A Teacher's Experience - Validating Dafa Without Compromise

By a Dafa practitioner in China

(Clearwisdom.net) Because of persistence in my belief of Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance, I was persecuted by Jiang's policy of "defaming their reputation, bankrupting them financially, and destroying them physically." But I still feel extremely fortunate to be a Dafa practitioner.

Before July 20, 1999, I was one of the six people registered with the police department as maintaining a practice site. Hence after the persecution started, pressure, persecution, and interference kept coming at me. I went to the provincial government to have a peaceful appeal and was forced back home. The next day I went to work and the deputy chief of police and two police officers came to take me to the police station. The chief of the police department and the school principal all told me how tough the situation was and wanted me to compromise and "consider my future and my family."

Soon, the chief of the education commission called the school. Without asking my opinion, the principal confidently told the chief, "That teacher is one of the most outstanding workers in the city and the province. It should be fairly easy to work on her ideology." The chief was very glad, and in less than an hour, a reporter, cameraman, and the head of the TV station came to me for an interview. I was very confused. The head of the TV station said some flattering words and asked me to be cooperative while recording. He asked me to tell the people in detail how I had been used by the illegal organization to go against the government and criticize how I had been tricked into practicing Falun Gong. I immediately responded with a very serious and just attitude, "I volunteered to go the provincial government and used my legal right as a citizen to tell the government that it does no harm at all to practice Falun Gong, and the truth of the persecution. Falun Dafa is good and I benefit a lot from practicing it. Whatever was said on TV about Falun Gong is all wrong and all propaganda. I am a beneficiary myself from practicing it and I will use my life to protect Falun Gong."

The head of the TV station immediately asked the cameraman to stop filming and said, "What is going on? Didn't you say she has the right ideology? Why did she say that?" Later, the school principal, the head of the TV station and the chief of the education commission took turns trying to convince me. They started to harass and threaten me when their persuasions did not work. I firmly praised and protected the Fa. When they finally could not convince me, they were very upset and said, "You made a big mistake this time. Did you know that the mayor held an emergency meeting today and wanted to punish those who went to appeal? The chief of education commission said that you had changed your mind and have the right attitude. The mayor was so happy that he stood up banging the table with his hands and asked the TV station officially to give you a special interview. They wanted to use the report about you to advertise and make a big deal out of it to affect a huge crowd. We did not think you'd be so stubborn. Now, even we leaders will be in trouble. You've got a serious problem now." They cited me with a bunch of violations and asked me to stay in the police station to "repent," and not go home or to work.

A series of harassment and suppression including detention, loss of my job, and receiving negative impact on my husband's job and my child's getting higher education did not change my strong belief in Dafa and Teacher. During the three days of detention, Teacher's Fa was in my head all the time. My mind was completely prepared for what was going to happen in the future. I was remembering the peaceful occasions of us spreading and learning the Fa and doing the exercises. Dafa has brought the practitioners, the society and the practitioners' families blessings. I was so hurt when thinking about the great Fa and Teacher being falsely accused. I thought about how peaceful and well organized the practitioners were when they went to appeal to the provincial government. They did not fight back or talk back at all. It was a great contrast when comparing the practitioners to the barbaric officers carrying their guns and shields and beating everyone including the elderly, children, and women. I also thought about how I led nearly a thousand people to exercise in an open field at school, demonstrating the beauty of Dafa. That was really magnificent. When I was detained, I told whoever came to persuade me the truth about Dafa, and would not compromise at all. Later, through the guarantee from my work, I was illegally fined 200 Yuan and released by writing a statement that I would not practice outside (It was my fault that I did not fully follow the guidance of Fa and played the game of words).

Ever since then, around the time of holidays or days considered "sensitive", the police department and some high ranking officials ask to talk to me and try to change my mind. The chief of the education commission talked to me many times and pressured me to give up my practice and belief. I was followed and sometimes harassed at home. They seriously prevented me from working and learning normally, and having a normal life with my family. A few times they lied to me and had me go to the police department so that the discipline department could try to put me in jail, but thanks to Teacher's protection, I got away.

A few days before July 20, 2000 the school told me that high level city officials wanted to visit me. I knew that they were not coming because of my outstanding work record, or because I had won many prizes for the province, city, education committee, and the school. They had other reasons to see me. Five people, including the vice-secretary of the city commission, secretary of the education commission, and the head of discipline committee, were accompanied by the school principal and the chair of the worker's association to talk with me. The school principal and the chair of the worker's association told them how I love my job and how good my performance is at work. They gave me very good credits on my work capability and quality. In addition, I had a very good reputation among my colleagues and students. They specifically mentioned that I have been taking care of an elderly person who was alone, my ill father-in-law, my paralyzed mother-in-law and my parents who are old and ill for the past ten or more years. They also brought up that I took good care of my children. They described me as a true excellent housewife. The mayor was so happy that he interrupted their report and said, "How come we are not making her a role model as she is such an outstanding teacher?"

The mayor asked the other's opinions right then about recommending that the society should follow my good personal quality and working spirit. Other officials there all agreed, and they wanted to put together some materials about me immediately. They asked me to talk about some of my outstanding performances at work and they wanted me to give a positive opinion on what the government advocates and criticize what the government does not allow. I came to realize what price I would have to pay if I chose to accept this award. I am not really concerned about fame and gain since practicing Dafa, so I calmly explained to everyone there that everything I did was a result of the universal principle of Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance. The Secretary of the Education Commission was shocked and the principal and the head of the worker's association were panicked. I stressed that I firmly refused to be a role model and will deny any story about my outstanding performance if this was done without my permission. Everyone felt that I had missed out on a great opportunity. I was very frank, "You won't let me validate Dafa, and I will never damage Fa for my personal fame and gain."

On December 21, 2000, I reached Beijing smoothly. I was the first in Tiananmen Square that day to raise a banner, holding it above my head with the words "Falun Dafa is the righteous Way. Give Teacher his reputation back." I shouted with all my heart "Falun Dafa is good!" Afterward, practitioners beside me and all over Tiananmen Square took their banners out one after another. Seeing this magnificent occasion of Fa rectification and hearing "Dafa is good" being shouted as if it was going to penetrate and shock the entire universe, we still kept our thoughts righteous while being brutally beaten by the police. When riding in the police car, we stuck small banners out the windows and let them fly in the wind. When leaving Beijing at the train station, another female practitioner and I were handcuffed but we shouted wherever we went, in the elevators, on sidewalks, in the subway, the waiting room, and the platform, "Falun Dafa is Good," "Falun Gong is wrongfully accused," "Falun Gong is innocent," "The police beat Dafa practitioners in broad daylight." Though we were brutally beaten by the police, we shouted from our true hearts and told the crowd the truth about Falun Gong. We took the chance to validate Fa and expose the evil.

My appeal in Beijing caused quite a shock to the locals because I had a relatively good job and a happy family. Many everyday people started to think twice about Falun Gong and many practitioners who had kept silent were very encouraged. This annoyed the school, the education commission, the police, and the discipline department. They ordered that I be sent to labor reform if I did not give up my belief. They wanted to force me to blackmail other practitioners.

During the period of illegal detention, I deeply felt the meaning of one of Teacher's short poems "Climbing Mountain Tai" in Hongyin "With a determined heart, lift the feet with legs weighing thousands of pounds, Forbearing suffering, striving forward, and discarding attachments." In front of all tests and tribulations, I did "Steadfastly cultivate Dafa, the will unflinching" ("True nature revealed" Essentials for Further Advancement II). In the labor camp, I led the practitioners in learning the Fa and doing the exercises. We told the truth about Dafa to everyone we came across during the re-education and investigations. In the notorious Wanjia Forced Labor Camp, the minute we entered we were strictly isolated by the prisoners and reformers and were not allowed to have any contact with each other 24 hours a day for a month. Every couple of days, they sent the "best" reformers and captains of the camp to watch us. No matter what they did, I still believed in Dafa without any hesitation. I did not give them any room to sell their twisted theories to defame Dafa. People in the labor camp came to the conclusion in the end, "We have to stop spending time and effort on her. It won't work." The isolation strategy failed. After this, I, along with other righteous practitioners who were not transformed, were locked in a completely dark toilet room for more than two days. This was during the most insane time of transforming practitioners in the Wanjia Forced Labor Camp.

In the evil Wanjia Forced Labor Camp, we practitioners refused to follow the rules, collected signatures to protest the illegal detention, and asked to be released without charges. We told the truth about Dafa and held hunger strikes a few times. In the end, the persecution had pushed my body to its limit and I was sent to the hospital on bail two months before my sentence was over. I proudly fought my way out of the labor camp.

In January 2002, a practitioner from out of town told me that several of them would come to my home (I learned later that his phone had been tapped). Three practitioners came to my house and pretty soon we heard some strangers knocking on the door. We saw that the police had surrounded my house (I learned later that they were from the provincial and city police departments and the National Security Bureau). We immediately calmed down, sent righteous thoughts, and asked for Teacher's support. Outside the house there were loud noises from doors slamming, and police threatening and harassing us. Inside there were four practitioners sending forth righteous thoughts. The police finally left after a two-hour war between the evil and justice. We were out of danger under Teachers compassionate protection. During those two hours, the police even sent fire trucks with high ladders, and surveyed the entire household from outside the windows. We were in the house sending righteous thoughts the entire time. It was really a narrow escape.

After I went back to work, I used the mindset of being a practitioner to face whatever happened. My nice job was taken away but I gladly joined the new work unit. I used the requirements of being a practitioner to treat everything in the job. My new boss said, "Our job would be much easier if everyone worked like that teacher." As for those teachers and my boss, who used to give me trouble and pressure, I used every possible chance and everything I had to tell them about the Fa and to clarify the truth. From my behavior and words, my coworkers saw the great compassion and forbearing heart of a Dafa practitioner and my pure and just personality. They came to believe that Dafa is righteous and that the media is lying for the authorities to falsely accuse Falun Gong.

In April 2002, I was reported because I had been clarifying the truth to my coworkers. The police came to the school and forcibly took me to the detention center. During that time, I constantly studied the Fa, did the exercises, sent righteous thoughts and talked about Dafa and its truth to everyday people. More than 20 people realized the lies from the media and became very respectful to Dafa practitioners. Some of them even learned to practice Dafa. After many appeals and hunger strikes, in two months I returned to the crowd that validates the Fa and saves sentient beings.

In the past four years, because I insisted on being a good person and following "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance," I was illegally detained, sent to labor camps, pressured to give up my belief, persecuted mentally, and not paid for a year. Also, I could not receive benefits from my job and was later laid off from my job. My household property was taken away twice and my child's education was interfered with. Many times, I was taken to the police station and persecuted by the discipline department. My husband and child suffered from great tribulations. I am only one of those tens of thousands in China who believe in "Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance" and suffer from the brutal persecution by the government.

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