(Clearwisdom.net) It has been 12 years since the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) initiated the persecution of Falun Gong. I felt that I should share with fellow practitioners my experience in assisting Teacher to rectify the Fa before and after July 20, 1999.
For me, reading fellow practitioners articles is of great importance, as many tell of Teacher's infinite grace and they bring tears to my eyes.
As a youngster in high school I enjoyed practicing Chinese martial arts, and I learned so many forms of qigong that I lost count. To find a genuine spiritual practice, I resigned from my job and traveled throughout the country to meet well-known masters. My only wish was to obtain the Dao [the Way], so I suffered a lot of hardship.
1. Fortunate to Begin Cultivating Falun Dafa in the Spring of 1996
From the beginning of my cultivation practice I was very excited and very diligent and so I wasted no time on ordinary pleasures but cultivated myself rigorously.
One afternoon, a former classmate whom I had not seen for many years came to see me. I told him that I was practicing Falun Dafa and then explained the differences between Falun Gong and other forms of qigong. I then told him that I wished to do the exercises, and he went to bed.
As soon as I finished reading the formula for the first exercise, it was as if a very powerful energy field surrounded me. I was very excited. When I was holding the wheel in the second exercise, I was surprised to hear the ticking sound of the quartz clock, which had stopped over a month ago because the battery was dead.
My classmate told me excitedly the next morning, “The exercises you were doing are really powerful!” I asked him what he meant by that and he told me that he had levitated from his bed while I was doing the exercises. I was certain that when I firmly believed in Falun Dafa, Teacher would show me miracles and thus encourage me.
I haven't seen anything unusual through my celestial eye, but the principles taught by this profound and broad Fa has given me great confidence. At that time I liked to read the Fa and memorize the Fa including Zhuan Falun, Essentials for Further Advancement and Zhuan Falun Fajie. I advanced by leaps and bounds, and fellow practitioners said that after not seeing me for a few days that I had changed again.
Not long after I began the practice, I experienced a strange phenomenon. Every time someone talked to me, the meaning of their words would change in my ears, and these words always related to my cultivation. One day in a meeting my boss said, “Do you want to make money? How much money can you earn? How much money do you want to earn?” What I heard, however, was, “Do you want to cultivate? How high can you cultivate? How high do you want to cultivate?”
I enlightened at the time that it was Teacher who was personally looking after our cultivation and saving us. Teacher said,
“Cultivation depends on one’s own efforts, while the transformation of gong is done by one’s master.” (Zhuan Falun)
I gained new insight, which told me that if you want to cultivate then you cultivate. As long as you have a wish and cultivate diligently, reaching high levels is not a problem. The key is how earnestly do you want to cultivate.
2. Spreading the Fa during the 1997 Chinese New Year
I still had a lot of childhood friends and old neighbors in my hometown. Since I liked qigong when I was still a child, I had some influence over them. I told everyone that I was cultivating in Falun Dafa, a cultivation of mind and body, as well as a great and high-level cultivation way of the Buddhist school. I had brought with me Teacher Li Hongzhi's nine-day lectures on video and invited them to come to my home and watch it after the Chinese New Year.
On the second day of Chinese New Year I began to play Teacher's Fa lectures. My home became a much-visited place. I played the Fa lectures continuously until the day I had to leave for work.
Everyone knew that I had practiced a lot of different forms of qigong in the past. I told them that I finally found the qigong practice I had been searching for and it was what they had watched over the past few days. I asked, “Whoever wants to learn the exercises can come and learn.” Many replied, “We are all willing to learn.” During the final days of my holiday I studied the Fa with them and taught them the exercises.
Before leaving home, I left with them several copies of Zhuan Falun, other Dafa books and a 9-day lecture video. From that day on, my home became a place for group Fa study and group practice.
3. The Beginning of the Persecution
On July 22, 1999, the CCP began using all of China's media to spread lies to justify the persecution of Falun Gong. Practitioners agreed to go appeal to all of China's local governments on July 23.
I brought a cassette recorder to the practice site in the morning of July 23 as usual. I unfolded the banner bearing the words “Free Instruction of the Falun Gong Exercises” and finished the four exercises. That day there were only three practitioners. After finishing the exercises we went to the city square to meet with practitioners who had gathered there. Then we went to the local People's Congress and the local government to express our views, telling them about Falun Dafa. We were determined to clear Falun Gong' name. However, the authorities refused to meet with us. We asked ourselves, "What shall we do? Stay and continue to appeal or go home?" One practitioners said, “If we go home, we have lost the opportunity to appeal as one group.” But, in the end, we went home.
When I was doing the second exercise on the morning of July 24, the neighborhood committee members came to the practice site and asked me to stop. I didn't move and they left.
When I was doing the exercises the following morning, the neighborhood committee arrived, pushed me into a car, and took me to my workplace. They confiscated several copies of Falun Dafa books and several cassettes before taking me to the local police station. The officers at the police station asked me, “The government has outlawed Falun Gong. Why do you still want to practice.” I told them that Zhuan Falun teaches one how to be a good person, so there was nothing wrong with practicing Falun Gong. The next day at noon the police released me.
At that time China's media broadcast lies about the practice and slandered Falun Dafa throughout China. Some practice site assistants as well as some well-known people agreed to the government demands and renounced the practice. Many practitioners, especially new practitioners, made statements renouncing Falun Dafa, but many more practitioners held a wait-and-see attitude.
4. Peaceful Resistance
Practitioners in my area did more group sharing and Fa study so that we could make sense of what was going on and how to react to it. A practitioner from another part of the country who came to study the Fa shared with us and told us how the practitioners in other areas had proceeded, and we found the gap between ourselves and those in other parts of the country.
In September 1999, after gradually establishing a firm belief in Falun Dafa, we realized that cultivating Dafa is sacred and solemn. Letting go of the attachment to fame and fortune was what mattered. We all agreed that Dafa was beneficial to individuals and society. We believed that the current libel and slander arose from the government's misunderstanding and prejudices. Besides holding down a regular day job, practitioners must always have compassion and be selfless. Viewing this as one of the most important principles of the practice, we decided to resume group practice in the city's central square.
The central square in our city is where people gather for all kinds of activities. We decided after discussing amongst ourselves that in two days we would start group Falun Gong exercises in the central square. We let it be known amongst practitioners in the hope that many would participate in the morning practice.
Thinking back to that time, tears well up in my eyes. From the beginning of 1998 until the days prior to July 20, 1999, many people came from different areas to begin the practice of Falun Gong and to do the exercises in the city's central square. Looking at the crowded square, I said to the square, “Today, practitioners are here again.”
On that day, 18 practitioners showed up in the central square, where we neatly finished four exercises to the soothing and melodious Falun Dafa music. Afterwards, one practitioner asked if we would come the following day. I said, “Yes, we will come tomorrow; we have restored this practice site starting today. Now we can all go back to work.”
5. Remaining Steadfast Despite Persecution
While on our way to a bus, two plainclothes officers grabbed another practitioner and me by the arm and said, “Come with us.” They pulled us into a black car and took us to a nearby police station.
During the interrogation, a police officer took notes, which became a four-page report. I didn't have my third eye opened, but I truly felt that Teacher stood by my side, observing what was going on. I forgot what I answered in detail, but I still remember what I said was really effective. I told the officers who interrogated me about the beauty and solemnity of Dafa and that Dafa would have a positive effect and stabilize society, because practitioners follow high moral principles and do good deeds. I also told him that Dafa had changed me a great deal and that I would never give up cultivating in Dafa, no matter how difficult things were.
The officer asked me to sign the deposition, but I only signed the first page, which basically recorded my situation. I refused to sign the other pages. He asked me why not. I said, “Because the government media has been smearing Dafa, I don't want them to take advantage of the other pages that could be altered or added to to serve their purpose.” After staring at me with a blank look in his eyes he said, “If you refuse to sign, then don't.”
That afternoon, the local police notified me that I was to be detained for ten days.
6. Noble People Who Knew the Truth Sided with Falun Gong
The following day, one local newspaper gave a detailed report about practitioners' activities in the central square.
The report mentioned my name and the other fellow practitioner as organizers. One thing worth mentioning is that the reporter used my deposition without making any changes. Not only that, he even clarified the part I did not express clearly, making it more readable. Maybe it was due to my strong righteous thoughts at that time. The report was discussed in society and some argued about its contents, whereas fellow practitioners were so excited that they had the newspaper copied so they could distribute it.
As a government instrument capable of shaping public opinion, that newspaper was able to spread the truth of Dafa at that time. We thanked the newspaper.
The following day, CCP agents arrested all those involved in that central square morning exercise activity, including myself, and detained us for 15 days.
After that, practitioners in that region as a whole stepped into solid cultivation, resisting the persecution and clarifying truth in society.
My ten days of detention quickly ended. Early in the morning on the 10th day, before starting work, the general manager from my work came to the detention center to pick me up. He paid the charge for the meals and drove me back to the office. On the way in his car, he said, “Don't think about anything and take it as if nothing happened. Go home, take a bath, get changed, and take a rest.”
Right after I left my office and went home to take a bath, the local police chief and other officers barged into our company and demanded that the general manager dismiss me immediately.
The general manager asked, “Why? Just because she practices Falun Gong? I tell you, she's my employee. I know very well about her performance after practicing Falun Gong. I would not dismiss her even after a long jail term let alone this ten-day detention. Furthermore, dismissal or not is our business not yours. You guys, get out!” The police left dejectedly.
I was very pleased after hearing what had happened when I returned to the office. I knew that another life had firmly and righteously established his position in the universe.
7. Twelve Years of Tribulation
During the last 12 years, the CCP minions persecuted me twice. I was able to survive the terrible tribulations only because I have strong and solid faith in Teacher and Dafa. On the path of assisting Teacher in the Fa-rectification, just as fellow practitioners throughout the world, we persevered and were unyielding. I have been steadfastly clarifying the truth about the persecution with the thought of saving sentient beings. We are upholding the most supreme, glorious and sacred spiritual practice—Falun Dafa—and its principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.
July 18, 2011