(Minghui.org) (continued from Part I)
I was sent to a forced labor camp for the second time in 2002. Late one night, one of the practitioners in my cell, Ying, had not returned to the cell. I was worried about her and asked the monitoring inmate, whom I got along well with, to find out what was going on.
She came back and told me that Ying was being tortured on the iron chair. I talked it over with other practitioners in the cell and we began to brainstorm a solution. Hunger strikes took a long time to have an impact. It was cold at the time and Ying did not have her heavy coat on. We had to get her back that night. One practitioner suggested that I go ask for Ying's release. The rest of them would begin a hunger strike if I did not come back in an hour. I agreed.
I went to the office of the head guard and asked her where Ying was. She told me not to meddle in things that were none of my business. I told her that I cared about Ying since she was my fellow practitioner. The guard snapped, “Don't be foolish. Who cared about you when you were on the iron chair?” I said, “We follow the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. It would be selfish of me to ignore her when she is in trouble.” But when I asked if Ying was on the iron chair, she said Ying was talking to someone.
I asked her to release Ying and offered to take her place if needed. “Are you trying to be a hero?” she asked. I said I wasn’t, that Ying was having her period and wasn’t well, that she didn’t even have her coat on and it was so cold. “You wouldn’t stand to see her suffer either, would you?” I asked. She told me not to cause trouble and to go back to my room. I said I wouldn’t go anywhere until Ying was released. “Are you threatening me? Fine, stand here if you like,” she said and left her office.
She came back in a short while and calmed down. We chatted. I told her more about Falun Gong and advised her to treat practitioners kindly. Then a guard opened her office door and gave her a slight nod. She nodded back. Then she told me to go back to my cell. When I refused, she gave me a hint that I should go and pushed me out of her office.
When I got back, Ying was there already. She had indeed been tortured on the iron chair.
This was the first time we’d successfully rescued a practitioner who was being tortured.
Once, I went to a rural area to help the practitioners there with their truth-clarification materials production site. But another practitioner and I were arrested right after I got there. We were taken to the local Domestic Security Division and interrogated in separate rooms.
The police handcuffed my arms behind my back with one arm over my shoulder. They forced me to bend down and began to beat me and kick me. I did not have time to send forth righteous thoughts, so I started to recite “Falun Dafa is good” at the police officers to expel the evil behind them.
Since I refused to answer their questions, they got angry. An officer pulled one of my arms up until it hurt unbearably. I said to Master in my heart, “Master, I can't say a word about other practitioners but I am unable to bear this pain.” Right after that, I felt energy coursing through my body. The pain was gone. I knew that Master saved me and bore it for me.
It no longer hurt when they continued to torture me. The police noticed it, too. They thought I was strong and looked for other things to hit me with. One of them took off a shoe and slapped my legs. Then he found a stick and held it near my head, saying, “If you don't answer, I will beat you to death.” I did not say a word, just gazed at him, reciting “Falun Dafa is good.” He saw that I was not intimidated so he threw the stick down and left. The other policeman stopped hitting me, too.
When the police collected the interrogation records, I stared at them and repeated, “Falun Dafa is good.” They told me that they could not stand me looking at them like that. I knew that it worked. They did not torture me again.
I went out to talk to people about Falun Gong one day and was reported and arrested. The police took me to my home and ransacked it. They confiscated Master's picture, a computer, and other belongings. I tried to stop them, but my son stopped me.
I felt so sad watching them take Master's picture down and handling it with disrespect. I thought, “I have to find a way to get Master's picture back. Because I did not cultivate myself well, the evil forces have taken advantage of my loopholes to persecute me. Now the police are doing wrong because of me.”
I was given 15 days of detention and taken to the detention center. I worried that the police might damage Master's picture and the 4,000 yuan in cash in my bag that had truth-clarification messages printed on them. I was lonely without any fellow practitioners around.
However, I had to let go of myself and look within first. I recalled my recent experience and discovered many shortcomings and attachments: I still held on to Chinese Communist Party (CCP) culture while doing things; I was haughty and lacked kindness; I did not cultivate my speech; and I often criticized and complained. I realized how bad I was and regretted my behavior. I had to do better.
I sent forth righteous thoughts to clean the environment of the detention center. Every day, I told the detainees the truth about Falun Gong, recited the Fa teachings, and sent righteous thoughts. I was kind to every detainee. They did not listen to me at first. But I did not give up and continued to do the same things every day.
Gradually they changed and were friendly. Eighteen out of 19 of my cellmates withdrew from the CCP and its youth organizations. The director and the officers in the detention center also changed their attitude.
The day I was released, my cellmates were happy for me when they said goodbye. I had already prepared myself not to sign any documents upon leaving. When it was my turn to sign, I refused in front of the detention center upper management. The officer handing me the form said, “The guard at the gate will not let you go without your signature.” I told him, “I am not a criminal. I won't sign it.” The director told me to step aside and wait.
Some time later, a guard gave me a piece of paper. It was the release slip. I was happy that Master was in control. One of the deputy directors came to check on me. I told him that I had the release slip. He was happy for me. I thanked him and asked him to extend my thanks and blessing to the rest of staff in the detention center.
Several days later I went to the police department to reclaim my belongings they’d confiscated, including Master's picture. A team lead brought out my bag and asked me to go to the interrogation room to sign the paperwork. I had a bad feeling about it and did not want to sign anything. I left immediately.
I thought about this after I got home: Why did I leave in such a hurry? I must have a strong attachment of fear and a lack of righteous thoughts. I did not have the courage to go back. I shared my experience with other practitioners during our group study. They encouraged me and told me that they would come with me next time to send righteous thoughts for me. I knew that it would not be easy. I decided to do more Fa study in the following days.
When I recalled the experience, I asked myself why that team lead was so mean to me that day since he did not look like a bad person. Did I do something wrong? I could not find the answer. But I knew that I should save him. I decided to write him a letter. After re-writing the letter many times, I asked an experienced practitioner to review and polish it for me. It took a week to finish.
But then delivering it became a problem. I asked other practitioners to go with me. Once at the police department, I was scared to deliver it. A practitioner reminded me that Master is always with us. Her reminder led me to recall how, when I removed the slogans that defamed Dafa, I believed that Master was with me and I was full of righteous thoughts. Everything had gone well.
I filled myself up with righteous thoughts and entered the building. He was in a meeting, so I waited for him. When he came out, the team lead was startled to see me, as if he were afraid of me. He said, “Why did you leave so quickly the other day? I saved your stuff. Come and get it in two days when I will be on duty.” I handed him the letter but he refused to take it. I said, “You must read it even if it costs me my belongings.” He took it and left.
When I went to get my stuff two days later, he greeted me like an old friend. He said he’d read the letter and had learned something. Everything was returned to me in its original condition. I was so happy to have Master's picture back home.
I was arrested again while talking to people about Falun Gong. The police handcuffed me to a metal chair to interrogate me. I refused to answer their questions and kept reciting “Falun Dafa is good” in my mind.
One officer asked for my name. I just stared at him and recited “Falun Dafa is good” to eliminate the evil elements behind him. It worked and he left. Another officer threatened me. But I told him in my mind that Master arranged my path, not him. I kept reciting “Falun Dafa is good” and he left, too.
I told Master: “This is not where I should be; I want to go out and save people; I will cultivate myself better and not give the old forces any opportunity to destroy ordinary people due to my loopholes; I must leave here.” I also dispelled the negative thoughts in my mind, like fear and anxiety.
The police called the Domestic Security Division to ask them to take over my case. I kept my mind fixated on going home. The other side declined. I heard them talk about detaining me for 10 days. At first, I accepted it in my mind. But then I realized that it was wrong to think that way. I negated the idea and insisted I would not stay there.
The two police officers did not know what to do with me and went out to play with their phones. I kept sending forth righteous thoughts. When they came back half an hour later, they released me from the iron chair and let me go home.
I left the police department after just three hours.
I have had so many amazing experiences during the past 20 years, far too many to list. Master has given me so much. Dafa is so powerful and magnificent.