A Western practitioner: My Experience While Being Detained in China

(Clearwisdom.net) On February 14, 2002, approximately 80 practitioners from around the world went to Tiananmen Square to validate the Fa. I was one of them, and I would like to share my understandings. Although there are several aspects of my experience that, I feel, were righteous, I would like to share a couple points that were not righteous, were not clear-headed, and were not worthy actions for a Dafa practitioner.

Upon being arrested, beaten and choked in Tiananmen Square because I held a banner that read "Truthfulness Compassion Forbearance" and because I said "Falun Dafa is Good" in Chinese, I was taken to a hotel that had been turned into a detention center. A middle-aged, plain clothed officer interrogated me. He asked me questions about Falun Gong -- how I learned, how long I had practiced, the benefits from practicing, why I came to China, and how I was involved in organizing the trip with other practitioners. He seemed to think that our plan involved intricate organization, so I told him that a group of us simply wanted to go, so we set a time, and went.

He also asked me how we [practitioners] coordinated, and I told him that we communicated through email. I should not have answered that question. At the time, I didn't think that this information was important, but I now realize that I helped him by revealing this information; perhaps I confirmed what he had suspected about practitioners' means of communication. At the very least I know that I let down all of the practitioners who had the courage and wisdom to resist the evil and not reveal any information that could be used to impede the Fa-rectification.

It's important to note that the police stole thousands of dollars worth of practitioners' belongings while we were illegally detained. We were robbed of our Falun Dafa books, video cameras, laptop computers, palm pilots, and cameras. As the officer who had confiscated my cell phone returned it to me, he asked for the number. Again, I made the mistake of offering it to him. My unclear rationale at the time was that it was not important if I give him this information because I could simply change the number later. This logic was incorrect and unrighteous. This perverted logic is similar to the thinking of practitioners who have submitted to the evil by promising not to practice Falun Gong while knowing full well that they will continue once they are released.

I wanted to share these experiences and understandings with others for my improvement and the improvement of our whole body. From reading Zhuan Falun, I have realized that our thoughts, while seemingly intangible and unnoticeable at the human level, are actually what the Enlightened Beings look at and are the foundation of our future existence. As one body, our thoughts influence each other. If our thoughts have loopholes, then so will both our words and actions.