My name is Wang Jindong, 51 years old, used to be a Falun Gong obsessed follower. I lived in Kaifeng City and now I am serving a sentence in Zhengzhou Prison, Henan Province. Recalling the miserable years of being obsessed by Falun Gong, recollecting the idiotic "1.23" self-burning incident and the heart-warming and patient instruction and help I received from the government and all circles of society, surveying my process of waking up after the incident, I realize all these events have witnessed my course of being blind, surviving the death and heading for a new life.
The "1.23" Self-immolation Incident
One day in October 2000, I talked to Liu Yunfang, a fellow practitioner, and expressed my decision to go to Tiananmen Square and conduct self-burning to "protect the Fa." My idea coincided with that of another disciple Hao Huijun who was familiar with Liu. At the end of October, Liu Yunfang asked me to buy two train tickets of sleeper to Beijing. When we arrived in Beijing, Chen Guo, the daughter of Hao Huijun, received us at the gate of the Central Conservatory of Music. Later, Liu Yunfang and I walked around on Tiananmen Square to locate the spots where we would carry out the plan. After that we found a paint store and bought gasoline needed for self-immolation. A few days later, we went back to our hometown. Around January 6, 2001, Liu Yunfang gave me a paper of hand-written "lection" from the Master, it read to the effect that: a Buddha can sacrifice all, including his life, to defend the universe where he lives and the people in it. The lection reinforced my resolution to advocate and protect "Dafa" by immolating my life. After January 8, Hao Huijun proceeded to talk with Liu Yunfang frequently about the self-immolation on Tiananmen Square, saying her daughter Chen Guo would also take part in. On January 10, Liu Yunfang asked me to buy four train tickets to Beijing at the expense of Hao Huijun and said Liu Baorong, another disciple, would also join us. The Next day, I came to Liu Chunling and asked her to buy the tickets, she agreed; and told me she had already heard about the self-immolation and wanted to join in.
On January 16, at the railway station of Kaifeng, I saw all the disciples heading for Beijing: Xue Hongjun, Hao Huijun, Liu Chunling and her daughter Liu Siying. When we arrived in Beijing, we went to the Central Conservatory of Music by bus where we met Chen Guo who later took us to a disciple’s home. Then Xiao Li, a youth disciple, led us to a courtyard selected before in Mentougou District where we met another disciple named Liu Xiuqin from Beijing that evening.
The next morning, Liu Yunfang and I called Liu Xiuqin to arrange another meeting, Liu Xiuqin agreed at once. Then we went to Liulichang Antiques Street by subway, where we bought a 40-metre-long plastic bag to contain gasoline (actually the moisture proof bag for mounting calligraphy and picture). At 7 o’clock that evening, we met Liu Xiuqin at her home as planed, and then we told her our scheme of self-immolation. Being surprised and admiring us a lot, she expressed her willingness to help us in fulfilling the plan and told us we could fill the gasoline at her home. On the morning of January 22, Liu Yunfang and I bought four 10-litre plastic barrels in a nearby grocery and then filled the barrels with gasoline in a gas station. We separated the gasoline at Liu Xiuqin’s balcony and wrapped the barrels with three-layer plastic to prevent exuding.
On January 23, the day before Spring Festival, we seven disciples woke up early and headed directly for Liu Xiuqin’s home after breakfast. Liu Xiuqin warned us the gasoline had exuded and was quite smelly. So I went to Liulichang again to buy bags to prevent gasoline from exuding. It was almost 1 p.m. when I came back.
The others were impatient of waiting for me so they decided to use soft-drink bottles instead. Liu Xiuqin bought a dozen bottles of soft drink downstairs, emptied them, and filled with gasoline. Liu Yunfang and I hang the bottles over neck by ropes, fixed them with adhesive tape under our armpits, then put on the sweaters and wadded jackets. Each of us took a single-edged blade and a lighter with us prepared by Hao Huijun, and left all the money we had and promised to take action respectively around 2:30 p.m. We went direct to Tiananmen Square by two taxis: Hao Huijun, Che Guo, Liu Chunling and Liu Siying were in one, Liu Yunfang, Liu Baorong and I were in another. The taxis stopped at the south of the Great Hall of People, we got off and walked slowly to the Square.
At about 2:30 p.m., I cut the bottle open with the blade prepared before, and then took out the lighter. At this moment, some policemen nearby hurried towards me. When they were ten steps away from me, I struck the lighter. The fire devoured me instantaneously; I had no time for a cross-legged sit, so I sat on one leg instead. Being suffocated by the fire, I heard nothing but the whirr of the flame, but I thought my mission was about to be fulfilled. At that time, the policemen used something to put out the fire on me; I refused, twice. However, some other policemen managed to put out the fire with extinguishers. Greatly disappointed, I stood up and shouted, "Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance is the law of the universe, the Fa deserves to be respected by all people in the world. The Master is the major Buddha in the universe!"
Later, we were carried onto a police van and driven to Jishuitan Hospital in no time. At the hospital, I lay on an active bed in the emergency room, after a while, Chen Guo, Liu Siying and Hao Huijun had also been pushed into the room on beds. We all lay silently.
(Kaiwind.com, November 2007)
