[Editor's note: After the immolation incident occurred on January 23, 2001, the Chinese Government's mouthpiece, Xinhua News Agency, immediately published a report on the incident entirely blaming Falun Gong practitioners for the immolation. This was in stark contrast to the way news is usually handled in China, where lower- level officials report to their superiors and so on until the top officials allow the news to be published. Soon after the news was released, the Falun Dafa Information Center in New York published a press release on the morning of January 23 (US eastern time) condemning the Xinhua News Agency for spreading unfounded, defamatory claims about Falun Gong. It also called on the PRC regime to allow the world media and international human rights groups to investigate this case to clarify the facts. A week later, CCTV, the Chinese Central Government's official TV station, broadcasted heartbreaking pictures of the 12-year-old Liu Siying, who was severely burned. Her mother Liu Chunling died from the self-immolation. The government is intensifying the campaign against Falun Gong by forcing every citizen to sign a form condemning Falun Gong. They are using the pictures of Liu Siying to instigate the public's hatred towards Falun Gong, causing the Chinese people to fight amongst themselves. This kind of inciting the people to fight against each other was one of the main tactics used in the Cultural Revolution in China decades ago. On February 4, 2001, Washington Post published a stunning front-page investigative report entitled: "Human Fire Ignites Chinese Mystery -- Motive for Public Burning Intensifies Fight Over Falun Gong." The article provided several facts including the following: * Liu Chunling was not a native of Kaifeng and made a living as a hostess in a nightclub; * Liu Chunling would beat her elderly mother and young daughter from time to time; * No one ever saw Liu practiced the Falun Gong exercises.]
By Philip P. Pan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, February 4, 2001
KAIFENG, China -- There is a neighborhood on the eastern side of this once-glorious city called Apple Orchard, but there are no apple trees here, only drab concrete buildings and clusters of unemployed men loitering on mud streets. It was here, in a fourth-floor apartment in Building Six, that Liu Chunling and her 12-year-old daughter, Liu Siying, lived.
The mother was a quiet woman who kept to herself, the daughter a lively fifth-grader who never failed to smile and say hello. Neighbors recalled there was something both strange and sad about Liu Chunling, that she sometimes hit her child, that she drove her elderly mother away, that she worked in a nightclub and took money to keep men company.
But no one suspected that Liu, 36, might have joined the banned spiritual movement Falun Gong. And hardly anyone noticed when she and her daughter disappeared.
And then, there they were on national television, their bodies engulfed in orange flames in Tiananmen Square. Liu Siying was shown lying on a stretcher, her face and lips charred black, whimpering, "Mama, mama." Her mother, the newscast reported, was already dead.
What drove the Lius and three others from this city in central Henan province, about 350 miles south of Beijing, to pour gasoline on their bodies and set themselves afire on Jan. 23, the eve of the Chinese New Year?
An intense battle is underway to answer that question, with the five individuals cast in turn as victims of [...], righteous protesters against a repressive government or desperately estranged people on the margins of a fast-changing society.
The ruling Communist Party has launched an all-out campaign to use the incident to prove its claim that Falun Gong is a [...], and to turn public opinion in China and abroad against the group it outlawed 18 months ago and has tried to crush, at times with brutal tactics.
Every morning and night, the state-controlled media carry fresh attacks against Falun Gong and its U.S.-based leader, Li Hongzhi. Schools have been ordered to "educate" pupils about the [group]. Discussion meetings have been organized in factories, offices and universities. Religious leaders as far away as Tibet have delivered scripted denunciations. In Kaifeng, the post office issued an anti-Falun Gong postmark, and 10,000 people signed a public petition against the group.
China has also used the incident to pressure Hong Kong to ban Falun Gong, testing the strength of the "one country, two systems" setup that gives the former British colony autonomy over its affairs. Falun Gong exists legally in Hong Kong, but the territory's security chief warned Thursday that police intend to monitor the group's activities closely.
Falun Gong leaders insist that the Lius and their companions could not have been members of their movement, which [...]. They have said Falun Gong clearly forbids both violence and suicide and have suggested the government may have staged the incident.
Other human rights activists say the five set themselves on fire to protest the government's crackdown on Falun Gong, which has resulted in thousands of arrests and as many as 105 deaths in police custody. All but 12-year-old Liu Siying had protested Beijing's actions against Falun Gong in Tiananmen Square previously, according to the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy.
There is a tradition of politically motivated suicide in China. At the start of China's last dynasty, in the 1640s, hundreds of people killed themselves rather than live under the conquering Manchus. More than 250 years later, several students committed suicide to protest the Qing Dynasty's refusal to establish a constitutional republic. Most recently, countless Chinese took their lives to escape the abuse of Mao Zedong's Cultural Revolution.
But there is hardly any precedent for public self-immolation. In Kaifeng, a city of 700,000 that was China's imperial capital and one of the world's most populous cities at the turn of the last millennium, most residents took a dim view of what Liu and the others did.
"They disgraced Kaifeng, and they disgraced China in front of the whole world. It was just too much!" said Tang Shaohua, 60, who runs a grocery around the corner from Liu's home.
[...]
But even in Kaifeng, there are signs that the government's propaganda campaigns have lost some of their effectiveness. Several residents expressed weariness with the barrage against Falun Gong.
"I'm not saying I don't believe the government, but I'm not saying I believe it, either," said Liu Xiaoyu, 39, as she made dumplings in Kaifeng's lively night market. "The government controls the news. We all know that now."
Cab driver Wang Chaohui said he believed Falun Gong was a religion like any other, and said it would be unfair to blame the acts of five individuals on a group with millions of practitioners. In any case, he said, the crackdown on Falun Gong was sure to backfire.
"China is different now, and they can't arrest everybody who believes in something like this," he said. "It only makes things worse."
[...]
Like the rest of China, Kaifeng has experienced a revival in all kinds of religions as communist ideology has lost its appeal. Over the past decade, residents have turned in large numbers to Christianity, Buddhism, Taoism -- and Falun Gong. Before the group was banned, hundreds practiced its meditation exercises in the city's parks.
Falun Gong has attracted a cross section of Chinese -- party members, senior army officers, bureaucrats, teachers and millions living on the margins of society. In Kaifeng, where several factories have closed and the economy has slumped, many are searching for something to believe in.
The state media have said little about why the five who set themselves on fire might have joined Falun Gong. Beijing denied requests to interview Liu Siying and the three other survivors, who are all hospitalized with serious burns. A Kaifeng official said only China Central Television and the official New China News Agency were permitted to speak to their relatives or their colleagues. A man who answered the door at the Liu home referred questions to the government.
But Liu Chunling's Apple Orchard neighbors described her as a woman who led a troubled life and suffered from psychological problems. State media identified 78-year-old Hao Xiuzhen as her adoptive mother. Neighbors said they quarreled often before Liu drove the woman from their home last year.
"There was something wrong with her," said neighbor Liu Min, 51. "She hit her mother, and her mother was crying and yelling. She hit her daughter, too."
There were also questions about how Liu supported herself and about the whereabouts of her daughter's father. Neighbors said Liu was not a native of Kaifeng, and that a man in southern Guangdong province paid her rent. Others, including neighbor Wen Jian, 22, said Liu worked in a local nightclub and was paid to dine with and dance with customers.
None ever saw her practice Falun Gong.
[News from the Extensive Information Net on January 31] [Epoch Column] Amei: How Morality is Ruined
A book named How Steel is Refined has long been regarded by the China's [party's name deleted] party as a guide for the Chinese young people. In fact, in Mainland China if you do not know how morality is ruined, you will not be able to know how "steel" is refined.
[Editor's Note: the book How Steel is Refined was written by a Russian writer on how a young Russian man made up his mind to become a Party member. "Steel" refers to the mind of the young man, and "refined" refers to how he decided to devote his life to the Party. The book was a required reading for all Chinese children.]
As soon as the Chinese Spring Festival holidays were over, people found that they were facing a "serious political task" assigned by their superiors. That "task" was to make further efforts in exposing and criticizing Falun Gong, based on the self-immolation incident staged in Tiananmen Square. It is required that this battle be won completely. Therefore, all professions and businesses, various communities and organizations are required to hold meetings where everyone must give their opinions publicly, to show that the majority of population is firmly supporting the ban issued by the Party and the government against Falun Gong. At the same time, the media is also used to launch another propaganda campaign so as to get well prepared for the further attacks on Falun Gong.
Everyone has to declare where they stand and everyone's opinions have to follow a certain standard; this is the so-called "stand-taking politics." If this type of politics was not invented by China's [party's name deleted] Party, it definitely has been brought to a full play by the Party. Since China's [party's name deleted] Party took power over the nation, it has taken advantage of all resources it monopolizes, namely, politics, the economy and society. It launched campaigns to mobilize the general public, to force the people of the entire nation to exert their effort to help achieve the Party's own various goals. One of the key emphases in the so-called "launching campaign to mobilize the general public" is to have everyone declare where they stand and have everyone's view be in conformity with a certain standard. Nevertheless, if you think "stand-taking" is simply speaking your mind, you are very wrong. It requires one to both "speak one's mind" and "conform to a certain standard." The content of what one speaks out is very important. If one does express one's own view, but is not in conformity with the requirement of one's superior, this person will face strict punishments. Thus, different opinions one holds will lead to different results. [So everyone chooses to give their opinions based on that of the leader]. That is why Mainland China can form a political environment that claims: "all people has one goal" and "pace as one."
People often denounce politics that lacks transparency. The fundamental point is this kind of politics lacks a moral basis. Speaking the truth and keeping one's promise are the basic ethics a person should have and also a fundamental morality that one should obey. They are also the basic ethics of the politics regulations and all other regulations that one should obey. Once a truth is spoken out, the person who speaks it will be restrained by morality. China's [party's name deleted] Party is probably the best in taking advantage of this moral restraint. It utilizes quite a few political tactics such as "deep and meticulous work of transforming one's thought," "luring the snake out of its hole," "positive guidance," "combination of praise and punishment," and "uniting the majority and attacking the minority." It is important to note, however, that those people whose views are not in conformity with the requirement of the party, will end up in a state of "living is like dying." This "negative" model exerts great pressure on "the majority of the people" claimed by the Party. As a result, the people have to choose the contents and ways to express their views that are the most appropriate for their survival. Moreover, no one can escape this stand-taking process, and no one can represent anyone else. Therefore, the opinion expressed by everyone can be regarded as personal. Once the opinion is spoken out, there will be a moral restraint on the person, that is, the person must act according to where he or she stands. Otherwise, they will be labeled as "immoral," or "lacking of virtues."
Under this circumstance, it's hard for one to be both acting at his own will and not breaking his promises [or moral standard]. There is only one way to achieve both effects, that is, "saying one thing and acting on another thing," or one acts like what the Party says "holding high the red flag [the nation's flag] and against it." Furthermore, if one wants to transcend his basic nature, repent or go against what he said publicly that was against his will, what he first ruins is his morality. Inconsistence of his words and acts, and the exposure of his opportunistic behavior when he made his own choice in expressing his view will be used by the Party to condemn this person: "Come and look, such a person does not have the basic morality, how will he be counted on for other things?" As for those who act on what they said, they will meet the requirement of the party but their morality has already been completely destroyed.
So, in Mainland China, politics takes place of morality, and morality is also politicized. The basic moral qualities that human beings have in common have disappeared. Moreover, the Party destroys the people's morality from "as early as when they were young." Over the past dozens of years, the Party has tirelessly imparted to children the concept of "only the Party can save China," and "love the Party." From childhood to adulthood, children have expressed such thoughts during public occasions. If one day, you suddenly have a thought of "going against the Party," you will be regarded as lacking morality...... For scores of years, the Party's so-called "basis of public opinions" has thus been formed. Its legitimacy is just based on this "basis of public opinions."
What's more, this way of launching a campaign to mobilize the general public allows no one to keep silent. When everyone declares where they stand, silence means that one opposes. The opposition itself means that the person who kept silent is bound to lose the basis and guarantee of survival. Hence, in China, anyone who still has some sense of morality usually yield to the pressure of survival and act against their conscience. The ordinary Chinese people's morality is thus completed destroyed.
At present, the campaign of "collecting signatures of one million people" against Falun Gong, and all artificial "scenes" that unanimously condemn Falun Gong, are only another process that the Party uses to ruin the morality of the Chinese people. According to the Central Committee's arrangement, people are currently required to publicly express their views on "what to oppose" and "what to condemn." But perhaps in the near future, people will be required to take stands on what to "support," and what to "pledge loyalty to." At that time, there might be some other activities such as "one million signature collection " or "millions and millions signature collection."
What China's [party's name deleted] Party demands is "steel" that is lifeless and unconscious, not the people who have their own judgment and morality. Therefore, in the furnace constructed by the China's [party's name deleted] Party, the "steel" that China's [party's name deleted] Party demands is continuously refined, and the Chinese people's morality is thus fundamentally destroyed.
The Clearwisdom Editors would like to introduce to our fellow practitioners a new section known as the "Weekly Highlights." Each week, articles that we feel have the most significance for our cultivation and have improved our understanding in a meaningful way will be submitted to this section. We highly encourage practitioners to share these articles at your local reading groups with those who may not have access to Clearwisdom. We hope "Weekly Highlights" will make it more convenient for practitioners with limited time to get important news from Clearwisdom. We look forward to your feedback on this new section. Weekly Highlights -- http://clearwisdom.net/eng/daily_archive/highlight.html Heshi, Clearwisdom Editors
One of the victims was a young maiden, a flower just ready to bloom; the other was a beautiful little girl. When the destruction of the loveliest things in the world is displayed on television, the public is filled with bitterness and resentment. Under the influence of these sentiments, how can sound reason and judgment prevail?
An English actor playing the part of the villain in Othello was once assassinated backstage by audience members who were filled with indignation by the plot. Did that audience not realize they were only watching a play? It is obvious that sentiment can blur people's eyes and control their thinking.
The horrible sight of the five self-immolators at Tiananmen Square makes people feel very sad. Yet, what makes them even sadder is this: those victims sacrificed their lives to express something to the world, but their message was suffocated, distorted, and even used as a political weapon to advance the self-interests of a few people in power. As a result, it is likely that even more kind-hearted people will suffer or be deprived of their lives.
Let's take a look at the sentiments being stirred up by the official report of the self-
immolation. How familiar we are with this scene! For example, the official report about the 1989 Tiananmen Square incident, which showed horrible scenes of a burn victim, also stirred up all kinds of hatred towards the perpetrators of that deed. However, under the influence of their emotions, how many people could think rationally about why that soldier was burned to death? If they knew how many innocent common people he had shot, would they still feel sympathy for him and hatred for the person who set the fire?
Over the years, the public has been repeatedly deceived by the propaganda of those in power, yet which political blizzard was not full of lies? People put so much trust in what they see and hear from the media that they are fooled and manipulated by those in power again and again.
Once emotions stirred up, whether the report is true or false will be ignored.
Even with fictional stories, film producers can make life-like movies. If they don't, they won't be able to control the audience's emotions with their plots.
There are many suspicious plots in the official report of this incident. The two extra self-immolators who were added after the fact--how could these reprehensible people be capable of such a solemn and stirring feat? After these two emerged, the original five victims appear even more tragic, since the words they gave their lives to express were spoken instead by the government's agents. It is obvious that what they intended to say did not satisfy the requirements of those in power.
Besides, no matter who the self-immolators were, the important consideration is why they did it. Their actions may arouse respect, they may cause people to feel pity for them, they may fill some people's hearts with hatred towards Falun Gong, and they may also cause people to feel hatred for the authorities. People's responses should depend on the motives of the victims, on whether or not they were trying to protest against the authorities. If we misunderstand their real intentions, would not this constitute an insult and blasphemy against their lives?
The Chinese government, which wants to destroy Falun Gong, has control over the investigation of this case. How much can we believe their reports? The film they have released has obviously been skillfully edited, revised, and supplemented by propaganda that it is contradictory and full of loopholes. The videotape taken by foreign journalists was confiscated, and international organizations and media are not allowed to investigate and confirm the government's story. The survivors are under guard at the hospital, and cannot give interviews. If their story had not been fabricated, why is the government trying so hard to prevent an honest investigation?
The truth is that this self-immolation incident is being used to launch a new political campaign against Falun Gong across the whole country. We are witnessing a tragedy within a tragedy, and we are all characters in this drama, acting out our own roles. The government says: "If Falun Gong practitioners are beaten to death, it is suicide."
Although what they are doing is against the law, the authorities are seeking confirmation and approval for their actions from the public. Throughout the past several decades, the government has frequently "provoked the masses to fight with the masses"--many times just so that an aged leader could cling to power until his death. Previously, the battle cry was against "deviation to the Right," and "Capitalist Class;" today it is against evil "[slanderous word respectfully omitted]" and "superstition." How many people have shed their blood and laid down their lives for such leaders?
Now, as this tragedy is being played out on a grand and spectacular scale, it has become the focus of world attention. In the past, we all played roles in similar dramas. Dear friends, what role are you playing now?
BEIJING -- MS. LU, a 40-year-old owner of a small beauty parlor, had a typical response to the gruesome television special last Wednesday night. [...] When the Chinese government tried to make propaganda from attempted self-immolations by apparent Falun Gong believers, which left one person dead and four severely burned, its plan was as wooden and anachronistic as ever: First, suppress the news. Then, days later, orchestrate a crescendo of extreme television, radio and newspaper reports and editorials. Finally, marshall relatives of the duped victims to utter condemnations [...], then ask major groups -- from leaders of Catholic, Buddhist and Muslim churches to the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce -- to issue shrill denunciations. This time, though, the message seemed to resonate. While it is always perilous to assess public opinion in a country where everyone wears political antennae, there is a sense here that, after a year and a half of flailing, the government finally scored a propaganda coup last week against the outlawed spiritual group. If so, it was not the stale delivery but the raw material: a deluded mother leading her 12-year-old daughter to self-immolation, graphic footage of the charred girl writhing on the ground, interviews with former practitioners who saw the light and with unrepentant believers who to many Chinese, in light of events, came across as loony. What the government did not report to its people was the increasingly fierce methods it has used to fight an organization that has proved far more tenacious than, say, the China Democracy Party -- not only because of Falun Gong's vastly larger membership but also the inexplicable willingness of so many followers to ruin their lives. The controlled media have recently started acknowledging that die-hard believers demonstrate illegally on Tiananmen Square, and have announced that small numbers of key organizers have been imprisoned. But they have never mentioned what human rights monitors believe are the widespread beatings and torture of detained practitioners by frustrated policemen, resulting in perhaps a hundred confirmed deaths. They have not mentioned the thousands who appear to have been shipped to labor camps without trial, or simply to have been expelled from jobs and homes. Nor have editorials raised basic questions about the appropriateness or efficacy of the government's heavy-handed eradication campaign, questions that many Chinese have asked in private. Opinions here vary about how much the society should worry, if at all, about this exercise and spiritual group. It had attracted millions including, obviously, some who became entranced. By mobilizing more than 10,000 people for an unauthorized demonstration in April 1999, it seemed to the leaders of this one-party state a potential political threat. Still, the unending campaign to outlaw and demonize the group appears to have been counterproductive in some ways. Late last week, a university professor who dislikes Falun Gong and who was appalled by the attempted suicides, asked, "Are the foreign papers reporting what ours can't, how the severe persecution of believers may have driven these people to this act?" When they mounted that first surprising demonstration in Beijing in response to criticisms that seemed obscure, Falun Gong's leaders seemed a bit prone to paranoia. Now, those who continue to practice Falun Gong have every right to fear the worst, and it appears that tens of thousands of Chinese have been left with nothing to lose. The old generation that runs China was shocked and angered when these nobodies pulled off a giant unauthorized demonstration right outside the executive offices two years ago. Equally, the leaders appear to have been stunned since then by the group's ability to keep springing back after being banned. Chinese leaders have been forced to acknowledge that they face a long war of attrition. It is testimony to how open the country has become, compared with recent decades, that a group like Falun Gong could organize on a large scale in the first place, and then persist under such duress. Among other things, for this group as for the struggling democracy movement, electronic mail has proved an even more potent and elusive weapon than the fax machine was for the last generation of dissidents. The authorities can block access to known hostile Web sites, but cannot control or even monitor the e-mail zipping to millions of Chinese, carrying everything from suppressed news to the latest pronouncements of Master Li.
WASHINGTON, Feb. 3 -- The Bush administration is debating how hard to press China on human rights, and may be tempted to drop condemnation of China at an annual human rights meeting next month in preference for what some see as a more pragmatic approach to extracting reforms from the Chinese.
During most of the Clinton administration, the United States was at the forefront of reprimanding China at the United Nations Human Rights Commission, a strategy that the Chinese always tried to block to stave off embarrassment.
This year, as China faces a vote by the International Olympic Committee in July on whether Beijing will be host for the 2008 Olympics, the Chinese government has offered a number of inducements -- including ratification of a United Nations rights covenant -- to persuade Washington to drop the traditional resolution.
Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said at his confirmation hearing that a recommendation to President Bush on whether the United States would support a resolution at the commission would be "the No. 1 item on our plate," but he did not say what he would do about it.
In a meeting with the departing Chinese ambassador, Li Zhaoxing, General Powell warned that he would raise human rights issues and do so "frankly," a State Department spokesman said. China needs to follow "the rule of law and to be exposed to the powerful forces of free enterprise systems and democracy," General Powell told Mr. Li.
The words differed little from those of the former secretary of state, Madeleine K. Albright, but they carried particular import coming the day after five followers of the Falun Gong spiritual movement set themselves on fire in Tiananmen Square. [Editor's note: the suicide has nothing to do with Falun Gong. See
http://clearwisdom.net/eng/2001/Jan/23/VSF012301_3.html .]
But administration officials said that first foray into the China human rights debate gave no clues about the attitude toward the annual resolution of condemnation in Geneva.
General Powell faces an array of liberal and conservative human rights advocates who want the administration to support a resolution -- even though, as in the past, it is almost certain to be defeated. These advocates argue that little will change in China if the United States accepts the alternatives, and that China will gain a moral victory by not being reprimanded.
The annual human rights report by the State Department, due at the end of this month, is expected to say -- as it did last year -- that the human rights situation in China has continued to deteriorate, with religious persecution particularly intense, and thus to increase pressure on General Powell for introducing a resolution.
The annual Geneva meeting of the United Nations Human Rights Commission begins on March 19, but lobbying is already at a high pitch. Last week, leaders of seven human rights groups, including Human Rights Watch and the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights, wrote to General Powell and Condoleezza Rice, the national security adviser, urging them to press ahead with the human rights resolution.
One factor General Powell must consider, officials and human rights advocates said, is whether the United States can do more to improve human rights in China by accepting some of the Chinese proposals.
The Chinese have offered, for instance, to ratify the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which would oblige them to accept visits from officials assigned to hold China to international standards. The Chinese, however, would agree to ratify the covenant only without the section that calls for the right to form trade unions.
The Chinese have also signaled that they might be ready to allow the International Committee of the Red Cross to visit prisons in China and to allow the United States Customs Service access to suspected prison labor sites.
Another gesture by the Chinese, according to human rights experts, is a memorandum of understanding reached with Mary Robinson, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, which will allow for Chinese and United Nations experts to meet to discuss reform of China's re-education labor camps.
The first of these gatherings is scheduled for late this month, just before the Geneva assembly -- timing that human rights advocates say should not diminish an effort to condemn the Chinese at the assembly.
As General Powell considers his options, he is in the process of choosing an assistant secretary for human rights, who will organize the complicated diplomacy of winning support for a resolution at Geneva. Among candidates who have been interviewed are Lorne W. Craner, the president of the International Republican Institute, which monitors elections abroad, and J. Kenneth Blackwell, secretary of state of Ohio, an African-American who served as ambassador to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in the first Bush administration.
HONG KONG, Feb. 3 -- As the Chinese government's war against the Falun Gong spiritual movement grows ever more thunderous, its echoes are sounding in Hong Kong, the group's only refuge in China.
On Thursday, Hong Kong's top security official said the police would more closely monitor Falun Gong's activities in this former British colony. [...]
[...]
Falun Gong was outlawed in China in 1999, but it remains legal in Hong Kong, which has kept its own laws since reverting to Chinese rule in 1997. Though the movement claims only 400 local members, it holds an annual conference here, which draws thousands of practitioners from Boston to Beijing. The most recent gathering took place three weeks ago and was less a meeting than a well-choreographed protest against Beijing's persecution of Falun Gong.
As a battery of television cameras whirred, 120 women -- one for each Falun Gong member the group says was killed in detention in China -- marched to the Chinese liaison office to lodge a protest. Members accused China's president, Jiang Zemin, of violating human rights laws.
With Falun Gong showing no signs of muting its voice, some pro-democracy leaders say the government's treatment of the movement will be the stiffest test yet of Hong Kong's freedom and autonomy within China. "It looks as if the government means business," said Margaret Ng, a pro- democracy legislator. "Falun Gong may be very unwelcome in the mainland, but insofar as they are legal in Hong Kong, we should defend them."
Falun Gong has been registered as an association in Hong Kong since 1996. Its members gather in parks here in the mornings to practice [...] exercises. Most are indistinguishable from the scores of residents who practice tai chi or other traditional Chinese health rituals.
[...]. On Friday, two women distributing Falun Gong leaflets were assaulted by a man with an iron bar -- the first documented instance of violence toward members of the movement in Hong Kong.
Falun Gong representatives say they are only publicizing inhuman conduct by the Chinese government. "It is like having a friend run over by a car," said a spokeswoman for the Hong Kong group, Sophie Xiao. "If that person is in pain, can't we scream? If we don't scream, more people will die in China."
Ms. Xiao said Falun Gong was concerned that Beijing might press Hong Kong to outlaw it. But she predicted the government would be reluctant because it would jeopardize the territory's reputation for civil liberties. "The rule of law matters to people here," Ms. Xiao said. "If they want to investigate our activities, they can. But if they ban us, everyone in the world will know it is because of mainland pressure."
Master has said that practitioners both in China and abroad are all one body. He has also discussed the issue of how many practitioners in China who have truly stepped forward are waiting for those who have not stepped forward yet.
I had thought about this on many occasions, and have tried my best to step forward by doing work for Dafa, giving up nights and weekends to dedicate to Dafa and telling more people the truth about what is happening in China.
Recently, however, I have realized that you, the practitioners who have truly stepped forward, are not just waiting for us to "step forward" out of our homes to go tell the truth to our local government officials and media. You are not just waiting for us to "step forward" out of our offices to tell our colleagues and friends the truth about what is happening in China. But rather, you are waiting for us to step out of our selfishness and humanness. You are waiting for us to truly become divine beings without omission, and to do this we must truly give up all attachments and selfish notions, and "step forward" out of selfishness.
I think it is possible for those of us in the U.S. and in other countries to appear to step forward by actively telling others about the persecution in China and doing other Fa-rectifying activities, and yet, at the same time, to do these activities while still harboring various selfish notions and attachments. I have come to understand that this is not acceptable. I have come to understand that practitioners in China who have truly stepped forward and are waiting for the rest of us to catch up are not just waiting for practitioners in China to go to Tiananmen Square or post flyers. They are waiting for practitioners all around the world to release all of their human notions and attachments, and to give up all selfishness without any omission thereby becoming true particles of Dafa. We must take part in Fa rectification by using various means to let people know about Dafa and to tell people the truth of what is happening in China, but our minds and hearts must be righteous. To do this, we must truly step out of our selfishness and human notions. This is what you are waiting for.
I pledge to our honorable Master and to you practitioners who have truly stepped forward without omission that I will strive forward in this final stage of Fa rectification to truly step out of my selfishness and humanness as soon as possible, and to rectify the Fa without any omission in my heart. I will strive forward to make a heart-felt study of the Fa, and then, with a heart of righteousness, go forward to "Validate the Fa with reason, clarify the truth with wisdom, spread the Fa and offer people salvation with benevolence."
Greetings Master Li. Greetings fellow practitioners. I am a practitioner from New York City.
Throughout my entire adult life, I have firmly held to the belief that one's true responsibility during this life is to seize the opportunity of having a human body to practice a spiritual discipline and cultivate one's own heart. When I first obtained the Fa in the summer of 1999, I was grateful to find the Dafa and dedicated my time and energy to cultivating my own heart and mind in Dafa.
Over the past year and a half, however, I have come to realize that to be a true Dafa disciple in the current process of Fa-rectification involves various aspects that go way beyond the cultivation of my own heart. This is a unique time in history and we are all involved with something that has never happened before in the history of heaven and earth. Therefore, I would like to relate some of the understandings I have come to during my cultivation.
Beginning with the New York Conference in September of last year, I began to become more aware that I did not have a good understanding of what it meant to be a Dafa disciple during the Fa-rectification period. That is to say, my primary focus was still on my own cultivation, and because of my many attachments much of my focus was also on my own personal interests. Around this time, I continued to participate in many of the Dafa activities because I understood that to promote Dafa and clarify the truth about Dafa was extremely important. However, I continually found myself participating out of a human sense of duty or obligation. That is, my participation often did not stem from my own heart. Consequently, I would frequently find myself falling short and/or being ineffective in my actions.
I would go in and out of this state off and on for a number of months. Sometimes I would reach certain understandings and do well, and other times I would fail to understand and not do so well. Still, my fundamental viewpoint of Dafa and cultivation remained focused on myself. The question in my mind continued to be, "was I doing well? Am I doing good work for Dafa?"
Then in December, Master gave a lecture at the Great Lakes conference, in which he said:
"In the past, in whatever we were doing you would think: "How can I study the Fa well? How should I work for Dafa? How can I improve myself? How I can do better?" You always felt that you were learning Dafa, rather than that you were a part of Dafa. After this year I find that you've completely changed. You no longer think as you used to. No matter what you do for Dafa and no matter what it is you're doing, you are placing yourselves in Dafa and not thinking about "I want to do something for Dafa" or "I want to improve myself in this way or that way" as you did before. No matter what you do, you aren't thinking that you're doing something for Dafa, about how you should do things for Dafa, or "how can I do things well for this Fa." Instead, you are placing yourselves within Dafa. Like a particle of Dafa, [you feel that] no matter what it is, you should just do it. Even though you aren't conscious of it or aren't expressing it clearly in words, that is in fact how your actions already are. This is the biggest change I see in you after this year. In other words, you are completely in the Fa already. This is most apparent in the conduct of veteran students, in particular. Before it could be said that you were a student. Lately, I often use "disciples" instead of "students.""
Upon reading this lecture, there was one clear and distinct feeling in my heart...guilt. It was clear to me that I was still very much a "student" and not a "disciple." I was not a true particle of Dafa because the fundamental perspective from which I viewed the universe was still focused around myself. It was not from the perspective of Dafa. I was aware of this fundamental shortcoming, but I couldn't quite see how to rectify the problem. It was quite frustrating.
At the time, I was in Taiwan attending the Experience-sharing conference. Among other things, the Taiwan conference served as a much-needed break from the schedule I had been keeping in the month or two leading up to the conference. In that time I had become very busy with Dafa activities. So busy in fact, that I would often go days without doing the exercises. While I continued to be strict with reading, making sure that I read every night, I had allowed my exercise schedule to slack off so much that I did not bring a righteous heart to my reading. On many evenings, I was so focused on the work we were doing for Dafa that I would find that, while reading the book, my mind would wander all over the place and not pay attention to what my eyes were reading. In Towards Consummation, Master wrote: "Even now some people still can't concentrate on reading the books. Those of you who do work for Dafa, especially, shouldn't use any pretexts to conceal the fact that you don't read the books or study the Fa. Even if you do work for me, your Master, you still need to study the Fa every day with a calm mind and cultivate yourself solidly. When your mind wanders all over the place as you read, the countless Buddhas, Taos, and Gods in the book see your laughable and pitiable mind, and can tell that the karma in your thoughts is controlling you, which is detestable."
During this time, the work I did for Dafa also became much less effective and much more difficult to accomplish. On one occasion, I remember sitting in front of the computer working on a Dafa publication. Every piece of the publication seemed to be so difficult. I couldn't think straight and had great difficulty deciding what to include, what to remove and how to arrange things. Every little act seemed to be very difficult. My immediate reaction was to question whether or not I was getting enough sleep, etc. I was looking externally for reasons and, of course, failed to find any solutions. Another thing I noticed was that my attachments seemed to become stronger and more prevalent in my life. I would find myself easily becoming jealous of other practitioners or even making negative statements about others. My XinXing had indeed dropped a good deal. Coming back from Taiwan, however, I carried with me one clear lesson, which is "the mind must be righteous." In Master's article "Towards Consummation" he says, "The only way to prevent the old, evil forces from taking advantage of the gaps in your mind is to make good use of your time to study the Fa." I understood coming home on the plane that only with a righteous mind can work for Dafa be done properly, and only by diligently studying the Fa and diligently practicing could I remain in the Fa with a righteous mind. Upon my return, I resolved myself to re-double my efforts to diligently read and practice the exercises. Incidentally, the morning after I returned to New York from the tropical Island of Taiwan, the overnight low was approximately 10 degrees Fahrenheit. Still, the next morning I got up, bundled up in my winter clothes, walked down to the pier on the Hudson river and practiced for two hours. The next morning, I did it again. I also paid close attention to my reading, making sure to read calmly each night regardless of how much other Dafa work was needed to be done. Because of this, things improved a great deal. Deep down, however, I could still detect a fundamental problem with my perspective of cultivation in Dafa, and this problem continued to surface in my life as attachments, difficulty in working for Dafa as well as inability to see what is needed for Dafa rectification in various situations. As before, I could recognize this problem in my perspective, but failed to understand how to correct it.
Luckily, I live in New York and there are many other practitioners around me to share experiences with and to encourage me. Two days before the Hong Kong conference was to start, a group of us decided to buy tickets and go. We put everything else on hold and flew to Hong Kong. During our last night in Hong Kong, I was at the house of one of the Hong Kong assistants. We were saying good night on our way out the door, and we also congratulated one of the Hong Kong assistants for the hard work he put in to making the conference possible. He responded by saying that many others also contributed to the effort and, of course, we should also thank our Master who made the whole thing possible. When he said this, I was a bit shocked. Shocked because it never even occurred to me to thank Master for the conference. I was again being shown how my perspective on Dafa, Master and cultivation within Dafa was extremely limited. Something was still holding me back. It was very frustrating because while I knew I was being held back from placing myself in Dafa and having a truly righteous mind, I could not see what it was.
On the way back from Hong Kong, we had a layover in the Tokyo airport. About 15 practitioners who were all traveling together stopped to do exercise 5 at our gate. During this meditation, I began to see all the problems that had surfaced in my life over the last few months very clearly as specific attachments, such as jealousy and the competitive mentality. I could clearly see instance after instance of these attachments surfacing in my day-to-day activities. I was very thankful for being able to see a new level of attachments because at that moment I clearly understood that these were post-natal conceptions and not my true self. With this realization, these attachments...at whatever level I was seeing them...no longer held me. That is to say, I could see them as something separate and distinct from myself, and therefore, easily just let them slide away. What was left in my heart upon their departure was a tremendous sense of peace and calm. I sat peacefully in the fifth exercise for the remainder of the practice.
Afterwards I opened my eyes and smiled. I had almost forgotten how happy and free I feel upon recognizing an additional layer of attachments and separating myself from them. In the days that followed, I would continually see aspects of these attachments attempting to arise in my heart. For example, on one occasion I was discussing various Dafa activities with fellow practitioners. One practitioner began talking about something that a group of other practitioners were doing that was very good, and then suddenly I would notice something in me...very subtle, but still present. A tightening of the stomach or my smile would slightly fade, and I knew it was the attachment of jealousy attempting to arise within me. But now, I could see it clearly and I knew it was not me. I looked at the attachment, smiled and calmly said in my mind, "no more. I can see you and you longer have an affect on me." With that, the attachment evaporated and I happily continued the discussion with my fellow practitioners.
What truly amazed me after discovering this additional layer of attachments, however, is that my fundamental view of Dafa has changed, enabling me to take further steps forward in rectifying the Dafa. For example, while I had always been willing and happy to pass out flyers and materials to people during large Dafa events such as parades and public exercise demonstrations, it was never something that I was naturally drawn to and it was something that I would never do if by myself. However, upon returning from Hong Kong, a wish has naturally emerged within me to take every opportunity to let more people know about Dafa. Consequently, everyday on my way home from work I now take a stack of Dafa newspapers and other materials and hand them out to people who are waiting in the subway stations. For the first time in my cultivation, I do this not because I feel a sense of duty or obligation or even out of some momentary inspiration to tell others about Dafa, but rather, it is a natural wish that comes from my own heart. I knew it was in there all along, but could never get in touch with it. After seeing and removing the additional layers of attachments in the Tokyo airport, however, such wishes to assist in the Fa rectification as well as righteous and beautiful thoughts about Master and Dafa have naturally emerged within me. In summary, it was my own attachments that inhibited me from rectifying the Fa and "assisting the Teacher in the human world." Having recognized and given these attachments up, almost automatically I have been placed in the Fa more than I ever have, and I find that the question of "how should I help rectify the Fa?" no longer exists. The wish to tell others about Dafa and the truth of what is happening in China just naturally arises within me and what is more, I feel more happy and free in this state than I ever have.
As practitioners, we might ask ourselves why have we obtained the Fa in this special period when Maser is teaching the righteous Fa for the last time in the Dharma Ending Period and on a level at which it has never been taught before in the history of heaven and earth? I believe the answer lies in a sacred duty we each have...one that arises not so much from a sense of duty as commonly understood by humans, but more out of an inherent wish deep in our own hearts to "assist Master in the human world." Not because we have to, not because it is some sort of obligation, but because it is who we are. That is to say, I believe that to not participate in the rectification of the Fa is to go against our own very nature. I believe this because when I was battling with my attachments over the last several months, I found that I had trouble helping with the rectification of the Fa and at the same time, I was often not very happy. Yet, upon removing many of these attachments, I find that I am happier and feel more free than I ever have, and at the same time, I find myself naturally rectifying the Fa in various ways.
I have often heard non-Mountain Climbers ask Mountain Climbers, "why do you climb mountains?" After all, it is dangerous. There is nothing tangible that one gets upon reaching the top. People just climb to the top, go back down and then do it again another day. Why? My understanding is that they do it because it is who they are, and although they may have families they love, a career they enjoy and other hobbies that keep them busy, they are only truly happy when they are climbing mountains. It is just who they are. That's the only way to describe it in human words. I believe the same is true for Falun Dafa practitioners and the process of Fa rectification. When we remove attachments and get more in touch with who we really are, we will find that our true selves emerge as particles of Dafa, naturally assisting in rectifying Dafa and in that process becoming more happy and free than ever before.
In conclusion, I would like to share a story I heard from a practitioner while I was in Taiwan. I was sharing experiences with practitioners in Taiwan during the Taiwan conference. A practitioner told me a story she had recently heard from China. I don't know where this story came from nor if I have all the details, but it did make a very important impression in my heart. Some practitioners in China were climbing a mountain road. They were on their way to Hong Fa to people further up on the mountain. Soon they came across an old woman. The woman was clearly a spiritual practitioner judging from her clothes. I guess she was wearing robes of something like that. These practitioners approached the woman, and while showing Master's photo to her, began to tell the woman about their "Teacher." The woman immediately bowed very respectfully before the photo of Master and then became very angry with the practitioners, saying something like, "How dare you call such a great being your Teacher!?!?!? This is a great god. How dare you address him so casually!" To what extent this story is true and exactly what the woman's words were, I do not know. However, this story makes a point and has engrained itself in my heart: Master Li and this Fa is something sacred and profound beyond anything we can imagine, so why have we obtained the Fa? What makes us worthy of even hearing about something so sacred? My understanding is that, while we cannot completely understand all of who Master is and how profound this Dafa is, we are all here and have obtained this Fa because it is just who we are. We are particles of the sacred Fa and as such we should at every moment see things from the perspective of the Fa and "assist Teacher in the Human World." Yes, we all have Karma that we must eliminate. Yes, we all have attachments that we must abandon. Yes, we all must do everything we can to cultivate our own hearts and minds, constantly reading the Fa to guide our cultivation, but we are all particles of the Fa and to participate in the rectification of the Fa is one and the same as rectifying our own hearts. These are just my understandings. Thank you!
Hello Master: Hello fellow practitioners:
My name is XX, and I am a student seeking for a doctor's degree in the field of computer science. I received a letter from my mother a few days before I came to this conference. Now, I know why my mother was not there to answer the calls when I had called her since six months ago. I was always told by my family that my mother happened to go to my aunt's. And I also know that the practitioners in China have been calling upon people's conscience with their blood and lives. They want to say that Falun Dafa is good. I am going to take this opportunity to read my mother's letter, which will tell you what happened to her in the past year.
"My Dear Son:
I originally thought about going to the U.S. to visit you, but my visa application was rejected by the U.S. Embassy twice. I came home and figured out that it was not just a coincidence, and I should continue my cultivation in the most difficult environment. But I was afraid of being jailed, beaten up, handcuffed, sent to psychiatric institutions, and the venereal diseases from the prostitutes in the jail. I was also afraid that I would be dragged into politics, etc. I tried all I could to stop other practitioners from going to Beijing, and I felt sorry for those who did not listen to me and finally went to Beijing, though I admired their courage to sacrifice their lives for the Dafa. As time passed by, and as hinted by Teacher Li and my improved Xinxing, I suddenly came to realize how wrong I used to be. How could it be wrong to tell the truth and to make our request to the government with compassion? How could I call it "politics" when practitioners never resist, or even complain about police's physical and verbal abuses? After a period of struggle with myself over this issue, I finally stepped forward for the first time to revalidate Dafa, and to remove my attachment of fear at the same time. However, once I had this thought, I cried for several hours, kneeling down in front of Master's portrait, and feeling like a child who had just found his home. I did not know why I was crying. I felt guilty and regretful, and in the meantime determined. After the crying, I was much more determined. I attained the Dafa in 1995, and I am a veteran practitioner. It was Master Li who gave back my health and a meaningful life. Otherwise, I could have died. Dafa made me understand the true meaning of my life at a time when I had finish most of the journey of my life: the true purpose of it is to cultivate myself to return to the original, true self. In the days of terror when Master is silently taking all the slanders and when so many practitioners are protecting the Fa with their lives, how could I not stand up and say: "Master Li is innocent."
I took a train to Beijing on February 29, 2000. I was followed by the police right after I made the contact with other practitioners in Beijing. I took the practitioners by hands, and changed several alleys and finally we got into the home of your mother-in-law. Your mother-in-law, after learning that we were going to Beijing to appeal to the government, had tears in her eyes and did not allow us to go. Everyone knew at the time that stepping outside the door could mean our disappearance forever. I knew that it was my test, and I comforted her instead: "the purpose of my coming to Beijing is to file my complaint." Your mother-in-law knew that she was unable to change our minds, so she took us to the bus stop after the police left the area.
In the afternoon of March 1st, I was arrested before I made it to the Bureau of Citizen Complaint Processing, and I was detained in Beijing for four days. In the detention facility, I met many practitioners from XX Province. It was a small house with only around 100 Square Feet, and new practitioners were delivered in everyday, and the old taken out. I was able to be with new practitioners everyday. Some of them were mothers with kids, and some old ones held by their children. The room held over 20 practitioners, and we all had the same voice: we would sacrifice our lives to prove to the people that Falun Dafa is the most righteous, and the best, and it is not an evil cult. We would not have come to Beijing if it weren't for telling this to the government. We would not otherwise come to Beijing even if there were gold to dig. We shared our experience day and night, and we recited Master's books, and encouraged each other. The detention room actually became our cultivation base, and I even thought about staying at the base and not going back to XX
Four days later, four people consisting of police officers from the police precinct in charge of the household registration, and the special agents from the government dealing with Falun Gong showed up, and took an old lady and me to my precinct. The head of the precinct was very mad when he saw us, alleging that we were going to get him fired. The husband of that old lady is a division chief in the public security bureau, and her daughter was in charge of Falun Gong issue. The daughter demanded that her mother be sent to her office. So, the police took us to a place for detaining Falun Gong practitioner at the XX District, where the terrace and stairways were full of police guarding the building. Some police officers were asking the head of the police why they arrested so many Falun Gong practitioners? The head said that they weren't as many as 2% of what we arrested.
Each one of us was held in one small room, and there were two female police taking the night shift guarding each room, and two others take the day shift. Therefore, each practitioner had four people guarding. You can imagine how ridiculous that the government has invested so much manpower to guard the old ladies like myself. The female officers first took us as devils with the dark faces and Dracula-like teeth. Later, they thought that we were worry-free old playing children. They said that we were all nice. On Mach 20, the police said that the most sensitive time was over, and they took me out to their office to write repentance letter. I refused. I was longing to go home because the practitioners had started hunger strike, and I was scared of doing it. I knew that my head would swim and my legs would be like spaghetti if I missed one meal, and it would take my life if I stopped eating and drinking anything for many days? Just at this moment, I had "the heart of an ordinary person" printed in my brain, and I suddenly realize that it was Master Li who was giving me a hint. A cultivator is a supernatural person, and what would I be afraid of when Master is with me and when the Fa is with me? I quieted down and started reciting the book: "The Budha's Fa is the most profound, and it is the most mystic and supernatural science among all the theories in the world..."
As a cultivator, I should take all opportunities to validate that Dafa is a science, the most advanced science, and not a superstition. I happily joined in the hunger strike. The next day, we were transferred to another place, which was used to be a detention center. We were not allowed to have family members visiting. The place was full of dust as if no one had lived in the place for a long time. We began to clean it from day to night. We worked on the room but we did not eat. If we had some time, we would sit down to recite Master's books. When evening came, we would do the exercises. In the late night, the police would take some of us out to torture us until early in the morning. I was included. The police asked me not to practice Falun Gong anymore. I told them: "The reason I am detained here is that I will be able to practice it. If you cut my head off, my body will still be here sitting." The police said that I was too tough. Soon after that, the police did not bother with us when we practiced.
On the fifth day, I felt nausea in my stomach, and vomited constantly yellow stomach fluid, until nothing could come out. I was unable to sleep due to the vomiting. Only when I did the sitting medication exercise on the floor, could I feel better. People ware sweaters and thick pants in March, while we did the sitting exercise for the whole night on cement floor with only thin, one-layer shirt and pants. None of us caught the cold. The staffs were all communist party members and they could not believe that Falun Gong could do miracles. On the seventh day, there were only three practitioners left including me who were still not eating or drinking anything. On the eighth day, they had the doctors in, and they wanted to take a measurement of our blood pressure. We told them that it would be enough to prove that Falun Dafa is a supernatural science if we were all normal. If you gave us shots, we would smash our head against the wall. So, I held out my arms for the measurement while I held the wall with the other hand in order to support my body. As a result, all three us were normal including heart beat, blood pressure, and body temperature.
The doctors left, and the police was so curious that they began pacing behind us saying: "It has been eight days since you didn't eat and drink anything, and you are still in such a good shape. Are you old deities? Can you drink some water?" I smiled to him and said: "I will say the same thing. I won't eat and drink anything here. If you don't release me, you will have to take my body home." On the ninth day, another check-up showed normal in all the categories. I realized that the body of a practitioner is supernormal. I stopped vomiting on the seventh day and I felt better and better after that. I tried to talked to the police telling him that they had seen the power of Falun Dafa, and if they still did not believe, we would continue the hunger strike. They said that we were just human and would not sustain for more days.
They finally allowed your father and your aunt to see me. Your father had a fight against the police, and he said that if I die in the detention, he would sue them. Your father also told the police that they would be fully responsible for my death because I did not violate any law. They eventually released me. They released three practitioners as a result of the hunger strike, and the young practitioner was on the strike for eleven days. After I returned home, I told our relatives and friends my experience under police custody. They all said that if the government continued persecuting Falun Gong, their tolerance would have a limit. The reason I did not tell you all this was because that I did not want you to be worried about me. I am fine now, and I feel very good. I would not be afraid of anything if I am arrested and tortured again.
The above is the entire letter from my mother. I graduated early this month and I invited my mother to come to the graduation ceremony. My mother applied for the visa and she was once again rejected. After Master's speech at the Great Lake Area Experience Sharing Conference was publicized, my mother phoned me and told me that she had finally understood everything. She said: "the reason that Master does not want the overseas practitioner to go to China is because they are more needed there to expose the persecution to the people of the world. It is not a coincident that my visa application was rejected three times, because I am needed more here. If I were to go to your place, I would not be able to do anything else except for participating in the Dafa promotion activities. And even that I would only be another practitioner showing up because I don't speak English. But in here it is different: I am a veteran practitioner and I know a lot of people, both the practitioners and the ordinary people alike; I can promote the Dafa among the ordinary people and clarify the truth about Falun Dafa to them; I can use my personal experience under the police's custody to inspire the good side of the people; I can also share my experience with practitioners who have not yet stepped forward to protect the Fa, and I can take them with me to put up Dafa-promotion posters. I will be a real particle of Dafa in China." My mother continued: "if one day I were to be arrested again and lose my life because of hunger strike or other reason, you must tell people in the world that your mother gave her life for the great Falun Dafa of the universe. If you have children, you must remember that the children of the practitioners are the evidence that the Fa will be passed down from generation to generation, because Master's arrangement for them will be the same as the arrangement he made for you: to promote the Fa among people in the world is most meaningful. Don't worry about me. I have a lot to do though it is very difficult to do something here in China and many of the young practitioners I know were arrested and are never seen again. I will talk to you more when we see each other."
Fellow practitioners: My mother is just one of the thousands of practitioners who risk their lives to protect the Dafa. Evil people are still out there today, and countless practitioners are still suffering today, and our Master is still being slandered and mistreated... We, the overseas practitioners, should do more and do better in promoting the Fa and to tell the truth about the Fa to people. We shall never forget our promise to assist our Master to save all sentient beings.
Thank you.
About a year and a half ago I was like most practitioners before learning Falun Dafa, just an ordinary person living an ordinary persons life. All my thoughts, actions, and speech were all centered around my life and what was best for Nick at the time. I would fight with my brother, argue with my parents, take advantage of my friends and just cause a whole bunch of chaos for myself and for everyone around me. I didn't care too much about my grades, used drugs, stayed out late and became more and more reckless as time passed. I always felt lost in life and didn't have any direction. I carried within me an unquenchable void that was yearning for something more than what my life was currently providing me with.
It was not until my freshman year in college that I became active in my search for spiritual peace. I had always been fascinated by eastern beliefs and the internal martial arts such as tai chi and qi gong. After doing some reading on the internal arts I decided "what the heck I'll give it a try". I looked up a local Kung Fu and Tai Chi instructor and enrolled for a Tai Chi and Qi Gong class. I began the classes with much interest and enthusiasm and believed that I had found something very good. But after some time of practicing I began to feel that I still needed more and that although this was good, it wasn't enough. I still wasn't content. I was still hanging out late at night drinking, doing drugs and continuing in my old ways. Things in my life were not getting any better. I was still very unhappy and still very lost.
As my first semester was coming to an end I decided that I would go back home to Nashville and live with my parents and get away from the negative lifestyle that was continuing to drain me. While back at home and back in school in Nashville I again decided to try and find another a Qi Gong or Tai Chi class to attend. After searching around and not finding anything to my satisfaction, I suddenly remembered an article that was in the newspaper a few months back about a local Qi Gong group that practiced Falun Gong at one of the nearby parks. I jumped on the Internet and looked up Falun Gong and eventually found my way onto the falundafa.org website. I downloaded all the books and lectures and wrote down the local contact practitioners number hoping to attend a 9-day video lecture.
After getting in touch with one of the contact practitioners, he told me of a 9-day seminar that would be held in about a week, and that I could attend then. As that week passed I read through all of the books and through most of the lectures that were available. I was just amazed at the amount of questions that the teachings were answering for me. The more I read, the more and more I became excited and happy. I had never found any books or teachers who went into so much detail and taught of so many profound things. I knew I had stumbled onto something that was incredibly genuine although at the time had no idea that it would change my life forever.
The week passed and I attended the classes and learned the exercises fairly well and knew enough then to practice on my own. The contact practitioner told me of their group that met on the weekends every Saturday and Sunday from 8:00am to 10:00am to practice together. I thought to myself 8:00 o'clock in the morning that was too early for me. That means I would have to wake up around 7:00am to get ready, Yeah right!!
I continued practicing at home off and on and read the teachings whenever I was on the computer and had time to kill. I was feeling pretty good spiritually and emotionally and enjoyed practicing outside in the nice weather. I was beginning to feel the energy around my body while I practiced and was quite happy by that. Anyway, a few months went by and I slowly began to slack off in my practicing and reading. I eventually stopped almost all together. I began to feel more depressed and began having feelings of being lost and not knowing what to do in my life. I decided I should get back to practicing Falun Gong and decided to join the group practice and hopefully find some encouragement to continue practicing.
I began attending the group practices on the weekends and joined in every now and again for Fa study. It was kind of awkward for the Fa study at first me being the only native English speaker and everyone else being a native Chinese speaker. I began coming more and more and my encouragement and determination to continue practicing was increasing. I went online and bought both the China Falun Gong and Zhuan Falun books and began to read more often. I was becoming a true practitioner of Falun Dafa.
Well that was only about five months ago and yet it seems as if it was years away. I have since then progressed so much that it seems as if that was during a different lifetime and in a way it really was. I now am no longer the person I was at that time. It took me some time to actually realize how much I had changed since then. Being in such a peaceful and content mood all the time I never consciously thought about they way I used to feel. But now looking back and comparing to my past, I feel so thankful and appreciative of Master Li's teachings and of being able to be a part of Falun Dafa. I am much more calm and neutral both emotionally and spiritually. I no longer have such highs and lows as I did before and now have a much more peaceful disposition. I am able to deal with my family and friends in a much more enjoyable way. I don't drink nor do drugs, my grades have been the best they have ever been and I just live a tremendously better life now. I have finally found a way of life that is able to fill me spiritually. All my life I have been consciously and unconsciously searching for what I now have today. Sitting here writing this I am having such a hard time expressing what Falun Dafa has done for me. What Dafa has done for me and the gratitude that I have for Master Li and Falun Dafa can never be properly expressed in words. I just hope that through my cultivation that I am able to represent Dafa in its true light and to share with others the gift that it has brought me.
-From "The Passion of Ss. Perpetua and Felicitas,"Christian martyrs, 203 CE
Daytime, Tiananmen square. A small group of people rush into the square, striking a qigong stance, sitting in the lotus position, or unfurling banners that read, "Falun Gong is Good." They come day after day, young and old, educated and illiterate, rich and poor, male and female, appealing to the Chinese communist government to stop its persecution of their spiritual practice: Falun Gong. Some days they arrive in the hundreds, or even thousands,[2] knowing full well the violent consequences that await them. They risk everythingloss of home, job, arrest, torture, and even deathsimply to defend their faith.[3]
To the outsider, they may seem fanatical, mystical, strange, or downright crazy. The media have often capitalized on this potential, sensationalizing these committed believers, making them seem unintelligible, or even deluded. In the words of New York Times reporter Craig Smith:[4] "China's actionshave led to at least a dozen deaths But little light has been cast on why so may people feel Falun Gong,[5] founded seven years ago and now claiming millions of adherents, is worth dying for. Nor is it widely understood in the West that aspects of the movement, or cult, suggest that its followers are misled"[6] Through examining history, however, we learn that actions similar to those of Falun Gong practitioners have been similarly misunderstood. For in their time, Christian martyrs were called members of a "new-fangled cult,"[7] and considered misled,[8] among other accusations.[9] Yet today they are venerated. Smith and others provide interpretations of Falun Gong practitioners' actions that are simplistic, and accessible to those unfamiliar with both Falun Gong and the history of Christian martyrdom. These limited, derogatory representations do little to inform, and even threaten to lend support to the persecutors. A more sophisticated reading is in order. Seeing Falun Gong practitioners' actions through the lens of Christian martyrdom texts complicates easy assumptions and interpretations, and allows for a deeper understanding of them.
As one enters the world of these believers, one is able to understand, at least in part, what motivates them to die for their cause. Both the Christian martyrdom texts and Falun Gong texts demonstrate that they view the events surrounding their persecution as a cosmic battle between good and evil; this in turn affects their perspective on the identities of the actors involved. This includes those who renounce their faith, their persecutors, and themselves. They view those who renounce their faith as succumbing to, or even complying with the Devil. Their persecutors are viewed in relationship to evil, often as the Devil himselfhe who is utterly contrary to good. Their personal identities fall away, and they view themselves solely in relationship to their spiritual practice, as those who uphold good in the universe. In addition, they view their actions as not only a powerful force against evil, but as something that will earn them an eternal, heavenly reward in the future. Their perspective on the gravity and consequences of their actions is far beyond what outsiders can imagine; only by entering their world may we understand them.
In part one I will discuss trends in primarily two Christian martyrdom texts, "The Passion of Ss. Perpetua and Felicitas" and "The Martyrdom of the Christian Blandina and Three Male Companions."[10] First I will give samplings of what sorts of suffering they endured for their faith, then will discuss their cosmic motivation for this: Their view of their persecution as a battle between good and evil in which they and their persecutors are central, and their hope for an everlasting reward. In part two I will discuss Falun Gong in relationship to these texts, uncovering similarities between the past and present. Finally, in part three I will provide a summary, will discuss avenues for further scholarship, the significance of such scholarship, and what the discussions here may indicate for scholarship and for Falun Gong in the future.
Christian Martyrdom Texts, 2nd and 3rd centuries
I. How They Suffered
The holy martyrs endured punishments beyond all description.[11]
Before understanding martyrs' responses to their persecution, it is necessary to first discuss what exactly some of their persecution consisted of. The brutal methods that were used on those in the Blandina and Perpetua texts ranged from simple verbal abuse and cramped prison cells, to an electric chair of sorts and being thrown to the beasts. All of this was done to convince them to simply offer up some incense to the city's gods, or offer a sacrifice to them,[12] but they refused, rather choosing to keep their own religion pure.
It is written of one male's body, Sanctus', that after extreme torture in the arena it was "one whole wound and bruise, contracted, having lost the outward form of a man."[13] Blandina's torturers are said to have tried every method they knew to break her, from dawn till dusk, until her body was "all mangled and covered with gaping wounds" and they were utterly exhausted by her endurance.[14] Another, Alexander, was "placed in the iron chair and scorched, so that the fumes rose from his body."[15] Some were thrown to wild beasts such as leopards and bears,[16] their throats were cut,[17] or they were beheaded.[18] While this was a somewhat common form of entertainment in certain areas during the 2nd and 3rd centuries, to the modern reader it is shocking, to say the least. Many may wonder why these people were willing to endure so much suffering, even to the point of death, simply to remain true to their faith.
II. The Cosmic Battle
And I perceived that I should not fight with beasts but with the Devil.[19]
It is clear from their actions that these people had tremendous courage. If we step inside their world, we may come to understand where this courage came from. They rose above the horrors through their profoundly spiritual, supernormal, cosmic understanding of these events. The martyrs saw this not as a struggle between Christians and their persecutors, but as a battle between good and evil, an opportunity to fight for God against the Devil.
Prior to Perpetua's struggle for her life, she had a vision. In that vision, she saw herself in the amphitheater, engaged in literal hand to hand combat with a mysterious "adversary,"[20] whom she defeats. Perpetua realized what this meant about her forthcoming day of martyrdom, saying "And I perceived that I should not fight with beasts but with the Devil; but I knew the victory to be mine."[21] She saw herself as on the side of God in the battle against the Devil. Perpetua did not see herself as a victim of persecution, but as an active participant in defeating evil, empowered by the divine. The same was true for Blandina. After Blandina's endurance under torture amazed her oppressors, she proclaimed, "I am a Christian, and with us evil finds no place,"[22] explaining that her endurance stemmed from a Christian's power to fend off evil. These martyrs saw themselves as agents of the divine, and surely this perspective gave them strength.[23]
Not only do these texts indicate that the martyrs themselves saw their actions as a part of a cosmic battle, but those who wrote about them cast their stories in this light as well. One author sets the scene in this way at the beginning of one of the texts: "the adversary fell upon us with all his mightNevertheless the grace of God was our captain on the other side, rescued the weak, and ranged against the foe firm pillars, able by their endurance to draw upon themselves the whole attack of the evil one."[24] In this text, God is the "captain" of the good warriors, strengthening them in their battle against the evil. This sort of battleground imagery permeates the texts. Blandina is described as being nearly invincible, as various forms of torture and brutality did not stop her. She was thus put in prison again, to be brought out for another conflict later on. The author writes that this happened so that "she might conquer in still further contests, andrender irrevocable the sentence passed on the crooked serpentin many rounds vanquish[ing] the adversary."[25] This is certainly no poor victim in the hands of cruel oppressors, but rather a gladiator who will crush the opposition, simply by staying firm in her faith in the face of evil.
Those who did renounce their faith were viewed as part of the losing side. This perspective on those who betrayed the faith surely motivated the martyrs to forbear to an even greater extent. They felt that one chooses either one side or the otherthe Devil's, or God's; that is, there was no real choice in their minds. One person who denied his faith is described as having been "devoured" by "the devil."[26] Even giving a thought to going over to the other side was seen as surrendering to evil: "those who were apprehended confessed without doubting, nor did they bestow even a thought upon the persuasion of the devil."[27] The Blandina text tells of a woman who had denied her faith. She gave a though to the perils of hell that might await her, and thus quickly came back to the side of the Christians.[28] Thus the lines appear clear for them: If they were to be on the side of God, they needed to be firm, unwavering. Otherwise, they were doomed.
It is clear that these martyrs and writers cast the situation as a whole in cosmic terms, but they also did so with the identities of the individual actors involved. They were identified primarily in relationship to the cosmic battle, not as individual persons. This was true for both the persecutors and the persecuted. When a mad heifer was prepared by the persecutors for attacking Perpetua and Felicitas, it was "the Devil" who made her ready, not people.[29] And it was "the Devil" who invented new torture devices after the conventional ones did not succeed,[30] and "the Devil" was the one using horrible punishments to try to force the believers to say slanderous words against their faith.[31] In these texts, those who attacked the Christians were seen as representations of the Devil. These martyrs and writers viewed nothing in ordinary terms, as their faith fundamentally informed their perspective on the events. They saw every thing and every person involved as a part of the struggle with evil.
These martyrs saw themselves as such active participants in the battle that their individual identities fell away, as well, and their personal characteristics lost importance. They abandoned themselves to become part of something greater. When Sanctus was tortured so that he would say something to incriminate himself, he:
set the battle against them with such firmness that he would not even state his own name, or the people or city whence he came, or whether he were bond or free. But to every question he replied in Latin, 'I am a Christian.' This he confessed again and again, instead of name and city and race and all else, and no other word did the heathen hear from his lips.[32]
Alexander responded similarly, saying, "A Christian,"[33] when the governor asked who he was. In Pagans and Christians, Robin Fox writes that, under threat of death, it was fairly common for Christians to refuse to reveal any personal information or their place of origin, but rather to say that they were from a "universal Church." Some said their names were Daniel, Elijah, and so forth; others said that the city they were from was Jerusalem.[34] All of the above examples demonstrate again how fundamentally the martyrs viewed things in terms of their faith, to the point of leaving all of their other personal, worldly characteristics behind. In the face of death, the only thing that mattered was that they held onto their faith, and remained on the side of the good, to the end.[35]
III.Eternal Reward
The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared
with the glory which shall be revealed to us-ward.[36]
The martyrs' perspective on the events around them gave them great strength and determination, and sometimes even joy. They found joy not only in the belief that they were assisting God in battling evil, but in their faith that they would be rewarded for their sacrifice. One descriptor writes that when the day of martyrdom came, "the day of their victory dawned," and "they proceeded from the prison to the amphitheater as if they were on their way to heaven."[37] Indeed, many viewed martyrdom as a ticket to heaven. As they distanced themselves further and further from the things of this worldtheir families, personal identities, then bodiesthe texts imply that they became closer to the world to come. Perpetua is depicted as having a special connection with the divine, and God revealed to her in many visions the reward she would receive for her martyrdom. In one vision she saw many other martyrs up in heaven with the angels. She then joined them, and "God stroked our faces with His hand."[38] In another vision,[39] God revealed to her that in her martyrdom she would be victorious over the Devil, and would therefore "go in triumph to the Gate of Life."[40] One author writes that the burden of the suffering Christians was lightened by their hope in the promise of reward.[41] These texts convey that the Christian community believed that martyrs were special friends of Godbelievers who were a cut above the restand would be given due reward.
Today that belief has carried on, in modern day terms. That is, Christian martyrs are venerated and even prayed to, due to the belief in their special connection to God. Their sacrifices are seen as one of the foundations of Christianity, and their courage and conviction are admired.[42] As the old saying goes, "The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church." It all began with faith as their motivation--faith that what they were doing was a powerful force against evil, and faith that they would be rewarded for their suffering.
The Current Persecution of Falun Gong Practitioners
The same faith motivates Falun Gong practitioners today. Though there are obvious differences in time, place, and belief system, practitioners' views on their persecution and suffering are quite similar to those of the Christian martyrs discussed above. Reading the current situation in light of historical events allows us to understand it more fully. In this section I will look at how Falun Gong practitioners have suffered amidst the persecution, and at their view of it as a cosmic battle. I will demonstrate how in this understanding of events, there also appear similar views on what denying one's faith means, a blurring of identities, and a hope for eternal reward. They, too, view little of the current situation in ordinary terms, as their faith fundamentally informs their perspective.
Falun Gong practitioners have experienced horrors on par with some of those described above. Many have been beaten to death because they will not renounce their faith. A Wall Street Journal report of one such case is particularly harrowing:
The day before Chen Zixiu died, her captors again demanded that she renounce her faith in Falun Dafa. Barely conscious after repeated jolts from a cattle prod, the 58-year-old stubbornly shook her head. Enraged, the local officials ordered Ms. Chen to run barefoot in the snow. Two days of torture had left her legs bruised and her short black hair matted with pus and bloodshe crawled outside, vomited and collapsed. She never regained consciousness, and died on Feb. 21.[43]
This is just one of many such stories. Like the martyrs discussed above, thousands of Falun Gong practitioners in China have "endured punishments beyond all description."[44] They have reported cases of rape, drugging, physical mutilation, subjection to various torture devices, beatings with pipes, and other severe mental and physical tortures, carried out by authorities.
Many Falun Dafa practitioners view the Chinese government's attack on their practice as an attack by evil on righteousness, but more specifically, they view it as an attack by the evil forces in the cosmos on the Great Law of the cosmos.[45] In a short essay in an online journal, one practitioner describes the persecution of Falun Dafa as "evil forces desperately try[ing] to destroy the Great Law," and "demons sabotaging the Great Law."[46] Due to their cosmic perspective on these events, they thus view their actions within the persecution to have cosmic implications: "With thousands of hearts togetherthe beautiful monument of Dafa will destroy the devils."[47]
Like the Christians above, some Falun Dafa practitioners see those who renounce their faith as succumbing to evil, and allowing it to get the upper hand. One practitioner describes people who signed papers promising not to practice Falun Gong anymore: "Just because so many people surrendered, the demons were able to claim their 'victory.'"[48]
Also within this supernormal perspective on these events lies a different view of their oppressors and themselves. Just as with the Christians descriptions', persecutors in these texts are sometimes described in non-human terms. One article by Li Hongzhi, Falun Dafa's founder, discusses "the evil" taking practitioners away to detention centers, etc.[49] Again, each and every element in these events is viewed in terms of cosmic proportions, so the identities of the oppressors are blurred with the evil forces, and practitioners identify themselves with what they see as the greatest good force. Just like Sanctus and others, Falun Dafa practitioners often refuse to reveal personal information. They identify themselves only in terms of their practice, even after severe torture. When asked who they are, some reply "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance"what Falun Dafa calls the supreme nature of the universe, the three words that describe most simply the Great Law (Dafa) of the universe.[50] When asked where they are from, some reply, "the universe." In their essays on the internet, they identify themselves as "One Falun Dafa Practitioner," and some call themselves, "A Particle of the Great Law." Just like the Christians above, they refuse to comply with their oppressorsthe evilby revealing personal information, and instead reinforce their view of themselves in relationship to their beliefs.
Besides these motivating factors lies the hope of future reward for their actions. One practitioner sees practitioners' responses to the situation in China as the means for gaining eternal life: "Let's validate the Dafa to the people of the world, in spite of the risks, in spite of detention, and in spite of death. Amidst this tribulation, we will gain our everlasting and blissful life."[51] Another writes of similar hopes, demonstrating a joy similar to that mentioned above:
people claim the life in this world to be the most precious; but to a true practitioner, death only means the abandonment of the human body. It is an end to the suffering experience of humans in this dimension, and an entry to the real beautiful, kind, honest, and compassionate new world. What an event to celebrate![52]
Falun Gong practitioners and the Christians discussed above have hope in the same reward for their actions against evil. They do not see death as something to be feared, but as the joyous outcome of their sacrifice.
Conclusion
They introduce into our midst a certain strange and new-fangled cult.[54]
The Martyrdom of the Christian Blandina and Three Male Companions, 177 CE
But little light has been cast on why so may people feel Falun Gong, founded seven years ago and now claiming millions of adherents, is worth dying for. Nor is it widely understood in the West that aspects of the movement, or cult, suggest that its followers are misled...[55]
--New York Times, 2000 CE
Religious scholarship allows us to walk in the footsteps of martyrs, to see things through their eyes. It fundamentally recuperates the martyrs of the past and present, making them intelligible. The scholar of religion sets aside popular renderings, instead retrieving the martyr's voice and world view to look at events as an insider would. Through such scholarship we are able to see that these people are not dying for Christianity, or Falun Gong, but are actively defeating the power of evil in the world, and earning eternal life. They are not misled, but instead conscious, willful participants in an astounding drama with cosmic stakes. They are not cult members, but persons who have been deeply transformed by their emerging faith practices. They are persons who interpret themselves and the world around them through a profoundly spiritual lens; it is this that informs their incredible courage. By stepping into their world, one finds dynamic, complex persons who resist casual dismissal with pejorative rhetoric.
As I have argued, a more complex reading of these persons is necessary to begin understanding them. Through this reading, we discover, at least in part, their motivations for being willing to go to their deaths. They are fortified by their supernormal, faith-based perspective, which allows them to see their persecution as a battle between good and evil, and as something that will earn them eternal reward. This thus informs their view of those who deny their faith, their persecutors, and themselves.
There are many other fascinating comparisons that could be done with these texts alone, but which are beyond the scope of this paper. These would allow one to have an even deeper understanding of martyrdom in these traditions, both from an insider's and outsider's perspective. One could examine the meaning of the teacher's suffering for his followers,[56] martyrs' relationships to their bodies and suffering, the notion of sharing in divine power or becoming divine, the association of persecution with eschatology, the function of visions, others' astonishment at the martyrs' superhuman qualities, accounts of incredible resilience under torture, retribution for persecutors' actions, and teaching and conversion of others in prison; these are but a few of the parallels apparent in the texts studied here.[57]
Religious scholarship on Falun Dafa is in its infancy, as is the practice, and there is much work yet to be done. Such work has immediate relevance to public discourse and perceptions about current events relating to the field of religion. Misrepresentations and misinterpretations can have serious consequences, intentional or not. In this case, for example, people's perception of Falun Gong today certainly informs their desire to support or dismiss their struggle for religious freedom in China. This in turn can affect public policy, and affect, or even save lives.
In light of the many parallels cited above, the change in perception of Christian martyrs over the years may suggest a similar trend in perceptions of Falun Gong martyrs in the future. Should they continue to endure in their struggle, scholarship should anticipate that change in public perception, even while mass media may reinforce current popular misunderstanding.[58]
What the author of the Perpetua text wrote may apply today: "For these in like manner will some day be old and needful for posterity, though in their own time because of the veneration secured to antiquity they are held in less esteem."[59]
Works Cited
Fox, Robin Lane. Pagans and Christians. New York: Knopf, 1987.
Hongzhi, Li. "Rationality" Clear Wisdom. August 9, 2000.
http://www.clearwisdom.net/eng/2000/Aug/12/JingWen081200.html
Johnson, Ian. "Practicing Falun Gong Was a Right, Ms. Chen Said, Up to Her Last Day." The Wall Street Journal. April 20, 2000.
Kraemer, Ross, ed. Maenads, Martyrs, Matrons, Monastics. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1998.
Petroff, E.A. Medieval Women's Visionary Literature. New York: Oxford University Press, 1986.
Smith, Craig. "Rooting Out Falun Gong--China Cracks Down on Mysticism." New York Times. April 30, 2000.
Author Unknown. "Some Reflections of Mine as I Clear My Thoughts." Clear Wisdom, June 24,2000. (translated from Chinese)
Author Unknown. "Breaking Through the Boundaries of Thoughts About Individuals' Cultivation." Clear Wisdom, June 12, 2000. (translated from Chinese)
Author Unknown. "Reflection on Cultivation During the Fa-Rectification of the Universe." ClearWisdom, October 3, 2000. (translated from Chinese)
http://www.clearwisdom.net/eng/2000/Oct/03/PO100300_3.html
[Changchun City, Jilin Province] Police Shoot, Cook and Eat Family Dog On January 29, two practitioners went to another practitioner's home to pay a New Year's visit. Soon, the policemen from local Chengdong police station arrived and took them away. After a short time, the policemen went back to the home. The family dog barked at the policemen, trying to protect the house. (The dog was trained and had once saved the life of the host.) One of the policemen pulled out his gun and shot the dog. Then, they dragged the dog out of the garden and drained its blood. They then loaded the dog into the police car, drove back and ate it. At the police station, the practitioner was given a bag the police had taken from his home, but discovered that one thousand yuan (average monthly salary in a Chinese city is 700 yuan) were missing from it. The policemen didn't give any explanation. [Southwest China] Spring Arrives Early In the morning of January 31, a lot of banners appeared in streets and lanes, in the telephone booths and on electric poles and walls stating, "Falun Dafa is good!" "Truth, Compassion, Forbearance Lives Forever" and "Restore the Good Name of Dafa." Many residents and people who were doing morning exercises picked up flyers that tell the truth about Falun Dafa. [Zhaoyuan City, Shandong province] Zhaoyuan City Police Commit More Crimes In the hometown of practitioner Zhao Jinhua (she was the first practitioner reported to have been tortured to death by the authorities because of practicing Falun Gong), many practitioners were put into a detention center before the Chinese New Year. In the detention center, the guards often locked 7 to 8 practitioners together with handcuffs to prevent them from practicing and studying Dafa. The environment was difficult but the practitioners' hearts were steadfast. One of the female practitioners had been detained for 7 months and was released shortly before the Chinese New Year. Several days before the Chinese New Year, the police again went to her home to arrest her. At that time, she was at her sister's home, so the police went there. They first caught the two husbands of the sisters, then kicked open the door and dragged out the two sisters. They dragged the sisters a long way and pushed them into a police car 500 meters way (about 1650 feet). Along the road, the sisters cried out, "The police are arresting innocent people, please help!" Many villagers were watching. They were angry, but dared not to speak out against the injustice. The policemen beat the sisters, and the younger sister's left eye was swollen. Two days later, the two sisters escaped with the help of their husbands. They resolutely went to Tiananmen to tell the world how good Falun Dafa is. They are enduring severe tests now. [Shanhe City, Hebei Province] Some Illegal Actions of Yanjiao Police Sub-station The bridge and track company of No.13 Railway Bureau took all the practitioners who refused to write guarantee letters and sent them to the Yanjiao Police substation. In the Yanjiao police substation, no food is provided, and so the family members have to send every meal to the practitioners. The company also dismissed all the relatives of these practitioners including the spouses, children, and even the children's spouses, making the practitioners' financial situation all the more desperate. Not a single penny is paid to them. Around the New Year, Yanjiao Public Security Inspection Station (a mandatory stop for practitioners from Tangshan City, Ji County, and Yanjiao of Shanhe City who go to Beijing) began to inspect all buses passing this station. They would ask every passenger on a bus whether he or she practiced Falun Gong and would force everyone to curse the Teacher. Many passengers were disgusted with the police, especially for ruining the morality of the young with the disgusting curses. One elderly gentleman insisted that he would not curse, so the policeman kicked him all the way off the bus in front of all the other passengers. [Xuzhou city, Jiangsu Province] Police Detain the Parents Leaving the Child Uncared For Li, about 46 years old is the nurse of Children's Hospital of Xuzhou city. She was detained by her hospital because she went to Beijing to validate Dafa. The Xuzhou Mineral Resource Administration Bureau employs her husband (about 48 years old). He was sentenced to 2 years of forced labor after being arrested for posting Dafa flyers in November 2000. Since both parents have lost their freedom, no one takes care of their child now. [Weifang City, Shandong Province] Practitioner Du Tianning Arrested in Anqiu Practitioner Du Tianning (male, about 30 years old) is the resident of Anqiu, Weifang city. Since July 20, 1999, he was forced to leave home and wander about, but he was protecting Dafa all the time. At midnight 12 o'clock January 22, 2001, Aiqiu police and people from Anqiu TV station broke into his temporary residence. They arrested him and took away his computer and a printer. [Taicang City, Jiangsu Province] Recent Suppressions Against Dafa Practitioners in Taichang City Around 10:00PM on December 30, 2000, policemen knocked on the doors of every practitioner's home and told them that police needed them to come to the station to answer some questions, but that they would soon be allowed to return home. The practitioners were deceived and detained in the police station. The police called this detention a "Studying Class." Among those deceived were Zhang Huiming of General Knitting Factory, Zhang Jiandong of the Weaving Equipment Factory, Shen Jian of the Insurance Company, Chen Gang of the Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital and two old women. Some work units had received the notification of this "Studying Class." Every practitioner was forced to pay 3,000 Yuan (about US $375) training fee for attending the "Studying Class." Since January 6, 2000, when police arrested the three practitioners Shi Zehui, Wang Jian, and Qin Yanqiu, to January 2001, the following practitioners have been illegally detained and fined:
Those who are listed above were detained for at least one month. There were 30 other people that were closely monitored or interrogated by the police to various degrees. Even a small city like Taicang has so many people being persecuted; can you imagine how many people have been persecuted in the whole country?Attachment: Pu Hao of Banqiao County, Taicang City, Jiangsu Province was sentenced to 18 months of forced labor. Those practitioners who are still in detention on criminal charges:
Person responsible for this persecution: Zhan Huizhong, section chief of Political Security Department of Taicang City Police Bureau. Home phone: (86) (520) 3533823; work phone (86) (520) 3523112 ask operator to connect to Political Security Department, zip code 215400Shi Zehui, Qin Yanqiu, Deng Minmin, Bao Huizhu, Chen Shuying, Li Qin, Xu Fumin, Pu Qibing and Cao Peizhen.
Sun Shaomei, female, 37 years of age, an employee of Supply and Marketing Cooperative in the town of Linglong, Zhaoyuan County, Shandong Province, was among the first bunch of Dafa practitioners who went to Beijing to appeal several times since July 20, 1999. She was illegally detained by the local police for about 8 months (I cannot remember the exact duration). The second day after she was released, Sun Shaomei went to Beijing again (around November 18, 2000) and was not heard from since. About mid December, we received a death announcement from Tuanhe Labor Camp, Daxing County, Beijing. We then knew that she was beaten to death.
At 11:20am on December 27, 2000, in Tiananmen Square, together with some other practitioners, we held up a banner that says, "Falun Dafa is Good!" and we shouted loudly, "Falun Dafa is good!" "Falun Dafa is good!" "Falun Dafa is good!" ...
Upon hearing our voices, a few plainclothes policemen rushed over to us. In order not to be carried away so easily, we ran in different directions while still calling out, "Falun Dafa is good!" I ran towards the road in front of Tiananmen Square. They couldn't catch me so they called a police car. The car drove fast at me and tried to knock me down twice. I had a narrow escape. Then they called a motorbike; it roared toward me with a tried to run me over. I dodged several times and simply couldn't find any words to describe the dangerous situation. It was just like what Master said, "...the way the evil is currently performing shows that they are already utterly inhuman and completely without righteous thoughts." (From Beyond the Limits of Forbearance) Finally the police car and the motorbike together with a lot of cops surrounded me on the road in front of Tiananmen Square and struck me down. They violently punched and kicked me with steel-toed leather boots and hit me with their truncheons all over my body. I said to myself, "Let it be. If I die, I die for Falun Dafa." Upon this thought, I didn't feel any more pain. My face began swelling and bleeding. When they beat me, I remained silent. So after a while the cops dragged me by my coat towards the police car. My shirt got pulled up and cut into my throat. I couldn't breath anymore and I knew I would be choked to death in a minute. Again I said to myself, "Let' it be. If I die, I die for Falun Dafa." With this thought, the button suddenly burst forth. I escaped from death again. In a flash I realized that giving up concerns with life and death doesn't mean I would die.
The police car drove me to the Tiananmen Police Station where many Falun Dafa practitioners were detained. Even some people who were not practitioners but showed sympathy for Falun Gong were locked up there. They gave me a warm applause and were concerned with my serious injuries. They also shouted loudly, "Return the reputation to our Master!" "Return the reputation to Falun Dafa!" "Suffocate the evil!" "No more beating practitioners!"...Then we recited Master's Poems and some other articles.
After about an hour, they took about 50 practitioners in a police van to a shabby workshop in Huairou County. A group of malicious cops and local ruffians welcomed us with a heartless thrashing. More than 30 soldiers in uniform stood around with truncheons in hand. While beating us, they put us in fetters and force-fed some of us with medicine. They also forcibly searched our bodies while taking our pictures and fingerprints.
An old cop interrogated me, "What is your name?"
I said, "I won't tell you."
I guess by your accent that you are from a southern province."
"I won't tell you."
"How is your family?"
"This I can tell you. My parents are in their seventies and I have two children. We are a family of 6, plus my wife."
"What did you do in Tiananmen Square?"
"I went there to tell people Falun Dafa is good! I also called out 'Falun Dafa is good' and held up a banner with "Falun Gong is Good!' in Tiananmen Square."
"When did you start practicing Falun Dafa?"
"I have been practicing from March, 1998, until now."
"Who beat you so badly?"
"The cops in Tiananmen Square."
"... How can I send you home if you don't tell me where you live?"
"I won't go home before the Fa gets rectified." Finally I said, "How could our government allow the people's police to beat up its own kind-hearted and unarmed people so viciously?"
"... I know you are good people and I don't have an answer to your question."
At 6:20 P.M., somebody suddenly called my number. I didn't expect to get released. Together with me, a few practitioners in their sixties, seventies and eighties and a few teenagers were also set free. So they even detained young children as well as old people!
After I escaped from their evil hands, I thought I still had a lot of truth telling to do in my hometown. I used all the money I had and bought a ticket to go home. I was penniless when I finally got off the train and I was still far away from home. I didn't eat or drink anything for a whole day and a whole night but I kept walking. Thirteen hours later I arrived at a practitioner's home. I told them what I had experienced and they all cried; I also cried. We cried because we all know that it is our great benevolent Master that bears all the sufferings just to give us this precious opportunity to cultivate in Falun Dafa and it is the Master that helped me fulfill my solemn pledge of holding up the banner saying, "Falun Dafa is Good!" in Tiananmen Square.
Wang Jijia, a 45-year-old man from Hengyang City, Hunan Province, began to practice Falun Dafa in 1995. At about 11:30pm on January 22, 2001, six policemen from the Huanchengnanlu police station of Hengyang public security bureau came to his house to arrest him. Wang refused to open the door so the policemen threatened to pry open the door. In order not to be taken away by the vicious police, Wang climbed up to the platform on the top of the building, but his way was blocked by some other policemen who had been there waiting to catch him. While being chased, Wang lost his balance and fell to the ground from the nine-story building. His head cracked open; the insides to leaked out all over the ground. The policemen in his house and Wang's wife didn't immediately realize what had happened. Later the policemen downstairs called and the policemen in Wang's house rushed downstairs. They cleaned up the blood and brains on the ground with water and took Wang's body to the crematory without his wife's knowledge. At 1 AM on January 23 they returned to Wang's home to find out if Wang's wife had realized what had actually happened. They tried to persuade and trick her. They repeatedly questioned her in order to be sure that she didn't know the truth about what had happened to her husband. When they were positive that she didn't know anything, they lied in order to escape responsibility and denied having any knowledge as to what had happened to him and where he was.
The next morning Wang's family went to the police station to look for him, but the reception desk refused to give them any information and they were ignored by the police. Later on, a peddler told them that someone had fallen from their building the night before. Wang's family immediately went to inquire about this at the police station. Realizing that the truth could no longer be concealed, the policemen became furious and called out the full-armed anti-violence squad. They forced Wang's relatives to promise not to utter a word about this and to not mourn the loss of their family member, as this would draw attention to them. Moreover, they even threatened Wang's elder daughter with her job as a temporary worker in the city's Public Security Bureau. Finally, they also viciously claimed that, "Instructions from the headquarters of the Communist Party state that no responsibility will be taken for Falun Dafa practitioners, no matter how they die."
The Dragon, with its special implications, has been pervasive in all aspects of ancient Chinese culture, and it has become a strong spiritual symbol for the Chinese people. Do dragons really exist? Are they merely imaginations in the realm of spirituality, or do they have physical existence? It is still a mystery to us today. I was surprised that many eye-witness accounts about the appearance of dragons can be found in our history books, which entices me to re-examine whether dragons truly exist.
● Five Dragons and Green Deities:
"Recording for Ye County • Miscellaneous Section" from the Qing Dynasty says the followings: In 1503 AD (Ming Dynasty, Hongzhi's 16th Year), five dragons hovered in the air about 10 Li (3 miles) north of the city gate of Ye County, Henan Province. After a long time aloft, they dropped to the ground, and were unable to ascend again. The sky clouded over, and the sea began churning. A deity in green clothing descended from the sky, and was immediately surrounded by the fallen dragons. A moment later, the clouds dispersed and the ocean was tranquil. The five dragons were still unable to fly away. At this time, another green deity descended, and the dragons crawled around him. Suddenly, the sky became dark. Thick clouds and heavy fog reappeared. When the sky finally cleared, the deities and the five dragons were gone.
● White Dragons and Purple Deities:
"Recording for the Jiaxing Regional Government • Fortunate, yet Strange Phenomena Section" has a similar story in Ye County. In September 1588 AD, a white dragon was spotted on Lake Ping of Pinghu County, Zhejiang Province. It was flying above the lake, illuminating half of the sky with red light. Eyewitness Shen Maoxiao, an history-recording officer for the royal court, saw a deity in purple clothes with a golden crown, standing over 30 meters tall, between the horns of the dragon. This deity held an object resembling a sword. There appeared a sphere of bright light as large as a dou (a ladder-shaped container for measurement in China) beneath the head of the dragon.
● White Dragon on Huangpu River:
"Recording for the Songjiang Regional Government • Fortunate, yet Strange Phenomena Section" records an eyewitness account that took place 20 years after the white dragon sighting in Pinghu County. In July 1608 AD, a white dragon similar to the one on Lake Ping was sighted on Huangpu River in Songjiang County, Shanghai. There was also a deity standing on the head of the dragon.
● Dragon in Wenming Palace:
"Recording for the Later Han Dynasty • Five Elements Section," later cited by "Recording for Luoyang County • Strange Phenomena Section," recorded a dragon sighting in the imperial palace. Liu Hong, the emperor of the Dong Han Dynasty, had his capital city near today's Luoyang City, Henan Province; Wenming Palace might be where he lived. On July 1, 178 AD, a huge black object fell from sky into the east courtyard of the Wenming Palace. The object was round and resembled the canopy over an ancient carriage. It was over 20 meters long, and spun rapidly, giving out light of different colors. The object had a head, but no feet and tail. It looked like a dragon, but might not have been one.
● "History of Yuan Dynasty • Recording of Five Elements" states that there appeared a dragon near Mount Long in Linxong County, Shandong Province in August 1190. Unfortunately, its appearance has not been recorded. The dragon was able to make a piece of rock weighing half a ton float in the air.
● In Jian'an 24th Year of Dong Han Dynasty, a yellow dragon appeared on Chishui River of Wuyang City, and remained there for nine days before it finally left. A temple was built and a stone tablet was erected inside the temple to honor the appearance of the dragon.
● In April, Yonghe's 1st Year, Dong Jin Dynasty (345 AD), two dragons, one black and the other white, appeared on Mount Long. Murong, Emperor of the Yan Kingdom, led officials of the court to the mountain and held a worship ceremony 200 yards away from the dragons.
● Local history books from Ming and Qing Dynasty also contain sighting of dragons. According to "Recording for the Lin'an Regional Government," Chongzhen 4th Year (1631 AD), a large dragon was sighted on Lake Yilong, southeast of Shiping County, Yunan Province. The record states: "The whiskers, feet, and scales of the dragon were above the water, and the dragon was several dozens of meters long." The dragon might have appeared more than once around Mount Long (Mt. Dragon) and Lake Yilong (Lake Strange Dragon), thus explaining the choice of names for these features.
● "Amended Recording of Tang Dynasty" recorded that one day in the last year of Xiantong, a black dragon fell to the ground within the territory of Tongcheng County, and died there from a wound in the throat. The full length of the dragon measured over 30 meters, half of which was its tail. The shape of the tail was flat. Scales were like that of fish. The head had two horns. The whiskers by the side of the mouth were over 6 meters long. Its feet, which grew from under its belly, had a red film covering them.
● "Seven Books and Scriptures" by Long Ying recorded that one day in the last year of Chenghua, Ming Dynasty, a dragon fell down onto the beach in Xinhui County, Guangdong Province. It was beaten to death by the local fishermen. The dragon was as tall as an adult person, and tens of meters in length. It looked very much like the dragon in classical paintings except that the belly was red.
● A dead dragon was found by Lake Taibai in Shaoxing's 32nd Year of Nan Song Dynasty (1162 AD). It had long whiskers and large scales. The back was black and belly white. Fins grew from the dragon's back, and two large horns protruded the head. It could be smelled from miles away. The local people covered it with a mat. The government sent people to hold worship ceremony at the site. However, after a night of severe thunderstorms, the dragon disappeared. Only a ditch remained where it laid.
● "History for the Yongping Regional Government" recorded that, in the summer of 19th Year of Daoguang (1839 AD) a dragon fell from the sky along the lower reaches of Luanhe River in Laoting County. The dragon lay inert, covered by flies and maggots. Local people made a shelter for it to protect it from the direct sunlight, and also drizzled cold water on its body. Three days later, after a night of thunderstorms, the dragon left.
● In August 1944, hundreds of people from the Chenjiayuanzi Village, Fuyu County, south of Songhuajiang River surrounded a black dragon by the riverbank. Yen Dianyuan, an eyewitness who is still alive, said that the dragon was about 7 meters long and looked like a lizard. The face was almost the same as that of the dragons in classical paintings, with seven or eight thick hard whiskers. The upper body was over one foot in diameter. Its four paws went deep in the sand. Crocodile-like scales covered its whole body. Yen Dianyuan still wonders why that large animal looked so much like a dragon on the paintings.
● In the summer of 1953, an unidentified animal fell down from sky in a place near south of Henan Province. Curious people came hiked out to see it. According to the description of some of the witnesses, the dragon looked like a huge shark. The odor of decay attracted countless flies. If it was a shark, it should live in the deep sea. Why did it fall down from the sky? This case might be related to the dragons recorded in history as dropping from the sky.
● A Dragon appeared on earth on August 31, 2000.
Scientists have been investing countless hours and energy exploring how large and how mysterious the universe is, and they achieved very little except for ever-expanding numbers of hypotheses and suppositions. They have worked day and night, yet they still crawl within the boundary of their own limited theories. In order to be rid of the alleged "superstition" when discussing the "truth of the universe," I would like to present to you a phenomenon that is intangible and invisible, but objectively existing and reflected into our physical dimension.
The weather in most regions of China this year has been hot and dry with temperatures reaching higher than 40oC (104F), which has led to the death of trees and grass. Crops failed to grow in a large area of farmland. We are used to seeing bumper harvests whenever autumn comes. But it was not so in the year of 2000. Many rivers have dried up, resulting in lack of drinking water and the spread of diseases. It is exactly as what Teacher Li Hongzhi said in his poem, "If people have no de (virtues), they shall have heavenly catastrophes and human disasters; If earth has no de, all lives on it shall wither and perish."
People were troubled by the lack of rain in summer, and the excess of it in autumn. On August 4, a downpour over Heishanzi Village ended, and the village was covered by a layer of hot steam. All of a sudden, thick clouds came down from the sky and rolled along above the ground. The people in the village were so scared, for they had never seen this kind of weather before. They stayed inside with all the doors and windows shut. One bold young man went outside to see what was going on. He walked through and found nothing unusual other than the thick, rolling clouds. He continued walking, and soon he was outside his village. Suddenly he was stunned by the sight of two dragons, one black and one white, lying on the ground in front of him. He was dazzled and unable to believe what he saw. He rubbed his eyes with his hands, and pinched his arms. His arms felt pain, so he knew that it was not a dream.
The young man got closer to have a better look at the dragons. He saw that the horns, scales, paws, and tails of the dragons were exactly the same as that from traditional dragon paintings except that their whiskers were shorter. He turned around and ran toward the village as fast as he could, shouting, "Come see the dragons; come see the dragons that have fallen from the sky!" All the villagers went out to see the dragons. The news quickly spread through the entire region. Police, government officials, experts and scholars all came to the Heishanzi Village. Someone took pictures of the crowd around the dragons. Then, the experts and scholars began rambling on some kind of theory about the phenomenon, but the people could not understand a word of what they were talking about. Later, police officers started dispersing the crowd, leaving several persons assigned to guard the dragons.
A gust of wind made the dark clouds roll up and down. When it passed, the white dragon had disappeared from under the watchful eyes of the guards. The officials were unable to explain the disappearance, and they were equally frustrated about the black one still on the ground. At this time, a farmer of over 70 years old said, "I heard that something like this happened several years ago, and people poured water on the dragons to make them return home." He asked a few young villagers to fetch several mats and they erected a shelter for the dragon. They then hauled water with wheelbarrows, spraying it on the mats so that the water could drip down on the dragon from the mats. As a result, the dragon has lived to this day.
Are those who are inclined to allege people to be "superstitious" going to hit the witnesses of the dragon with another allegation? I don't think so, because they dare not. Thousands of people have been there and seen the dragons with their own eyes. They can "explain" why apes were the ancestors of human being, and how Egyptians built the pyramids. But they cannot "explain" the appearance and disappearance of the dragons outside the Heishanzi Village. Obviously, human science cannot offer any explanation. The universe is so immense and mysterious, and only Buddha's Fa is able to tell the truth about it. Teacher Li Hongzhi told us: "the Buddha's Fa can provide mankind with insights into the immeasurable and boundless world. Throughout ancient ages, only the Buddha's Fa is able to give a perfect and clear exposition of man, various dimensions of material existence, life, and the entire universe."
The appearance of the dragons on earth has given an opportunity to each person to think about the purpose of life. We should not be too attached to life in this dimension, and we should broaden our views to seek for the truth.
● Wusong is a city by the west side of the Changbai Mountain Ridge, southeast of Jilin Province; it is called "the town of Ginseng." At 6:10 p.m. on September 18, 2000, a dragon appeared in the sky over the city, and everyone was able to see it. On that day, as the sky was getting dark in the evening, a beam of unusual light shot from the sky northwest above the city, and it soon became brighter and multicolored. More and more people noticed the light, and they felt that a miracle was about to take place. It surely was, a dragon showed up. At the beginning, the head was seen, but not the tail. Gradually, the whole body could be seen, and the dragon was getting closer to the people. Finally, the mouth, whiskers, paws and scales could all be seen clearly. The dragon was showered with bright light, and it curled up, then stretched out, then swirled, then rolled forward. It opened its mouth, then closed it. People were shocked and speechless at the scene. Some mumbled, "There really are dragons after all." The dragon was visible for more than twenty minutes. Most people in the city saw it, some of whom witnessed the entire event. The bright light eventually dimmed into dark-red, and the dragon slowly disappeared... At eight o'clock, a friend of mine from Wusong called me and told me in detail the appearance and disappearance of the dragon, and the above was what I wrote down.