(Clearwisdom.net) Every year when it comes to the dates that hold significance for Falun Dafa, including April 25, May 13, and July 20, practitioners illegally detained in Masanjia Forced Labor Camp always look for opportunities to validate Dafa by doing such things as shouting “Falun Dafa is good!” The labor camp officials and guards dread to see this and therefore monitor the camp closely on these dates. The year I was at Masanjia, as July 20 approached, I pondered how to hang up a truth-clarifying banner to validate Dafa.
To make a banner I needed cloth. I collected a relatively new pale blue bed sheet and tailored it to be two meters long and one foot wide. Then, how could I get pen and paint? The camp officials strictly controlled pen and paper to prevent practitioners from exposing the camp personnel's evil deeds to the outside world and from transcribing Falun Gong teachings. No one except a few guards could have pen or paper.
I then looked for a guard who could get to the pens and paint. Because practitioners usually followed the Fa principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, treated the guards kindly, and clarified the facts about Falun Gong to them, many of the guards knew that Falun Dafa was good. A sympathetic female guard finally gave me two pens and some paint. Looking at the pens and paint in my hands, I was really touched. It was due to Falun Dafa’s infinite grace and Master’s immense mercy that I could get such things and such help from a labor camp guard in that evil place!
To make everything easier to protect and use, during the noon rest time I further sorted the pens and paint. I was sitting with my back facing the door, squeezing paint into a small plastic pill bottle and didn’t notice that a guard had entered the cell and was standing next to me. She asked, “What are you doing?” I was scared at first and a little nervous, but at once I denied the thoughts of fear and asked in reply, “What are you here for?” She said, “Give me some toilet paper.” Because there was paint on my hands I told her, “It’s in my pocket. Help yourself.” Then she picked up the toilet paper and left. She looked but saw nothing. I knew it was Master protecting me.
After every tool was ready, I wondered how I could find an opportunity to paint on the cloth. My cell was full of people, and police officers and guards patrolled the hallways. The evening of July 10, as other people were talking with each other, I chose an aisle between beds and spread the cloth out. I put tissue under the cloth so that the paint wouldn’t soak through to the floor. Then I started to write. I was initially afraid others would notice, so I thought I'd just write one word, for safety. After I wrote the first word, however, the fear was gone. I mentally asked Master for help so that others wouldn't see me. As I finished writing each word, I used tissue to blot it and then rolled it up. Eventually I finished writing all the words at one time. The 14 large words “Falun Dafa Is Good; Heaven Will Eliminate the CCP; Quit the CCP for Safety” were very well written in bright red paint. After everyone fell asleep, I spread the banner under the bed, to let the paint dry. The next day before everyone got up, I rolled the banner up and tied it securely. On the third day I made two poles from cardboard and tied them together with short cord.
The banner was ready, and I needed to hide it somewhere. “July 20” is a very sensitive date for everyone, including guards, officials, and police officers. To prevent practitioners from validating the Fa, the camp officials and guards searched cells, bedclothes, and duffel bags every day. So I hid the banner in a tool box in the workshop. One day two officials suddenly went to the workshop to search us and the tool boxes. I was so nervous, as if my heart was in my throat, as if the air was frozen. I shouted in my heart, “Master, please help me! Do not let them see the banner!” They didn’t find the banner.
As July 20 approached, officials and guards searched more frequently. I moved the banner back to the cell. Every day I sent forth righteous thoughts so that the officials and guards could not see it. At the same time I reminded myself to cherish the opportunity granted by Master to successfully hang the banner. From July 16 on, our captors searched us, the cells, and the workshops every day. On July 19, we were searched at least three times. But no matter how they searched, the banner was still safe.
It was rainy the morning of July 20, so I didn’t hang the banner then. In late afternoon, the glow from the sunset fell over the room. I thought that the following day might be a nice day and planned to hang the banner then. The next day at around 4:00 a.m., I heard a loud call on top of my head, making me suddenly wake up. I looked around and found no one. I knew it was Master alerting me to get up and seize the time. A guard stood outside [the cell], monitoring us via a cell window. I mentally willed her to move away at once. She really walked away to other rooms. I hurriedly walked to the restroom with the banner, but another guard monitored practitioners there. I kept sending righteous thoughts and mentally commanded her to move away. As expected, she also left. I then quickly opened the window in the restroom and tied the banner to a metal bar outside the window. The banner spread open and hung there for all to see.
The banner hung for 30 minutes outside the third floor of Masanjia Forced Labor Camp, which greatly awed the labor camp officials. The labor camp head and the head guard investigated the matter for seven days without taking a leave to go home. They couldn’t understand how a two-meter-long banner emblazoned with poster paint and professionally made could have been created and hung out in such a heavily guarded and monitored environment. And after they had searched so many times! They didn’t dare to make the matter public and had give up, without anything settled.
Throughout the process of making the banner and hanging it up, my mind changed from harboring fear and trembling to becoming magnanimous and without fear. It was revered Master who granted me this opportunity to validate Dafa and to experience and witness the extraordinary and miraculous Buddha Fa.
