(Minghui.org) I attended primary school during the Cultural Revolution, and was assigned to the workforce as a prison guard. Being indoctrinated by the communist regime’s atheism, I did not know what cultivation was about, nor did I understand what a Buddha, Tao or God represented.
However, I always wondered, “Why are we living on Earth as a human being?” When I asked my teacher in secondary school, the teacher replied that this is not a question I should be thinking about at my age. The teachers were very surprised when I said, “What is the purpose of having good or bad results,” when my grades went up and down.
After entering the workforce, I led a carefree life and even rejected the offer to be promoted to be an officer. I felt that life is just a few decades time and there would not be much difference if I were to have all the fame and riches in the world or be just a lowly and poor person. I felt as if I was a lost soul waiting for time to pass by. In my heart, I kept pondering about the purpose of being alive.
Obtaining the Fa and Starting on the Path to Return to My True Nature
When I was 37 years old, I was diagnosed with acute rheumatism. I woke up one afternoon and I could not move. After receiving acupuncture treatment, I could only walk a little, but with much effort. Since then, I often suffered from recurrences, and my condition deteriorated. All joints in my body ached, I had low blood pressure, chest tightness, and shortness of breath. I was living in great agony.
Neither western nor Chinese doctors could help me, as my condition was caused by rheumatism. They even said that I would eventually end up with heart failure. With no other choice, I skeptically tried qigong to see if it could cure me. However, after trying two types of qigong, I gave up.
The original hopeless feeling about life and the agony in my body made me fall into apathy. Then, my colleague gave me the introductory book Falun Gong. I took a look and thought that it was just another qigong, so I immediately returned it, and explained that I did not expect it to work.
When a relative gave me Zhuan Falun, the main book of Falun Dafa, in the summer of 1997 I read the book. After reading it, I was very thrilled as the book answered all the questions that I had in my mind, and helped me understand that the reason for being alive is to return to my true nature. This was the answer I had been looking for.
Not long after I started to read the book and practice the exercises, did my joints no longer ache, and my body felt very relaxed. Although I did not learn this Fa and exercise with the aim of curing my illness, all of my illnesses disappeared.
I then participated in a large-scale Fa conference. There were a few thousand people in the conference hall. Some people had to stand, including me, who stood for the entire four hours. A practitioner offered his seat to me, but I did not take up the offer. I was very focused on listening to practitioners’ sharing.
Sick and tired of listening to the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) mass reporting, the experience-sharing of the practitioners was a fresh change. Stories about the power of Dafa were amazing. There was a practitioner who quit drugs despite being a drug addict, a gangster who changed for the better, a terminally ill practitioner who recovered, a practitioner who lost his vision due to glaucoma, and regained it after stepping into Falun Dafa, how a thief became a person with high moral values and character, and so on.
Defending the Fa and Persevering in My Cultivation
In order to let more people reap the benefits of Dafa, I went out with practitioners to publicize the Fa on my days off. We brought along some dried food and visited a few villages. Sometimes, we even rode our bicycles for more than a 100 miles.
When on my way home from clarifying the truth about Dafa, I heard about the April 25 Peaceful Petition in Beijing. Once I reached home, I asked my child if he could stay at home by himself, while I went on a long-distance travel. I am a single parent and this child has never left my side. However, much to my surprise, he replied, “Go, go! I am already 14 years old, what is there to worry about,” without even asking me where I was going.
After coming back from Beijing, the situation became more and more intense. We lost our normal cultivation environment. Practitioners and I went to the departments with letters and visited people of different levels, hoping that the government could understand that Falun Dafa is a high-level cultivation practice that is beneficial for anyone.
However, after our return, I was told at my workplace that they were going to look for me. My department was under great stress as the higher management was pressuring them. They claimed that all of them were going to lose their job if I were to go to Beijing to appeal for justice for Falun Gong again. I told them that if they were to give me a normal cultivation environment, I would not need to go anywhere.
Officials tried many ways to stop me from practicing Falun Gong. Different ranks of officers contacted me all day long, and I used this as an opportunity to clarify the truth to them. They said that they knew that the practice is good, but they did not have a choice, as the higher authorities kept forcing them about this matter. They even brought my mother in and told my mother that they were going to take me to the labor camp if I do not write a guarantee statement that I would stop practicing. My mother was so scared that she hugged my leg and knelt in front of me for a few hours. That was really heart-wrenching pain.
Then, the department in charge showed me a fax from the higher authorities, and told me with tears in their eyes that no matter how many good words the department tried to put in for me they were no help. The upper management gave them 10 more days to make me write the guarantee statement. If not, the department had to fire me. The department in charge suggested that I quit, as it would sound better than being fired.
I said, “I performed even better after I started to cultivate so why should I quit my job? The department also has no reason to fire me. I try to be a good person by living by the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. Even when you cut my salary to only a few hundred dollars a month because I refused to the write the guarantee statement, I still have come to work early and left late, cleaning up the office and still performed well.” He said that they all knew that. I told him that if I am really being fired, I would beg for food, and clarify the truth about Dafa wherever I go.
I was being “put under house arrest” by the department for more than a year. They dedicated a car to me to do my household chores and go to work.
Tortured
Through these 20 years of persecution, I was detained for almost 10 years. I was arrested 5 times, illegally detained, and taken to labor camps, brainwashing centers and prisons. I went through emotional and physical torment.
I was tortured, such as being hung up with ropes or handcuffs, electrocuted with an electric baton, and forced-fed with alcohol. They did not let me wash myself, take a shower, or change clothes for a few months, except for the change in season when I am allowed to take a 10-minute shower.
I was beaten and they kicked me to make me wake up when I fainted from the beatings. They pulled me by my hair to bang my head against the wall until I was giddy and my face was bruised. The guards hit me with their batons until both of my legs were bruised, I had to limp for 2 months, and 2 palm-sized lumps formed on my hips that took a few years to disappear. They also deprived me of sleep.
When I fainted from the hardship and fell, my face hit the floor causing my gums to collapse inwards, and my teeth became loose. Blood came out of my mouth and my face and hair were immersed in a pool of blood. The director of the 610 Office even said, “If you die, we will tell them that you have committed suicide!” They did not allow me to wear padded clothes or shoes in winter and made me stand in the snow for 18 hours. One guard from the labor camp even stepped hard on my big toe until the nail came out, and made me run right after that. When I fainted from all the beatings, they said that I was just pretending.
I was released in 2017. It is the power of Dafa that helped me survive the torture.
Just like the many fellow practitioners, although I have experienced torture, I am still firm in my belief, as “Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance” had already taken root in my heart.
Be a Good Person No Matter Where I Am
After being released, the persecution did not stop. When I returned, I was told that my retirement pension had been stopped when I was sentenced to imprisonment. They were continuing their persecution financially. I could not get my pension, despite requesting it many times.
In order to maintain a living, I found a part-time job. This job is mentally and physically straining. The woman who worked at the shop for six years told me that she took about half-a-year to remember all the prices. I thought that I am a Dafa practitioner, so I should do my best no matter where I am.
I wrote down all the prices, categorized the items in price ranges, and made a price list. Then, I arranged all the items according to the price list. Within a month, I was able to remember the prices for all the items, and before two months were up I was able to tend the shop by myself. Despite the workload, I did not feel tired at all.
When I am at the shop, the boss can take a half-day rest. She said that she has been managing this business for so many years that her body is tired out. Since my being there, she is able to relax so much more. She said that I am doing the work of three people. The customers will also compliment me, and say that I brought her luck. Before long, the whole shopping street knew that I was a practitioner of Falun Gong.
One day, an elderly man came into the shop and asked, “Do you have a CD?” I was a little stunned as I thought he was here to buy something. He looked at me and asked, “Do you have the CD about “The Real Story of Jiang Zemin”?” I asked him how did he know that I practiced Falun Gong, and he said that the whole street knew about it. Some people will walk into the shop to listen to the truth and quit the CCP. The shop attendant who works with me said, “Your attitude is so good! You treat everyone so well, and you are so happy every day even although you did not receive your pension. If it were me, I would have fought hard with them. I must learn from you.”
Clarifying the Truth
I was arrested and detained twice for clarifying the truth to people but I still persist in doing so whenever I have the time. I can go quite fast on my motorbike and will clarify the truth when I go to the markets, streets, cities and villages.
Since the release of the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party, I persisted in clarifying the truth directly. Initially, many people did not understand why the CCP is objecting when we are such a good practice. Thus, I would give them the truth-clarification material and say, “Falun Gong is really very good as it can improve one’s morale and restore one’s health. In that case why did the CCP object to it? I will give you a book The Nine Commentaries to take a look and you will know.
The CCP objects to it because the CCP is bad,” and they will agree. There are also people who said, “Just practice by yourselves. Why do you go against the CCP?” I told them, “All of you know that everyone knows that Falun Gong practitioners are good people, and that the CCP persecuted many good people in very cruel ways. By persecuting the good people, aren’t they supporting the bad people? Therefore, many of the officials are corrupt and do not have high moral integrity, bringing bad influence to society and making everyone suffer, including you and me. I'll let you read The Nine Commentaries so that you can see their true color and differentiate the good and bad for your own sake.”
Life Becomes Easier
Now, things are no longer the same. Someone can just shout in the streets from afar, “Do you have new materials,” and I will reply, “Yes, I have this week’s materials.” Some of them who see us will crowd around us, and look for materials in my bag. Some will take the small truth-clarification booklets, some will take The Ultimate Goal of Communism and some will ask if I have the thicker version, or ask me to bring The Nine Commentaries next time.
I will distribute the table and wall calendars before the new year and some will tell me to give them a few more as their children, relatives and friends also want a copy of it for their house. One big bag of the calendars will be snatched up swiftly once I bring them.
In the middle of February this year, I was clarifying the truth to someone and he said that he did not get this year’s calendar. He asked me for two. I told him it is already too late as the calendars have already been distributed out before the new year. He replied very confidently, “It is already dark today. I will wait for you here tomorrow afternoon.” Hearing that, I quickly went to a practitioner's house nearby to get a copy of the calendar for him. We would rather do without the calendars ourselves than to miss this opportunity. On the next day, I went to the meeting place 10 minutes earlier. That person was even earlier. When he saw me, he raised his thumb and said happily, “Falun Gong practitioners are good. They keep their word.”
There are also many people who kept saying, “Help me send my greetings to Master Li (the founder).” Some will turn back as they leave and shout, “Do not forget to send my greetings to Master Li!”
