How I Maintained a Righteous Mind and Validated Falun Dafa During the ‘Zero-Out’ Campaign

(Minghui.org) Due to the upcoming Beijing Winter Olympics and the 20^th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the regime is again conducting a “Zero-out” campaign targeting Falun Dafa adherents. From what I understand, this is a big undertaking and is being carried out by the district governments, subdistrict offices, neighborhood committees, and local police stations. 

The authorities circulated a questionnaire, and the police interrogate each practitioner. The whole process is recorded, and the videos are handed in as “evidence.” There are three core questions: “Do you still practice Falun Dafa? Do you think that Falun Dafa is a cult? What’s your opinion on Master Li Hongzhi?”

In my case, the authorities first directed my employer to pressure me before they came to my workplace. My colleagues told me that the company’s CCP secretary would talk to me the next day, which gave me a chance to prepare what I would say. 

That evening, I carefully organized my thoughts. I felt that this was going to be a major test for me, but at the same time it was an opportunity for me to validate the Fa and clarify the truth.

Master Li said, 

“So don’t regard the occurrence of whatever problems you face as interference to your rightful tasks, to your Fa study, or to your clarifying the truth. That’s not the case. When a problem arises, it provides an opportunity for clarifying the truth.” (“Fa Teaching Given at the 2006 Conference in Canada,” Collected Teachings Given Around the World, Volume VII).

I thought to put aside any thought of being interfered with by the old forces. As long as I could achieve “having the Fa in my heart” and “use the Fa as the teacher” throughout this process, I would be able to pass this test. 

First, I needed to avoid a competitive mentality and not act as if I were against the officials questioning me. Otherwise, it would bring unnecessary trouble to my work, life, and future opportunities to validate the Fa. Second, I was prepared to tell them the facts about Falun Dafa’s great health benefits. Master said, 

“Since understanding the Fa is done step by step, if you talk about things at a high level right away they will be unnerved. What you can say is, “This practice is really good and it’s great for health. It’s good for the mind and body and it raises people’s moral standards. This book is excellent. Do you want to read it? Would you be interested in knowing more about it?”” (Teachings at the 2004 International Conference in New York). 

I would then attest to “Truthfulness,” one of the three main principles of the teachings: Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. I would not shy away from any of their questions, and I would speak my true thoughts. Afterward, I sent righteous thoughts and asked Master to help me.

At 10:30 a.m. the next day, I was notified that the CCP secretary wanted to speak with me. I heard that eight people from different government departments had come to inform my workplace about the “Zero-Out” campaign. This secretary had just transferred to our area last year and didn’t know much about my situation. 

He started out telling me about the requirements of the “Zero-Out” campaign, which came from a branch of the upper government. He then asked if I still practiced Falun Dafa. I simply answered yes. He asked why I practiced it, and I replied that Falun Dafa gives me great health benefits. He didn’t argue. 

In order to be able to file a report with his superiors, the secretary tried to persuade me that I could continue practicing, but not specify practice Falun Dafa, as other qigong practices also include a set of movements or meditation. I firmly refused to agree to that. I explained each practice has its own characteristics, but I benefited from practicing only Faun Dafa, and I could not go against my conscience and say it was another discipline. At my workplace, I was known for being precise, rigorous in my research work, and for never lying.

As for Falun Dafa being called a cult, I said there was no legal basis for this: “First, Falun Dafa is not among the 14 cults listed by China’s own Ministry of Public Security. This is public information on the Internet. Second, there are no laws, regulations, or official documents that identify Falun Dafa as a cult.” What I said caught him off guard. 

I said that if he didn’t believe me, he could go to the relevant departments to obtain the documents, and if there was a legal document declaring Falun Dafa to be a cult, I’d like to see it and discuss the matter further.

I also told him that the Tiananmen Square Self-Immolation was fake. It had been staged by the CCP to defame Falun Dafa, as explained on the official website of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). I explained three aspects, “First, Wang Jindong’s body was burned to such an extent that it was impossible for a Sprite bottle containing gasoline between his legs to remain intact after the self-immolation. Second, Tiananmen Square is so large that it was impossible for the police to bring in fire extinguishers and even a blanket on such short notice. The only possibility was they were put there in advance. Third, if Liu Siying had a tracheotomy, it would be impossible for her to speak.” He was really shocked. I concluded, “What I said today is well-documented and you can check for yourself.”

The secretary talked to me again the following day. He confirmed that Liu Siying had indeed spoken after her supposed tracheotomy. He then took out a document from the District Office of Comprehensive Management and said it declared Falun Dafa was a cult. I replied: “The Office of Comprehensive Management is a law enforcement agency. It can formulate its own rules and regulations in accordance with the regulations of the higher-level government, but it does not have the authority to determine that Falun Dafa is a cult. 

“This document does not specify which law it is based on, so it is invalid. The persecution of Falun Dafa has had a great impact on the international community, so if an official document can’t be found, then it means there is no relevant law declaring Falun Dafa as a cult.”

He then said that the Supreme Court and Supreme Procuratorate have had judicial interpretations about the matter. I rebutted, “According to Legislation Law, the legislative power and judicial interpretation power belong to the National People’s Congress. Judicial interpretations by the Supreme Court and Supreme Procuratorate are not valid.” 

He replied that many things were based on judicial interpretations by the Supreme Court and Supreme Procuratorate. I then took this opportunity to tell him that the persecution of Falun Dafa was purely Jiang Zemin’s personal will. His predecessors, Hu Jintao and Xi Jinping, have never said anything about it. The General Administration of Press and Publication Order No. 50 even lifted the ban on Falun Dafa books. 

I also discussed the issue of politics: “Falun Dafa practitioners have no political agenda. Dafa has spread around the world for nearly 30 years. Which group wouldn’t make their political intentions public after such a long time? Falun Dafa has never said that it wants to overthrow the CCP, but we have said the CCP has lied about many things and one should not believe everything it says. All the claims the CCP made about Falun Dafa are definitely false.” 

The secretary basically acquiesced the point that one should not believe everything the CCP says. He basically knew what Falun Dafa was all about and expressed a certain degree of praise for my clear thinking and my search for truth.

On the third day, a police officer and the director of the neighborhood committee talked to me first. They had learned about my position from my employer and seemed a little helpless in the face of my claim that the persecution of Falun Dafa has no legal basis. They repeatedly emphasized that they didn’t care whether I practice Falun Dafa or not, they were just following formalities and hoped that I would cooperate with them.

I tried to maintain a peaceful mind during this process, but my position was very firm: “I will not go against my conscience, I will not lie when asked any question, and my answers are my true thoughts.” They then tried to intimidate me, “If you don’t cooperate with us, we will escalate your case, and you may be jailed. Your spouse’s work and even your children’s future will all be affected.”

I maintained a righteous mind the whole time. I also kept a silent thought in my heart: I hoped to show a Falun Dafa practitioner’s true qualities and character through my words and actions. Under no circumstances would I give up my belief in Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. At the same time, I also asked Master for help.

An hour and a half later, things turned around. The director of the subdistrict and the director of the police station came to talk to me. They asked everyone else to leave the room. The director of the subdistrict first assured me that he would not force me to lie and expressed his respect for those who tell the truth. The director of the police station also expressed his feeling that there is nothing wrong with believing in Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, saying I could continue to practice Falun Dafa and could have Dafa materials and books in my home. 

I thanked them for not forcing me to lie. Afterward, they asked me a few questions that had nothing to do with the three so-called core questions and then told me to go home. So the matter was resolved, and I was reminded of Master’s poem :

“...When disciples have ample righteous thoughtsMaster has the power to turn back the tide”(“The Master-Disciple Bond,” Hong Yin II)

I think this satisfactory outcome was the result of two things. One was that I didn’t have a competitive mentality at any point during the three days of questioning. Second, I took it as an opportunity to validate the Fa and clarify the truth. Through my words and actions, I exhibited to all those I spoke with that Falun Dafa practitioners speak the truth even when under pressure, which is very rare in today’s society. In addition, I was able to successfully explain to them that there is no legal basis for the persecution.

The above is my personal opinions and understandings. If anything is inappropriate, please kindly point it out.