(Minghui.org) I have been cultivating Falun Dafa since July 1998. In recalling my cultivation experiences over the past two decades, I have experienced happiness as well as tribulations and tests. Whatever the circumstances, Master Li, the founder of Falun Dafa, has always been with me, protecting me every step of the way. 

I would like to share something amazing that happened when I was detained over 20 years ago. 

Arrested for Appealing for Dafa

After the persecution began, I went to Beijing on February 3, 2000 to appeal for the right to practice Dafa. As soon as I arrived at the National Appeals Office, I was arrested and taken back to Shenyang City and held in a detention center. 

I was locked up with 17 other people in a cell only eleven square meters. Half of us were Dafa practitioners. Packed in like sardines, we slept sideways at night and could barely move during the day.

On my first day at the detention center, I learned that fellow practitioners had clarified the truth to the inmates, so the situation was relatively relaxed. We practiced the exercises, memorized the Fa teachings, and shared our experiences together. Since there were so many people in the cell, we did the exercises at night or early in the morning when others were asleep. Some of the inmates also practiced the exercises with us. 

Two Dafa Books

One day, the guards ordered us to move our bedding and quilts from the fourth floor to the third. After the work was done, I came downstairs with another practitioner. As we passed the guards’ office, we noticed that the door was ajar and no one was there, so we tiptoed inside and saw a filing cabinet. A message appeared in my mind that there were Dafa books in it. Whenever Dafa practitioners were detained, the guards always searched us and confiscated our books.

Without hesitation, I opened the cabinet and, sure enough, right in front of our eyes were two copies of Zhuan Falun. We each took one and hid it under our clothes. Just then, we heard the guards calling everyone to return to their cells. 

Back in our cell, everyone was thrilled to see the books because, up until then, it had been impossible to get any Dafa books inside the detention center! We cherished the books and carefully hid them away.

Protecting Dafa Books 

Early the next morning, we were notified that the guards would soon conduct an all-around cell and body search. We wondered if they had discovered that the books were missing. In any case, from past experience we knew that the guards who searched us and the cells would turn everything upside down and there was no place to hide anything. Although we were nervous, we were determined that we would not let those books fall into the guards’ hands again.

Just as we were feeling desperate, a practitioner took out a box with a new pair of underpants and shirt that her family had brought her. She opened the packaging, placed the two books side by side in the middle of the clothes, and then sealed up the packages. We then carefully put the packages under her bed next to other personal items.

As soon as we’d put the books away, a few guards walked in with an inmate who’d been arrested for stealing. The inmate was deaf and mute. She first searched our bodies and then they turned over all the bedding, examined everything carefully, including the items under the bed, but found nothing. 

After that incident, we decided to get the books out of the detention center because we believed that they should not be there. After talking it over, we all agreed that whoever got out first should take the books with her.

About a week later, the practitioner who’d wrapped the books in her clothes was released. She took the two copies of Zhuan Falun with her when she left the detention center. 

Although 20 years have passed, I still find it hard to believe. Given the terrible circumstances in those days, the consequences would have been devastating had we been caught for what we did. I know that protecting those books was only possible with Master Li's protection.