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My Understanding of a "Hunger Strike" By a practitioner from Hunan Province
(Clearwisdom.net) I have read several articles from the Minghui Weekly
discussing "hunger strikes." I think I have a different understanding,
so I have written down my understandings to share with everyone. My understanding after I was arrested was that I should not eat food provided
by the evil. When I chose not to eat the food the authorities provided, I was
using peaceful means to resist my illegal detention. In my
understanding, when I eat food offered by someone, they have to be a sincere,
good person, without any conditions or expectations for repayment. Also, eating
should be done at the appropriate time and place. Master taught us in Zhuan
Falun: "No loss, no gain. To gain, one has to lose."
It is perfectly justified when we try to be a good person in society and
earn our bread by working hard. After we were arrested, however, they fed
practitioners like animals. They tried to manipulate us through cruel punishment
and torture, using any methods they pleased. Sometimes, they even kill
practitioners if they feel it's necessary. Isn't that the case? So why should we
eat their food? The first time I went a on hunger strike at the labor camp, some of us did
not sign our names on the decision statement sentencing us to the forced labor
camp: we did not acknowledge the forced labor. As a result, the guards
instigated four to five drug-addict inmates to seize each practitioner's hands
and take his or her fingerprints. All the practitioners' fingerprints were taken
this way except for me, because I was the only practitioner on a hunger strike.
From time to time they punished us by forcing us to stand, to sit on tiny
stools, or to go out for calisthenics whenever they liked. If you disobeyed,
someone would drag you, pull you, and beat you, so we were left with no other
choice but to obey them. This is why my understanding is that when we eat their
food, we are losing our rights and putting ourselves under the full control of
the evil. Master mentioned in Zhuan Falun: "Matter and mind are one and the
same." Since I didn't do well, the evil took advantage of my loophole, and
I was illegally jailed. However, I chose not to eat their food or follow their
instructions. This was my understanding and this was what I did. Sometimes they
even put on their hypocritical face to lure me by saying things like: "If
you do not want to eat the food provided by the forced labor camp, I can use my
personal money to buy a box lunch for you from outside and I can also buy you
some fruit." I refused all of their offers. Of course I did not have the
competitive mentality and did not fight with anyone. I just quietly and silently
persisted. When I had contact with people around me, I always maintained a kind
heart. In time they did not try so hard to force-feed me anymore. They started
to feel sympathetic towards me, and someone even commented: "You are
stronger than any guard in this forced labor camp." The prisoners that
surrounded me started to honestly get along with me. They even encouraged me,
washed my clothes for me, got hot water for me, etc. Because I persisted, my
environment improved greatly in many ways. For an ordinary person, a "hunger strike" is something incredible.
I went on a hunger strike three times. The first time lasted for over five
months, the second time lasted for over a month, and the third time for over two
months. Every time, I almost died. During the first hunger strike, my weight
plummeted to just over 60 jin (roughly 70 pounds), and my internal organs
started to fail. During the second and third times, I developed coronary
disease, and I was sent to an emergency room. Each time I went on a hunger
strike, I suffered great pain. My human attachments arose, with thoughts like:
"What if I die?" All human attachments, including the attachment of
death and all the other human desires, tortured me. I felt immense pain and
sadness. I thought to myself: "When will this come to an end?"
However, I reminded myself that I was a practitioner, a Dafa practitioner. When
truly facing death, I followed the requirements of Dafa to calm myself and to
actively repel and eliminate all unrighteous thoughts. As a result, even though
I went on hunger strikes for long periods of time, and my captors thought that I
was not well physically, my eyes still glowed with health and radiant vigor, and
I still spoke with clarity and calm. Every time after I was released from the forced labor camp, I suffered from
diarrhea whenever I ate anything. I had dropsy, and my hair fell out. I was on
the brink of death every minute. However I did not worry. I ate meals,
clarified the truth, and I never found any excuses to put off
whatever I was supposed to do. I did not lie a single day in bed, and I never
felt that the hunger strike would do me any harm. In just a short time, my
health started to improve. I used to be a heavy person, and now I am still
heavy, about 120 jin (about 133 pounds). Of course the law of the universe is not unilateral, it is comprehensive.
Different levels have different Fa. It is not the time to encourage everyone to
go on a hunger strike--it is the time to completely disintegrate the persecution
of Dafa practitioners in all detention centers, forced labor camps and jails,
and it is time for the persecution of practitioners to end. When a practitioner
is arrested, he/she should try to get out of the situation with righteous
thoughts, the righteous thoughts Master taught us to have, so that the
persecution will cease to exist. September 30, 2006 Posting date: 10/29/2006
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