(Clearwisdom.net)

Before Cultivation

I live in Hubei Province and I was born in 1968. I was fortunate to learn about Dafa in 2007. I used to be a gangster and had many bad habits, including drinking, over indulgence, visiting brothels, and gambling. I was a drug addict for 16 years. Whenever my addiction surfaced, I became an unbridled outlaw. When people saw me coming, they would quickly take a detour to hide from me. I physically assaulted, injured, and robbed people and was imprisoned six times for these crimes.

For a long time, I had used violence to solve my problems. I also had many scars from knife cuts and gunshots. This lifestyle also made me very troubled. I tried to eliminate my addiction many times but was not successful. I even spent more then ten thousand yuan trying to do so.

Learning Falun Dafa, I turned over a new leaf

At the start of 2001, the Tienanmen Square "self-immolation incident" concocted by the CCP to frame Falun Gong practitioners was being played on television. At that time, I was locked up in the Wuchang District Qingling Detention Center. While there, I met a Falun Gong practitioner. Instantly, I felt this practitioner was different from other people. Although he was elderly, he looked very radiant. After he told me the facts about Falun Gong, I had very good feelings towards Falun Gong, and I admired this practitioner.

At the end of 2006, because of taking drugs, I was frequently a wreck. I was at my wits end, and nobody cared about me. I was desperate and thought of ending my life. One day, because of my drug addiction, I was shivering all over as though it was very cold. My nose was running, I kept tearing, and I felt really terrible. Because my brother was a practitioner, he asked me to recite, "Falun Dafa is good! Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good!" He also gave me the book Zhuan Falun to read. As I was reading the book, I felt completely different from before. I felt much better, and I instantly knew that this book was different from other books.

After reading Zhuan Falun three or four times, I was determined to start cultivation. "Cultivation" and "Practice"--the two words were etched in my mind. I only had the intention to cultivate. I did not go into it to kick my drug addiction.

After reading Zhuan Falun for three months, I started to practice the exercises. On the first day when I embraced the wheel (the second exercise), I could not stop crying. After practicing for a while, my craving for drugs diminished and appeared less frequently. When it did, I was able to control, it so my health improved.

After cultivating for two months, I gained over 20 kilograms. Four months later, my drug addiction was gone, and I was a changed person. I frequently have exciting and joyous moments. Not only did my health improve, after continually reading the Fa, I exercised the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance to be a better person. In the past when people saw me, they would take a detour. Now when they see me, they greet me from far away. Many relatives and friends realized that this practice was really miraculous if Falun Gong could change such a savage like me into a better person. In the past, I was capable of any evil, and many in the criminal world would be afraid just hearing my name. Now I have changed into a good person who does not hit back when assaulted, who does not answer back when scolded. They all agreed that Falun Gong has changed me from a bad person to a good one.

Clarifying the truth, protesting the persecution

Before I became a cultivator, I always though that my elder brother had no aspirations and was unsuccessful. After I started cultivation, I was amazed that, in today's society there are a group of people who are considerate of others. These people are really admirable, and I respect them from the bottom of my heart. In order to defend Dafa, one day I wrote "Falun Dafa is good!" in a public area. Someone reported me to the authorities. The police picked me up and took me to the detention center.

At the detention center, the police came to interrogate me every two to three days. They wanted me to point out who instigated me do this. I did not cooperate and they could not put anything on record. Later, they wanted me to sign a document, but I refused. The police then ordered the other prisoners to beat me. After 45 days, I was illegally sentenced by the 610 Office to one and a half years of forced labor. I was sent to the infamous Hewan Forced Labor Camp.

At the forced labor camp, many people knew me from before. The only difference was that, in the past I was incarcerated there because I had done bad deeds. This time I was there because I had done a good deed. Those who knew me could not believe how I had changed--they thought it was impossible. One asked me, "How come your eyes no longer look fierce and murderous?" I replied, "It is Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance that changed me; the impossible has become possible." What had happened to me was very quickly spread within the forced labor camp, and many guards learned about it.

When I first arrived at the camp, the head of the camp came to threaten me. He wanted me to squat down, which I did not do. I was not afraid of them. I persisted in studying the Fa and practicing the exercises. Before cultivating, I was not afraid of dying. Since cultivating, I now know the true meaning of life, so I am not afraid even if I die. The camp head brought personnel from the Wuhan City 610 Office. They asked me if I had read the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party. I responded by asking them if they thought the book stated the facts. I also pointed out what had happened at Sujiatun Hospital where Falun Gong practitioners' organs were extracted. The 610 Office personnel refused to admit this and in the end they threatened me and said that if I did not cooperate, they would send me to the Sujiatun Hospital.

Because I did not cooperate with them and I persisted in studying the Fa and practicing the exercises, they locked me up in a strictly controlled room. I was not allowed to come into contact with the outside world, but I persisted in my cultivation.

During the Beijing Olympic Games, one day when I was mediating, one of the guards came and kicked me. He also told others to pull me out of the lotus position. I asked them, "In the past I did many bad deeds--my drug addiction made me a monster. After cultivating in Falun Gong I benefited both physically and mentally and became a good person. Now you do not allow me to be a good person and insist on trying to 'transform' me. How do you want me to 'transform'? Do you want me to become a villain that harms society?" I frequently played the music of "Pudu" very loudly for everyone to hear.

A guard with the surname Cai did not accept my truth clarification. He even took away Zhuan Falun from me. I went to ask for its return many times, but he refused to return it. I clarified the truth to him but he did not listen.

This is my real life experience, and it has spread throughout the forced labor camp. The guards and prisoners all witnessed the miraculous power of Falun Gong in me. They understood the truth about Falun Gong. I am happy that these sentient beings could be saved.

At the end of 2009, I was released from the labor camp with dignity.