(Clearwisdom.net)
(Part 1: http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2004/11/1/54068.html)
"... At that time, we also worked toward the goal of becoming "self-supervised" in the labor camp instead of being supervised by criminal inmates.... Later I realized that we should not passively withstand the persecution, so I began to write to the guards. I told them that it was illegal for them to mercilessly beat Dafa practitioners. I was beat and harassed by the guards for writing to them. But I firmly believe regardless of the environment, the principles of Dafa were universally true in any environment. The key issue was our mindset and our belief in Dafa.
- a quote from this article
* * * * * * * * *
(Continued from part 1)
4) I went to Beijing again to validate Dafa and was imprisoned
In September 2000, I went to Beijing again to validate Dafa. On September 29, after I was illegally detained for more than twenty days in the Daxing County Detention Center in Beijing, I was transferred back to Jilin City in Jilin Province. Policemen from the Zhihe Police Station took me to the Fourth Squad of crime division of the Chuanying police department. The police tied me to a Tiger Bench for eighteen hours and attempted to force me to disclose information regarding other practitioners. I firmly resisted their persecution. Later the local police station sent me to the Third Detention Center. After being held for more than a month, I was illegally sentenced to two years in the Huanxiling Labor Camp in Jilin City.
During this period of time, I read Teacher's lecture " Teaching the Fa at the Western U.S. Fa Conference" (October 21, 2000). Teacher said,
"What is a Buddha? 'Tathagata' is what human beings call someone who's come with the truth and the power to do what he wants, whereas real Buddhas are guardians of the cosmos and are responsible for all righteous elements in the cosmos ."
I realized that I should correct any phenomena that were not righteous in every persecution environment.
In the Huanxiling Labor Camp, I resisted the persecution with righteous thoughts. I benevolently taught policemen the laws of Dafa and how to act like human beings. Eventually one of the most malicious policemen in the Fourth Brigade named Wang, stated in a meeting when all eighteen Falun Gong practitioners were present that he admired practitioners. In the Fourth Brigade, it had been the practitioners who washed the clothing for the criminal prisoners, and the prisoners often beat and harassed practitioners. When I saw this situation, I shared my understanding with other practitioners that we should not cooperate with the persecution. When other practitioners were beaten or harassed, I bravely stepped forward to stop the malicious factors. I talked to them kindly and rectified their wrong thinking.
In two months, with the efforts of all the practitioners, the Fourth Brigade, which was the most malicious brigade in the Huanxiling Labor Camp, became the most lenient. One of the leaders of the criminal inmates, who had been the most malicious and often personally beat practitioners, began to change and finally came to feel from the behavior of practitioners that Dafa was sacred and from a high spiritual level. When his mother came to visit him, he privately told her to practice Falun Gong at home. Later, in order to further improve our environment, the eighteen practitioners in the Fourth Brigade had a group practice of the Falun Gong exercises in the prison in broad daylight. The authorities were shocked.
Then seven practitioners in the Fourth Brigade had a face-to-face talk with the leaders of the prison and requested that all practitioners be released free of any charges. The guards and prisoners were shocked. I was locked into solitary confinement in a small cell for seven days for "organizing activities and instigating a rebellion."
On March 27, 2001, forty stalwart Dafa practitioners and I were transferred. I was sent to the Tonghua City Labor Camp in Jilin Province. At that time, the Tonghua Labor Camp claimed a 100% "reformation rate" (Everyone had to renounce their cultivation regardless of their true intention.) I remember the day I arrived at the labor camp, Sun Jianfu, the chief of the Education Office came to assault me when he was drunk. He was accompanied by one of his most malicious guards. He held up an electric baton to threaten me. I told him calmly and righteously, "Please pay attention to your image as a government official." Under the effect of my righteous field, Sun Jianfu walked away sheepishly. He never dared to persecute me directly again. In this evil environment, about a dozen practitioners who were transferred with me consistently sent forth righteous thoughts and studied the Fa to create a better environment. In a few months, 90% of the practitioners who previously renounced, under the pressures of torture, their practice of Falun Dafa, wrote solemn declarations that they would cultivate again and rectified themselves.
We also worked toward the goal of becoming "self-supervised" in the labor camp, instead of being supervised by criminal prisoners. We were in fact, the first example of "self-supervision" in China's labor camp system.
On December 27, 2001, more than one-hundred stalwart practitioners from three labor camps in Tonghua, Baishan and Liaoyuan were transferred to the so-called "Reformation Base" in Jilin Province -- the most malicious Chaoyanggou Labor Camp in Changchun City. In the Chaoyanggou Labor Camp, I suffered from all kinds of brutal tortures. I was tortured on the so-called "sitting board" [1] for a long time. Four or five policemen shocked me with several electric batons simultaneously for long periods of time. They brutally beat me with the handle of a shovel. They shocked me on my anus and other sensitive places, and used all kinds of corporal punishments on me.
When the malicious chief of the brigade reprimanded me, I reasoned with him calmly but strongly. When the criminal prisoners beat me, harassed me or fined me for no reason, I warned them sternly about the cause and effect relationship of "good and evil" and that it always has consequences and reported those illegal actions to the leaders in the brigade and the prison according to the law. Eventually even the most wicked policemen and the most threatening criminal prisoners were no longer fierce when around me. They said in private that what I told them made sense. In the Chaoyanggou Labor Camp, I refused to do slave labor. Normally this would result in punishment, but I was able to avoid being punished with my righteous thoughts. The police exhausted every possible means and finally just left me alone.
I have experienced many tests in life and death situations in the most vicious environments. I strengthened my path of Fa-rectification with righteous enlightenment when facing life and death. After suffering all kinds of tribulations, I walked out of the labor camp uprightly and with dignity on December 11, 2002.
Little did I expect that when I returned home, shocking news awaited me. My wife had been persecuted to death more than seven months before in the Heizuizi Women's Prison in Jilin Province after being illegally sentenced to five-years in prison for practicing Falun Dafa!
I was deeply grieved after hearing this unfortunate news. Although I lost my wife and my family was broken, I fully understood the mission and the responsibility of Dafa practitioners during the Fa-rectification period. It is to clarify truth and to save sentient beings. So I wiped away my tears and again put myself into the mighty current of Fa-rectification.
5) Letting go of "Self" and Melting into the Fa
The Fa-rectification work in my area was half paralyzed, since in early 2002, when the truth-clarification material production site was destroyed by the malicious factors and more than twenty practitioners were illegally sentenced to long prison terms. When I was fully prepared to begin my Fa-rectification work with my whole heart and soul, rumors were suddenly spreading around amongst fellow practitioners that I was a "spy."
I was confused as I faced this sudden "attack." I was willing to safeguard Dafa with my life and blood. How could I be regarded as a "spy?" I calmed myself and looked into myself with a clear mind. I evaluated myself and the situation using Dafa and decided that the rumor was not caused by problems within me, but probably that the malicious factors feared that Dafa practitioners would form a whole-body, so they spread rumors that duped some practitioners who didn't know the truth. The intent was to cause discord among local Dafa practitioners to weaken our efforts.
After I understood this, I no longer complained about those people who helped spread the rumor. Instead, I looked into myself for my shortcomings and attachments, and made every effort to resolve the lack of trust other practitioners had of me. I started to share my experiences with every practitioner that I came in contact with, studied Fa with them, improved with them, and worked with them on Fa-rectification projects. Later several practitioners who coordinated Dafa projects with me were arrested by the police, so I had to take more responsibilities on to complete these projects. Over time, the rumor slowly faded as more practitioners began to trust me. I melted the "rock" that blocked them from forming a whole-body in the Fa-rectification path with my words and deeds.
In the process of coordinating activities with more practitioners, I gradually realized the importance of embracing and assimilating to the whole group. If you don't trust me, I will trust you first. If you don't coordinate with me, I will coordinate with you first. If you don't look into yourself, I will look into myself first. As long as it's beneficial to the Fa-rectification, I can completely give up my personal ideas to support the whole. After I was enlightened to this principle, I shared it with more practitioners. After more than thirty local experience sharing Fa conferences, each practitioner could look into himself and where he disagreed with others, kindly point out the problems to others. The local experience sharing Fa conferences became purer and purer. Within this righteous field, more practitioners came out to validate Dafa and clarify the truth. The Fa-rectification work in our area changed into a pure path.
6) "Compassion can result in the spring of heaven and earth"
( Hong Yin II , provisional translation)
I have another feeling to share with everyone. When you see the shortcomings and attachments of another practitioner, you should kindly point it out to him instead of maintaining the so-called "get along great" attitude among practitioners. But the premise is that you must fully consider the other person's situation, and that you are not attached to changing others. When we see another practitioner's problems, we should look into ourselves first. After we purify ourselves, we can then help other practitioners and thus improve ourselves together. Only in this way can we form a perfect and indestructible whole-body.
If I had a difference of opinion when I was doing Fa-rectification work with other practitioners, I could completely give up my opinion to support them as long as it was advantageous to Fa-rectification. What I said and what I did influenced them. We were all tempered in Dafa. This is part of our cultivation in the Fa-rectification period. The three of us coordinated our efforts better and better, and formed a complete whole-body locally.
I realized that this was a quality that a Dafa practitioner should possess. We should tolerate other practitioners, tolerate others' lives, and understand others in their situations. Every Dafa particle plays a crucial role in forming a perfect whole-body. Only if we consistently give up our "selves" and embrace and assimilate to the whole-body, can the greater power of Dafa be manifested.
During the past five years of Fa-rectification, every practitioner has enlightened to certain laws. Although these laws may be enlightening practitioners in the same general direction, there are differences in the details of how to handle a specific problem, or the way of thinking about it. Everyone has different attachments, every life has different characteristics, and thus Dafa practitioners should encompass each other, understand each other, focus more on others' strong points, and make it their first priority to clarify the truth and to save sentient beings.
The main reason that the persecution was very serious in many areas was usually because practitioners emphasized the importance of "themselves" and neglected the improvement of a whole-body. Very diligent practitioners and those who have been in the forefront of Fa-rectification should not dwell on their own value too much. Instead, they should put more effort on helping other practitioners to come out and participate in the Fa-rectification process. What Teacher wants is that every practitioner, not just a few diligent practitioners, being able to go back home, without anyone being left behind. Teacher regards every life the same, without any partiality. However, some of us artificially divide practitioners into different classes, such as diligent vs. not-diligent, staying-at-home vs. coming out, trustworthy vs. not-trustworthy, capable vs. not-so-capable...thus artificially fragmenting the whole-body. This is caused by a lack of understanding of Teacher's Fa.
As the practitioners in the local area and I improved our understanding about embracing each other as a whole-body, we no longer emphasized our personal feelings and understandings. Instead, we took the Fa as our teacher, and took into consideration most of other practitioners' feelings. We tried to get every practitioner involved in Fa-rectification. Every practitioner plays his role as a Fa particle in an equal and harmonious environment where there is no class or rank among practitioners. The overall environment to validate the Fa in our area becomes better and better.
7) I Came to the World for Dafa, and to Fulfill My Life's Wish in This Lifetime
I had been through all types of challenges before I obtained Falun Dafa and finally understood the true meaning of life. Everything that I had experienced in my lifetime happened to prepare me to obtain the Fa. So I have a peaceful mind every day and treat everything around me with mercy and compassion. I am able to keep myself cheerful every day when confronted with significant tribulations, even in the malicious environment of the labor camp when I had to face very vicious people.
Several criminal prisoners and policemen once asked me, "How can you be so optimistic in such a painful situation in the detention center and in the labor camp? You must be pretending!" I kindly responded to them, "No." When I truly understood that the meaning of my life was to return to my true, original self, and that I was fortunate enough to cultivate Falun Dafa and understand that the reason I was reincarnated as a human being was to clarify the truth, and save sentient beings. I also realized that my life was to help Teacher with Fa-rectification and my eternal life was destined to be the most graceful--any hardships or worries in my mind vanished, and were replaced with the image of sentient beings. What was in my mind was no longer me. Instead I was concerned with the suffering of innumerable beings. Whenever I felt pressured and worried in validating the Fa, whenever I didn't want to go forward in difficult situations, I thought of the Teacher's infinite grace and his merciful and arduous salvation of hundreds of millions of practitioners, and his salvation of all beings in the cosmos. Immediately my heart was no longer filled with my own interests. Instead I was reminded that numerous beings need to know the truth and be saved by Dafa.
As I consistently gave up the "self" and kept my mind on the sentient beings, I began to understand the meaning of mercy and compassion in my own realm of understanding. I understand that lives in the new cosmos actively and unconditionally assimilate to Dafa, and they have the righteous enlightenment of unselfishness and altruism. My understanding in my current cultivation state is: As long as I follow Teacher's requirement of Fa-rectification every moment, I have even changed the way I think. It is the feelings of others instead of my own that come to mind first. Only if we let go of "ourselves" and actively assimilate to Dafa, can we truly understand that Teacher's every sentence and every word in Zhuan Falun is absolutely true. At this time, I no longer complain about the vicious environment in China. Instead I feel fortunate that I chose to assist Teacher in Fa-rectification and to save sentient beings from the remote past.
Now I am energetic every day as if my energy can't be exhausted. Whenever I feel tired, I think of how eagerly the sentient beings want to know the truth, and then I forget about myself and put myself back into Fa-rectification work. After getting rid of many human attachments, I have changed considerably. My mind has become purer and purer, and my thinking simpler and simpler. Sometimes I feel that I have become an innocent child. My appearance has also changed. I look like a young man in his twenties, although I am almost forty years old.
Recently I demonstrated the tortures that I had suffered in police stations and exposed the malicious acts and heartless criminalities of the Chinese police to the world. I also filed charges at the provincial People's Congress and the provincial procuratorate according to the Chinese constitution. My purpose is to expose the evil nature of the persecution to people, to punish the policemen and the malicious forces who committed crimes according to the law, and at the same time, to wake up those people who were duped by the lies of Jiang's regime so they may come to know the truth.
Looking back at the hardships that I have been through to rectify Dafa during the past five years, it was the merciful and great Teacher who gave us immeasurable wisdom. He helps us to truly walk a path and return to our true, original selves, a path for human beings to become divine. He gives us supreme and unprecedented honor. We have nothing to give back to him, but to listen to Teacher's instructions, to let go of our human attachments and to save more people.
The above is my cultivation process in validating the Fa during the past five years that I would like to report to Teacher and my fellow practitioners.
[1] Sitting Board ( Link to torture case )
Practitioners put their hands on top of their laps, with backs straight and sitting on benches motionless for eighteen hours per day. This might continue for over fifty days. The authorities limit practitioners' restroom use. Because of the long hours and days spent sitting on the hard benches, practitioners' buttocks develop large sores that are very painful. Practitioners cannot even urinate normally, because of the pain. The conditions were very humid, yet the police would not allow practitioners to have ventilation or the opportunity to get some sunlight. Practitioners were locked up for so long, that countless red scabies grew on their bodies, which was very uncomfortable and painful.