts
Master has the power to turn back the tide." ("The Master-Disciple Bond," Hong Yin II)
Later we were sent to Baimalong Women's Forced Labor Camp in Zhuzhou.
Maintaining Righteous Thoughts and Righteous Actions in the Forced Labor Camp
I refused to compromise and refused to be "transformed" at the labor camp. I was detained in the so-called "Intense Discipline Unit." However, no matter where I went, I always actively exposed the persecution facts and eliminated the evil.
When the prison guards were patrolling, I usually went up and politely asked their position and name and then said, "I don't know why you don't like people who follow the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. Why do you send people to watch us 24 hours a day and beat or yell at us. Is this on your own initiative? Are you that kind of person?" Most of the guards would feel ashamed and would not come back to patrol our cell any more.
Once, there was a female guard who persecuted a practitioner brutally. I heard about it and said, "Even though she is good looking, her actions are demon-like." This got back to her and later she changed her behavior. When I was in the forced labor camp, I did not think of myself as someone who was being persecuted. Instead, I actively exposed the evil. Thus I was not persecuted as severely. When my term was up, I walked out of the evil den with dignity.
Exposing the Persecution and Disintegrating the Evil
After I returned home, the first thing I did was to expose to the related departments the details of the brutal torture I was subjected to and described how my arm was broken. First I hired a lawyer to write an appeal letter. In the appeal materials, there were detailed descriptions of the brutal torture and the facts about my broken arm. I asked them to bring those that had persecuted me to justice. I made several copies and sent them to the county police department, Political and Legal Committee, and the People's Congress. Although the officials tried to shirk their responsibility, it truly had the effect of suppressing the evil. I went to the home of the person who broke my arm to reason with him. When he saw it was me, because he knew what he had done was wrong, he was afraid to open the door. Whenever I ran into him on the street, he tried to avoid me.
In recent years, I've lived in the suburbs and have had less contact with fellow practitioners. I feel that I have not been as diligent. I have not done well in the three things, especially in clarifying the facts. With Master's protection, I was able to get away from an evil attempt to send me to a brainwashing center. I always feel that I have been far short of the requirements Master set for a Dafa disciple in the Fa-rectification period. Going forward, I will be more diligent to be worthy of Master's benevolent salvation.