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Journal of Practitioners on Hunger Strike In Washington DC Wang Jinwei, Jin Huijuan
(Clearwisdom.net)
Righteous Thoughts Are Critical
Because we want people to take our fasting seriously, we repeatedly insisted
on only sleeping in vans and drinking only water. We refused sports drinks
brought by some well-intentioned practitioners and urged them to take them back.
Today I felt that this thought was not righteous enough.
What we are doing is open and honorable. We are fasting and will not touch
anything that contains calories. People will not be skeptical. As practitioners,
we should keep reminding ourselves not to be affected by the deformed human
mentality. When you are upright, the surrounding environment will also be
upright. "The Buddha-light illuminates everywhere and rectifies all
abnormalities." (from Zhuan Falun)
The day before yesterday, we used some yellow plastic cloth cut in circular
shapes to form the Chinese character for "upright." I realized that as
long as we keep our righteous thoughts, we will behave in the right way, and it
will bring about positive results. We have no choice but to go on a hunger
strike, using our own lives to awaken the sense of justice within people to
protect the righteous and stop the evil. It is the right thing to do, so why
should we worry about the consequences?
Chen Zhi, from Alabama
Why Did I Take Part in the Hunger Strike?
I met a practitioner when I went back to China to appeal for Falun Gong last
year. He was sentenced to one year in labor camp. He went on a hunger strike for
30 days and was released for medical treatment. He said that it was unbearable,
not being able to read the books and do the exercises. He would fight for that
right, even if it meant losing his life. Many practitioners in China are like
him. Recently, 130 practitioners detained in the Masanjia Labor Camp are on a
group hunger strike, risking their lives to protest their extended detention.
Practitioners in and out of China are one body. Living in a relatively free
and comfortable environment, I feel guilty about not being able to better help
practitioners in China by letting the world know what price they have paid and
how they still live with great benevolence and forbearance. Now, with what I
endure here, I want to let the world know how much they have gone through for
their faith in "Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance." I want the
world to know about their great benevolence and forbearance as Falun Dafa
practitioners, so that people can be awakened.
I will fight the persecution of Falun Dafa and help rescue practitioners in
China with my righteous thoughts and behavior.
Every Dafa particle is playing an indispensable role in Fa-rectification, and
I consider this hunger strike to be a part of my role.
He Wei, from Rhode Island
Today Is the Fourth Day
Today is the fourth day of the hunger strike. Light hearted and relaxed, I
felt good after getting up in the morning,. When we were doing the Falun Gong
exercises together, an elderly American lady said that she liked it very much.
She sat down and drew a beautiful sketch of the scene. She told me that she was
going to email me the sketch. I thanked her and told her about some of my
experiences in practicing Falun Gong. She left happily.
In the afternoon, ten media members came to interview us. I sat in the sun
calmly, not feeling any dizziness or discomfort. I knew that in some way Teacher
was helping me. At around 1:00 p.m., while the media members shot their footage,
another practitioner (Lin Xiaoxu) and I went to peacefully submit our appeal to
the Chinese Embassy. We patiently explained our intentions to a staff member,
but he pushed us away fiercely and twice threw our letter out of the gate. He
accompanied his violent actions with curses. Seeing that, I came to understand
more about the miserable situation of practitioners in China. Jiang Zemin's
regime does not care about the lives of practitioners, whether they are in China
or abroad.
Zhang Yu, from Atlanta
Submitting the Letter of Appeal to the Chinese Embassy
At 1:00 p.m. on August 20, on behalf of practitioners on the hunger strike,
Zhang Yu and I went to submit the letter of appeal to the Chinese Embassy. At
the embassy gate, we pressed the doorbell three times, but no one answered. We
were about to press another doorbell on the right when we heard the sound of the
door opening. We pushed open the door and walked in.
At that point, we saw a staff member rushing out in fury and using dirty
language. He pushed us out the door fiercely. We calmly explained our intention,
saying that we only wanted to submit a letter of appeal. He said that the
embassy refused to take it and walked away without looking back. He then shut
the inner door behind him loudly.
We decided to leave the letter on the windowsill. The staff member inside
rushed out again in fury, grabbed the letter, and threw it out. However, the
letter floated right back to him. He picked it up and threw it out again. The
media captured the whole scene.
It is the right of a Chinese citizen to submit a letter of appeal to the
Chinese Embassy, the representative of the Chinese government. However, the
staff member there did not show the least respect and violently pushed us out.
It was an act that ignored human rights and damaged the reputation of our
country.
It is easy to imagine what happens when practitioners in China go to appeal.
They are not merely rebuffed, but they are met by the police and detained
immediately. This is the "Golden Period for Human Rights" as claimed
by Jiang Zemin, who was selected as the "human rights scoundrel" by
Amnesty International.
Lin Xiaoxu, from Alabama
Some Personal Thoughts
As practitioners, we value our lives. Every practitioner overseas has a role
and a mission in the Fa-rectification.
We have used various methods to appeal peacefully to Jiang Zemin's
government. Not only did they ignore the appeal, but instead they escalated the
persecution of Falun Gong.
In one labor camp there are 130 people forced to the verge of death for their
beliefs. How many practitioners in China are facing the same situation? In such
a critical moment, I chose to take part in the hunger strike.
I hope this action can attract the attention of people and media in the world
and expose the evil conduct of the Masanjia Labor Camp. In fact, the truth is
being exposed and verified.
I know clearly in my heart that the longer we stay, the more support we will
get from kind-hearted people, and the closer we will be to eliminating the evil
den of Masanjia with the joined efforts of all the practitioners in the world.
Xiong Shounan, from Virginia
Diary Of A Mother and Daughter
On the 5th day of the 263-hour sit-in, we started a hunger strike. My mother,
other practitioners, and I are determined to finish the 263 hours (now it has
become 265 hours, as two more practitioners have died from torture.) I remember
that Teacher talked about "great way without form." (From
"Lecture at the First Conference in North America") When we do
our part in various ways and from various perspectives in this human world, we
are actually blocking the openings of the evil den in other dimensions, so that
it will be eliminated. We carried out two things at the same time in front of
the Chinese Embassy. First, we submitted two letters of appeal, and the staff
threw the letters to the ground in fury in front of the media. Secondly, we sat
and fasted. At 3:00 p.m. today, we will be into the fourth day of the hunger
strike. Mother and I both feel great. Our bodies are light and airy, and I am
not hungry. Most of the time I am not even aware that I am fasting. It is due to
the power of Dafa and Teacher that I do not feel hungry or sleepy.
Teacher said in "Fa-rectification Period Dafa Disciples," "It
might seem that you have done what you should do for Dafa, when actually, you
are doing it for your comprehensive Consummation and return. If during this
period you cannot do well with what you should do, this Consummation stage can
only be a cultivation process, and it cannot fundamentally be Fa-rectification
disciples' true and final Consummation. If during the evil's persecution a Dafa
disciple doesn't do well or slacks off, it's very possible all his previous
efforts will have been for nothing."
Through the hunger strike I realized that cultivation practice is a serious
matter. I will rectify my own mind, keep righteous thoughts, and remain
steadfast.
Posting date: 8/25/2001
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