I Am a Disciple of Master Li Hongzhi (Part 2)

Part 1 available at http://clearharmony.net/articles/200411/23071.html

One evening, a fellow Falun Gong practitioner and I went to Tiananmen Square. A few police officers came and interrogated me. I smiled and said, "I came here to tell you, Jiang Zemin is evil and he is here in Beijing. All the commands to persecute us came from Beijing. We want to clear Falun Dafa's good name, so there's nowhere else other than Beijing for us to come. Our actions and words didn't violate the Constitution or the law. We are fulfilling the rights of good citizens who practise their faith and appeal to the government. Jiang trampled the Constitution and blatantly arrests those who practise 'Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance.'"

The police officers answered, "We are just following orders."

I continued, "You have experienced and heard about this before: political movements in the past were always initiated by "orders from above". When the political movements ended, was anyone who had participated in them exempt from punishment simply because they had followed the "orders from above?"

After a moment of silence, they left. Yet I still had many things to say to them, so I followed. A big police officer asked me, "Why don't you leave?"

I said, "I still have something to say." He said that I should get in their vehicle. I boarded their van without hesitation, and I was driven to the police station in a few minutes. No one questioned me when we arrived there, so I entered and exited the building a couple of times. I saw that there were three women and two men locked in a cage, and they were very calm. I thought they must be practitioners. I smiled and nodded to them. They asked if I was a practitioner, and I replied yes. There was no one in the corridor. I wasn't thinking of leaving nor was I afraid. I told them that they needed to have righteous thoughts.

About an hour later, a policeman came to ask me why I was there. I told him that I am a Falun Dafa practitioner and that I was invited. He told me to fill out a form with my name and address. I told him that he can just write "Practitioner" for my name. He said, while pointing to the cage, that if I didn't write my name they would lock me up. I smiled and didn't answer. He said, "If you don't say your name then you can get in." He opened the door to the cage. I walked in calmly and started reciting Hong Yin (Grand Poems) with the practitioners.

Around 8:00, a young man was sent in, a Falun Gong practitioner around 18-years old. His face was covered with red marks as a result of being tortured with an electric-shock baton. He said that he couldn't endure the torture and told them that he's a high school student. The cops called the lady to my left. After half an hour, she came back. Her neck was covered with blood, and her wet clothes were covered with mud. She said, "The cop locked me in a room and beat me. He didn't stop until someone knocked on the door. I didn't tell him my name."

The cop came to the cage again, and pointed at me and said that I am next. I thought, "I am a disciple of Li Hongzhi. If this is my tribulation I will take it. But if it's not mine I will not seek it. I will do well in this test." I started reciting one of the poems from Hong Yin, "A great Arhat in the world, Spirits and ghosts fear the most" ("Mighty Virtue"). Suddenly I felt a milky white sphere covering me. I shook off the chill that I felt earlier and felt very warm. I smelled a faint scent that cleared my lungs. I raised my head and saw Teacher's Law Body. Inside the red light, he smiled compassionately. I suddenly shuddered; I knew that only Teacher's principles could make us become indestructible.

The metal door was once again opened. The cop stood in the doorway and pointed to me, "You."

I swiftly stood up, without fear or any worries. I was thinking, "I am the disciple of Li Hongzhi. No one can trouble me." I heard the cop roar, "Not you, him." The man to my right was called out. Later, I found out that he had worked in Jilin City police department. He had appealed in Beijing numerous times and was fired. He came back around midnight. He said, "My body was immune to the electric baton. That cop was enraged so he tried it on himself, it was fully functional alright. I then started clarifying the truth about Falun Gong to him until his demonic thinking wore off." The policeman didn't come back until the next morning.

At 6:00 the next morning, newly arrested practitioners were being brought in. Around 9 a.m., two practitioners that travelled with me were arrested as well. One left earlier, and practitioners that participated in our experience sharing conference the day before were being sent in as well. During the evening, the cops started counting; over 900 practitioners had been arrested. They sent us to different places. A practitioner that travelled with me and I were sent to Yanqing Detention Centre (in a county near Beijing). Since we didn't tell them our names they assigned us a number.

When we arrived at Yanqing, they started interrogating us. They beat and shocked many practitioners with electric batons. They even burned some with cigarettes. Two cops interrogated me. I started telling them about how Falun Gong heals sickness and makes people into good people, and then how Jiang's regime started persecuting Falun Gong. I told them that they are the real perpetrators, they are victims as well. Also, that they are being fooled by Jiang's regime's lies, that they are carrying out his foolish commands, and that they have to tell good from bad and should not commit crimes for short term profits.

During the interrogation, one of them said, "We can't do anything, we are police. A soldier's fate is to carry out commands."

I said, "You are first a human being, someone with a brain, then you are a policeman. As citizens we should follow an order that is right. But it would be shameful to carry out a foolish order when you know that it's foolish." Later, they asked us why we are coming into Beijing. I said, "It's very simple: First, we want you to restore the good name of our Teacher. Second, return the good name of Falun Dafa. Third, give us an environment where we can practise. Fourth, release all practitioners. Fifth, put Jiang on trial for his crimes." They laughed when they heard the last request, and said that Jiang's the Party's Chairman, and that we have to send him to international court if we want to sue him. I smiled and told them that when that day comes I will be there.

At that moment a big cop behind them threatened to beat me. He stood up and raised his hand. I smiled and stared at him. His fist was frozen in mid-air. His chair, as well as some towels on his chair and clothes that were hanging on a pole, all dropped to the floor. He was shocked. The two that were interrogating me asked, "Are there really gods?"

I said they do exist. I said to the one whose hand I had frozen, "My Teacher came to bring salvation to sentient beings, and I came here to tell you the truth. You shouldn't have vicious intentions." He replied with a few grunts and left. The other two cops said, "If Falun Gong's name is cleared, and if we got laid off, and if we happen to be begging for food by your house, would you feed us?"

I laughed and said, "I would lead you into my house, teach you Falun Gong, give you a sumptuous meal and congratulate you on returning to the right path."

Personal Cultivation Has to Be Linked with Fa-rectification

There were 12 female practitioners in our jail cell. I said to them, "We are locked here, there might be attachments that we have to get rid of, and we have to bring salvation to the people here, but we can't stay here for long. After we tell people here what's going on we will have to leave immediately. Should we go on a hunger strike?" One of the practitioners who stayed in Masanjia Labour Camp said, "This place is not too bad, the food is pretty good, and we can practise. Hunger strike is very painful, we shouldn't create personal tribulations." Seven other practitioners agreed with her. I said that we'd wait until tomorrow since everyone hasn't agreed on a hunger strike.

That night I enlightened that if our cultivation wasn't linked with Fa-rectification, then our cultivation was meaningless, and we had to leave immediately.

During the evening, I said that this would be our last meal there and that we were going on a hunger strike tomorrow. After the meal we were going to practise; then, we heard that the prison guards were asking for me to pack up my stuff. In the office, one of the cops that interrogated me said that he wanted to walk me out. In the car he said that at first he didn't know what Falun Gong was, and that now that he understood. I told him I hoped that he would look after other practitioners if he came into contact with them. He nodded, and told me to take care. Before we parted, he asked me if I could tell him where I came from. I said, "I trust you." I was sincere and I trusted him, I saw that he was touched. He held my hand and kept on telling me to take care.

When I boarded the bus I remembered that I only had 50 yuan. The bus fare was 10 yuan. The remaining 40 yuan wouldn't take me back home. I waited for practitioners in the bus station. More practitioners were released, and finally I met up with those that I knew. I went to their place. There I met a lot of practitioners who hadn't been to Tiananmen Square. I said that since we were there, we should pay Tiananmen Square a visit and fulfil our oath. I gave them the banners that I had with me. We talked until late into the night before we parted.

Teacher's Encouragement

By the end of 2000, my city's goal of "Validating Falun Dafa in Beijing" was completed. We had to turn completely to raising awareness to the public and bringing salvation to sentient beings. We needed some equipment. With the help of practitioners we purchased a few computers, copiers, laminating machines, printers and cars. However, we couldn't produce materials fast enough, so we decided to purchase a multi-tasking machine. Our money was running out, so I took out another 30,000 yuan of my money. With the help of practitioners in Changchun, we bought one for 35,000 yuan. The printer could produce a few dozen boxes of fliers a day. It fitted our needs as well as the needs of practitioners in nearby districts. We enlightened that whatever Dafa needs, it has to be perfect. We worked well together in making and giving out materials. We searched within when we encountered problems. We took the principles as our Teacher. It's difficult for me to describe the harmony. I had a dream one night, and in it many practitioners were walking as if they were flying. They were faster than lightning. The police cars were chasing us, but we lost them in no time. Many practitioners came to a wide open space, and in a grand feast, Teacher gave us each a delicious peach. I could still remember the sweetness even after I woke up and started meditating.

I told fellow practitioners about my dream. They were overjoyed, and said that this was encouragement from Teacher.

A Thought

In December of 2000, a few practitioners in the city were arrested and sent to Changchun Heizuizi Labour Camp. I heard that the cops made the practitioners denounce Falun Gong rather quickly, and that the practitioners who were being detained were steadfast ones who had done a lot of work for Dafa. Why would they reverse directions so quickly? Is Heizuizi so terrible (Heizuizi literally means "Black Mouth")? Another practitioner and I had a thought that we should go take a look. I didn't reject this thought, and I didn't realise that this thought acknowledged the arrangements of the old forces.

Eight months later, on the 15th of August, 2001, a group of plainclothes cops arrested a fellow practitioner and me when we were purchasing paper. They were disappointed to find out that they had no evidence whatsoever to convict me. I was locked in a small dark room in the division office. I spent the whole night telling seven criminal inmates there what was going on. I started sending forth righteous thoughts at 12 a.m. I saw that the yuanshen (soul) of a practitioner detained in front of my cell rode toward me on a lotus seat. We sent forth righteous thoughts together.

The next day, I was sent to the detention centre. I told the discipline-instructor, who came to talk to me, about Falun Gong. I started telling the criminals how to be better people. I told them that they have to correct their bad thoughts before practising Falun Dafa. I talked to them about "Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance," using the example of how they fight over little things, which sometimes results in violence. At the same time, I sent forth righteous thoughts to affect them. In the last few days, all the detainees saw the magnificence of Falun Dafa from practitioners. They started reciting the scriptures and practised with us everyday. The whole prison cell became our practice and study area. No one, from the discipline-instructor to the directors, opposed what we did. A political instructor said to a sickened detainee, "Get up. Go and practise with the Falun Gong practitioners, then you will get well." Ms. Zhang was detained for 15 days because she had been gambling. She cried all the time about how she has been wronged by the cops. Under our influence, she started practising Falun Gong. She could even recite many poems from Hongyin. Before she left, she said to us, "I didn't waste these fifteen days. Not only have I learned the truth, I even learnt Falun Gong. I will teach my husband when I get back."

The director of our cell was a young, pretty girl, but she always beat the detainees. I told her that one must be beautiful inside to be truly beautiful, and since she attained Falun Dafa she should follow the principles of "Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance." I told her not to just practise the exercises without cultivating her character. I also warned her that she shouldn't fight evil with evil, and she has to treat others with a practitioner's compassion and tolerance in order to get good results. After that, she stopped beating others. She always helped us deliver scriptures to other cells. When she left, the disciple-instructor Li Xiaomin wanted me to be the cell director. She said, "Usually the rule is that no practitioners are allowed to direct the cell, but contrary to what the propaganda says, I find you people to be very nice." With no way of refusing, I took over. I said that I would be director for a few days. After I became the cell director, there was no more fighting.

A few days later, the Chuanyin Division chief, director and a section chief from a government branch came to the detention centre to interrogate three detainees, and tried to make them sign a statement saying that I organised everyone in practising Falun Gong. None of the detainees signed. Then they took two practitioners. When they came back they told me what happened. I sighed; the detainees didn't sign, what made them think the practitioners would sign? Their plot failed. But they still sentenced me to one years detainment at a forced labour camp.

When we arrived at Heizuizi Labour Camp they refused to take me in because of my high blood pressure at 220/80 mm Hg and heart rate at 200 beats per minute. I didn't feel abnormal at all. I knew that Teacher was guarding me. I thought about how the dozen scriptures that I remembered couldn't be brought into the camp. With this thought, the cops turned back and begged the camp to take me in. Thus, I was left there for a week of observation.

To be continued...