PureInsight | March 15, 2004
Chapter 10: Tiananmen Square Police Station
[PureInsight.org] We were led into a 15ft by 15ft room, with tables put together so as to form a large square in the middle. I pulled out a chair and took a seat. The plain-clothes officer who gave me that beating wouldn't leave my mind. My heart began to well with deep sadness and I had to swallow back my tears and the blood trickling down the back of my throat from the blow I took to my nose. I didn't want to get everyone down, so I sat silent. Everyone in the room was in good spirits and it seemed there was a sense of accomplishment in the air but there was no hiding the melancholic look on my face. My German friend Peter said to me, "straighten your back, smile!" My heart was in too much pain to tell him how I really felt. It was hard enough holding back my tears. If I began telling them how I was feeling, I would have began weeping so heavily that it would have been hard to stop
Indeed that plain-clothes police officer did beat me in the Square yet I didn't feel any anger, nor did I feel violated. He was lost in a cesspool of deception and lies. He was deceived and that's why he beat me. He wasn't allowed to investigate the issues for himself. He was only allowed to hear the lies from the Chairman of China. When thousands come to appeal, he just hears more lies, which breeds more anger, viewing these peaceful appealing people as troublemakers, or against China. All of this pollution in his mind and heart was destroying his chance to take a positive role in this monumental time for his culture, his people and the world. He did notice the compassion in my heart. If only for a brief second, he could still see it. There must be some good left in him, yet. His good nature was blocked and covered by the pollution of hate breeding propaganda. This was breaking my heart. This was exactly why I came to China and this dark reality was staring me right in the face, the same way it did the night before, when I left those two students. This time there was no anger, only mercy. At this point, I could hardly bear feeling the mercy, let alone talking about it, so I glanced up, cracked a smile for my friends and gave them a wink, so they wouldn't worry about me too much.
In the past I based my entire life on conceit and arrogance. My understanding of humble meant that you just refrained from bragging, acted mild mannered or you would hide your strengths. That was, at best, a very shallow understanding. Humility was like the hollowness of the bamboo in the painting that the young student told me about the night before. I didn't know that being humble was about caring about the truth and caring about others more than using actions and accomplishments for my self-gratification. The greater good took far more precedence and my mind was focused on trying to help these people.
We were kept in the room for a few hours, in which time we spoke with some younger policemen and waited to find out what they were going to do. I turned to my left and told this one younger policeman how Falun Dafa had changed my life and that from witnessing my change my mother began practicing. He was surprised but what really made his eyes jump out of his head was when I told him that Falun Dafa was practiced in over 40 countries around the world. He said "40 COUNTRIES?!." In fact, my facts were a bit off as it was then over 50 countries.
Across the table, Kate, a young lady from Australia also had a shocking but very revealing conversation with a young policeman.
Kate: Did you know that Falun Dafa is practiced in over 50 countries around the world and that the book Zhuan Falun, the main teachings of Falun Dafa, has been translated into over 11 different languages?
Policeman: The Chairman of China has told us that other countries around the world also ban Falun Gong.
Kate: All we did today was hold a banner that reads Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance in Tiananmen Square. What is wrong with that?
Policeman: Those three words are illegal here in China.
How could Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance (Zhen-Shan-Ren) be illegal? That is impossible. No matter what language you express these principals in, it is the purest, most noble and stable thing. All good things come from it. Even if you don't say the words or don't think the words it still exists. It is supreme and greater than any person, people, or faction. Opposing it is futile and self-destructive. That's in fact why we were there, we didn't want the people to hurt Falun Gong practitioners anymore and we didn't want them to hurt themselves anymore either. There was surely no law stipulating this illegality but the fact that the police, no less, felt no guilt about tearing down the banner and beating foreigners in public, is itself very telling of the deteriorating sense of morality.
After speaking with one of the policemen for a while I glanced over to my right and my friend was on his cell phone. There were too many of us in the room so they couldn't see us all. We started using about three to four cell phones to call our embassies, media, friends and family. I got the chance to make a quick call to my friend Cindy Gu in Canada, notifying her about our arrest. They began letting us know that we would be taken out, one by one, for questioning. Our repeated requests to see our consular officials were ignored denied or laughed at. In the hallway, I was asked to sit in a chair and they began asking me which hotel I stayed at, while writing down the information from my passport.
At this point the situation was getting confusing for me. I didn't really feel like cooperating with them but I knew it was the quickest way home. I was useless in working against the persecution from inside this jail and I wanted to reveal our treatment to the world. The sooner they processed us the quicker we would get out of there. Others didn't agree and refused at every instance. For this, some of the more stubborn younger ladies in my group were pinned to the ground or thrown down flights of stairs. They wanted to put us all in the basement cell. They seemed to get most of us in there but there were about 35 of us and some of us just wouldn't go in. The police gave up and just moved us back to the room upstairs.
Once back in the room I opened my hand-held computer and started reading. I overheard one of the young policemen approaching Will, the eldest man in our group.
Smiling.
Policeman: Hi, how old are you?
Will: I am 64.
Pausing and standing there shocked.
Policeman: Wow, you look so good for your age, and you look very strong.
In fact I had already told this young policeman how Falun Dafa purified my body and helped my mother transcend her rheumatoid arthritis so I piped up and said:
Zenon: Why?
Policeman: Why? Are you talking to me? Why what?
Zenon: You just said that he looked good for his age and that he looked very strong for such an old man. I am asking you why do you think he is so healthy. Think about it.
I smiled at him and winked. He smiled back. I just continued with my reading. Later this same young policeman told the room that he knew Falun Dafa was good and that he respected us all. One lady, Myrna from Australia, smiled at him and offered him a business card. It was blue with white clouds and golden Chinese characters that read Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. He politely smiled back and pointed at the badge on his shoulder and said, "I am a police officer." Even though he understood us after spending time with us he was still restricted. One of his superiors came in and he jumped up from casually sitting on the table and hid his bottled water behind his back. Once the superior left he sat down to have a cigarette. I quickly got his attention and waved my finger and my head left and right, letting him know that wasn't allowed. He quickly put the cigarette out and told the other policemen to smoke outside. I was really happy for this young man. He was really good. I can still see his face carrying a soft, kind smile.
We all decided to do some group meditation and the room became dead silent. The police left the room for some reason. You could hear them pacing outside the door in the hallway. They were even admiring our capability and tranquility. One of them told the others, "their meditation is really great." When I heard this, my heart became warm and happy. No matter how many lies they have heard and may hear in the future, they can't deny it when they see real Falun Dafa practitioners, who are kind and peaceful people. Cultivation practice is part of their culture so they can recognize it. For them to see over thirty foreigners from over ten countries attaining and maintaining tranquility during genuine meditation in such an environment and under this rare and tense set of circumstances was very unusual. It was a bold testimony to Falun Dafa. It was spreading around the whole world and truly offering genuine benefits to the hearts and minds of people and they could not deny it.
Once we were finished they came in and told us that they would be taking us to a hotel. By this time it was about 6:30 PM. So once again we all started to hold hands. There was an elderly lady who was Chinese born from Malaysia and because she could be mistaken for a Chinese citizen I walked over to hold her hand so that she couldn't be detained separately.
