(Minghui.org) I’m 78 years old, and I live in a small, remote county in Sichuan Province. In August 1998, I was fortunate to hear about Falun Dafa and Master that gave me a second life. I’d like to tell you about some of my cultivation experiences.
I had a strong ego and refused to back down. I was short-tempered, and my family and friends didn’t dare argue with me. I was very sick and suffered from foot pain, hand pain, headaches, toothaches, dizziness, and other diseases. Chinese and Western medicine didn’t help. I spent a lot of money but my health issues worsened. I couldn’t do farm work. I had to be taken care of by my family. I was in constant pain and I thought about suicide.
In August 1998, when I was in depths of despair, a relative told me about Falun Dafa. I studied the Fa and practiced the exercises and my illnesses were resolved. Dafa gave me a new life. I was healthy and energetic and I could work in the field again!
I helped my neighbors and everyone noticed my positive changes. When I told people it was because I now practice Falun Dafa, many were inspired to practice. I became a local exercise site contact person.
On July 20, 1999, former Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Jiang Zemin began a campaign of lies to slander Falun Dafa and Master and launched the persecution. I headed to Beijing to speak up for Dafa on December 28, 1999.
The CCP used various means to block practitioners from filing petitions. With Master’s help I overcame many difficulties, and arrived in Beijing. After getting off the bus, I went straight to the State Council Appeal Office.
A clerk asked why I came. I said, “I practice Falun Dafa and I came to appeal to the central government. It is wrong for the central authorities to label Falun Dafa as a cult. I’ve experienced tremendous changes after I began practicing, and so have many people in my area.” The clerk said, “Tell me about them.”
I said, “In 1994, some local residents attended Master’s lectures and afterward introduced Falun Dafa to our county. In just a few years, thousands of people in our area began practicing. Among them were government officials and people from all walks of life. By practicing Falun Dafa, people regained their health, and their morals improved. Practitioners practice Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, which has played a tremendous positive role in social stability and the improvement of public order.
“For example, one village was short of water, especially in the dry season. In the past, the farmers often fought to compete for water to irrigate their fields. Some people were even injured. In 1996, after 35 villagers began practicing Falun Dafa, they became considerate. During the dry season, they let the other farmers irrigate the land first, and they watered theirs afterward. People stopped fighting over water.
“In 1998, a catastrophic flood occurred in our county. The mud accumulated more than 2 feet deep on the highway, and many cars and motorcycles were stuck in it. The local government did not have the funds to tackle this. So, more than 20 Falun Dafa practitioners brought tools and spent nine hours removing the mud. Everyone praised Falun Dafa and practitioners.
“A drug addict who spent all his family’s money began practicing Falun Dafa and became a hard worker and reimbursed his parents. They said Master Li Hongzhi saved their son and family.
“Another person was arrested and sentenced for robbing people and stealing. During his second sentence, he was terminally ill. While he was released on medical parole he learned about Dafa. Nine days after he began practicing his cancer was gone and his outlook on life changed completely. He helped the other villagers and repaired wires, switches, electrical appliances, etc. The policeman who handled the case said, ‘Imprisonment did not change his bad behavior, but he became a different person after he began practicing Falun Dafa!’”
The clerk said, “I won’t remember everything you said. Please write it down.”
However, around 3 p.m. that day, I was arrested by the police from my county police department and taken to the Beijing liaison office for illegal detention. I was held for two days. On the third day, I was taken back to the county detention center, where I was held for 27 days.
I was the only practitioner in the detention center on the 27th day. Some practitioners had been released, and others were sent to the labor camp. I calmed down and thought: “The CCP’s propaganda is overwhelming, and the suppression is gradually escalating. Hundreds of Falun Dafa practitioners in our township are committed to practicing, but some are not sure. I need to go home and encourage them.”
I silently begged Master: “I need to go home. I will definitely do a good job in the local area.”
Under Master’s protection, I walked out of the detention center.
When I returned home I saw that the local exercise sites were closed. Practitioners lost their cultivation environment and didn’t know what to do. I wanted to restore the sites. Through everyone’s efforts, small-scale sites were established. We clearly understood the current situation and that practitioners should expose the persecution, clarify the truth and let the world see the true situation.
At the end of December 2000, starting at 10 o’clock in the evening, we took action. Some people hung banners, others put up slogans, some passed out truth-clarifying leaflets, and some distributed truth-clarifying materials door to door. Early the next morning, banners such as “The World Needs Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance” and “Stop the Persecution of Falun Gong” could be seen at traffic intersections, on telephone poles, trees, and buildings in urban and rural areas throughout the county. Households in dozens of townships and villages received our materials.
The next morning I walked around to see the effect. Our banners were everywhere. When I arrived downtown I saw people reading the leaflets, and some were discussing them. I heard one person say, “The CCP is bad.” Another person said, “Falun Dafa is unjustly persecuted.” Another person said, “What’s wrong with this world? It’s hard to be a good person.”
An old man told a policeman, “You can see the leaflet clearly states that the suppression of Falun Dafa is persecuting good people. Falun Dafa is good, and you have to distinguish between good and bad, do things according to your conscience, and treat good people well!”
The 610 Office was furious and mobilized the procuratorate, the police, the militia, and relevant government departments to conduct a dragnet investigation throughout the county and find who did this. They carried out a large-scale search and arrest of practitioners throughout the county for more than three months from December 15, 2000, to March 2001.
On January 20, 2001, I was seized and taken to the Public Security Bureau. I was illegally interrogated by the police that afternoon. I did not cooperate. At 8:00 p.m., the captain of the county public security criminal police brigade interrogated me. I said, “There’s nothing wrong with Falun Dafa, there’s nothing wrong with being a good person.”
The captain said angrily, “You dare to resist. Wait and see what I do to you.” The captain called a policeman. They pushed me to the ground, stripped off my clothing, and dragged me to the corridor on the second floor of the Public Security Bureau. They handcuffed me and hung me up with only my toes touching the ground.
It was winter, and I didn’t have clothes. I wasn’t given food or water to drink. I was cold, hungry, and in severe pain. I grit my teeth and silently recited Master’s Fa, “When it’s difficult to endure, you can endure it. When it’s impossible to do, you can do it.” (Lecture Nine, Zhuan Falun). I passed out. I was hung for more than five hours.
After three days I was sent to a detention center. The police repeatedly interrogated me, but I always said the same thing: “There’s nothing wrong with being a good person, and there is no crime in practicing Falun Dafa.” I didn’t confess or sign anything. They let me go home after 28 days.
At 9 a.m. on March 2, 2001, two policemen broke into my home and handcuffed me. The next day, a man from the county prosecutor’s office interrogated me. He asked, “Have you distributed Falun Dafa leaflets in your township?” I thought this was a good opportunity to clarify the truth, so I said, “Yes.” He asked what the leaflet was about.
I said, “The persecution of Falun Dafa by Jiang Zemin and his gang. Jiang ignored the fact that Falun Dafa promotes high morals, and encourages people to be good. He ignored the other six members of the Politburo Standing Committee of the CCP who were against the persecution and insisted on persecuting Falun Dafa using lies and violence.
“Our ancestors knew that good is rewarded, and evil meets retribution. The persecution of righteous believers has never ended well.”
The prosecutor asked again, “Why are you distributing Falun Dafa leaflets?” I said, “Jiang Zemin’s clique is persecuting Falun Dafa by fabricating lies, framing people, and fabricating charges. The law enforcement personnel of the procuratorate and justice department who directly participate in the persecution have been deceived by the CCP’s lies and have aided and abetted in the abuse.
“If law enforcement officers can understand the truth, they will be able to make the right choice between good and evil and stop persecuting Falun Dafa, they will have a bright future.”
The prosecutor said, “I see.” The prosecutor then told me to read his questions and my answers, and see if there were any mistakes. I looked at it and said all were correct. He then asked me to sign it. I took his pen and wrote five words: “Falun Dafa Is Good,” and I signed it.
What I said must have touched him. When he took the transcript he said, “Falun Dafa is amazing!”
Less than a month later I heard the procuratorate withdrew the case against me, but the Political Security Section continued to detain me. I was illegally detained for nearly a month, and then the Public Security Bureau sent me to a labor camp for two years. They did not notify me or my family. Two police officers secretly escorted me to the Mianyang Labor Camp.
I was a little overwhelmed by this sudden change, what should I do? I thought that I’m a Dafa disciple, and I did not belong in a labor camp. So I said to Master, “Master, I want to go home. I want to go back and do the things practitioners should do.” When I arrived at the labor camp the next day, the doctor examined me and found that my entire body was swollen. He repeatedly shook his head and told the police officer, “We can’t accept him. Take him back.” I knew very well that it was Master who saved me.
When I got out of the labor camp, the two policemen who detained me called the chief of the political security section: “What should we do if he failed to pass the physical examination?” The section chief said, “You must put him in the labor camp. I want him to be tortured and die there.” So, the two policemen took me to the provincial capital city. They contacted several labor camps, but they all refused to accept me. In desperation, they had no choice but to take me back to the county.
On the trip, I kept telling the policemen the truth. They were very sympathetic and said, “Jiang Zemin is bad. He fabricated lies to persecute good people, but we don’t want to be held responsible for what he’s done.”
I was held in the detention center for another 21 days. My “illness” became serious. On the morning of the 22nd day, the director saw that my whole body was swollen, and my skin was yellowish. I hadn’t eaten anything for several days.
The director was afraid I would die, so he decided to release me immediately. After twelve o’clock, the discipline officer told me, “Pack up your things, you are being released.” All the prison personnel who understood the truth applauded and saw me off.
When I got home, I bowed to Master’s picture and thanked him for saving me again. I studied the Fa, practiced the exercises, and sent righteous thoughts. I didn’t go to the hospital, or take a single pill. The edema disappeared and my body fully recovered. I continue to do the three things that Dafa disciples should do.
Master has been by my side all the time, watching over me and protecting me. I was detained when I went to Beijing in December 1999 and sent to a labor camp. The CCP tried to sentence me, but Master enlightened the conscience of the prosecutor, who withdrew the case. The labor camp doctor said that I would die within three days. After I returned home, Master purified my body again, and I fully recovered in 10 days.
I wept as I wrote this article. Master’s compassionate protection brought me to where I am today. Master gave me a second life, a third life! Master’s kindness is vast, and the only thing I can do to repay him is to practice diligently and do the three things well!