(Minghui.org) As a veteran Falun Dafa practitioner, I have experienced many things in my cultivation over the years. Here I want to share with fellow practitioners my experiences enduring the toughest tribulation in my cultivation, and I want to thank Master for his compassionate protection.
Police Try to Interrogate Me
I was operating a material production center in my home and had been providing materials to let people know about Falun Gong (also known as Falun Dafa) and the persecution.
In the morning on October 2, 2015, I heard a knock on my door and thought it was a relative. As soon as I opened it, several police officers forced their way in.
My printer was making copies for pamphlets about Falun Gong. When they saw that, they forced me downstairs, pushed me into a police vehicle, and took me to the police station.
The police started to interrogate me as soon as we arrived. A thought then came to my mind: “Under normal circumstances, I would not be able to hold your attention. Since I'm here, I am going to use the opportunity to tell you about Falun Gong.”
I talked to every officer who came in. I told them about Falun Gong being embraced by people around the world and about Falun Gong’s miraculous power to heal illness and improve health and how it helped me personally.
I also told them of the rock that was discovered in Guizhou Province engraved with traditional Chinese characters that say “The Chinese Communist Party Perishes” and that the "Tiananmen self-immolation" was a hoax to slander Falun Gong.
One officer asked me why I'd filed a criminal complaint against Jiang Zemin, the former head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). So I talked about what kind of person Jiang is, how he has persecuted Falun Gong practitioners, and how he sold our country’s land.
Many of them listened carefully, but others didn't and acted viciously. I stared hard at one of them and sent righteous thoughts. In a short time, he lowered his head and left.
An officer later asked me, “Do you feel sorry for your family that you are here?”
I replied, “You are the ones who took me from home by force. I do feel sorry for not being able to do better, but I've lost a lot of time in helping to make it possible for more people to know the truth.”
When I looked at the paper they wanted me to sign, I saw that they wanted to charge me with “disrupting public order.” I told them, “I did not 'disrupt the public order.'”
An officer replied, “Then you can write your comment on the paper.”
So I wrote, “Falun Gong is a righteous Fa. By cultivating Falun Gong I have gotten rid of all my illnesses. Falun Gong is good!”
Sending Righteous Thoughts While In Detention
I was taken to a jail, where two Falun Gong practitioners were already being held. A dozen more were later admitted.
We all looked inward together and realized that we had not been diligent in cultivation for a period of time. We had become ensnared in ordinary life and did not send righteous thoughts consistently. The evil exploited our gaps and persecuted us.
We decided to intensify our sending righteous thoughts. One night, I sent righteous thought for four hours straight, which I had never been able to do before. I knew that Master had strengthened me.
We sent righteous thoughts in the night and recited Hong Yin during the day. I felt that I was in an intensified Fa study group and I deeply regretted that I didn't pay enough attention to reciting the Fa before.
Tortured and Humiliated
The police took me to a detention center a week later. Each cell was run by a head inmate. The head inmate helped the guards to torture other inmates in the cell.
When I first arrived, the head inmate instigated other inmates to torture me. After they learned that I practiced Falun Gong, the torture got worse.
They tried desperately to get me to renounce my belief, so they could fulfill their assignment.
One of the most humiliating things they did to me was to force me to eat my meals next to the toilet every day.
I had a strong attachment to sentiment and was anxious to get out of the detention center. I felt very low and was depressed and suffered rapid weight loss as a result.
Looking Inward for Shortcomings
I kept thinking, “What happened to me? I am a Dafa practitioner. What are my shortcomings that are being exploited by the evil to persecute me?”
I calmed my mind and looked inward for the reason. I found many attachments, including my mentality of not willing to accept other people’s criticism, being suspicious of my husband, and my resentment, jealousy, and competitive mentality.
However, I still felt that I hadn't identified my fundamental attachment. Those that I had found all seemed superficial.
I suddenly realized that I had recently started using WeChat (a Chinese multi-purpose messaging and social media app). One of my classmates, who had wanted to date me in the past, found me on WeChat the day before I was arrested and we had a video chat.
He flattered me, and I was chatting with him when the police broke into my home.
I asked myself why he had suddenly started to think about me and why he had found me on WeChat. I realized that I had been thinking that I might be better off if I hadn't married my husband. I still wanted to pursue ordinary people's happiness and seek a comfortable life!
I felt so ashamed that I still had such a strong attachment to lust after all these years of cultivation, even though I thought that I had already discarded lust.
Cultivation is serious. A practitioner must base her every thought and deed on the Fa. Any loopholes will give the old forces chances to persecute us. After I found my attachments, I started eliminating them.
Gaining the Respect of Other Inmates
I was sentenced to 15 months in prison and sometimes felt emotionally disturbed during that time.
Whenever I was able to remember Master’s Fa, “...just by remaining unmoved you could handle all situations.” (“Teaching the Fa at the 2005 Canada Fa Conference” from Teaching the Fa at the Conference V), my mind would calm down quickly.
I sent righteous thoughts to eliminate the evil whenever I had time. I kept in mind that I am a Dafa practitioner, that validating the Fa is my responsibility, and that I must treat everyone kindly, including the other inmates.
I changed my attitude and started to treat everyone kindly. The guards treated the inmates badly. However, I did my best to help them whenever I could.
I shared my food and clothes with those who needed them and I tolerated their bad behavior. Over time, I gained their respect. From my conduct, many of the inmates came to understand that Falun Dafa practitioners are good people.
The conditions in the prison were very poor and it was difficult to take a shower in the winter. The hot water would run out quickly, so the rest of us would have to wait until the next day or take a cold shower.
Considering the other inmates, I never took a hot shower. I always waited until the hot water had run out and the other inmates stopped taking showers. I was the only one who took a cold shower in the winter. Everyone was surprised that I never got cold.
The inmates all admired me, saying, “Falun Gong practitioners are strong. Who else here would dare to take a cold shower in the winter?”
The prison did not supply enough boiled drinking water for the inmates and gave each cell only a very limited amount. I often saved my share for the other inmates.
They all witnessed the miraculous power of Dafa.
Validating the Fa in Prison
I cared about everyone and did my best to help them. The inmates admired me, and they became more and more willing to share their thoughts with me.
One day, the prison director called the head inmate to his office. The head inmate was there for a long time. When she came back she wanted to “transform” me and tried to make me give up practicing Falun Gong.
She even tried to brainwash me the entire morning. She was trying to make me believe the lies and propaganda put out by the CCP to slander Falun Gong.
At the beginning, I simply ignored her but soon realized that she was creating a lot of karma for herself by trying to brainwash me.
I told her, “I follow the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance to be a good person. What kind of person do you want to 'transform' me into? I have done nothing wrong and am afraid of nothing.”
Seeing my strong will, she said, “Ok. Forget it! You can believe whatever you want and I will not try to 'transform' you anymore.” I knew that my firm belief eliminated the old forces controlling her.
Another inmate later told me that the prison director had promised to reduce her sentence by two years if she could get me to stop practicing Falun Gong.
She also told me that she knew I was a good person and that she liked to sit cross-legged while meditating.
As we got to know each other, I started to tell her some stories about the miracles of Falun Gong. Whenever I got chance, I recited Master’s poems for her. Later, she asked me to help her to quit the CCP.
Her change in behavior had a great influence on the other inmates in the cell. Almost all of them quit the CCP and its affiliated organizations, except for a few I did not have time to get familiar with before they left. I told my cellmates to remember, “Falun Gong is good. Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good.”
When I started talking to a young girl in the cell about Falun Gong, she accepted my words and quit the Young Pioneers.
When I told her that sincerely reciting, “Falun Gong is good” would bring her blessings, she asked me, “Does it really work?” I told her that it would work if she truly believed it.
Several days later, she told me that she had been reciting “Falun Gong is good” a hundred times a day. I said, “Great. You will get released soon.”
She was released several days later. Seeing what happened, many inmates started reciting sincerely, “Falun Gong is good. Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good.”
Two inmates also started learning the exercises.
Our cell became peaceful and the sounds of yelling and quarreling disappeared. It was the best cell in the prison.
Whenever a new inmate came into our cell, everyone would tell her, “This is the best cell. You're really lucky.”
When inmates were moved from this cell to other cells, they left with tears running down their faces.
Falun Gong Practitioners Validate Dafa All the Time
A Dafa practitioner's environment reflects his or her state of mind. As Master said, “the appearance stems from the mind.” (“Fa Teaching Given at the Epoch Times Meeting”).
A practitioner should keep in mind that, no matter when or where, every one of our thoughts and deeds has the effect of validating Dafa. We must keep in mind all the time that we are true cultivators.
By the time I walked out of the prison, I had regained the weight I'd lost and my complexion looked healthy. Although I was 56 years old, I looked like I was in my 40s.
I did not look like someone who had just been released from prison. I looked like I had had just come back from vacation.
I am not trying to show off by writing this. I just want to say that, as a Falun Dafa practitioner, we must remember all the time who we are and we should always take the responsibility to validate the Fa.
The above are some of my cultivation experiences.
Thank you, Master, and thank you, fellow practitioners.
