(Clearwisdom.net) When I was a small child, I often proudly said to my little friends, "My mom is the best mom in the world!" Whenever the Chinese Lunar New Year was approaching, mom always made a set of beautiful clothes for me with her own hands. All my friends envied me. Mom not only doted on me but she was also a very knowledgeable person. She was a professor of physics in a university. I was also always pestering my mom and asked her all kinds of questions. "Look, mom, there are so many twinkling stars in the sky, how beautiful they are! Are there any human beings on those planets? Why don't they fall down? Why are they so quiet and no one fights the others?..." Mom said, "My daughter, if you want to find out the answer, try to learn physics when you grow up. Physics can help you understand many of the riddles. The colossal universe is full of inimitable mysteries, and there are still countless puzzles to be unveiled!" In this way, I chose to study physics. And now, I obtained my Ph.D in physics in the United States. But mom, where are you now? Did you hear your daughter's calling? What I want to tell you is my mother, Ms. Zeng Lingwen's story. She had been a respected professor of physics. Mom had been diligent in her studies since her childhood. She was admitted by the Department of Physics in Jilin University at age of 17. She was one of a very few students who maintained a perfect GPA throughout there graduate studies in the department. Mom was also good at sports. She was once the champion of 100-meter race in her college and one of the top players of the school basketball team. After she graduated, she was chosen to do her graduate studies under the guidance of the department's two most famous physicists. After the Cultural Revolution, my mother worked in the Department of Physics in Jilin University as a professor. She works diligently and conscientiously. To prepare a lecture for her class, she often looked up and reviewed numerous reference papers. To obtain reliable experimental data, she worked day and night in her lab. Using simple and crude equipment, she guided her students to accomplish many creative projects, and their papers were published in major national and international journals. In 1985, mom worked in University of Utah in Salt Lake City as a visiting scholar, where her research in the field of electronic spin resonance was recognized and praised by her colleagues. Mom's students were also very close to her, because mom not only gave instruction to them, but she also cared about their daily lives. Her students loved and esteemed her very much, and her colleagues respected her. Previously, my mom was not in good health. She had been suffering from various illnesses, including arthritis, heart disease and low blood pressure. To obtain good health, she tried many types of Qigong. She even learned acupuncture on her own. Unfortunately, her health did not fundamentally improve. During the 1993 Chinese Lunar New Year, I went home to visit my family. I was amazed to find out that my mother did not need anything to reduce her lower back pain. Previously, she often had tied two warm water bags around her waist. During my visit, she even climbed the stairs faster than me without breathing hard. It was because that she started practicing Falun Gong. all of the illnesses she had suffered from gradually disappeared. Since mom started practicing Falun Gong, she not only gained better health, but she became more broad-minded. There was a story that impressed me very much. The story occurred at my sister's family. My sister was very smart and eager to do well in everything since childhood. When she was only in her thirties, she was appointed as the chief engineer in Jilin Provincial Institute of Architecture. She has been very successful in her career. Unfortunately, her family life was miserable. Her husband was originally an instructor in a university. Because he joined the 1989 student movement, he was fired by the university. To survive, he had to go into business. However, it was too hard for an intellect without any experiences at all to do well in business. He encountered many hardships and owed lots of debts. Feeling lost and discontent, he often abused and cursed my sister. The corruption of the society also made him sink into vice. He was often imprisoned for committing crimes. My sister felt that she could no longer bear such kind of life and proposed to have divorce her husband. That was undoubtedly a heavy blow on her husband. He even furiously said, "If you divorce me, I will revenge all of your family when I'm freed." My sister decided to leave her home and go to Shenzhen to start a new life. So she asked my mom to take care of her son. But mom said to her, "A family should be integrated. A child needs not only his mother but also his father. If you divorce, your son will either miss his mom or his dad. What a misfortune would it be for a child! Your husband has already encountered so many misfortunes, if you leave him at this point, what kind of foreground would it wait for him? On the contrary, if you could bear a little grievance, but consider him more and be more gentle to him, maybe you could let him return to the fold. This way, maybe your entire family would be saved!" My sister took mom's advice and had a long talk with her husband when he was released from jail. Her husband was deeply touched and he vowed that he would never do those bad deeds anymore. He decided to have fresh start. He indeed did so. Their family resumed their originate happiness and harmony. I know that my mom's kindness and tolerance towards my brother-in-law was because of her belief in Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. My brother-in-law often feelingly said to others, "After I was jailed, my own parents did not want to talk with me anymore. They did not even recognize me as their son. But my mother-in-law and father-in-law never disliked or avoided me. They treated me so kindly!" And yet, can you imagine that my mom, such a kind-hearted person is currently unreasonably imprisoned in a forced labor camp? In July 1999, the persecution of Falun Gong began. My mother was a renowned professor and also a voluntary contact person in the local area. She was arrested in the first batch of mass arrests. She was detained in a drug rehabilitation center for about six months. On one day, six policemen took turns interrogating her and did not allow her to sleep. They forced her to give up her practice of Falun Gong. Mom told me in her letter, "They yelled, 'Do you know what kind of place is here? This is where we interrogate murderers. We will let you taste the state dictatorship, send you to the re-education through labor camp for 3 or 5 years, and your family members will also suffer with you!' At that time, I was very calm and did not fear at all, because I know that I have not done anything wrong, and they have no reason to sentence me. I will never say a single word of 'no' towards Falun Dafa and Master." My mom was released a few days before the National Day in 1999, which was also around the mid-autumn festival. A few days later, She was once again arrested and imprisoned in a detention center. After another one and a half months, mom was set free. The persecutors tapped her home phone, and local police officers, neighborhood committee members and her university leaders kept visiting her, attempting to persuade her to give up her belief in Falun Dafa. Mom wrote in her letter to me, "The policemen said, 'The 7.22 news film said that Zhuan Falun was not written by your Teacher.' Upon hearing that, I felt that I should stand up to clarify the facts. I told them, 'I know how Zhuan Falun was written. When our Teacher gave lectures in Changchun, it was me who was in charge of tape recording his lectures, and it was me who organized some practitioners to transcribe word by word from the tape recordings and then gave them to Teacher for revision. Teacher then combined the Fa he taught at other places including Jinan and Dalian and then published it. Only our Teacher can teach this Fa (principle). This book Zhuan Falun was published after our Teacher revised it many times.' I was very calm and fearless at that moment. I felt that I was very lucky to be able to clarify the facts to people and to validate Dafa. I used my own experience to expose what was shown on the CCTV's news film was actually fabricated and that news film was truly a deceit." Mom's kindness and peacefulness as well as her own cultivation experiences moved those police officers. They often came to mom's home and tried fiercely to force mom to give up her practice. After they listened to mom's cultivation story, they often left with smile and some even encouraged mom to practice Falun Gong at home. Unfortunately, in February 2002, the vicious persecution became more rampant. Jiang Zemin ordered that to "kill Falun Gong practitioners without mercy". A mass raid began in Changchun City just before the Chinese Lunar New Year. On the occasion that all families were celebrating this traditional Chinese festival, mom was once again abducted by the police from her home. For the next two full months, there was no news from mom. Anxiety and discomposure hang over my entire family. Until April 2002, my father received a notice from the local police station that my mother was sentenced, without a trial, to two years in the notorious Changchun Heizuizi Female Forced-Labor "Re-education" Camp because she would not give up her belief in Falun Dafa. My father was also a professor of physics. He highly respected my mother for her steadfast belief in Dafa under such high pressure. He felt very antipathy for the way that the government used all kinds of means to coercively force people to change their beliefs. When he visited my mom, he said to mom in front of those jail guards, "Freedom of belief is one of the fundamental human rights that everyone should respect. People have struggled for thousands of years to fight for this right with their lives and blood. I could have different belief from yours, but I respect your right of belief. Using coercive means to force others to change their believes, even if you can achieve the goal superficially, how could you possibly change people's hearts?" During this period of time, many friends and relatives also tried to rescue mom. My dad always said, "Thank you very much for your support. However, there is a prerequisite, please don't ask her to write any statement of renouncing her belief." Mom's determination also moved her relatives and friends and had righteousness emerged from their hearts. One time, I called my father and tried to comfort him. After, when it was his turn to console me, he deeply sighed and said, "If our family's suffering would allow hundreds of thousands of families to be free of such kind of suffering, my heart would be in peace." I wept upon hearing this. My heart was touched by my father's kindness. Even more so, I wept for the plight of millions of Falun Gong practitioners and their families who are suffering the persecution simply for their steadfast belief in Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance, the guiding principles of Falun Dafa. When I was a small child, I enjoyed looking up the starry sky. I wondered why such a colossal cosmos was so harmonious. Now, I understand that it is because there is a fundamental character that is governing everything in the colossal firmament. It is what beings ultimately longing for in the depth of their hearts. The outside violence will never be able to alter being's yearning for the truth, that is, Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance. Dear mom, I am proud of you! You will be back! (Ms. Zeng Lingwen, mother of New York resident Wu Xueyuan, is currently imprisoned in the Fifth Brigade, Heizuizi Female Forced Labor Camp in Changchun City, Jilin Province, 13000).

Posting date: 5/11/2003
Original article date: 5/10/2003
Category: Practitioners' Insights
Translated on 5/10/2003
Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2003/5/9/49896.html