PureInsight | February 18, 2002
Twenty practitioners have been persecuted to death in the past four weeks, bringing the number of reported deaths to 343. Moreover, according to sources inside the Chinese government, the actual number of deaths exceeds 1600. I cannot imagine how the murderers could be so unbridled and vicious in their savagery. They have taken kindness, conscience, justice, and also the rule of law all as lightly as straw. I am sure that they dare to do this because a powerful figure is behind them and supporting them. Many of them have openly declared, "All practitioners who are beaten to death will be counted as suicides." This has been regarded as an "order from the top." If it weren't for this, would there be so many deaths? The lies, such as the alleged suicides, self-immolations, the murdering of family members, and so on, seem to cover the skies and blot out the sun. But when examined, each of these lies is like nonsense and easy to uncover. For example, if any of these things were true, why didn't they happen during the eight years when Falun Dafa spread in China before the persecution started? As matter of fact, the only deaths from practicing Falun Gong have resulted from the Jiang regime's harsh treatment and torture of Falun Gong practitioners.
Although I live in a country outside of China where it is relatively peaceful and where I am engaged in scientific research and also in cultivation practice, I have never forgotten my fellow practitioners who practiced with me every day when I was in China. Xiao Zhao, who had served as an assistant along with me, is not well educated, but his absolute sincerity toward Dafa and firm will to cultivate always touched me, a so-called "well-educated" person, and even made me feel somewhat ashamed when comparing myself to him. One day in 1998, when Xiao Zhao heard that I was short of Dafa materials when trying to spread the Fa abroad, he rushed to Changchun to buy them for me that same night. He returned the next day and immediately mailed them to me. He was already laid off from his job at that time, and the trip cost him more than RMB $1,000 (Translator's note: the average monthly salary in China is RMB$500). One year ago, when I talked to him, I found out that he had been detained twice for appealing for Falun Dafa. I met Gao Qiuju (the head of the Dalian Assistance Center) only once. Just being in her presence made me understand how a practitioner could combine motherly tenderness with the unselfishness, open-mindedness, righteousness, and great benevolence of a great Dafa cultivator. Now, however, she has been sentenced to jail for nine years.
I went abroad in 1997 to study for my Ph.D. Before that, I had already been cultivating for two years. The experiences over those two years of cultivation have been unforgettable. No matter whether there was cold or hot weather, the moon witnessed our laborious efforts: the return to our original, kind nature, and elevation during the course of our cultivation. While my fellow practitioners in China have been suffering persecution, it is only I who still has the right to cultivate and practice Falun Dafa because I live outside of China.
During these past two years, I have watched as Jiang's regime has used the most contemptible, audacious and indecent means to defame, stigmatize, and suppress Falun Gong, and I have seen them continually step up the persecution against Dafa practitioners. Although I experienced the storm of the Cultural Revolution, learned about all the previous political persecutions from my father, and heard of the sound of guns in the streets during the June 4, 1989 Tiananmen Square incident, the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners is still shocking to me. As a former member of the Communist Party, I cannot understand why innocent people who have no political intentions and just strive to be good people in their daily lives have been beaten so badly. Most of the practitioners are just retired older ladies and gentlemen. All of the means of persecution the Party has implemented are not only contemptible but also criminal, from starting rumors and framing innocent people, to sacrificing people within their control to create the so-called "self-immolation" incident in Tiananmen Square. They have incited common people to hate Falun Gong.
I have watched as the disguise of the pompous evil being has been peeled away layer by layer, revealing the ferocious face of a tyrant of terror. Although the evil forces are utilizing the power of a whole nation to persecute Falun Gong, we have seen throughout history that not all national leaders are noble men with a high morality and not all leaders show concern for their people. There have been many cunning, malicious rulers who did not respect justice, who destroyed national laws and regarded royal power as their own. They treated people as livestock. They supported the people who followed them and killed the people who went against them. The unprecedented tribulations endured by Falun Gong practitioners over these two-and-a-half years clearly demonstrate that the evil group has abused the power in its hands. The persecution has caused 100 million kind-hearted people to suffer extreme misery just because they believe in Truthfulness, Benevolence, and Forbearance and because Falun Gong has benefited them in body, mind, and spirit. Laozi said, "Humans treat earth as a standard. Earth treats constant nature as a standard. Constant nature treats Dao as a standard. Dao treats being of itself as a standard." So if humans do not respect constant nature, constant nature will punish them.
Besides illegally suppressing the wishes of the populace, the Jiang regime has deceived the common people. I remember when my relatives from China first learned that there were so many Dafa practitioners in foreign countries, they were very surprised and told me, "The propaganda from the Chinese government says that there are no people who practice Falun Dafa in foreign countries, and that all the governments object to it. How could the Chinese government deceive its people?" I had no words to reply to them. I have gotten used to people being surprised when the government's lies are exposed, and I don't resent them [for having believed the lies]. Moreover, I feel sorry for their compatriots who are living in a country under lies, despotism and state terrorism. Mankind has entered the 21st century. Who is still depriving us of the right to live righteously with our own independent thinking and basic human freedoms?
As practitioners of Falun Gong, we have never been interested in politics. China is a place where politicians use force to rule, try to cheat each other, and engage in internal strife for power, but Falun Dafa practitioners are not concerned with that. It only shows that the essence of evil is to be hostile toward Truthfulness, Benevolence, and Forbearance. After practicing Falun Dafa, I began to cherish the goodness of life. Falun Dafa didn't only give me a healthy body, which helped me to successfully complete my doctorate degree, but more importantly, it changed me from a self-centered, narrow-minded and sullen person to an unselfish, open-minded, optimistic and kind-hearted person.
Although I live abroad in a free environment, I have never been disconnected from the crisis in China. I always imagine that if I had stayed in China, I would have suffered the same tribulation. I lament over my fellow practitioners who have been persecuted to death. In the country where good and evil are turned upside down and the wicked people are indulging in wanton persecution, one has to suffer a lot for being a good person. Despite this, it is fortunate that the real face of evil is being recognized by more and more people. When nature brings about bad weather, nature stays; but human beings won't survive when they do evil. The moment is quickly approaching when heaven's justice will punish the evil and spread compassion to the world.
Translated from
http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2002/1/12/13338.html
