PureInsight | November 10, 2003
[PureInsight.org]
Greetings Venerable Master, greetings Fellow Practitioners!
Since March 2003, many practitioners worldwide have formed teams to expose the evil actions of the persecutors and to clarify the truth to labor camps in China. Reports of labor camp persecution were compiled from Clearwisdom and we began to mail them together with other truth-clarification material to all of the police who have persecuted Dafa practitioners in Chinese labor camps. Here I would like to report on behalf of our team, and share some of our cultivation experiences over the last 7 months.
1. Summary of Team Work of Clarifying the Truth to Chinese Labor Camps
When we read about Mainland Chinese practitioners' experiences in labor camps, especially how they risked their lives to persist in their practice, we were encouraged by their righteous thoughts and righteous actions. Our hearts were pained by the evil persecution that Dafa disciples have experienced. We thought to ourselves that this was "so cruel, so evil, this should never have happened."
Some fellow practitioners picked up the phone, some used the internet, some sent faxes. Each practitioner used their own means to clarify the truth to more and more Chinese people. But there were also many of us who felt helpless, and with the passing of time, became indifferent. Some of us began to carry a heavy mental burden, weighed down by the Mainland Chinese practitioners' experiences.
In "Teaching the Fa at the Western U.S. Fa Conference," Master said, "...when someone comes to persecute the Fa, what should you, a disciple, a particle of Dafa, do? Shouldn't you let the truth be known and make people aware of the facts? This is looking at it in terms of you. You are a particle of Dafa, so you should play this role."
As Master's Fa-rectification process progresses, the evil is being gradually eliminated. With the lawsuit against Jiang and the establishment of the "World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong," Dafa practitioners are becoming more and more active and having the upper hand in Fa-rectification. The majority of Dafa practitioners are in China. We need to shoulder responsibility for Dafa and Mainland Chinese practitioners. We need to expose the evil to more Chinese people, so that they can see comprehensively that this evil persecution is occurring right in front of them. This is also eliminating the evil.
As one body, Dafa practitioners need to completely deny the old forces' evil arrangements. Some fellow practitioners realized that we should comprehensively and systematically expose and suffocate the evil that persecute Dafa practitioners, including the evil elements in labor camps, detention centers, prisons, mental hospitals, and brainwashing classes.
Since the Jiang scoundrel group started persecuting Falun Gong in July 1999, more than 180 labor camps in China have been directly involved in the persecution. In "Suffocate the Evil" (From Essentials for Further Advancement II), Teacher said, "China's Labor Re-education Camps are dark dens of evil forces. Most of the disciplinary guards there are reincarnated minor ghosts from hell. As for the people who have been 'reformed,' it was arranged in history that they would persecute the Fa this way."
These "dark dens of evil forces" have brutally and inhumanely tortured Dafa and Dafa practitioners. As of October 8, 2003, 793 practitioners have been tortured to death, including 219 dead in labor camps, 28% of the total. So, we decided to start our project with the labor camps. We compiled the cases of persecution in labor camps, and systematically began to reveal the truth to Chinese people in the government, judicial, and public security agencies. This was especially effective with the persecutors' supervisors and subordinates, neighbors, friends and relatives. This had a powerful effect in suffocating the evil, reducing the pressure on Mainland Chinese practitioners, and giving moral support to Mainland practitioners.
The Clearwisdom Editors published on March 9, 2003 the article "Expose the Evil People." It said, "Whenever a Dafa disciple in Mainland China is persecuted to death at a forced labor camp, brainwashing class, etc, we, all of the other Dafa disciples, will quickly expose those evil people who directly plotted and gave orders for the persecution, as well as those who directly participated in the persecution. We will document and publish to the world the personal information such as names, gender, age, job title, workplace, etc, of the evil people who have committed these crimes.
"Every time a situation occurs in which Dafa disciples are persecuted to death, we will do this, and each time we will continue to do this for a period of time. With our concerted efforts aimed in the same direction, we will continue to let people all over China and the international community know, using various methods, specifically who those evil people are that are following Jiang's wicked gang to persecute Dafa disciples and have directly accrued those bloody debts."
This article helped us understand even more clearly the importance and approach for clarifying the truth to labor camps and exposing the evil people.
Both Chinese and Western practitioners actively participate in the project. We divided ourselves into two teams. One is Western practitioners writing personal letters and sending pictures to clarify the truth, the other is Chinese practitioners collecting information on the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in labor camps. After thoroughly reading about Mainland Chinese practitioners' experiences, we felt closer with Mainland Chinese practitioners in our hearts, and realized that practitioners from China and from overseas are one body. One practitioner said in sharing her experience, "I worked for the translation team and translated many facts about torture cases. When I was working on the cases in Heilongjiang's Changlinzi Labor Camp, I felt what Mainland Chinese practitioners were experiencing very deeply. Before in my cultivation, I mostly focused on myself. When I read articles on Clearwisdom, I mostly only looked for content that I thought could help me improve. For example, I only read the part 'Practitioners Exchange Insights,' but skipped over the facts of the persecution. I didn't treat myself and practitioners in China as one body. This exposed an attitude of mine in Dafa cultivation. When I was working on the Chang Linzi Labor Camp cases, I felt continuous interference by the evil. I started to continuously sending forth righteous thoughts to eliminate the evil. I personally felt my righteous thoughts and those of the Mainland Chinese practitioners merging into one body, eliminating the evil together. When I did translation work, I didn't usually feel this way. Perhaps the practitioners who were collecting articles to translate had already cleared away the evil with their righteous thoughts."
The Chinese practitioners who were clarifying the facts to Chinese labor camps then divided into the following teams: Case compilation team, cross-examination and confirmation team, translation team, mailing team, address look-up team, and phone follow-up team. Every team had at least one coordinator. Here I would like to discuss some cultivation experiences from the teams.
2. Compiling Labor Camp Cases
Compiling the labor camp cases itself is a process of dispelling interference and using righteous thoughts to eliminate the evil.
In compiling the labor camp cases, the most serious problem we encountered was interference in all different forms. The evil elements in other dimensions not only controlled the evil Chinese police to persecute Dafa disciples, but when we were compiling the labor camp cases, we also felt interference to our xinxing and our physical body. The practitioners used righteous thoughts to pass these tests. Teacher has also given us a lot of hint and enlightenment. I would like to share some stories here.
Some practitioners started to feel itchy and developed red bumps all over their bodies as soon as they started to work on labor camp cases. Some practitioners had blisters developing on their lips which hurt like a needle on their flesh bodies. Some practitioners knew the project was very important, but as soon as they started, they felt their cultivation state was not good enough and they could not continue. Some practitioners computers became very slow or even couldn't boot up. A practitioner said whenever he started compiling information for a labor camp, he felt it was a life-and-death test. Such interference helped us see the seriousness of exposing the crimes and evilness in the labor camps. One practitioner said, "Now I feel it's extremely important to work on labor camps. Before I didn't realize the interference I was experiencing, so many times the interference actually stopped me from doing my work. After I realized it, I started sending righteous thoughts and felt that I was one body with the practitioners in the labor camps. In my heart arose an indescribable feeling of compassion. I truly felt I was one body with them." Another practitioner said, "When I send righteous thoughts now, I add another thought to it. I use my thoughts to help Mainland Chinese practitioners walk out of the labor camps with dignity. The cosmic climate has changed, and only the dark minions of the old forces are left, and they are very weak. If all detained practitioners could realize this, imagine what a strong righteous force that would be. They are sure to be able to walk out of labor camps, detention centers and brainwashing classes with dignity."
A diligent and effective practitioner told us a story. She said:
"I also personally experienced the evil persecution when compiling and organizing the labor camp cases. At first, whenever I thought about working on this project, all kinds of interference would come. They came in different forms and used deceitful methods to confuse me."
At first,when I started to work on Daxing Tuanhe labor camp in Beijing, everyone except for me in my family was getting sick. My father, husband and daughter all had a fever. This kept me so busy everyday that I didn't have time to work on labor camp cases. Later I realized that this was a form of interference that the evil used to keep me from working on the labor camp case. I started to send forth righteous thoughts to eliminate the evil, and it was very effective. But since I saw through this kind of persecution, the evil changed its tactics and used other ways. When I was working on Wanjia Labor Camp in Harbin, I experienced the worst physical discomfort since I started cultivating. For days I couldn't sleep or sit straight. I couldn't lie down or even breathe normally. I felt like a fish out of water. I lay awake at night and couldn't fall asleep. Then I realized this was a form of persecution by the old forces, so I started to send righteous thoughts all night long. In three days, I was able to breathe, but still every part of my body hurt. My hand hurt so much that I couldn't even hold the mouse. I felt that since the moment I began thinking about working on the Wanjia Labor Camp cases, black matters were on my body and dragging me down. I kept sending righteous thoughts, but it kept coming. The more it came, the more I eliminated it with righteous thoughts. When the evil matters were eliminated, I felt our compassionate Teacher pouring energy into the top of my head every now and then. After the physical tribulations, another form of interference came. When I collected important articles on labor camps, interference kept me from reading them through. I would read an article, but as I nearly finished reading, I had forgotten about the beginning of the article. One day when I felt I couldn't keep up with the reading, I sent forth righteous thoughts. After 10 minutes of sending righteous thoughts, my mind was still unclear. I realized I had a thought of pursuit, so I adjusted my mental state. I remembered Teacher said in "Zhuan Falun" that, "Tathagata can use the bowl in his hand to turn Sunwukong into a very tiny thing by covering him up with it. This supernormal ability can have this effect. No matter how large or tiny this being is, it will be grabbed in the hand instantly and become very tiny." So I would freeze the evil and suck it into a metal bowl. It was like a snail, and even its tail was sucked in there. Then I melted it into water. I realized that anything that kept me from working on this project was interference, and that our "main consciousness must be strong."
Another practitioner said in an email message,"it took me over a month to finish compiling the persecution cases for Lion Mountain Drug Rehabilitation Labor Camp in Hubei province. I felt not only serious external interference during this time, but also problems that had existed in my cultivation for a few years. Some of these problems were fundamental cultivation issues and fundamental attachments that had laid latent for too long. As a result, I would feel sleepy when studying the Fa, couldn't calm my mind, and was seriously interfered with by thought karma. When I was working on the labor camp cases, whenever I started working, my mind was in a very drowsy state and was suppressed. I would spend a few hours just to write one case. Other times I just fell asleep. It wasn't until recently that I truly calmed down and looked inside. I found many problems with myself and many bad "roots." Then I experienced a breakthrough in my cultivation state, although I still have much to work on. At least when I work on cases now, my mind is clear. I will continue to break through myself and the interference of the old forces and try my best in compiling the labor camp cases."
Another practitioner said, "one afternoon, when I was working on cases from Masanjia Labor Camp, the computer froze and a message popped up saying there was a 'virus.' I did a scan to see if there was a virus, and asked others to help get rid of it. Gradually I learned how to get rid of the viruses myself. I told the practitioner who was helping me that my computer checks itself for viruses every now and then. He told me that wasn't enough, that I needed to be more active in checking it. That night, I had a dream. I sat in front of the computer and had my hand on the mouse. I searched and found the virus file in the computer. At that moment, I saw in another dimension that attached to the virus file was a symbol for the handicapped. When I pressed the bottom in this dimension, the symbol went away, but half a broken hand was clinging on to the computer monitor. I then heard a loud and clear voice say, eliminate the dark minions of the old forces! The scene soon disappeared. This made me realize that the elements that were left by the old forces are still struggling in their last stage of existence, and that I shouldn't be so passive in my actions. I shouldn't always wait to send forth righteous thoughts after something bad had happened. I was using righteous thoughts as a tool to solve a problem. This thought was not pure. I should actively press the 'button' to eliminate the evil. Always keeping a righteous mind is eliminating the evil."
This practitioner also said, "Before I worked on labor camps, I saw a really evil Chinese website. I hesitated whether I should go it, and eventually decided to go. I felt it was filthy inside, but thought since I was there, I should do something. The evil will not disappear on its own. We need to actively eliminate it. When I was browsing the web, I was sending righteous thoughts. I actually found a lot of useful information. For the evil parts, I used supernormal abilities to lock them up, and then cleared them away with righteous thoughts. When I heard about working on labor camps, I felt I was ready. I knew this was something that should be done, so I put myself into it. When I was working on the cases I was eliminating the evil as well. Although it may be very simple in this dimension, like pressing a button, in the other dimension the scene was quite magnificent."
What moved me the most was that these practitioners started to send righteous thoughts the moment they started compiling information, or even as soon as they heard the name of the labor camp. Through their continuous efforts in eliminating the evil and breaking through the evil's arrangements, they were able to gather first-hand evidence of the persecution, which scared the evil. This information was then mailed to the labor camps to suffocate the evil and save those who were still saveable. Teacher said at "Teaching the Fa at the Great Lakes Fa Conference in North America," "In extremely difficult situations and when the most evil beings act most savagely, we're still able to be so merciful--this is the performance of the most magnificent Gods. When we're in the midst of the worst suffering, we're still saving others...Nothing we do is for self-interest, much less is it for some everyday people's organization. It's for validating Dafa. Exposing the evil is to stop its persecution of Dafa and our students."
3. Mailing Team: Expose the Evil People to the Public and Clarify the Facts
The practitioners who compiled information on the persecution in labor camps were documenting and publishing to the world the personal information of the evil people who have committed these crimes. On the mailing team, practitioners let people all over China and the international community know, specifically who those evil people are that are following Jiang's wicked gang to persecute Dafa disciples and have directly accrued those bloody debts.
Besides the evil people working for the labor camps, the mailing team also send persecution cases to the local government, public security bureau, judicial agencies, and the local resident's council. Whenever the information is available, we also send information to the evil people's family members, neighbors and friends. Practitioners prepared open letters to labor camp police, government staff in various agencies, and public security personnel. In every letter, we also include the lawsuit information and how the evil people were punished. We try to include as much material as we could in each letter. Sometimes we even sent brochures, VCDs and pictures. We hope to awaken people of the world so they can see the true nature of the evil. To keep up with Fa-rectification, and to clarify the truth related to SARS and the lawsuits against Jiang, we sent the labor camp persecution information to TV stations, radio stations, newspapers, schools, and ordinary Chinese citizens. Before we put them in the mail, the team members would send forth righteous thoughts. One of our letters was returned because the person moved away. We saw from the returned letter that it was intact. We felt very encouraged because it showed with righteous thoughts, our letters to the "dark dens of evil forces" reached their destinations.
On May 4, 2003, Clearwisdom net reported the following. "Due to Falun Dafa practitioners clarifying the truth, sending forth righteous thoughts, studying the Fa, and self-cultivating, most of the evil beings in other dimensions have been eliminated. With so few left, the evil can no longer persecute practitioners on a large scale. At the Tuanhe Labor Camp in Beijing people are very busy trying to prevent and treat SARS. The police have completely changed their altitude towards Falun Dafa practitioners, and no longer mention "transforming" us." … "These changes are the result of practitioners inside China and overseas continually exposing the evil, clarifying the truth, and changing the overall climate. We have learned that materials, such as 'The Historical Trial,' 'The Founding Statement of the World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong,' and phone calls are flowing non-stop to officials, and to the police, especially to those who have tortured Dafa disciples. Many Dafa disciples send forth righteous thoughts directed towards the labor camp. Practitioners detained in the camp are more clear-headed and mature, and steadfastly maintain righteous thoughts and righteous actions. The cooperation among Dafa disciples inside China and overseas has severely shaken the evil, eliminated the evil, and has helped more and more Chinese, including the police in the labor camp, learn the facts about Falun Dafa, and free themselves from Jiang's manipulations. People are no longer willing to cooperate with the evil."
A practitioner who used to be detained at the Heilongjiang Wanjia labour camp shared with practitioners in America that while she was locked up, an evil member of the police kicked open the door, stormed in and shouted at practitioners, yelling something like, "Who reported my name to the Minghui website?" She said that that particular policeman did not physically beat them again.
All the cases we sent are aimed to systematically expose the evil's persecution. In compiling the information, we kept a clear mind and an active approach. In our materials, we included detailed information on the lawsuit against Jiang and 9 other senior Chinese officials, so that the evil knows what awaits them. This was especially true recently, when the lawsuit against Jiang caused a big stir in the highest level of the Chinese leadership. It further confirmed the urgency and importance of this project. While exposing the evil, we are also giving it an opportunity to wake up. We let them know that the outside world knows what they have done, and this is truly saving them. During the entire process, we remain compassionate towards sentient beings.
In compiling cases and mailing them to China, we were not moved by surface appearances. Our experience showed that even the first thought of wanting to work on the labor camp cases was actually eliminating the evil. As we are making the material, proofreading, printing, distributing, mailing, sending forth righteous thoughts, and calling to follow up, we are continually clearing away the evil.
4. Coordinate With Each Other and Form One Harmonious Body
Since we started working on labor camp cases, from looking up labor camp information, deciding what to mail, sharing experiences among team members, and sharing experiences on other projects, I felt that Dafa practitioners overseas are truly one harmonious body. In the three plus years of clarifying the facts, we used wisdom bestowed by Dafa in creating all kinds of systems and mechanisms. Just like Teacher said in "Teaching the Fa at the Washington, D.C. International Fa Conference," "You are one body, just like Master's gong. Of course you and gong aren't the same thing, I'm just giving an example. It's just like my gong, which does different things at the same time. Some of it is continuously charging through the immense cosmos with tremendous force into the microcosm, toward what's higher and broader; the force is so massive and the speed is so fast, transcending all times as it rectifies the colossal firmament. Some of it, after this charging, eliminates the sinful karma of the beings at different levels and balances all the interwoven relationships among beings at different levels. Some of it assimilates beings, and some of it is repositioning beings. It's doing different things even at the beings' most microcosmic levels, at every level. Some of it does things in low dimensions, some of it protects the students, and some of it is cleaning out the evil--every facet of my gong is doing these things. In other words, one body doesn't necessarily do one thing. But no matter what you do, you need to be worthy of being called a Dafa disciple."
Some practitioners were surprised that this project was able to be implemented so quickly. That's exactly because we are like particles of Teacher's gong. As long as we truly fulfill our responsibilities and duties during Fa-rectification, we are part of the harmony of Dafa, and the process will flow forth smoothly.
As the project coordinator, and with the participation, encouragement and assistance from other practitioners, I was able to coordinate the group, let go of myself, and think of other people more, so that our work team is one harmonious body. As long as we're in the Fa, everything is complementing one another.
5. Westerners' Writing Team
A team of Westerners was formed to write letters to China. We began a process of sharing as questions were raised as to: Will the persecutors be able to read English? Will a translator be found or will the letter go in the trash bin? Will the letters reach the labour camps addressed in English? Should we put our own addresses on the back of the envelopes? Should we write very short and simple letters or does it not matter? Shall we include photos in the letters? What enclosures can we include in Chinese? What should we write?
Through experience sharing, we came to better understand Teacher's words, "After this class, what you carry with you is the real gong, a high-energy matter. When you go home and write a few words–no matter how your handwriting is–it carries gong!" (From "Lecture Six" inZhuan Falun)
In the article "Dafa Disciples' Righteous Thoughts are Powerful" (From Essentials for Further Advancement II), Teacher said, "Actually, every Dafa disciple has abilities. It's just that the abilities do not manifest in the surface dimension, so they think that they don't have supernormal abilities. But regardless of whether they can manifest in the surface dimension or not, when a person's True Thoughts come forth they are very powerful."
One Western practitioner said in experience sharing that it was secondary whether the letters themselves could reach their destinations. The wishes and faith that we sent with the letter is the most precious. We are sending the purest lights to China, and we have reached our goal. Some practitioners suggested meditating before sending a letter to purify our thoughts. We all agreed to write our own addresses. We opened the letters with a typical Chinese paragraph format, and included pictures of Falun Dafa being practiced all the world over. We used our hearts to clarify the truth with each other, writing each evil police based on his or her individual crime committed against Dafa practitioners. The Teacher said in "Teaching the Fa at the Washington, D.C. International Fa Conference," "In order to spread the Fa in China, and to not let average persons hear the Fa, many, many Kings of different paradises and beings from very high levels--many of whom I've been looking after throughout history--were gathered to reincarnate in the land of China. Of course, in terms of obtaining the Fa today, everyone is treated the same, whether they were looked after or not."
This was how Westerner practitioners started their journal of truth-clarification to the precious Chinese people.
A recent sharing on Clearwisdom website titled "Everything Dafa Practitioners Have Done to Clarify the Truth Has Shocked the Evil" (Posting date: 8/23/2003) clearly shows just that. The following are a few excerpts from the sharing.
"Policeman Ma is the head of the division specializing in persecuting Falun Dafa at the Jinzhou Forced Labor Camp, Liaoning Province. Almost all the details of persecuting Dafa practitioners were arranged and commanded by him and a few vicious policemen. Since taking the position he has received a large amount of truth clarification materials and phone calls both at work and at home, which asked him not to do evil deeds any more. The truth of Falun Dafa stirred up his feelings and he began to hesitate when he had to make a choice between compassion and evil. One day, he cried out emotionally, "This is the 12th letter like this!"
Teacher said in "Teaching the Fa at the 2003 Midwest-U.S. Fa Conference," "Don't overlook any of the things that Dafa disciples do. Your every word, every flyer, every keystroke, every telephone call, and every letter is having a huge impact."
Below is what a Western practitioner wrote as part of her experience sharing: "Most of the Dafa work that I do is done late at night, on the computer, and I don't get much opportunity to go out and hongfa face to face to the Chinese tourists. When the suggestion came up that Westerners could write to the persecutors in the labor camps, I was very keen to do this - it was a way to reach right into the den of evil, to touch the heart of the horror occurring in the labour camps, and hopefully help wake up the persecutors, as well as ease the tribulations on the practitioners.
"When I wrote my first letter, it really came from my heart. I explained how the world knows about the atrocities that are happening every day, I talked about the lawsuits against Jiang, and the principle of good will be rewarded with good, and evil with evil. I address each letter by name to the person - using the Chinese characters when possible. I repeat the person's name several times in the letter, so that they realise that every word is directed at them. I still use basically the same letter, and every time I read it, every word still comes from my heart, and I can still feel compassion for the person.
"I change the specific details with each letter - before I write it, I search all the articles to see if the person I am writing to has been named for specific crimes against practitioners. If so, I print the Chinese version of the article and include it with the letter. I mention the names of the practitioners I have read about who have been killed in that particular labour camp, and the names of those currently being held there. I also include a Chinese article about the lawsuits against Jiang.
"When I first started writing, I was concerned that my letter wouldn't even be read, since it was in English. I didn't write my return address on the envelopes, and I didn't even want to sign my full name. Those fears and concerns have gone now, as I realise that the words I write do have immense power, regardless of the language. I am a Falun Dafa practitioner, and have nothing to fear from the evil. Before I send the letters, I send forth righteous thoughts, specifically targeting any evil trying to prevent the letters from reaching the intended recipients."
There was a lot of good experience sharing from Western practitioners. Some practitioners said, "When we called China, because they couldn't understand us, we often felt frustrated and useless. On the other hand, writing to labor camps provided us with a good opportunity to tell them about the head of the evil being sued, about SARS, about the parade in our city, and about our personal experiences. We were able to send to them Clearwisdom articles, all kinds of pictures and other good material they can't get elsewhere." The Westerners' letter-writing team has now expanded to Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Israel, New Zealand, Sweden, Britain, U.S.A., Brazil and Poland.
In the past seven months, in our teams working on persecution cases in labor camps, practitioners from Europe, Australia, Asia and North America cooperated well and formed one force and one body. We were able to do what Dafa disciples should do in clarifying the facts to common Chinese people and suffocating the evil. As the Teacher's Fa-rectification speeds up, every practitioner is striving to improve ourselves, increase our energy and the capacity of our hearts in cultivation. This will also mean we will be able to shoulder more and more responsibilities in the future. In everyone's heart, there is a court of conscience, of justice. In clarifying the truth to China, we are helping the ordinary people's society understand the issues, so that Jiang will be tried in more people's minds, and in the courts of justice and law. Currently, our team members also shoulder many areas of works and responsibilities. We hope to do well what a Dafa disciple should do in the last stage of Fa-rectification.
When some fellow practitioner suggested that our project team write an experience sharing paper, I didn't feel that there was much to write about. But as I wrote this paper, I remembered the magnificent cultivation process of other practitioners and the encouragement practitioners gave each other: Study the Fa well, send forth righteous thoughts. Due to my limited language skills and cultivation state, there is a lot more that I haven't been able to write about. I hope our sharing can inspire and help other practitioners.
Thank you everyone!
Thank you Teacher!
