Denying An Illegal Seven-Year Prison Sentence with Righteous Thoughts and Behaviour

The author of the following article is a Falun Gong practitioner in Anshan City of Liaoning Province in China who was illegally sentenced to seven years of imprisonment and detained at the No. 1 Detention Centre in Anshan City. Whilst been detained she kept on studying the teachings of Falun Gong. While cultivating herself, she denied the evil persecution with righteous thoughts and actions. Recently, she was released and has returned home.

In August of 2002, the police followed me and were able to arrest at least ten practitioners. This resulted in the elimination of the local contacts. I felt regret and sorrow for the loss my carelessness had caused the other practitioners. I couldn't eliminate those feelings. Eventually I was arrested on the 30th of September, 2002.

In the detention centre, a practitioner said, "If you keep on criticising yourself like that, the evil in other dimensions will be very happy. Master told us in the lecture at the Lantern Festival that we should not let the evil take advantage of our loopholes. Master wants to save us. We shouldn't give up on ourselves." I was shocked and realised my attachment. "I have to get away from this place." I thought, "I should not stay here." With such righteous thoughts, I received Master's new articles that were surreptitiously delivered by a practitioner.

First I should study the Fa with a calm mind. Before I was detained, I didn't study the Fa much and had few righteous thoughts. I had a strong attachment to fame and interest and vanity, too, when I was taking part in Falun Dafa related activities. I thought that I should rectify myself and start all over again.

With these righteous thoughts and a firm belief in Master and Dafa, I started to realise the importance of saving sentient beings. Thereafter, I sent forth righteous thoughts with other practitioners in the detention centre. We also taught the other inmates to memorise the poems in Hong Yin, talked to them about Falun Gong, and taught them the Falun Gong exercises. As a result, all of the cells detaining female inmates became Falun Dafa study groups. Everyone was memorising Hong Yin. At noontime or in the afternoon, the inmates would practise the five Falun Gong exercises with us when the police were not around. When the police found out what we were doing, they pretended not to notice. Some even said with a smile that the Falun Gong exercise movements looked nice. One day an inmate said, "It's very fortunate for us that we met you here. Otherwise, we wouldn't have had the opportunity to learn Falun Gong." Her words made me think. The environment here was the arrangement of the old forces. I should validate Dafa here. I also thought, had I made more effort to clarify the truth and let people know about the truth, they might not be here in the first place. I made up my mind to leave the detention centre.

I am determined to walk the path arranged by Master. I don't want any other arrangements. I constantly study the Fa [the teachings taught in Falun Gong], memorise the Fa, and strengthen my righteous thoughts. I will validate the Fa and do what Dafa disciples should do, to rectify all that's not righteous, to reveal the evil, to let everyone who can hear me hear the facts about the persecution of Falun Dafa.

"Falun Dafa is wonderful!" When I first spoke out in the cell, I felt a little fear, excitement, uneasiness, an attachment to fighting back, and some unkindness. I kept on purifying myself and shouted louder and louder. My mind became more and more calm.

"Take a look at what they are doing. They detain good people and beat them at will. You law enforcement officers, do you hear me? You are creating karma for yourselves in ignorance. You are helping the evil do bad things and violating the law. You are abusing human rights. Falun Dafa teaches people to be good and will forgive your past wrongdoings. Don't miss this opportunity that only comes once in a thousand lifetimes." The police were frightened. They threatened, cursed, ridiculed, and mocked the inmates, and pressured them to stop me from calling out. They pretended to be good and used all sorts of method to stop me. But I had my principles to follow no matter how hard they tried. Nothing could make me change.

The guards were afraid. They came to me and said, "We are only an institution of detention. It's like a warehouse. We don't have the authority to set you free. Please don't call out any more." I said, "You may not have the right to set me free, but you have the right to not take me in. You can send me back home. Warehouse? If a thief stole something, would you keep it for him without asking where it came from? Then you would be harbouring stolen goods. Can you be above the law just because of a few words from Jiang Zemin, treat good people as if they were criminals, turn white into black, and detain the innocent? Whatever is unrighteous shall be rectified. I will rectify it. Falun Dafa is not evil. And I am innocent. If you can do something to set me free, but you haven't done it yet, go quickly and do it. If someone says I should not be let out of here, take me to him and I will talk to him. "

The guards were speechless after that. Every day I called out "Falun Dafa is wonderful." I spoke the truth about Falun Dafa, revealed the evil and recited the Fa, all with a loud voice. The inmates and some good police officers also followed along with me speaking softly.

It's far from enough for the inmates in my cell to know the truth. Nor is it enough for me to speak out like that. How could I let more people know the truth about Falun Dafa under these conditions? The inmates circulate messages on slips of paper to their neighbours on the same floor and throughout the building. I also sent out slips of paper with the truth of Dafa. I used different tones and wrote letters to the Political and Legal Committee to appeal for my release and to sue the legal office that had sent me to prison. I used this method to distribute information about the true nature of Falun Dafa. For some reason, I was moved to several different cells during my detention. Using my fingernails and wooden sticks I carved the truth about Falun Dafa and the various ways practitioners were persecuted while in custody centres on the wooden doors. The inmates said, "We all know that Falun Dafa is great. You don't have to carve any more. I said, "No. You will leave in a few months and there will be new people coming. I want them to be able to read about the true nature of Falun Dafa even when there are no Falun Dafa practitioners here." When the police learnt that, they were angry, but helpless. They only said, "You are very determined."

Later on, I let go of the attachment to being set free. My mind was on saving sentient beings. I kept on cultivating myself according to the requirements of Dafa and doing the "three things" well. Although I wasn't attached to getting out of the detention centre, I didn't think I deserved to be tested. I am a Falun Dafa practitioner. Prison is not where I should be.

Master Li said,

"Cultivation is a solemn thing. I want you to cultivate into gods, and in that process you are able to validate the Fa. That is why I have imparted the Dafa to you, and why I have given you unprecedented, eternal glory. It is not to have you simply become a hero among everyday people in counteracting the persecution. Rather, it is to have you validate the Fa while negating the old forces' arrangements and opposing the persecution, and to, through this, progress towards godhood." ("Master's Fa Taught in the International Teleconference")

I only ate a spoonful of food each day. The guards told me to eat more, otherwise, they would force-feed me. I didn't acknowledge the threat and resisted it with righteous thoughts. After that, it wasn't mentioned again.

"A Great Enlightened Being does not fear hardship
Having forged an adamantine will
And with no attachment to living or dying
He walks his path of Fa-rectification openly and nobly"

("Righteous Thoughts and Righteous Actions")

The evil is nothing in front of Falun Dafa practitioners who hold righteous thoughts and actions. Later the team leader in the detention centre secretly talked to his connections and got me released. I felt no joy, no sorrow, just as if nothing had happened. I will keep on doing well what a Falun Dafa practitioner should do, as required by Master.