My Journey of Validating Falun Dafa (Part 1)

By a Dafa practitioner in China

(Clearwisdom.net)

I am a teacher by profession and in mid-September 2000, I read an article that was published on Clearwisdom.net entitled, "Jiang Zemin Cannot Shirk the Responsibility of History." After reading it, I realized I was a particle of the whole body of Dafa practitioners and, in the face of persecution, I could not just sit back and watch idly while so many others were being harmed. On October 1, 2000, I decided to take the train to Beijing to validate Falun Dafa.

On October 2, I arrived in Beijing. Tiananmen Square was swarming with police vans. I met many Dafa practitioners there and they told me that on October 1 in Tiananmen Square you could see Dafa practitioners everywhere. The Falun Dafa practitioners used several methods to validate Falun Dafa. Some unfurled banners with positive words about Falun Dafa, some were publicly practicing the Falun Dafa exercises, while others were reciting "Hongyin" and "Lunyu" [these efforts were all undertaken to give the public a chance to know the facts about Falun Dafa and not be poisoned by the propaganda being spread to demonize the practice.] The armed police used buses and police vans to take away arrested practitioners and send them elsewhere for detention. I met other practitioners who came to Beijing to validate the Fa. We had a discussion and decided to wait for more practitioners to arrive and then go to Tiananmen Square together. That way, we could form a strong righteous field. With only a few practitioners, the police might have easily caught us, and then we could not accomplish our goal of validating Dafa. We then ate our dinner and slept outside while waiting for the chance to gather together with more practitioners. When we felt hungry, we just ate whatever food we could prepare on our own. Some practitioners didn't have any money to buy food and they just ate a small piece of sweet potato each day. At night, they would find a piece of cardboard or a plastic sheet, and sleep on the concrete sidewalk in front of a department store or in an underground passageway. Just as Teacher lectured in,

"Coercion Cannot Change People's Hearts" from Essentials for Further Advancement II, "The steadfast, righteous thoughts of a cultivator transcend all human understandings, transcend all human thinking, and can never be understood by everyday people. At the same time, they cannot be changed by everyday people, because humans are not able to change Enlightened Beings."

On October 5, I prepared to go to Tiananmen Square to show the public the facts about Falun Dafa. The police arrested me, however, while I was going through the underground passageway to the square. I was immediately sent to a police substation where many other practitioners had already been detained. We recited "Hongyin" and "Lunyu" together and were not afraid. Since October 1, all the detention centers in Beijing had been filled with practitioners from all over China. The detention centers in the outlying counties around Beijing, such as Shunyi, Changping, Daxing, and Miyun, were also filled. We were sent to Huairou County and detained there. On the way to the detention center, we recited Teacher's scriptures. We also introduced Falun Dafa to the soldiers that escorted us. The sounds of practitioners reciting Teacher's words and the sounds of validating the Fa resounded to the sky. In the Shunyi Detention Center, we were forced to have our pictures taken, were assigned a number, and were stripped of our clothes so our bodies could be searched . Afterwards we were sent to a cell. If practitioners didn't cooperate, the police would seize their hair, kick and punch them, and use electric batons to beat them. To resist this cruel persecution, we started a hunger strike. From our cell, Practitioner Number 303 (she didn't give her name so police assigned her a number) and other two practitioners were dragged out by police and some criminals. After a long time, they were sent back, each with a swollen face covered with purple and blue bruises. Their clothes were soaked with water and criminals' urine. The cell immediately was filled with the smell of urine. We helped them change clothes and wash the dirty ones, laying them on the heated concrete slab to dry. A policewoman rushed into our cell when she saw where we had put the wet clothes, cursing a practitioner over sixty years old. She also beat this practitioner and then threw the clothes onto the floor of the cell. Another elderly practitioner peacefully said to the policewoman, "Young woman, if you don't allow us to place them on the concrete bed, I will put them on my body to dry them." Then she picked up an article of clothing and put it on. I also put on a pair of pants. Other practitioners put all the wet clothes on their bodies to dry them. The policewoman saw this, didn't say a word, and left. Although we didn't know each other's names, our hearts were together. Our goal was the same: in our hearts, we all wanted to say the same words, "Falun Dafa is good!"

Several days later, I was sent back to my hometown and put in the detention center where I started my effort of validating Falun Dafa in the detention center.

When I walked through the doors of the detention center, I saw many practitioners who had been detained because they had gone to Beijing to validate the Fa. They all had peaceful expressions and calmly faced whatever happened in the detention center. The first time the police interrogated me, I was afraid of inconveniencing my work unit, so I used my human nature to deal with the issues instead of my true nature. The result was that I didn't treat certain issues according to the standard of a Falun Dafa practitioner. Afterwards, through studying the Falun Dafa principles and sharing understandings with fellow practitioners, I realized my shortcomings and improved myself. The second time the police interrogated me, I was able to use my wisdom that I cultivated from practicing Falun Dafa. The police and the authorities controlling them were all shocked by my righteous thoughts. A policeman at the site said, "Who was interrogating whom between you two?" In the end, they said I was stubborn and left. All of us practitioners in detention insisted on studying the Fa and practicing the exercises every day. One day I recalled that, while I was on the train to Beijing, I heard a news report that defamed our efforts to validate Falun Dafa at Tiananmen Square. I felt I had a responsibility to let people know what I had seen and experienced, so I wrote a letter describing what I saw when I was in Beijing. Fellow practitioners helped me make many copies. We planned to mail them out to a wide range of people in the society so they could learn the truth. Soon these letters were sent out. Many of my colleagues and students read the letter. Later, other practitioners told me that these letters played an important role in clarifying the truth and revealing the evil.

In mid-October, I read Teacher's article "Suffocate the Evil" in Essentials for Further Advancement II. We realized that we should suffocate the evil and decided that each day at 7:00 am, 12:00 Noon, and 5:00 pm we would sit together in a circle and recite Teacher's article, "Suffocate the Evil" nine times. We all sat in the lotus position with hands conjoined, concentrating our minds to recite Teacher's words. At that time, we didn't know explicitly about this the process of sending forth righteous thoughts; we only knew it was a way to eliminate the evil. This behavior really shocked the police. Several officers came to see us. They walked around our circle several times and left. At the beginning, we experienced some serious interference. Most of us had physical discomfort. Sometimes when we were reciting, our minds would go blank, but we didn't give up. We encouraged each other. Very soon, the interference was eliminated by our steadfast righteous thoughts. We all felt our bodies feel very light. I saw in a dream the scenes of our eliminating evil in other dimensions.

In the article, "Rationality" from Essentials for Further Advancement II, Teacher taught us,

"Validate the Fa with rationality, clarify the truth with wisdom, spread the Fa and save people with mercy--this is establishing the mighty virtue of an Enlightened Being."

We did introduce Falun Dafa face-to-face and clarified the truth to the guards. We wrote letters to our relatives and colleagues, as well as to relevant leaders in the government. We used different means to send them out to allow even more people to understand the truth that Falun Dafa is good. These letters played an important role in revealing the evil. Practitioners outside the detention center utilized their wisdom to send us Teacher's new scriptures and Minghui articles to us. We formed a single body that constantly broke the arrangements of the old evil forces. A practitioner drew a picture in which "the hearts outside" and "the hearts inside" are all connected.

One day at midnight, over 20 arrested practitioners suddenly arrived at the detention center. This happened because each police substation had sent officers to each practitioner's home with Teacher's photo. They tried to force practitioners to step on Teacher's photo, curse at Teacher, and even spit on the photo. Practitioners refused to cooperate and were therefore arrested and put in jail. Police felt that they could only feel at ease during the holiday season if they rounded up all the practitioners and detained them [Due to Jiang's implication policy, officials in various cities are held accountable for any Falun Dafa practitioner that is arrested in Beijing resulting in severe reprimand or loss of their position]. One practitioner was wearing only a shirt when arrested. An elderly practitioner was forced into a police car with just a blanket wrapped around his body. Over 20 practitioners were arrested this way. In spite of this irrational persecution, Falun Dafa practitioners' hearts could not be shaken. They validated Falun Dafa in each cell, and all the other prisoners learned about Falun Dafa and the principle of Truth, Compassion, and Tolerance.

1. Memorizing the Falun Dafa teachings in Jail

Since I went to Beijing to validate Dafa and was steadfast in practicing Falun Dafa, I was illegally sentenced to two years of labor re-education. When I first arrived at the labor camp, they immediately started to brainwash me. Since I had attachments and also because they didn't allow me to sleep for many days, I was in a disoriented state and was taken advantage of by the police. I turned from being a steadfast Dafa practitioner to a person who had enlightened on an evil path. Afterward, when I read Teacher's words in "A Suggestion" from Essentials for Further Advancement II, I realized I had made a serious mistake that brought great loss to Dafa and to myself. Along with many other practitioners who had gone astray under the severe pressure, we all announced our solemn statements in the labor camp and affirmed that all the documents we had written were null and void, and that we would return to our efforts to validate Falun Dafa. The police took strict measures to monitor us. I was sent to a special cell and was monitored by criminals who had committed serious crimes. Everything was confined to the cell, even our toilet. The door was covered with a cloth curtain. Meals were rationed. At first, the police would have collaborators [those practitioners who had gone astray due to pressure and were used to persecute other Dafa practitioners] or criminals give us our meals. Later, because more and more practitioners became steadfast and clear-minded, the police had to ask the steadfast practitioners to have their meal first and didn't allow us to have any contact with the collaborators who had gone astray or were in an unstable state, as they were worried we would encourage them to come back to Dafa. They monitored our every move.

It is Falun Dafa that makes our improvements in cultivation possible. We have to memorize more of the Falun Dafa teachings so that we can see through any tricks the evil may use and thereby deny the arrangements of the evil forces. We each recited the parts of the Fa that we could remember so that others could memorize them. In our cells, we were monitored from every direction, sometimes by several people. At first we felt restricted in our attempts to study the Fa in such an environment. We would be reported, or the police would come in and disturb us. We acted as one body to create an environment. No matter how difficult it was, we just used the Fa to change it. Sometimes fellow practitioners passed us Teacher's scriptures, which we would distribute so that each one of us could memorize part of it. In the beginning, it took a long time to memorize the Fa. I remembered Teacher told us in "Further Understanding" in Essentials for Further Advancement that, "...what you do then, with a pure heart, will be the best and most sacred." I then used the Fa to adjust my mental state and made a significant breakthrough. There was less interference. I also let go the attachment to how fast I could memorize the Fa. As a result, the speed at which I could memorize the Fa increased. Some practitioners were older than I, could not read well, and were relatively slow in memorizing the Fa, so I taught them, sentence-by-sentence. I paid attention to the tone of my voice and used my compassion and patience to teach them. I also encouraged them. As one can imagine, in such an evil environment it is very difficult to hold righteous thoughts. We must be a whole body. That way the righteous field we form will thwart any evil force. Although the evil worked hard to block us from getting Teacher's articles and always used various excuses to search us, in hopes of finding any pages we might have, but under Teacher's protection we could always obtain his latest words.

Oftentimes the police would find and confiscate our copies of Teacher's words before we were able to memorize them. Since I am one of the younger practitioners, others recommended that I be the first one to memorize the pages. After I memorized them, I helped others to learn them. I had to close one eye and use the other eye to be able to distinguish the characters under the cell's dim light. When guards passed by our cell, I would keep calm. When memorizing "Dafa is Indestructible," they constantly patrolled in front my cell. It was already early morning on the second day, almost dawn. Holding the worn page in my hand, I really hoped I could memorize it quickly. I knew, however, that I could not have any attachments. Instantly, several sentences stuck in my mind, and I right away memorized the entire page. My eyes brimmed with tears. I knew it was the Buddhas, Taos, and gods behind the Fa who saw my pure heart; it was Teacher who saw our pure hearts studying Fa, and thereby helped me. I could memorize the Fa faster. I knew the Fa gave me wisdom and at the same time required that I make more efforts to clarify the truth about Falun Dafa. I had made a breakthrough memorizing the Fa during the daytime. Unfortunately, there was still serious interference if I tried to memorize the Fa at night. One day when I was absorbed in memorizing, I suddenly heard footsteps just beside my bed. I was startled and right away raised my head. I looked around but did see anyone. I realized that the evil in other dimensions were interfering with me. I thought to myself that I shouldn't be scared, that Teacher is protecting me, and nobody can interfere with me. I continued memorizing the Fa and at the same time used my righteous thoughts to eliminate the evil in other dimensions. I was really absorbed and felt that nothing could interfere with me. After two nights, the interference disappeared. "Touring North America to Teach the Fa" was a long article. Fellow practitioners passed it to our cell bit by bit. When I was memorizing this Fa, I experienced a lot of interference. My whole body felt hot, as if I had fever, and I felt nauseated and uncomfortable. I used righteous thoughts to eliminate the discomfort. I thought nothing could slow down my speed in memorizing the Fa. I soon was able to memorize the entire lecture and can recite to fellow practitioners with ease.

Because I was constantly memorizing the Fa, my understanding of the Fa kept upgrading. In such an evil environment, I memorized over 100 scriptures. It is the great Fa that has guided us to break through one obstacle after another.

(To be continued)

December 25, 2003

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