[Minghui 3/29/2000]

My experience in a journey to submit an appeal for Falun Dafa

I am a 50-year old man, and live in Shandong Province. On March 5 around 10am, I went to submit an appeal letter to the Petitioning Office of National People's Congress located at 23 Xi Jiao Min Xiang. I was informed that petitions were not accepted there and told to go to another Petitioning Office located at Yong Ding Men. Later after arriving at Tiananmen Square I was arrested, and sent to a police interrogating office nearby. When I walked into the room, there were about 300 to 400 practitioners started to applaud. Some practitioners including myself did not want to tell the policemen our addresses.  I knew that if I told them my address, they would send me back to my hometown.  How could I return home at this time when Falun Dafa is being accursed of? I believed that I did not have to say anything if I did not want to. It was not I but they who broke the law. The policemen locked me with ten other people in a room. They closed curtains and started to torture us. Both of our hands were handcuffed behind our backs, and we were forced to bow at 900 for 1 to 2 hours. Many practitioners fainted. Later they stopped the torturing because they were afraid of causing deaths, and asked police officers from different provinces to come to identify us.

A plainclothes policeman from Laixi asked me if I was from his County. I did not answer him. Being flustered and exasperated, he told me to hold out my hands and slapped them with an iron strip over ten times. My hands turned purple instantly. I still refused to answer, and they were unable to do anything about it. In the late afternoon, policemen from Zhaoyuan speculated that I came from their hometown when they heard my accent. They squeezed me into the trunk of a car. I could barely breath inside the trunk. After we arrived at their interrogating office, they started torturing me again.  They again handcuffed my hands behind my back, and slapped my face with their hands and then with leather shoes until their hands became painful. My face turned black and blue, and my gums were bleeding. But my heart was very calm. One policeman beat me so hard that he could hardly catch his breath.  He even complained how painful his hands were. I felt pity for the policemen because they did not know how much Karma they had generated for their confrontation against the orthodox Fa.  In the mean time, I knew that all the suffering was helping me to raise my Xinxing, giving me De, and eliminating my Karma. The Teacher was helping me to rapidly increase my Gong so that I could reach the completion of my cultivation. With these thoughts in mind, no matter how hard the policemen beat me and swore at me, I kept my heart still. I treated myself as a practitioner, and did not hate or resent them. They did not know what to do with me, and eventually brought some policemen from Laiyang. After they identified me, they took me to their interrogating place and started to torture me again. They forced me to bow, and hit the back of my neck with something so hard that I felt dizzy. I also felt nauseated, my vision became blurred and started vomiting. When they saw my reactions, they were scared and asked me if I was sick. I told them that a genuine Falun Dafa practitioner was free of illness. He then asked me if I had any illnesses before. I said that before I practiced Falun Gong, I had pleurisy and ascites suppuration that almost took my life. But they were cured after I practiced Falun Gong. After the policeman heard these, he shook his head saying, "I have to stop beating you. I have to stop beating you. You must have mental problems. We have to go back to send you to a psychiatric hospital."

On my way back home, they initially handcuffed one of my hands to our county Mayer's hand. (He came to Beijing a few days ago in order to find me and bring me back). After we got on the train, I requested them to remove the handcuff off my hand and they accepted. They told me to sleep in the upper berth and hide my shoes and coat. In the middle of the night, I heard a voice in my dream saying, "get off the train, get off the train". I opened my eyes and did not know where I was. I got up and saw the escorts all soundly sleep. I had an idea to get off the train. I followed the passengers and got off the train with bare feet and one sweater only. Since I did not have a ticket, a security guard stopped me.  I told him that I had to go to the restroom first. He gave me the direction. I walked about ten steps and then stated to run. The policeman then started to run after me. In the dark, it was difficult to distinguish the rail, the rock chips and ties. I ran as fast as I could on my bare feet. The policeman chased me and threw big rocks at me. I realized the running would not work. I saw an iron fence taller than a person on the side and climbed over it easily without hurting by the sharp fence tips. The policeman was flustered but stopped the chasing.

I walked out of the train station. With no friends and relatives by my side and no money, I stood in the dark night on my painful bare feet that were stuck with stone and coal chips. It was quite chilly at night in the early Spring and I did not have my jacket on. What should I do? Where should I go? After dawn, I found out that the town I was in called Zibo, which is about 1000 Li (Chinese mile) from Beijing. I would not return home until law rectification was accomplished and that was the promise that I made. Having no money and shoes is not a big deal for a genuine practitioner. Tribulations arranged by our Teacher for each practitioner were based on their Xinxing levels. If you are determined to overcome it, you can do it. There is no "burning mountain" [an analogy of big obstacles/by translator] that cannot be passed as long as you are resolute in Falun Dafa cultivation. I decided that I would beg for food in order to go to Beijing to protect Falun Dafa. After I made up my mind, I unexpectedly found a pair of torn slippers in a garbage can. Although they were in very bad shape, I was still very happy. I walked with that pair of slippers for two days before I found another pair in better condition. Two or three days later, these two pairs of slippers all fell apart, but by chance I found another pair of walking shoes. I was so happy and eventually I could speed up my journey.

On my way to Beijing, I begged for food when I was hungry. When food was not available, I ate rotten oranges, apples and radishes that I found in the garbage. The biggest problem was to find a place to sleep, and I had no choice but to sleep in wheat and rice straw stacks. The temperature drops a few degrees below zero Celsius at night. Without a coat and any cover, it was too cold to sleep. So I got up and kept walking in the dark. I repeatedly recited the Teacher's <<Hong Yin>>, <<Lunyu>>, jingwen <<Position>> in my mind. I understood that our Falun Dafa practitioners should go through sufferings consciously. After 11 days of hardships and sufferings, I eventually arrived at Beijing in the night of March 16, and joined with other practitioners. At that time, my feet were all covered with bloody blisters and I could barely walk.