By a Falun Dafa practitioner from Laixi City, Shandong Province, China

(Clearwisdom.net)

Since the persecution began on July 20, 1999, the Chinese government has arrested and beaten Falun Gong practitioners throughout China, ransacked their homes, burned their Falun Gong books, and adopted immoral and vicious means to frame and slander Falun Gong, among other vicious tactics designed to wipe out Falun Gong.

When I went to visit my parents, they were not happy to see me and acted as if they did not like me. In fact, I felt that they really hated me. They would not accept the presents I gave them, nor did they want me to step into their house. It was this way every time I visited them. It was extremely painful to me. What should I do? What was the right way to show my love for them? What was the right way to treat them?

After studying the Fa, I came to realize that I wanted to be a genuine cultivator and follow what Master requires of us. Only by acting according to the standard of a practitioner could I exhibit my affection for my parents. Letting my parents know that all Falun Gong practitioners are good people is my way of genuinely treating them well. Since I gained this understanding, I have no longer held a grudge against them for their misunderstanding. As a result, my parents soon changed their attitude towards me and since then, they have treated me very well whenever I visit. They escort me out when I leave them. My mother said, "Come back home whenever you have time and you do not need to bring anything. We know you do not have any money." I have really felt the mighty power of Master's compassion and Dafa. With the improvement of my xinxing (mind nature), I soon broke through that level of having strong sentiments toward my parents.

I was illegally arrested, detained, and imprisoned many times. During the illegal detention, the police, when they beat practitioners, said that they were helping the practitioners eliminate their karma and uplift their xinxing. I understood that they could only commit sins and accumulate karma. They are not qualified to remove karma for others nor could they uplift others' xinxing. Only Master can bear this for practitioners and sentient beings and eliminate their karma. I have realized that sentient beings should not commit crimes against Dafa, since I know that the ones who do evil against Dafa will go down into the gate of no-life. Because I hold this thought, during the several years of persecution, no one has dared to beat or curse me, slander Master and Dafa in front of me, and no one has dared to force me to write the so-called Guarantee Letters [which are used by the government to indicate a practitioner's giving up the practice of Falun Gong]. Since I have such righteous thoughts from the bottom of my heart, no one is allowed to treat me this way.

Greeting to dear Master! Greeting to fellow practitioners around the world!

In looking back on my cultivation during the five years of the Fa-rectification period, I have experienced the very cruel persecution in China. But with Master's benevolent salvation and protection, I have gone through the tribulations despite tremendous pressure.

Since July 20, 1999, an all-out persecution of Dafa has started throughout China. The police arrested and beat Falun Gong practitioners, ransacked their homes, gave them jail sentences, sent them to labor camps, forced them to hand in their Falun Gong books, destroyed Dafa books, and resorted to immoral and vicious means to frame and slander Falun Gong. Under tremendous pressure from the police, my employer, and my family members, I felt as if I could barely breathe. I kept pondering whether I should continue my cultivation or not. Master told us in the poem, "Being Calm in Tribulation" from Hong Yin,

"The righteous Fa is being spread, Difficulties on top of difficulties. Tens of thousands of demons in the way, Dangers within dangers."

Since I had studied the Fa a lot at that time, Master's Fa kept coming to my mind, which helped me to make up my mind to follow Master and not give up Dafa. Since then, I have strengthened my resolve to follow Master and continue my cultivation until the end, no matter how huge the pressure is.

When I went to visit my parents, they were not happy to see me and acted as if they did not like me. In fact, I felt that they really hated me. They would not accept the presents I gave them, nor did they want me to step into their house. It was this way every time I visited them. It was extremely painful for me. What should I do? What was the right way to show my love for them? What was the right way to treat them?

After studying the Fa, I came to realize that I wanted to be a genuine cultivator and follow what Master requires of us. Only by acting according to the standard of a practitioner could I exhibit my affection for my parents. Letting my parents know that all Falun Gong practitioners are good people is my way of genuinely treating them well. Since I gained this understanding, I have no longer held a grudge against them for their misunderstanding. As a result, my parents soon changed their attitude towards me and since then, they have treated me very well whenever I visit. They escort me out when I leave, and my mother says, "Come back home whenever you have time and you do not need to bring anything. We know you do not have any money." I have really felt the mighty power of Master's compassion and Dafa. With the improvement of my xinxing (mind nature), I soon broke through that level of having strong sentiments toward my parents.

On November 1, 1999, I boarded the train to go to Beijing to appeal. There were four to five of us traveling together. One fellow practitioner was stopped by the police at the train station and gave the police information about the rest of us who were traveling with her. So the police found us and took us back when we were only half-way to Beijing. At the end of December, I again went to Beijing to peacefully appeal. I unfurled a banner on Tiananmen Square. While I held up the banner, I loudly shouted, "Falun Dafa is great!" I went to Beijing many times to safeguard the Fa. I was illegally arrested, detained, and imprisoned many times.

When they beat practitioners during the illegal detention, the police said that they were helping the practitioners eliminate their karma and raise their xinxing. I understood that the police could only commit sins and accumulate karma this way. They are not qualified to remove karma for others nor could they uplift others' xinxing. Only Master can bear this for practitioners and sentient beings and eliminate their karma. I have realized that sentient beings should not commit crimes against Dafa, since I know that the ones who do evil against Dafa will go down into the gate of no-life. So during the several years of persecution, no one has dared to beat or curse me, slander Master and Dafa in front of me, and no one has dared to force me to write the so-called Guarantee Letters. Since as I have such righteous thoughts from the bottom of my heart, no one is allowed to treat me this way.

I also saw that the police utilized this opportunity to extort money from Dafa practitioners. The police asked the practitioners' family members or their employers to give them money. The practitioners would be released if the money was received. I thought that I should not indulge the police in their committing these crimes. I understood that I could not use money in exchange for the freedom to cultivate. After this thought of mine was set, my family members did not give the police any money, but the police released me nonetheless.

On July 16, 2000, I went to Beijing again to validate Dafa. The police arrested more than twenty practitioners and me at a fellow practitioner's home. They took us to a police station in a district of Beijing. They asked everyone for his or her name and home address. When I saw that some practitioners were beaten so badly that they cried out in extreme pain, I started reciting continuously, in my heart,

"Grand talk counts for naught when it comes to life and death,

Actions reveal what is true."

("The Knowing Heart" in Essentials for the Further Advancement II)

I asked myself whether I went there to validate Dafa or to just blindly follow the crowd. Now that I had come to validate Dafa, all my words and actions must be in accordance with Dafa and I must follow what Master has told us. After I had this righteous thought, I felt very relieved in my mind. No policemen questioned me. Later, Master said,

"I can tell you that if a person doesn't have that much karma, he absolutely won't have tribulations that severe. You should clearheadedly distinguish personal cultivation from evil's persecution of the Fa. "

("Teaching the Fa at the Western U.S. Fa Conference," Guiding the Voyage)

I have realized that if I do not have that strong of an attachment to fear and other human notions, there would be no increase of self-imposed tribulations, as Master's Law body is always with me.

At that time, I felt that Master was watching me and seeing if I had a sincere heart. Master would do anything for me if I had a righteous mind. I understood that no matter what methods the old forces resort to, such as beating and interrogation, they do not want anything that is tangible. What they really want is to know whether a Dafa practitioner will continue to practice Falun Gong or not. Therefore, in all circumstances, whenever the police questioned me, I always refused to cooperate with them. I said to them that it did not matter how or why I went there and with whom, since these were not what they were concerned about, and that what they were really concerned about was whether I would continue my cultivation or not. I then told the police, "I am determined to follow 'Truth-Compassion-Tolerance' and to assimilate myself to 'Truth-Compassion-Tolerance'."

In the latter part of July, I received Master's article of "An Announcement" [now in Essentials for Further Advancement II] from a fellow practitioner. I thus understood that I should clarify the truth to the ordinary person and expose the vicious persecution of Dafa. I started to clarify the truth to people. I went out to hang banners, post notices on walls with Scotch tape, and deliver truth-clarification materials to people's homes. Once when we went to hang a banner, the police saw us. They chased us. I told my fellow practitioner not to be frightened or anxious. The two of us went in different directions. The police could not find us and then left the area. So under Master's protection, we escaped safely. We had broken through the persecution.

In March 2001, during the 16th National Conference of the People's Congress in China, some of the people in charge wanted to abduct me and send me to a brainwashing "class." I refused to go because I thought that there were still many people waiting to learn the truth of Falun Dafa. As the brainwashing classes are the places where the old forces have arranged to persecute Dafa practitioners, I was determined that I would not go. In the end, they did not succeed in sending me.

At the end of June 2001, when I was posting Dafa materials on the wall of an apartment building, a security person who was at the gate caught me. Through pulling and dragging, he managed to get me into the security office. He used an electric baton to touch the table, and the baton emitted sparks. It was clear that he intended to shock me with the baton. My heart beat hard, but then I had the thought that I should not get frightened and I remembered Master's words,

"If a cultivator can let go of the thought of life and death under any circumstance, evil is sure to be afraid of him. If every student is able to do this, evil will of itself no longer exist. All of you are already aware of the principle of mutual-generation and mutual-inhibition. If you are not afraid, the factor that would make you afraid will cease to exist. This is not to be self-imposed, but is achieved by truly and calmly letting go of it."

("Eliminate Your Last Attachment(s)" in Essentials for Further Advancement II)

When I calmed down, I started to tell the police officer how Falun Gong teaches people to be good, and how the government framed and slandered Falun Gong on television. He said, " Now I understand. You can go and continue your work. Also, please put some Dafa materials on our leader's vehicle." He then let me go.

On July 9, 2001, I was arrested for printing truth-clarification materials. I was detained in Qingdao City's Dashan Detention Center. I searched within myself, following what Master has required of us, and found that I still had the attachments of jealousy and showing-off. I saw that these loopholes were taken advantage of by the evil. Was it the case that my having such an impure mindset had given the old forces an excuse to persecute me? I understood that whether the old forces imposed it upon me or if there existed loopholes in me, I would not accept this kind of persecution. No matter what circumstances I was in, I should just do well what Master has required of me. So every day I sent forth righteous thoughts, practiced the exercises, and clarified the truth to the inmates. I thought that I should not be here in detention, and that I must go out and clarify the truth and save people. Therefore, under the protection of Master, I left the detention center in an upright and dignified manner.

On December 28, 2001, I was arrested while I was at a fellow practitioner's home. One month later, I was sent to Zibo City's Wangcun Village and given an illegal two-year forced labor sentence. After I arrived at the camp, I kept sending forth righteous thoughts and at the same time looking into myself to try to find in what aspects I had not done well enough and in which areas I had acknowledged the old forces' arrangements. When several former practitioners who had gone astray came to brainwash me, I immediately understood that I should turn my warped post-natal notions into the righteous thoughts of assimilating myself with "Truth-Compassion-Tolerance," rather than compromise with the evil. My righteous thoughts then became very strong. I sternly questioned the collaborators: "Why do you twist Dafa and engage in the so-called exposing and criticizing Master? Before the persecution started, why had not you said anything negative about Master? You act this way because you are afraid of the persecution and brainwashing. You are not protecting Dafa." They did not say a word.

The guards came in next. I remembered what Master said in "A Suggestion," (Essentials for Further Advancement II).

"Those who do the so-called 'reform' work, too, are people who have been deceived. Why not turn the tables and expose the evil and clarify the truth to them? I suggest that all students who they are trying to forcefully reform (this excludes those who haven't been taken away for reform) expose the evil and clarify the truth to those people who are doing the reform work, and tell them about the cause and effect relationship of 'good and evil always have consequences.' It is the evil that is afraid of people knowing the truth of the situation, not Dafa disciples."

The guards told me how good the environment there was. I questioned them, "Isn't this the place where Zhou Songtao from Qingdao City was tortured to death?" I then told them about the staged Tiananmen Square Self-Immolation Incident. After I finished, the guards left without saying a word. With Master's protection, I used my mighty righteous thoughts to eliminate all the evil elements in the other dimensions that were persecuting me. So I walked out of the detention center in an upright and dignified manner in two days. I again plunged myself into the torrent of Fa-rectification.

On my cultivation path, I have generally felt calm, though there were also frustrations. As I have a determined faith in Master, from the bottom of my heart, nothing can ever force me to give up "Truth-Compassion-Tolerance."

Master said,

"Isn't there a saying among people that, 'You have your thousand brilliant ideas, but I have my own way'? In other words, Dafa disciples need to realize what they're doing. [You] must keep clearheaded about whether something is related to validating the Fa or not." ("Teaching the Fa at the 2003 Atlanta Fa Conference")

During my cultivation in the Fa-rectification period, several big tribulations have made me become even more clear-headed, rational, and determined. At the same time, many of my attachments and warped notions were eliminated. I came to understand that to completely negate the old forces, we must be very strict with ourselves, study the Fa more and with our hearts, pay attention to sending forth righteous thoughts. We must use Dafa to guide ourselves, and follow what Master has required of us. We will completely negate the old forces' arrangements and walk every step well. I will keep striving forward with righteous thoughts and actions. We will live up to Master's teachings and expectations and we will not let the sentient beings down. We will not fail in accomplishing our vows and hopes.

This is just my personal understanding. Please point out anything that is improper.

September 25, 2004

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2004/10/14/86163.html