By Xiao Ci, a Falun Dafa practitioner from Hubei Province

(Clearwisdom.net) During the past five years, we have endured innumerable tragedies, witnessed the violent and senseless persecution, and experienced the supernormal power of Falun Dafa. We have become more and more mature, reasonable, and clear-minded. Each step of our progress is a test of life and death and part of our process of becoming sages. Given the hardships and adversities, I sometimes felt tired, lonely and helpless. Filled with the wretched feelings of remaining alone in a strange place, I worried that I might collapse one day. But when I thought of our Teacher's boundless compassion and what he has suffered for us, my mind filled with gratitude, determination and desire to follow Teacher's words. My innermost conviction tells me that as long as our belief in Teacher remains strong and we continue to diligently follow Teacher's words, we will persevere. Only Teacher brings us the hope of life. What Teacher has arranged for us is the most magnificent future.

During the past five years, because of my firm belief in Falun Dafa and Teacher, I did not falter, regardless of the difficulties I encountered. In 1999, at the beginning of the persecution, my first thought was that this was a major test for practitioners on their path towards consummation. I was certain that I would continue to practice Falun Dafa without wavering!

As I did not know the responsibilities of a Fa-rectification disciple, I passively endured unlawful treatment and searched inward for my shortcomings. I did not clarify the truth about the persecution to people. I went underground and practiced the Falun Dafa exercises in secret. It took me about one week to realize that this was not how a Falun Dafa practitioner should act. In the article "Validation," teacher told us,

"Then, as a cultivator, you should make use of all feasible conditions to spread Dafa and validate Dafa as a correct and true science, rather than preaching or idealism--this is every cultivator's obligation."

After I realized what was expected of a Fa rectification disciple, I began to tell people the truth about Falun Dafa, about my personal experience as a practitioner, about the improvement in my parents' health after they practiced Dafa, and about our harmonious family life since we became practitioners. Gradually the environment around me changed. Fewer people maligned Falun Dafa to my face. I worked in a Taiwan-Chinese venture capital company in Shanghai and had no contact with other practitioners. I had to make my own path, one step at a time. To further clarify the truth of Falun Dafa, I decided to do the sitting meditation in front of the company employees' apartment building every morning. I made sure that all the employees could see me. The effect was very good, and all of them now think positively of Falun Dafa. One group leader who continued to hold negative thoughts about Falun Dafa came down with liver disease and left the company.

I copied articles that I wrote and distributed them, in the hope that this would help clarify the truth of Falun Dafa to more people. Then I decided to go to Beijing to appeal. I felt it best to resign from my job before my appeal. Many of my colleagues tried to stop me. They expressed to me that appealing was useless and that my appeal to the government did not stand a chance. But I had made my decision and handed in my resignation. I understood clearly what awaited me in Beijing. I began to recite Zhuan Falun, as I wanted my entire being saturated with the Fa at all times. By the time I left for Beijing, I could recall the entire book without looking at it.

My manager had a talk with me after he received my resignation. He asked, "Do you think you will accomplish anything with your appeal in Beijing?" I responded, "I will do my best." He told me, "It is not necessary that you resign. I will just suspend your salary. This way you will be able to return to work." I agreed. Before leaving for Beijing, I sent a letter to my manager. I explained Falun Dafa in more detail and why it was important to go to Beijing. I closed with, "If I come back alive, I will work for the company again."

On December 5, 2000, my parents and I went to Tiananmen Square. We saw many police officers and police vans. They were there to arrest practitioners. One after another, many practitioners held up banners and shouted, "Falun Dafa Is Good!" "Restore Our Teacher's Good Name!" It never failed, whenever a practitioner was seen, a group of police officers rushed frantically towards him or her, knocked the person to the ground, and pulled him or her into a police van. I wanted to help another practitioner who had raised his banner, but police officers blocked me and pulled me into a police van. We were taken to a big courtyard with over one hundred practitioners already there. In unison we loudly recited "Lunyu" and poems from Hong Yin. Although practitioners did not know each other, their minds became one. Surrounded by such an energy field, I felt no fear. The only thing I could think of was to protect Falun Dafa. It was a magnificent scene.

After some time we were escorted to a detention center in Macheng City, Hubei Province. While I was there, I wrote and tried to send articles to someone on the outside. After two months in detention, I talked with my mother, "I don't think that we should passively endure this; we should escape." My parents thought that I should return to my job in Shanghai. They believed that they would be arrested on returning home, so they decided not to escape. Actually, there were opportunities when we could have escaped.

I escaped and returned to Shanghai. One week after my escape, I learned that Jiang Zemin had issued a secret order that police officers could beat practitioners to death without having to accept responsibility. All my fellow practitioners from Zhongyi Township were arrested. Police officers tortured them cruelly. My father was beaten and seriously injured. My mother was sentenced to a forced labor camp. Under pressure and torture, many fellow practitioners signed "Guarantee Statements."

I returned to Shanghai. I returned to work the next day. I knew Teacher was encouraging me to do better. I wrote an article about my experience in Beijing and called it, "The Most Atrocious Injustice of All Time: Reporting from Death's Door." I made many copies and distributed them to my co-workers. They were deeply shocked by the truth they heard from me. Now they were finally able to understand the inhumanity of the persecution.

Later the police officers at the Jiading District in Shanghai City learned that I am a Falun Gong practitioner and wanted to persecute me. I was able to hide my Falun Dafa books and materials, because my manager warned me of the police raid. They found nothing relating to Falun Dafa. The manager told them that I was a very good employee, so the police officers left me alone that particular time, but they harassed me frequently afterwards.

In July 2001, I escaped from Shanghai. I went to Kunshan City, Jiangsu Province, and found another job. Because of my truth clarification efforts, everyone in the factory learned the truth of Falun Dafa. But on September 4, 2001, the owner of the copy center where I had duplicated many truth clarification materials reported me to the police. I was arrested and detained at Kunshan Detention Center.

I went on a hunger strike to protest the persecution. When criminal detainees cursed Falun Dafa, I would shout, "Falun Dafa Is Good! Restore My Teacher's Good Name!" The head of the detention center talked with me after hearing my words, and I told him the truth about Falun Dafa. He did not respond and did not release me. I continued to recite Zhuan Falun and send forth righteous thoughts. After one month I was released unconditionally.

I went back to my hometown of Macheng City, Hubei Province. I was destitute. Local practitioners tried to help me, but I still could not find a job. In July 2002, I found a job at a furniture factory in Wuhan. I got in touch with fellow practitioners in Wuhan who gave me Falun Dafa materials. I worked days and studied Falun Dafa and sent forth righteous thoughts at night. Sometimes I delivered Falun Dafa materials. Police officers in Wuhan control the city tightly because it is a provincial capital. But, protected by our Teacher, I have been safe even though I got close to danger several times.

On September 21, 2002, I learned my father was ill and was asked to come home and take care of him. I asked for a leave. On the second day of my return, my father died. I was confused. Dad had been tortured and had not recovered. But he had survived such hardship. How could he die after returning home? Wasn't teacher protecting him? Why did he die? On November 30, 2002, Teacher's new lecture "Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Philadelphia, U.S.A." was published. By reading the new article, I understood that my father had not denied the arrangements by the old forces. Therefore, he left us too early. After the funeral, I went back to Wuhan. Since I had been gone so long, I lost my job with the furniture factory, but I found another job.

A new job meant renewed pressures and an uncertain cultivation environment. At the beginning, they did not listen to me and maligned Falun Dafa. I was not discouraged. I thought of the responsibilities Teacher told us to shoulder in "Touring North America to Teach the Fa (4/14/2002)." After this, my mind was filled with compassion. I treated all those I came into contact with as family members and was determined to save them. One night, after my roommates went to sleep, I wrote an article by flashlight. My article addressed their questions and mental barriers. I wrote through the entire night.

The next morning, my roommates all said they had gotten a wonderful night's sleep. I realized that writing the article was a process of eliminating the evil. People can only be saved after the evil that controls them is destroyed. At our lunch break I gave the article to my co-workers to read. They vied with each other to read it, and everyone said the article was good. Two of them told me immediately that they wanted to learn Falun Dafa. Others asked for flyers or said they would help me deliver flyers. Since I did not carry enough VCD's with me, two co-workers fought over one VCD. I persuaded them that a practitioner should be tolerant and promised to bring more. I saw that people were anxious to attain Falun Dafa and reminded myself to do better. In the evening, I taught them the Falun Dafa exercises.

Later, my manager heard of this incident. He had a talk with me and tried to pressure me. I told him that my entire family had benefited from practicing Falun Dafa, of my family's suffering because of the persecution, and why I clarified the truth. He did not say too much after listening to me but told me to be careful.

During the past five years, we have suffered and witnessed the cruelty and violence of the persecution. But we have also enlightened to the inner connotations and and power of Falun Dafa. What I'm sharing with you here is only a fraction of what I experienced. We have become more and more mature, reasonable, and clear-minded. I believe from the depths of my heart that as long as we trust in Falun Dafa and Teacher, we can overcome all hardships. Only our teacher brings the hope of life. What Teacher arranges for us is the best and most magnificent.

Since we were all born of the old universe, we sometimes judge what we see or experience with the rules of the old universe. What I am trying to say is that we may look at Falun Dafa with a human mind. That's why we encounter difficulties in cultivation, and that adds hardship to Teacher during the Fa-rectification process.

When we are completely unselfish and follow Teacher's words, we find that the world is boundless and the light is right in front of us.

January 9, 2005

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.ca/mh/articles/2005/1/10/93207.html