Remembering Fellow Practitioner Ms. Liu Guangfeng

It has been almost a year since our fellow practitioner Ms. Liu Guangfeng was tortured to death in the First Detention Center of Guangshui City in Hubei Province. A precious memory of her is carved deep into my mind.

It happened in 2000, the darkest time of the persecution. Ms. Liu went to Beijing to appeal for justice for Falun Gong. She was arrested and taken back to her hometown by local police. She was detained and tortured for three months. She did not renounce Falun Gong. After she was released, she was not depressed. She did not know the meaning of "fear" and continued to speak about Falun Gong to people, tried to clear up misconceptions, and distributed flyers.

At that time, there was no Falun Gong material printing centre, so all materials had to be brought in from elsewhere. Many practitioners made truth clarifying banners and put up information about Falun Gong wherever and whenever they had the opportunity. The banners were hung wherever they went and what they wrote could also be seen everywhere. This frightened the bad people.

One morning, Ms. Liu came to my home. We had barely had any interaction prior to this. Before she told me the purpose of her visit, she realized that I was in the middle of washing bed sheets. Without further ado, she started to help, and we quickly finished the chore. I marvelled at how fast she worked. I knew she had not had breakfast yet, so I said that I would buy some vegetables to go with the noodles. She said that there was no need for that and just ate a bowl of plain noodles with soy sauce. While she was eating, she asked me if I could go to the nearby county with her the next day to print Dafa materials. I agreed instantly. It would be my first time printing thousands of copies of Dafa flyers, and we would do it in another county. Then the materials had to be brought to our county, which would be dangerous. However, being with her, I forgot about "fear."
A little after seven o'clock the next morning, we walked into a print shop that was just opening up and not yet ready for customers. The shop owner was a middle aged man in his mid-thirties. He said, "Welcome." That helped us feel less like complete strangers. Then we spoke to him about Falun Gong and showed him the materials and asked him if he dared do the job. He said, "You dared to bring them here, so I dare to do it. There will be a cost, but you are a doing good thing for us common people." The shop owner's words touched us. It was Master who led us to a predestined person.

The shop owner closed up his shop by putting a sign "Closed" on the door. It took him all day, from 9 a.m. until 6 p.m., to finish the job.

We went to have breakfast. As I think about it today, I realize that I said some really shameful things. I suggested that we use the money that was given to us to print Falun Dafa materials to defray our meal expenses. My logic was that, since we were getting the flyers printed, anything that had to be paid for in relation to the printing should be covered by what we had earmarked towards that effort. In my mind, this was justified.
Ms. Liu was unemployed. She had no income, not even welfare. She was not yet fifty, so she did not get a retirement income, either. I believed that it was justified for her to use the money for whatever she needed. However, she did not think that way. She said that the money for printing the materials couldn't be used for any other purpose, not even a cent. She said that she had money. Her husband gave her 10 yuan a day for groceries. She saved whatever she could and put it aside. She said this calmly and simply.

I felt deeply ashamed. Later I understood that it was not a coincidence that she had asked me to join her that day. It was Master's plan to eliminate my attachments. After that, I quickly gathered my thoughts together. Except for printing materials, I would never allow her to spend one more cent. I was better off, but my level was much lower than hers. Until then, I had thought that I was doing very well.

Everything went smoothly that day. No surprises and no danger. We carried pounds of materials and started heading back right after dark. We started on foot after getting off the bus and then caught a ride with a truck driver, getting the materials home without incident.

After that, Ms. Liu suffered five years of unimaginable torture in jail. (It was reported on the Clearwisdom website). She could not be shaken because she firmly believed in Master and the Fa and held firm righteous thoughts.

In October 2004, she was illegally sentenced to two years of forced labour. We were both taken to the notorious Hubei Province Women Labor Camp. I was rejected because my physical condition appeared abnormal. In October 2006, Ms. Liu was released and started without a moment's hesitation to do the three things (study the Fa [the teachings of Falun Dafa], send forth righteous thoughts and clarify the truth about Falun Dafa and about the persecution to the world's people) that practitioners should do.

Later I heard that she was responsible for a very important printing centre. Two months before Ms. Liu was tortured to death, I went back to my hometown. I met her at a temporary living place for homeless practitioners. Her complexion was still radiant. She had a smile on her face but looked a little tired.

Afterward, I also began to produce materials and often worked until late into the night. I then could really understand her unspeakable exhaustion. She had to study the Fa, do the exercises, send righteous thoughts, print materials in large amounts, sort the materials, and bind them into booklets. I understood her not wanting to waste time to home for lunch. She brought her food daily to this temporary living place and had a simple lunch with some non-local practitioners. After eating, they would study the Fa and send righteous thoughts. She would quickly leave after Fa study.

Some practitioners misunderstood her and thought that she wanted a free lunch. She never said anything. Some practitioners knew that she sometimes felt wronged, and tears sometimes could be seen in her eyes, but she never complained.

The anniversary of the death of our dear fellow practitioner Ms. Liu is right before the "Qingming Festival,"also called "Ancestors' Day" or "Tomb Sweeping Day." The festival is observed on the 104th day after the winter solstice, generally around April 5.

I am writing this article to comfort my fellow practitioner's spirit in heaven and tell her, "Rest easy!" Your unfinished wishes are not lost. Many fellow practitioners are working on your unfinished tasks. You must be very busy, too. The Fa of the whole universe is being rectified. Everyone in heaven and earth are eliminating the evil.

I hope that fate will let us meet again after the sentient beings are saved.