Weekend Magazine, Ma’ariv (Israel): “To a Chinese Prison and Back” Part 1

Weekend Magazine, Ma’ariv (Israel): “To a Chinese Prison and Back” part 1

Asaf Hayim, Sofshavua/ Weekend Magazine, Ma’ariv (Israel) 30 November 2001
cover page, pages 34 – 36, 38, 40, 42

36 practitioners from all over the world, among them an Israeli, Leeshai Lemish, succeeded in demonstrating on behalf of the rights of Falun Gong in the heart of China.

Lemish decided to travel to the ill-famed Tiananmen Square in order to participate in a meditation protest, even though he knew that in doing so he risked his life or could possibly disappear in the labyrinth of a Chinese Prison. Initially his parents tried to dissuade him from doing so, but quickly they began to assist him to prepare for the complicated operation. Leeshai was arrested and abused by the Chinese authorities. In the meantime, his mother Dr. Dafna Lemish tried to persuade the media in Israel that the role of “distraught mother” is totally inappropriate for her. Since then her son has been freed, and the hope is that the incident will teach us something about the status of human rights in the world and the status of women in Israel.

At ten minutes before two in the afternoon on 20 November, Leeshai Lemish together with a co-practitioner approached the appointed meeting place in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, the capital of China, where 12 years ago tens of students were killed during protests against the government. 36 practitioners from all over the world, many of whom had never met one another, knew that they were to meet 30 meters south of one of the large Chinese flags flying in the square. All shared the Chinese meditation practice of Falun Gong through which they develop their bodies and minds, a practice outlawed by Chinese authorities two years ago.
As they walked from all directions of the Square they stole looks nervously in search for others who had come to participate in this historic event. With slight nodding of their heads and warm, friendly glances they found one another. Without speaking they aligned themselves in rows and then sat down in the lotus position in order to begin one of the Falun Gong meditation exercises. An act that could cost them their lives or long years of imprisonment in a Chinese prison.
The many visitors in the Square gathered around and watched as some of the practitioners unfurled a large banner on which was written “Truth, Compassion, Tolerance”. The tourists seem to understand that this incident was not likely to end peacefully as several hundred meters away were the buildings of the Chinese government. As usual, there were many black uniformed policemen in the Square, and they assumed there were many more undercover police there too, as according to rumors there be as many as four undercover police for every tourist. Suddenly the Square was no longer quiet. Police began arriving from every direction and police cars stopped next to the practitioners. While all this was going around them, the 36 continued to sit in the lotus position in total silence with their eyes shut.
The practitioners had planned to meditate in the Square for ten minutes, to disband quickly and to return home. But after three minutes they were being dragged forcefully to the waiting police cars.

From Baseball to a Chinese Prison
Leeshai Lemish, a 23 year old Israeli who has been studying at Pomona College in California for the last year, came to Falun Gong by accident, with the help of Michael Jordan. “This all started when I was playing baseball for the Israel National Team. I was looking for ways to improve and noticed the influence of my thinking on my game. I had heard that Michael Jordan concentrated so hard that even after he released the ball he still sought to direct it to the hoop. I started to imagine before the game how I wanted to pitch and what I wanted to happen….. in one of the games what I had imagined actually happened, it was like watching a movie - it was as if I knew what was going to happen.” I was amazed to see the influence of the mind on the game. Soon after I read about a teacher of meditation who works with athletes. From him I learned that there is much more to our inner selves than success in baseball, it is about life itself and our understanding of our lives. I began practicing all kinds of meditation – Yoga, Zen, Tao Chi, Visual Imaging, Vipasanna, among others.
“One day on my way to Tao Chi practice in Yarkon Park I stopped at a table with materials about Falun Gong and began speaking with Chang, a practitioner from China living in Israel. I quickly found that this is what I had been seeking, particularly the principles not included in other approaches about spiritual and physical self-improvement. I began to practice the exercises, to listen to video taped lectures and I was impressed by the strength of the work.
“When I came to America to study I found someone nearby with whom to practice. We passed out flyers inviting others to join us, and each day new persons came to learn about the exercises. It was then that I learned about the persecution of practitioners in China. I was really touched by their stories and plight and decided that I must do something to assist them. At first we did simple things like pass out flyers. Then we met with mayors and members of city councils in order to inform them of the activities the Chinese consular staff in the States who follow our activities, harass practitioners and persecute family members still living in China.
“Last summer I organized an event in front of the Chinese Consulate in San Francisco. There for each hour during 12 days a different practitioner sat in protest of the death of one of the 317 Chinese practitioners whom we knew had been killed by the Chinese authorities for practicing Falun Gong meditation exercises.
“…. About a month and half ago I heard that practitioners all over the world were getting organized to go to Tiananmen Square. This is the heart of China where thousands of tourists visit each day. Since Falun Gong was outlawed in China two years ago, practitioners have been coming there from all over China to protest. Some have walked by foot for thousands of kilometers in order to stand in the middle of the Square in protest and to chant “Stop persecuting us”, until they are arrested. So when I heard that there were others who wanted to go to the Square, I knew what they wanted to do.”

The Trip
The quiet protest of ten minutes of meditation in Tiananmen Square was well prepared. Participants did not reveal their intent for fear that if details were discovered they would be stopped on entry to China. Their greatest fear was that they would arrest them and that they would disappear, as has happened to many Chinese citizens over the last several years. The date was set for 20 November at 14:00 when there would be maximum access to the media in the United States and Europe. All the details were developed and exchanged via email. It was agreed that practitioners would make their own arrangements and arrive individually at the Square five minutes before the set time.
“I only knew a few individuals”, said Lemish, “and we really didn’t know how many practitioners would actually show up. When we arrived we began looking for others. I began to think that we might have to do it on our own. I knew that it was very likely that we would be arrested and that even more dangerous things would occur. Our goal was to meditate in the Square and that is all we planned. We didn’t want to limit our actions by thinking about what might happened after the meditation.
“I began preparing myself a few weeks in advance. I tried to keep a clear mind, and not to submit to distracting thoughts and fears. Not to dwell on questions such as ‘what could happen?’ I devoted myself to more meditation and especially the lotus exercise in order to develop my capacity to withstand the pain that I might sustain if I was hit. Pain, such as in ones legs, is an opportunity to release undesirable things from one’s body. One has to focus on the pain, not be distracted or escape confrontation with pain. Once one overcomes fear, its source doesn’t exist anymore. I focused on positive thoughts, and visualized how we would succeed. After all, there is no good reason why we shouldn’t succeed and surprise the world.
“We wanted the Chinese people to know that Falun Gong is being practiced all over the world and that persecution is not acceptable. We wanted the Chinese people to know that practitioners from all over the world have come to help and to explain that the government is lying to them.”

Parents Join In
Leeshai’s parents - Dr. Dafna Lemish, Chair of the Department of Communication at Tel Aviv University, and Dr. Peter Lemish - shared in his secret and even sought to dissuade him from taking part….. “a few weeks ago he hinted that he was involved in something very special,” explained his mother Dafna, “but we didn’t know the particulars. As plans developed he shared the details with us through special emails that we established for this purpose. We used codes that only family members would understand. For example, he told us that the events in the Square would take place on the day when his sister studies for half a day in school, an hour after her last class.
“As the details became known to us, naturally we sought to persuade him through rational arguments not to risk so much. We feared for his life, and told him that he is going to participate in a protest against a dictatorship that tortures and kills. We asked him if he didn’t have fears about what could happen? For example, entrapment by placing drugs in his suitcase and then sending him to years of hard labor. There is evidence that the dictatorship in China has not only done things like this, but has pushed Falun Gong practitioners out of windows claiming that they have committed suicide.
“We argued that he was being naive, and he responded by saying that they did not believe that with the Olympics approaching the Chinese authorities would do anything that would damage their international image, that their strength was in the fact that participants would be coming from many different countries thus involving many embassies, and that media representatives from all over the world would be involved.