Cultivating Myself Solidly Despite the Severe Persecution

(Minghui.org) Before I began practicing Falun Dafa in 1996, I was introverted, timid, and weak, and my health was bad. After I began practicing I understood the true meaning of life. 

I stepped out to validate the Fa after the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) started the persecution in 1999. I was imprisoned for 13 years because I refused to stop practicing Falun Dafa. I was brutally persecuted, and the people who knew me said that I would not survive because they thought no one could endure the torture. The prison blocked the information and wouldn’t let me contact my family. Because they couldn’t get any information about my situation they thought I was dead. The local police station canceled my household registration. 

But I survived, and I now clarify the truth to people openly and with dignity. The neighbors say that I am a changed person. Master protected me and enabled me, who faced death every day, to live to today. Falun Dafa changed me. No words can express my thanks to Master. 

I’d like to tell you about my cultivation experiences. Please kindly point out anything inappropriate. 

Counter Persecution Firmly

I was incarcerated in Division 8 of the Provincial Women’s Prison due to my belief in Falun Dafa. Practitioners were most severely persecuted in this division. When I saw the others were beaten, cursed at, tied up, and hung up, I was very afraid. When I was assigned to work, I didn’t resist. I didn’t have clear understanding of how to deal with the persecution and didn’t understand why the other practitioners refused to do labor. 

One day the prison guard led some policemen from the anti-riot squad to the workshop and dragged some practitioners who refused to do the forced labor to a small cell. One practitioner stood up to stop the policemen. The guard and some inmates then brutally beat this practitioner and dragged her to the small cell. Many practitioners tried to stop them. The inmates beat them. 

I put down the work I was doing and stood up to look at this battle between good and evil. The evilness and the practitioners’ righteous thoughts and actions touched me and woke me up. I realized I was wrong. 

Master said, 

“No matter what the situation, do not cooperate with the evil’s demands, orders, or what it instigates. If everyone can do that, circumstances will change.” (“Dafa Disciples’ Righteous Thoughts Are Powerful,” The Essentials of Diligent Progress II)

These practitioners refused to do the forced labor, but I complied. This imposed pressure on the other practitioners. I should take some responsibility. Wasn’t I going along with the evil? It was because of my fear. I lacked righteous thoughts and didn’t enlighten due to my fear. If I kept going down this road I would enlighten on an evil path. I reminded myself that Falun Dafa practitioners have a mission and I must let go of my fear.

The policemen from the anti-riot squad came to the workshop again the next day. They called in practitioners one by one to the guard office. They shocked the practitioners with electric batons and tried to force them to agree to do the forced labor. After being tortured for two days, some couldn’t bear it and agreed to do the forced labor against their will. 

I was the last one to be called in. A tall and strong policeman holding an electric baton asked me whether I would do the work. I said, “No.” He raised the electric baton and asked me again. I didn’t look at him. He asked me again. I said, “No.” I said that all the practitioners incarcerated in the small cell should be released. He got angry and came near me with the electric baton. He said he would shock me and asked again if I would start working. I told him firmly, “No.” He stopped and thought for a while before he said that I could go back. 

I was very timid but that day I was very determined even when I was threatened with the electric baton. Master removed my fear and I had righteous thoughts. 

The practitioners were very happy to see me coming out of the guard office. They said that they would not do the forced labor. We went on hunger strike to demand that the practitioners placed in solitary confinement be released. The practitioners improved their xinxing and cooperated very well during this process. The practitioners in the small cell were released shortly, and the prison decided that practitioners no longer needed to do forced labor. 

Looking Within While Being Tortured

The prison didn’t force us to work but conducted brainwashing to us instead. When they read the brainwashing materials to us we recited the Fa and sent righteous thoughts. They tried to force us to sit on small stools to interfere with our sending righteous thoughts. We didn’t obey. 

One morning the head of the large unit led a group of vicious inmates who came with equipment. They told us to sit on the small stools. We said “No.” They dragged us one by one to the corridor and madly beat us with big boards and clubs on our heads and faces. One practitioner passed out. I went immediately to the practitioner to look after her. The inmates didn’t beat me. Some practitioners didn’t fear them and refused to sit on the small stool no matter how badly they were tortured. The inmates beat us for an entire morning and left at noon. The practitioners refused to follow the evil’s instructions. 

After the inmates left I saw my selfishness, fear, and slyness. I had so much human thinking and attachments, that I felt I was not worthy of the title, Falun Dafa practitioner. Would I be able to fulfill my mission of assisting Master to rectify the Fa? 

That day I made up my mind that I would let go of life and death and walk my cultivation path well. I asked Master to give me opportunities. I looked within and found many attachments such as seeking comfort and fear. I didn’t do what a practitioner should do while I was imprisoned. I didn’t practice the exercises or send righteous thoughts properly. I was determined that I would practice the exercises, send righteous thoughts and save the sentient beings who were imprisoned. 

Saving People Despite Huge Suffering

There were a lot of inmates in the prison, but it was hard to clarify the truth to them due to the many restrictions. What should I do? I recited “On Dafa” and poems from Hong Yin to them, and told them, “Falun Dafa is good” every day. I believed this would eliminate the evil and enable more people to be saved or even obtain the Fa. 

But the guards kept persecuting me. I let go of life and death, and no matter how they tortured me, I kept doing what I could to clarify the truth. When I recited “On Dafa,” the guards and inmates left. 

I shouted “Falun Dafa is good” loudly so that more people could hear me. My voice is usually quiet when I talk. When I called out, Falun Dafa is good, my voice could be heard far away. Some inmates also shouted “Falun Dafa is good” when they were punished. 

When I was called to the Prison Administration meeting that night, I shouted “Falun Dafa is good.” After I shouted, “Falun Dafa is good,” they persecuted me severely. The more they tortured me, the louder I shouted. My voice spread far and wide. They couldn’t stop me. One day the guard shouted “Falun Dafa is good” when she entered our cell. Everyone laughed. When some guards saw me they shouted, “Falun Dafa is good.” Most of the inmates who I was in contact with withdrew from the CCP and its affiliated organizations. Some started studying the Fa. 

Falun Dafa changed me from a timid and weak person to a Falun Dafa practitioner in the Fa-rectification period who everyone admires. Thank you Master for your compassion and salvation!