The Story of a Practitioner Who Started to Practice Falun Gong in Prison

This particular practitioner started to practice in April 2000 when he was held at a detention centre. The persecution was most rampant at that time and many practitioners were being held at that detention centre. In addition to paying attention to Fa-study and doing the exercises, this practitioner directed all his efforts to saving sentient beings. During the past nine years, he has experienced many things. Below are some stories about his assisting in the salvation of sentient beings in prison.

There were more than 300 people detained in a certain prison. About 35 practitioners were detained in 16 divisions, with one to three practitioners in each division. Each practitioner had inmates assigned to them to monitor their activities 24 hours a day. Therefore, it was difficult for practitioners to see each other and share understandings. Ever since this practitioner was sent to prison in 2004, he persistently opposed the persecution. Every day he kept studying the Fa and doing the exercises, and created opportunities to meet practitioners in other divisions. After discussing with fellow practitioners, he found their biggest difficulty was studying the Fa. In the past several years, he had hand-copied several dozen copies of Fa, along with other Falun Gong books. With the books available, fellow practitioners had stronger and stronger righteous thoughts. More and more practitioners stepped forward to clarify the truth. During the process of hand-copying Zhuan Falun, he encountered difficulties; oftentimes, prison guards came to do inspections. After the practitioners opposed the persecution one time after another with righteous thoughts and righteous actions, the environment began to improve.

Currently, this practitioner gets up at 2 a.m. and does the exercises for one hour, followed by three hours of sitting meditation, until it is time for sending forth righteous thoughts at 6 a.m. During breakfast, he speaks with fellow practitioners and clarifies the truth to others. During the daytime, except for going out to do labour, he spends all his time transcribing by hand or reciting the Falun Gong books. He also sends forth righteous thoughts once every hour. He clarifies the truth to everyone he encounters, whether it is a police guard, inmate or visitor. He also asks everyone in his division, one by one, to quit the CCP and its affiliated organizations. Most of the people he talks to have agreed. As time went on, more and more people have come to know the truth. In this way, most people have read the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party. Some of them even help Falun Gong practitioners to pass on or protect Falun Gong materials.

The environment in the prison is tightly regulated and people from different divisions are not allowed to interact with each other. Because time is short, he often directly asks them about quitting the CCP. He then writes down the names of the people who want to quit. Very often a person may decide to quit the CCP in just a few minutes.

During discussions, he has often said that the environment in prison is different. If a person misses an opportunity in society, there could be other opportunities for this person to know the truth. In prison, however, one might stay there for ten years or even longer and there is hardly any chance for them to hear the truth. Therefore, we are the only hope for them and we cannot miss anyone. I was touched by these words from him. I could see the gap between myself and him, which has made me realize the importance and urgency of saving sentient beings.

For practitioners who are still detained, let us strive harder to save sentient beings in this difficult environment. Although we are being persecuted, let us do our best in any environment. I hope all practitioners will cherish this period of time to study the Fa well and save sentient beings.