Buddha's Compassion Is boundless, More and More People Came to Practise Daily
Since late 1995 or early 1996, more and more people started to practise Falun Dafa in China. There had been practise associations in many districts, as well as practise sites, which were spread everywhere. One could see Dafa practitioners wearing Dafa emblems everywhere. Through the seating arrangement in the auditorium that we rented for experience-sharing conferences, I estimated that the number of practitioners in my local area exceeded that of 5,000 people. Because we had neither an organising system nor name list, nobody was able to know the exact number. There were 75 people working in the research office that I was in, and more than 20 of them had a copy of Zhuan Falun [The core text of Falun Gong], plus over ten regularly went to the practise site to do the exercises. Many of our local practitioners didn't know each other. Therefore, after July 20, 1999, when we heard that some practitioners went to Beijing to peacefully appeal for a stop to the persecution and were brought back by the police, or that some practitioners were detained for distributing truth-clarification materials, we were unable to match these names with who they were. And for some it was not until they were detained together that they were able to get to know one another.
The vicious people who wanted to persecute Dafa were even confused about the practitioners' situation. Out of selfishness and personal spite, the Party Secretary at my workplace sent Dafa practitioners to the "610 Office" [an agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong, with absolute power over each level of administration in the Party and all other political and judiciary systems] where they were illegally detained for more than two months. One day, he told me, "I thought that I had taken care of all of you. Why is there another one with the name of Lu? When did he start to practise?" How is it possible for the evil people to understand that, although Dafa practitioners do not have a formal organisation, it is actually better this way? Thus, the so-called "tight organising [of Falun Gong]," and the belief that "there are only 2 million practitioners nationwide" by Jiang's regime didn't have any basis in fact. Furthermore, they did not even believe these things themselves.
Because there were many intellectuals at my workplace, Dafa practitioners' education levels are generally high here. Most of them have college degrees or a higher academic level. Some were even officials or at management levels of my workplace (they have now been deprived of their posts). Regardless of their work performance or personality, they have had very positive effects, laying a solid foundation for the future. As a result, those vicious people couldn't do anything against these practitioners, but play tricks on the sly.
Heaven and Earth Turned Over; Acting Righteously During the Period of the Persecution
As early as the beginning of 1998, we could feel the systematic damage caused by the vicious people. The practise sites were shutdown one after another, and we had to change places from time to time. Some government agencies started to investigate us secretly, especially some Dafa practitioners at management levels. They talked with us, showed "consideration" towards us, and warned that we needed to pay attention to our "influence," etc. I once asked them, "Our practise aims at being a better person, and improving physical health. Plus, we have been doing well at work. How can there be any negative influences?" They had nothing to say. That is to say, the hidden persecution, as we know it, already started as early as the beginning of 1998. They simply sped up after April 25, 1999, when nearly ten thousand people peacefully appealed at the government compound in Zhongnanhai.
As I recall, at around June 10, 1999, CCTV broadcast that the Central Government had never been against the practise, and people had the freedom to practise or not to practise, and nobody should believe in rumours nor spread rumours. On the next day, an assistant director came to us with a policy that was without a title, signature, or date. He read the policy to us. Its tone and contents were the same as the propaganda issued after July 20, 1999. I thus asked them where it came from, and said, "Just yesterday, the Central Government had noted that we should not believe the rumours nor spread them. How can you give us this? It must be a rumour, and I hope it stops here." The director then had nothing to say. Therefore, the vicious persecution of Dafa had been absurd from the very beginning, and it began with contradictory lies.
On July 20, 1999, the evil public persecution against Falun Dafa started. At that time, many Dafa practitioners stepped forward, many of whom later played important roles in revealing the true facts about Falun Gong. Except for a very few who turned to and stood on those wicked peoples side, most practitioners have walked through the tribulations and hardships.
By September 1999, Dafa practitioners in my area generally stepped out of the distress, and participated in activities for clarifying the truth that shook both heaven and earth. Five of us successfully went to the Tiananmen gate tower, and unfurled a banner to appeal for Falun Dafa. Upon doing that many everyday people said, "Falun Gong is remarkable. Your Teacher must be great since your actions are so outstanding."
Hundreds and hundreds of Dafa practitioners went to Tiananmen Square. On New Year's Day, 2000, more than 300 Dafa practitioners at my workplace went to Beijing to appeal. At the beginning of 2000, we held a group exercise with more than 200 practitioners participating. It was among the largest group exercises throughout the province, and it strongly shocked the people responsible for the persecution. Truth-clarifying banners and leaflets appeared on the streets and in residential areas, batch after batch. Almost all everyday people had seen or read some truth-clarification materials.
Meanwhile, Dafa practitioners were brutally persecuted. According to an incomplete estimation early this year, one Dafa disciple was persecuted to death, and over 700 were illegally detained or sent to forced labour camps. Dafa practitioners who had been illegally detained were fired from their jobs by their employers. For some who still remained at their posts, they are closely monitored, and unfairly mistreated. The following are some of the experiences that I heard.
Lao Hong, Who Spoke Out the Vow for Thousands of Years and Is Still Determined after Being Jailed for Two Years
Regarding Lao Hong (alias), many people have heard about him and respect him. The persecutors are afraid of his righteous actions. Lao Hong was an engineer at a research institute and with his high technical skills, he was in charge of several projects. People around him all said that he was a good person.
On December 25, 1999, with other four Dafa practitioners, Lao Hong passed through the police checkpoint with his righteous thoughts and entered the Tiananmen gate tower, where he unfurled a banner and spoke from his heart. The banner was displayed for nearly one minute, and the police became anxious that he was able to pass through their checkpoint. Later, Lao Hong was illegally sentenced to two years of imprisonment. Two others were illegally sentenced for one-years imprisonment, while others were also illegally detained.
On December 25, 2001, Lao Hong stepped out of that prison in Beijing in an open and aboveboard manner. When the security officer at his workplace met him at the gate of the prison, his first sentence was, "I have been practising here throughout these two years." That sentence really discouraged his supervisor and the local police, who had hoped to use Lao Hong as a "model of transformation." With no other choice, they had to send him home, and did not mention any so-called "transformation" since. The determination of Dafa practitioners is as solid as rock and nothing can shake this.
When I went to visit Lao Hong, I asked him about the situation in the prison, he answered lightly, "I have experienced all the imaginable tortures." During the first half-year of my imprisonment, in order to create an environment for doing the exercises, Lao Hong suffered a lot. But as the torture went on, he became even more determined. Later, all the criminals in his cell voluntarily organised to protect him. Whenever the police came, the prisoners in his cell would inform him or block the police's view of him. At that time, he said, "You do not have to do that, since I want the police to see me practising." Finally, the police tried all means, but still could not shake his righteous faith towards Dafa, and towards Teacher! It was then, in front of a lot of other people that the police head said to him, whilst holding his thumbs-up, "Outstanding. He is a true cultivator. Let him continue to practise, and do not bother him." Since then, the environment for practising the exercises in public throughout the prison was established, which gained respect from most people there ranging from the prisoners to the police. Even the prisoners there hurried to do things for him, and they felt honoured for being able to help him in some way.
(Please refer to http://clearharmony.net/articles/200305/12543.html for a related report to this article.)
Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2003/5/8/49893.html
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