The Story of Zhao Ming

By a Practitioner in Mainland China

I was a brainwashed Falun Gong practitioner in a labour camp. I do not intend to say anything about myself; instead, I very much want to tell another practitioner's story.

The labour camp I was in was initially a men's labour camp. It has two four-story buildings. Since too many female practitioners were arrested and the women's labour camp could not hold them, some of them were exchanged with those detained in the men's labour camp.

Originally, the labour camp only had two squadrons, but this was increased to three after we entered. The three squadrons were in the same building. Another building held young male prisoners under the age of eighteen. Male and female prisoners were not supposed to live in the same building; however, since so many practitioners were arrested, the building was also used to detain female Falun Gong practitioners. The total number of people in the camp increased from the usual one or two hundred to one thousand, ninety percent of whom were Falun Gong practitioners. The authorized size of the camp grew to eight sizeable groups.

Last December, we heard that six very determined male practitioners were transferred from the men's labour camp to the women's camp. The camp authorities had used all available means but were unable to brainwash these practitioners successfully. The fear was that the determination of the six men would affect other practitioners who might otherwise accept the brainwashing.

The six practitioners were detained in the teen-education team and several teenage prisoners monitored each one. They were detained separately and absolutely not allowed to see each other or talk to each other. Once, a young boy helped them pass a note. The guards found out and then badly shocked the boy with electric batons. From then on, in order not to bring trouble to those kids, the practitioners did not even wink at each other. In that evil environment, everything depended upon oneself.

The work of brainwashing each of the six practitioners was "contracted" to a female team. One of the practitioners that was "contracted" to my team was Zhao Ming.

The first time that I heard the name of Zhao Ming was from the mouth of a so-called brainwashing activist [a person who diligently brainwashes others--Translator] who was in the same class I was in. She was a college graduate, and used her education to diligently poison others after she herself had been brainwashed. She had a handy set of crooked principles and evil theories, so she could easily confuse those who did not study the Fa [principles of Falun Dafa] deeply.

One day when she came back, when others asked her who she had brainwashed, she said, "Zhao Ming." When others asked how he was, she said that he was wonderful but he was tortured by all kinds of means in the male labour camp; for example, he was shocked with seven or eight electric batons. He was also forced to sit in a basin and was then squeezed under a bed. After that, several people sat on the bed and pressed him down. He was required to squat until three o'clock in the morning and was then allowed to sleep briefly. Before five o'clock, he was awakened again, and this torture lasted for three months.

Ultimately, the brainwashing activist said she was proud of Zhao Ming. This was the first time I heard her praise a determined Falun Gong practitioner. I was shocked by her words, because in the eyes of people like her who have been brainwashed, only by "being brainwashed" can one continue one's cultivation. Only by "being brainwashed" can one reach "consummation."

She successively went to Zhao Ming's place for several days. Every time she came back, there was someone asking her whether Zhao Ming was transformed or not. She always shook her head. I was secretly happy in my heart. Although I was forced to accept the brainwashing, my mind was not completely confused. I knew that accepting brainwashing was absolutely wrong. People who were sent to bewilder Zhao Ming were changed one after another, but he kept firm and unshakable all along. At last, the team leader was at her wits end, and for some reason, she thought of me. In the past, they never let me join the brainwashing of others, because they did not trust me.

That was almost the first time that I brainwashed others. I followed those who had been brainwashed and arrived at the building that housed the teen-education team. Zhao Ming was told to go to the duty office [the office that is in charge of mail, reception, and so on--Translator] and was once again besieged, with several traitors attacking him again. (Incidentally, the "transformed" ones always attacked determined practitioners in groups.)

There was a stern and inviolable expression in his look. From the beginning to the end, he looked indifferent and was unshakable.

Those who had been brainwashed started to laugh at him, saying that he had become numb. On the other side of the room I looked at the notes they had recorded, laughing secretly. They made a great show of being in earnest and had written, "on such and such a day, when we said so-and-so, Zhao Ming's look changed a little bit; it seems that we can make a breakthrough from the so-and-so aspect, etc." They even recorded Zhao Ming's yawning, thinking it was an indication that they could find the true key to transforming him. After these people had enlightened along an evil path, they could not understand what the Buddha law was at all. They had become like travelling entertainers playing those clown-like cheap tricks. Yet they were very pleased with themselves, as though they had enlightened to "heavenly secrets."

I went with them day after day, but hardly said anything. If indeed I was unable to avoid it, I said a few words. I once asked him, "Zhao Ming, what is the deepest experience in your cultivation?" Those traitors looked at me in confusion, but after a while, they nodded happily, thinking that I had come up with a new trick to brainwash him. He looked at me with the usual indifferent and firm expression, and did not speak for a long time. Finally, he uttered one word, "Determination."

I didn't remember how many days passed. Our brainwashing work had not made any progress yet. One day, the team leader was angry and said, "Bring Zhao Ming to our building; ask more people to come and attack him in turn."

Zhao Ming was taken to the team office in our building, and the team leader asked dozens of people to besiege him.

I had seen many practitioners come into the labour camp. They had heard that there were traitors in the camp, so from the moment they entered, they were very alert and were very careful not to listen to those traitors' opinions. However, in their minds, some of them had great hostility and dissatisfaction within. Although in the beginning they tried their best to resist those who had enlightened along the evil path, later, that little part of them which lacked compassion, or contained omissions, and was being affected by moods and emotions, was taken advantage of by the evil forces. Those people also used their evil to magnify and inflame the last existing demonic nature and impure compassion of those cultivators and finally led them to an evil path.

Zhao Ming was not like those who gave in to the brainwashing. I could see clearly that there was no bit of resentment and hatred in his heart, that all he had was pure and righteous compassion. He had experienced a long period of "fatigue warfare" or "wheel warfare" [whereby those enlightened along an evil path attack him in turn--Translator] and "psychological attack," and his physical body had borne it to the limit. Although the demonic nature of those enlightened along an evil path desperately threw their evil materials at him, he always maintained a pure and peaceful mind and calmly reasoned things out with those "transformation" activists.

While those brainwashed people started to talk about the so-called "six characteristics of an evil cult" put out by the government, Zhao Ming calmly said, "Those six items were crafted by human beings, not by heaven. The standard itself is all wrong. Using the feature 'the worship of the founder of religion' as an example, he said that right after Sakyamuni was born, with one hand pointing to heaven, and another pointing to the earth, he said, "In heaven and on earth, only I can be respected." Jesus directly claimed that he was the son of God. He required his followers to obey him absolutely. Which orthodox religion has no worship of its founder? If you want to denounce it, you should first denounce Sakyamuni and Jesus. Moreover, in the ancestral halls of many big Chinese families, the memorial tablets of their ancestors are enshrined and worshipped. Accordingly, we should denounce those worshipped ancestors, shouldn't we?"

The evil enlightened people were rendered speechless. I secretly commended him in my heart. After having heard so many crooked principles and evil theories, I was very happy to hear righteous insights and righteous enlightenment once again.

One day, Zhao Ming talked a lot. He had read "Speech by Master Li Hongzhi at the Western US Cultivation Experience Sharing Conference of Falun Dafa" and "Master Li Hongzhi's Lecture at the Great Lakes Conference in North America" when he was in the men's labour camp. In the face of those traitors, he calmly talked about the Fa [principles] that Master recently taught. My tears fell immediately. In such an evil environment, when I again heard the Fa Master taught, the deepest part of my life was touched greatly.

So those enlightened along an evil path could not see my tears, I tried hard to turn my head aside. Zhao Ming carried himself with incomparable dignity and compassion, radiating unparalleled purity and warmth that covered everything around him with the radiance of his world. It was a pity that no one in front of him deserved to listen to him. They were already completely lost.

Later, I had two minutes to stay with him alone. My heart beat fast and I hastened to tell him I was not really transformed. I never agreed with everything those traitors said. Before I finished my words, someone came in and I had to stop. His facial expression was as usual; I could not see what he thought of me. However, after that, whenever he saw me, there was a tiny bit of warmth and care in his look that was not perceived by others. Surrounded and monitored by evil demons, this tiny bit of warmth and care was as precious as an oasis in the desert, and it gave me great encouragement and consolation. Later on, my team indeed could not transform him, and they had to pass him to another team. I lost the chance to talk with him, but every time I went downstairs to get in line for a meal, I saw him in the team office surrounded by people talking at him. I knew that they could not move him at all.

Then I was released to go home. I heard from the practitioners who were released later than me that after Zhao Ming was passed to team No. 4, they beat him brutally. They punished him by making him squat and stand, not allowing him to sleep, etc. After that, he was detained in the assembly room for training. He was made to stand for over ten hours and his body was swollen all over. They also forced him to clean out the garbage. After that, he was taken away and no one knew where he went.

With my whole heart, I hope those who read this article will relay the story of Zhao Ming to more people. Based on my own experience, I know all the determined practitioners detained in the labour camps bear inhuman torture and tremendous pressure every moment, every second. What they have borne has already gone far beyond what they should have borne. If we outside practitioners are unable to try our best to expose the evil and clarify the truth, we will let them down.

Source: http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2002/4/5/20618.html

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.ca/mh/articles/2002/4/4/27824.html