The Story of a Practitioner in Prison Validating Dafa with Dignity and Saving Sentient Beings with Benevolence

By Jingsi, a practitioner in China

(Clearwisdom.net) A fellow Falun Gong practitioner, Ms. Mingsi (a pseudonym), was monitored by police beginning on April 25, 1999. She was eventually abducted and illegally jailed for a year and three months and subsequently imprisoned for three years in Mancheng Prison. But Mingsi always faced the persecution with a peaceful mind. She said, "Wherever I go, I will be a genuine Fa-rectification period Dafa practitioner. I will validate Dafa with dignity and save the sentient beings." She has done as she said she would. Below are a few of her stories.

In 2001, Mingsi was illegally held in a detention center, where she was regarded as one of those determined practitioners who required "special attention," such as being handcuffed and shackled most of the time. She refused to comply with the police's demands, and she told the policemen who put the shackles on her, "You are committing a crime by doing this. But my Teacher is benevolent. He wants us to tell you the facts about Falun Dafa so that you can be saved." One of the policemen was touched and shed tears. There was one policeman who always wanted Mingsi to apologize to him, or to eat her meal, or to recite the rules of the prison before he would open her handcuffs and shackles. Mingsi told him solemnly, "Your handcuffing and shackling me is wrong. I cannot eat the meals because I am on a hunger strike. I did nothing wrong. It is you who should apologize to me. I will not recite the rules of the prison because they were made for you guys. I will not recite anything for you." After she pointed out his wrongdoings, the policeman opened her handcuffs and shackles and apologized to Mingsi.

When the annual survey (used to evaluate the performance of guards) was handed out in the detention center, some practitioners refused to take the pens and pencils which police brought to them. Mingsi told others, "Isn't this a good opportunity for us to validate Dafa?" So they took the pens and pencils and wrote on the backs of the papers: "Falun Dafa is great," and "No more beating practitioners. No more force-feeding." Then they turned the papers in. Later, practitioners began to be able to study the Fa and do the exercises together. Some inmates began to secretly pass messages for them. Then, the most vicious policeman got laid off.

Reporters from TV stations, radio stations, and newspapers in Beijing came to the detention center to ask Mingsi what were her thoughts the day after the "Tiananmen Square self-immolation incident." Mingsi took her time and said, "Our Teacher told us that one cannot kill and that committing suicide is a crime. Why don't you go and publish every word in 'The Issue of Killing' in Chapter seven of Zhuan Falun? Then everyone will know the truth." She continued, "Everyone here is working for the government. Can anyone say that he or she does not take gifts or ask for favors from their clients? Since I began cultivating in Falun Gong, I have always paid back the cost of any gift. Did any of you do this?" Nobody could answer her and they all left. The practitioners, inmates and some police came and told her, "That was great!" Once, the head of the detention center asked Mingsi, "You must hate us very much. Do you think of us as enemies?" Mingsi smiled and said, "You are wrong. We don't hate you or bear grievances against you. We practitioners do not have enemies. Because you are being deceived, you are victims too. As long as from now on you do not persecute Dafa and its practitioners and correct all your wrongdoings, our Teacher will save you too. Of course Jiang and his accomplices will have to be punished, otherwise it would be against Heaven's will." After listening, the head summoned all the police and told them, "Why don't you all listen to her about Falun Gong." Mingsi thought this was a good opportunity that Teacher had arranged for her in order to save sentient beings. She described to them how Dafa cured her cancer and helped her become a good person and then an even better person. She talked about the relationship between good and evil. Her talk lasted over half an hour. Some policemen applauded at the end.

In June of 2002, Mingsi was sentenced to three years in prison and sent to Mancheng Prison. When she first got there, she felt awful seeing that the Dafa practitioners there had given up their belief under the cruel persecution. She told herself that she needed to demonstrate what a true practitioner is like. She sang loudly, "Going back home" in the courtyard. The guard asked her, "Are you here serving a sentence or on vacation?" She replied, "I am here to validate Dafa and to save sentient beings." Hearing her sing, the fallen practitioners began to shed tears. The inmates yelled, "Falun Gong is here. A model Falun Gong practitioner is here." When the prison officials reported to the higher authorities that they had reached 100% "transformation" (forcing practitioners to give up their beliefs), she said to them, "At least I have not been transformed, so how could you reach 100% transformation?" The police avoided mentioning the transformation rate after that.

To help those practitioners come back to Dafa, she grabbed any opportunity she could get, such as when washing dishes, or on the way back from forced labor, to recite Teacher's articles and to discuss her understanding of Dafa with them. A total of 29 practitioners made solemn declarations nullifying their previous actions against Falun Dafa and resumed their cultivation. Mingsi's term was repeatedly extended because of her actions.

The guards also persecuted her severely for her righteous actions. For 70 consecutive days, Mingsi was bombarded with harassment from a brainwashing group, scolded, made to stand all the time, and allowed only three to four hours of sleep a day. Then she was again harassed by a brainwashing group and forced to stand for five days and nights straight without sleep. The worse treatment was when she was put into solitary confinement during the hottest summer days, confined in a windowless 40 square foot room with the door tightly shut. She was not allowed to talk, go to the bathroom, wash or rinse, or change her clothes, and she almost suffocated. Mingsi thought to herself, "I am a practitioner. With the protection of Teacher and Dafa, I have nothing to fear." Mingsi remembered that Teacher had told us that today's people all came here for the Fa, so we needed to let these guards see the truth. She began telling them the facts about Dafa, and taught them to read Hongyin (a collection of Teacher's poems). After the guards understood the truth, they helped Mingsi to deliver Teacher's articles to other practitioners and to keep a lookout for her when she was studying the Fa or doing the exercises. One of the guards was beaten severely because of this, but said later, "It is worth it doing it for Dafa."

After one group of guards was gone, another group came. Every time a new group came, the prison authorities would tell them not to be affected by Mingsi, but every group ended up liking to listen to Mingsi talk about Dafa.

There was an inmate who liked to hit practitioners. Mingsi asked the captain to stop him, but the captain ended up wanting to extend Mingsi's prison term instead. Mingsi said, "After I began cultivating in Dafa, I became an outstanding worker in my company and an outstanding daughter and parent at home. My moral standard is high. Your putting me in prison is absurd. You have no right to extend my term."

One day, the prison started a brainwashing class for practitioners. The plan was to hold the class for over 20 days and record it so that they could play it elsewhere later. Mingsi thought, "I will send forth righteous thoughts to stop them from recording." As a result, the power kept going out and the recording could not be made.

In Mancheng Prison, Mingsi was deprived of sleep for 5 days and nights after being bombarded by a brainwashing group and forced to stand all day for over 70 consecutive days. Then they held her hand and forced her to write papers pledging not to practice Falun Gong. Afterwards they let her sleep. But as soon as she fell asleep, a voice woke her up. On hearing the guards telling her that she had already written the "four letters" claiming not to practice Falun Dafa anymore, she declared, "The 'four letters' is the ultimate disgrace to a practitioner. Now I declare it all null and void." The captain threatened, "If you don't transform today, you will transform tomorrow. If not tomorrow, you will the day after tomorrow. We have all sorts of ways to make you transform. Even if you die you will transform." She replied, "I won't die, and I won't transform either. I walked in and I will walk out. What you say does not count. What my Teacher says counts. What I say counts."

Mingsi's righteous thoughts and actions moved some senior officials in the city. They called the prison officials and asked them to stop persecuting her. Once the captain had a talk with her and told her that she was truly remarkable. He said, "The leader Mr. X in your city called us to stop us from abusing you." Mingsi said, "That is our Teacher protecting us. It is the power of Dafa. A person who advocates for Dafa will be rewarded in the future."

"Mingsi is getting out." The word spread. The prison officials threatened her again, "If you do not transform here, the police from the '610 Office' or from the prison will take you directly to the brainwashing class in your city and continue to work on transforming you." Mingsi told them, "You have no right to make any arrangements for me, or I will sue you in court. I will go home with dignity."

The prisoners heard that Mingsi was leaving. Some brought over food they'd saved up, some asked her to copy Hongyin for them, some brought over the hot water they had saved up (everyone's ration is one small thermos a day) to let her take a shower. There was not enough room for all the things they brought over. After the shower, the guards yelled in surprise, "You are so pretty!" Many people came over to look at her and thought that it was amazing. An inmate brought her a small mirror for her to see herself and she even could not believe how pretty she looked. She realized that it was Teacher's arrangement to let her display the wonder of Dafa.

The prison was concerned that Mingsi's departure would have too large an effect. They waited until after everyone had left for labor to release her. But still a lot of people came out of nowhere to see her off. She said, "They are all here for Dafa." Mingsi stood on the doorstep, waving her hand and shouted, "How are you, everyone. Please take care of yourselves and walk the right path ahead." Someone in the crowd shouted, "Come and visit us." Another shouted, "Remember to bring us Teacher's articles." Another said, "The first thing I will do after I get out is to look for you and practice Falun Gong." The scene was very touching.

So, Mingsi walked out of the prison with dignity. The first thing she did after she got out was to look for those who had persecuted her before to tell them the facts about Dafa. She talked to people in charge of the city director's office, the People's Congress, the police station, the "610 Office," the politics and justice director's office, the detention center, and other institutions. She told them about the persecution that she had endured in the past few years and asked them to treat Dafa and Dafa practitioners well, so that they and their families to have a good future.

June 18, 2004

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2004/6/18/77369.html

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