(Minghui.org) I have been arrested and detained many times in different places over many years for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that is persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in China. No matter where I was—in a detention center, a forced labor camp, a police station, or prison—as long as I could interact with people, I would clarify the truth to them.
New inmates did not have any essential items, so I tried my best to help them. Sometimes I tried to do more. For example, someone injured her hands in a fight and couldn’t wash her clothes, so I helped her wash her undergarments. I also helped do shifts for the young people who were unwilling to wake up for their duties at night. No matter where I was, I treated everyone with compassion.
I started cultivating Falun Dafa in 1997. On July 20, 1999, the CCP launched its persecution of the practice, defaming the Buddha Fa and poisoning everyone with lies. Due to my steadfast belief in Dafa, I was brutally tortured in detention centers, forced labor camps, and prisons for over eight years.
They whipped me with a belt, hung me up by handcuffs, and shocked me with electric batons in the forced labor camp. They made two drug addict inmates whip me with electric cables and pinch me until I was covered with purple and blue bruises. I told those two, “It’s not good to beat Falun Dafa practitioners.” They replied, “We know. But to get our sentences reduced and go home, we will do whatever the guards tell us to.”
They deprived me of sleep for two weeks and kept me standing until I fell asleep where I stood. By the end, I’d lost 40 pounds.
One day, 610 Office personnel showed up. I thought to myself, “I am a Dafa practitioner. The most they can do is hang me up. Let them do whatever they want!” I said, “Dafa teaches people to be kind, and it can help people regain their health and escape from the cycle of birth, aging, sickness, and death. Falun Dafa is good. I did no wrong by being a good person. I will not regret it if I have to give up my life for Dafa.” They all understood what I said. After that, the forced labor camp did not torture me. I was surprised that they did not hang me up.
The captain once held a meeting for Falun Dafa practitioners and asked us to talk about our strengths. She asked me, “Have you found your strengths?” I replied, “I can’t find any. I used to think that I was stronger than others, but that time they hung me up, I could not endure it, so I no longer feel that I am stronger than others.”
She said, “You do have strengths. You speak true words. You dare to save people.” At that time, I thought, “They know that I am saving people. Do they know everything?”
They hung me up seven times in that forced labor camp. After being hung up so many times, I was no longer afraid of it. The last time they did it, they let me down before I was in pain. I did not cry when they hung me up, but I cried after they released me, because I thought that I must have loopholes and hadn’t cultivated well and that was what made them commit a crime by torturing me.
I later sent forth a strong and steadfast thought from the bottom of my heart: “From now on, if I have any loopholes in my cultivation, I will correct them in the Fa and not allow the old forces to use anyone to persecute me. I am here to save these people—that is our relationship. It is definitely not that I am a victim and they are persecutors.” After that, no one in the detention center, forced labor camp, or prison mistreated me, and the guards treated me well. In the forced labor camp, I did not work, but when the female guards asked me individually for help, I would always try my best to help. As I helped them work, I also clarified the truth to them.
When I was about to leave, a young female guard said, “You’re going home. Isn’t it time for you to help us quit the CCP and its affiliated organizations?” I replied, “Yes, it’s time for you all to quit.” On the day I left, one of the captains brought me dumplings from home, and another captain shook hands with me.
One female guard who had been the fiercest in persecuting practitioners came to me to listen to the truth after she had surgery. Another guard who had been active in persecuting Falun Dafa for the first few years also fell ill. She said, “I’ve persecuted you practitioners for so many years and have obtained nothing but the title of an evil guard.” I looked at her and realized how pitiful she was. She had created so much karma unknowingly in her pursuit of fame and gain. I no longer had the attachment to fighting with people and I was no longer afraid. I saw that everyone had a kind side.
The forced labor camp tortured a practitioner, so all the practitioners went on a hunger strike in protest. After we all had our meals, they would no longer allow us to rest at noon and made us sit on small stools every day. A few days later, I wondered how long we were going to be made to sit like this. I decided to write a letter to the captain in charge, hoping to persuade her to do good by telling her the heavenly principle of good and bad being repaid in kind and that treating Dafa practitioners with kindness would bring her rewards. I wrote that Dafa was being maligned. After she read the letter, she told all of us to rest that very day.
After I filed a criminal complaint against Jiang Zemin, the former head of the CCP, I was persecuted for a period of time in prison. The prison found a few people who made a living “transforming” practitioners. I was worried that the practitioners who did not “transform” would ultimately be tortured, so I wrote a letter to the officer-in-charge to encourage her to do good. I felt a bit apprehensive about doing that, but when I handed her the letter, she accepted it. For some things, when we do them correctly, it won’t be as difficult as we had imagined it to be. Master has arranged everything, and we just need to say what we should and run the errands.
In the detention center, I wrote many copies of my testimonial and gave them to the police officers and doctors. I wrote about my cultivation. After I was illegally sentenced, I knew an appeal was pointless. However, to save the sentient beings in the judicial system, I made use of the chance to appeal to turn my testimonial into a truth-clarification instrument and included a lot of details. I wrote from a scientific perspective, and as I studied the Zhuan Falun Volume II more, I also talked about other realms.
A notary from the Intermediate Procuratorate said, “Sister, if you hadn’t practiced Falun Dafa, you would have been an outstanding female scholar.” When I was in school, my grades were good, but I did not have such great wisdom. I knew that Master had empowered me and given me wisdom. Since the start of the persecution, I have clarified the truth everywhere I have gone. I have told everybody the truth, no matter how high their rank.
I just do what should be done, whether or not I have any fear. When they threatened me with an electric baton, I didn’t betray other practitioners. When I was arrested, I said, “Apart from the facts about Falun Dafa, don’t ask me about anything else. I will not speak about anything else.”And, indeed, they didn’t ask me. I started clarifying the truth the moment I got into the police car. Usually, I could not find any police officers, so I was making use of that little time to give my best effort and make the most of my compassion and wisdom to clarify the truth to them.
The Domestic Security Division chief in our area has changed a few times, and many of them left after I managed to clarify the truth to them. They understood the truth and were saved, so they were transferred. One of them took me to a forced labor camp, and I clarified the truth to him all the way there. He said that he had benefited a lot from the trip. I clarified the truth to another chief who arrested me the whole way, too. He implied that he could not bear to arrest me. He said, “Sister, the health report is up to you now.” I replied, “I have already completed my mission, so I will speak no further.” I did not make a statement and I did not pass my health exam, so I went home that same day.
In the past, I did not know how to cultivate, so I thought that being arrested meant that I was being forced to cultivate in certain respects. Thinking back about the years when I was arrested, it was due to my attachments to lust, emotion, my bad temper, and wisdom among ordinary people, as well as my looks (I liked to look in the mirror and style my hair). I was full of myself and arrogant. When I first obtained the Fa, I was really brave and had the spirit to be diligent in my cultivation. However, I slacked off and was very attached to comfort.
Over these years, I have stumbled and fallen, but I have come this far because Master has been watching over me, protecting me, enlightening me, and encouraging me. There are really no words that can describe Master’s vast benevolence and grace. I can only be even more diligent in my cultivation so that I can follow Master home.
Kindly correct me if there is any room for improvement.