PureInsight | October 27, 2003
[PureInsight.org] Before coming to this conference, a coordinator in my area asked me to write a sharing experience report. During the process of cultivation practice in Dafa, there are so many experiences, xinxing temperaments, and tests. There are successes and failures. So many times I have been moved to tears by our compassionate and venerable Master as well as Dafa. There are thousands of words in my mind and I even don't know where to start. I thought it over and over, and I've decided to report my recent experience on clarifying the truth to overseas Chinese people.
The university I go to is in a college town. There are about 1,000 Chinese among a population of eighty to ninety thousand in this town. Most of these Chinese are connected with the university. In order to let these Chinese people know the truth about Dafa, we mailed them truth-clarification materials and posted messages through the Chinese scholars' and students' web page. However, the outcomes have not been successful. What resulted were quarrels and our relationship with the Chinese Scholars and Students Association turned to a deadlock for a while. How to better clarify the truth to these Chinese people?
Encouraged by fellow practitioners in other areas, we started playing movies on campus since this February. Dafa related truth clarification movies are played in between. The outcomes have been quite good. The process of playing movies is also a process of our cultivation. During this time, we gradually realized that letting ordinary people see our truth movies is the main purpose of our movie show, but not the only purpose. The movie show is our major way of truth clarification but not the only way. More important, we opened a window to present Dafa and demonstrate the manner of Dafa disciples to ordinary people at the movie shows. We also offer a communication channel with ordinary people. On campus, all Chinese know that Falun Gong is active. However, except for those in the same department or laboratory with practitioners, few know what kind of people Falun Gong practitioners are. Many of these Chinese people have falsely imagined that we practitioners were aliens, stubbornly biased, inconsiderate and weird. During our open activities on campus, only Americans accepted our flies. Chinese people often would take a detour to distance themselves from us as soon as they saw us. For those Chinese who want to know about Falun Gong, due to the old forces' obstruction as well as various other factors, they won't take the initiative to call or e-mail us to ask for truth materials.
Our movie show provides an opportunity for the Chinese people to learn that Falun Gong is not an abstract and unreachable thing. Coming to the movie show, they can see the real manners of Dafa disciples. Master has taught us, "You are cultivators, whose conduct is [supposed to be] pure and righteous. There are so many people who think you're great just by having seen how you act. If we don't pay attention to our own behavior in our daily lives, everyday people will see our actions and, since they can't get to know you at a deep level such as by studying the Fa, they will just look at how you act. And it's possible that one sentence or one action of yours will make them unnamable or create a bad impression of Dafa." (From "Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Boston")
After we've reached this understanding based on the Fa, we brought cookies and drinks for people coming to the movie shows. Other practitioners have noticed that parents couldn't concentrate on watching the movies because their children make to much noise. These practitioners brought blankets, toys, story books and materials for painting. They would take care of the children in the hall way outside of the movie room during the show. We also have tried very hard to make much improvement on the quality and sound effect of movie shows. We are also very careful in displaying advertisement of movie shows. We have tried our best to satisfy people who come. All the things we have done make the people coming to our show impressed by our unselfish services. They've learned that we have done all these things with our hearts. I think that their side that can understand also can feel the Dafa disciples' compassion on wanting to save them.
During breaks in the movie, many ordinary people would chat with us. This is a good way to change and influence them unobtrusively. After watching the truth clarification movies, one person felt that these movies were really good. He asked us if we could make VCD copies and give them out. He wanted to show these movies to his family and friends. Some people also come to borrow books and exercise instruction video tapes during the movie shows. They said that they could not find us at other occasions, but they knew that we would come to play movies during weekends. It seems that the movie place has become a place for communication between ordinary people and Dafa disciples. An artist in our local area, who is also a consultant for the Chinese Students Association, would come to almost every show. He would talk with us every time, and ask about how we are doing in our practice. He also expressed his appreciation to our efforts in serving the community. If we were not doing this activity, then these people won't have these opportunities to meet Dafa disciples. Through providing the movies, we not only clarify the truth, but also build our reputation in the Chinese community. We also present our manner. We truly obtain many objectives by one action.
Another way of clarifying the truth to Chinese people is to pick up new students from the airport. The closest airport to our campus is a two-hour drive. Many new students from China arrive at the airport every year. Because they are new to this area, they would often spend unnecessary money and time to get to the school. Some of them get to the airport at night and they have to stay there overnight. Some practitioners thought that we could pick up these new students at the airport and offer them a temporary place to stay. Taking this opportunity, we could tell them the truth of Dafa. The outcomes of this action have been quite good. Usually on my way to the airport, I send forth righteous thoughts during the two hours. I often arrive 15 minutes early and continue sending forth righteous thoughts. The new Chinese students get in my car with great appreciation. During the two hours in the car driving to our university, I always start chatting with them on issues related to life and study situations in the U. S., like friends. After we feel close to each other, I will find an opportunity to talk about Dafa. For example, some of them express their gratitude towards me and say I'm the living Lei Feng. I then tell them how cynical I was before. It is practicing Falun Gong that has changed my mentality. Some of them talk about corruption in China and morality is sliding down every day. They are bemoaning that Chinese people are hopeless. I then tell them that I think goodness still exist. All Falun Gong practitioners are like pure water flowing in the world. Some of them mention that it seems that all Americans are very violent from movies they have watched. I then tell them how upright and pure the Americans I know are. They would be very surprised after I tell them this. I then tell them that those good people are Western Falun Gong practitioners. As such, I talk with them about Falun Gong naturally. The whole process is just like chatting. I appear to talk it out following the flow. Almost all of them first are very astonished when they hear about Falun Gong. They would then ask questions and I would try to answer them. Unknowingly, they have learned a lot of truth about Dafa.
Once I went to attend a party organized by local Chinese Student Association. I saw many Chinese students there discussing some senseless topics. They were talking and laughing happily and very excited. I thought, "Many of them still don't know the truth of Dafa. They are so happy now, without knowing at all what their future will be like when the mighty current of Fa-rectification arrives. How pitiful!" So I told myself that I must use all possible ways to let more people know the truth.
I live in a small town 40 minutes away from the university. This is a typical small town in the Midwest, with a population of only about 300, and most people are simple and honest farmers. In such a small town, however, there are three families of Dafa practitioners. So I thought maybe I can arrange a "tour of American countryside" to attract Chinese people to come here and clarify the truth to them. I shared this idea with my fellow practitioners and they all liked it very much. I wrote a travel note style article to introduce the natural scenery and local conditions and customs of this small town, and posted to the Chinese student association website. I said if you want to have in-depth knowledge of the American society and American people, we can arrange a free tour of this small town. Considering the limit of our manpower, I initially limit the participants to be within 15 to 20. However, out of my expectation, many students wished to see the U.S. countryside, the American family and talk to American people. I continuously received many emails and calls. The editor of a local Chinese electronic magazine asked me if he could put my travel note in their magazine to advertise for us for free. The people who wanted to join the tour exceeded our accommodation capability, and we eventually limit it to about 30 people. Most of them don't know us, and had not come to our movie show before, which meant they probably did not know the truth.
During this half-day tour, we first went to visit an older American doctor of Chinese medicine who lives in the remote woods. From the description in my article, all the Chinese visitors were very interested in this hermit-like American doctor of Chinese medicine. In fact, this doctor is a Dafa practitioner who had practiced for over three years. He told the Chinese visitors his affection towards Chinese culture, and how he had studied the Chinese philosophy and Chinese medicine for many years, and then how he finally found his predestined path—cultivation in Dafa. The Chinese were all amazed at his story. We then went to an American practitioner's family business that produces hand-made porcelain dolls. The dolls made by this Western practitioner are very exquisite and lifelike. All the visitors gasped in admiration and took out cameras to take pictures. At this time the practitioner showed a special doll she made after Shandong practitioner Wang Lixuan and her son. She told the audience how they were tortured to death. The Chinese students were shocked to hear that the 8-month old baby was tortured to death. The tour also included a visit of the town's primary school, a farm and the farmer's collection of pets, and a hunter's home and the entire specimens he collected. We then visited a practitioner couple's home, both of them are artists and their home uses solar energy to provide power, which many Chinese had been very interested in seeing. After reviewing the solar energy power system and the artworks, the Chinese visitors went in their living room and they all saw the book Zhuan Falun on the table. Up to this point they have really admired Falun Gong, as there are Falun Gong practitioners everywhere.
We can say that we have utilized our practitioners' expertise in everyday society to clarify the truth. All the Chinese students had a lot of fun and they got to know the truth about Dafa. Finally we had dinner together in a practitioner's home. All the practitioners joined the dinner to talk with the Chinese. Prior to the dinner, we showed a truth-clarification video. At that time I felt the surrounding field was very righteous and serene. In this field, nobody talked or walked around, or even drank water, as they all concentrated their attention on the truth-clarification video. When I was moved to tears by the video, I looked around, and to my surprise, I saw some female students were also wiping their tears.
When the half-day activity drew to an end, the Chinese students all expressed appreciation and gratitude to our warm and sincere service and organization. Many asked how many times a year we host this kind of activities, and they suggested that we host more times as their friends would like to join the tour too. A couple wanted to learn our exercises right away and borrowed the book from us. To host this kind of activities we only need to cover food and gas expenses, and half a day's time, yet the effect of truth-clarification was very good. We also established Dafa practitioners' good image in the local Chinese society. Next, we plan to drive Chinese students who don't have cars to the nearby state capital to visit the capital building. We will talk with them on the way and distribute truth-clarification materials towards the end. This kind of activities doesn't need much manpower or time and is feasible to practitioners in small cities.
From these truth clarification activities, I improve a lot in my understanding of the Fa and realize many things. Take for example, the importance of cooperation as one body. Without the continued effort of practitioners involved in showing the movies, and without practitioners' hard work to make truth-clarifying videos, we would not be able to use this truth clarification method. Here I'd like to share some of my understandings.
1. I have a deeper realization of what Master said in "Teaching the Fa at the 2003 Washington DC Fa Conference," "Looking at the current situation, the enormous current of Fa-rectification is soon going to rush over here, so a lot of things are being demolished bit by bit, and the most surface dimension is being reached bit by bit. That's why in some regions new students have started to come one after another." The Fa-rectification has reached the final moment, with the evil that controls people being eliminated in large quantity, more and more Chinese came to learn the exercises. Clarifying the truth to Chinese is also not as difficult as before. I remember last year when I went to the airport to pick up the new Chinese students, I would talk a lot about Dafa but the new students just sat silently with no sign of opposition or agreement, which made it hard for me to continue talking. Now after starting this topic, the new students would ask many questions. I feel it's like that previously I was wiping a very dirty, oily table, which took much strength to do. Now it's like there's only a thin layer of dust on the table, without wiping it is dirty, but as long as I wipe, it's very easy to clean.
2. I have better understanding of the relationship of cultivation in Fa-rectification and personal cultivation. Actually the personal cultivation at the current stage is contained and within the Fa-rectification. This principle looks simple, but to truly understand it, one must solidly cultivate. Many attachments are not so visible in everyday lives, they are only exposed when we validate Dafa and do Dafa work in Fa-rectification. In the process of validating Dafa, I saw many attachments of myself and have also eliminated many attachments. For example, previously I liked the type of work that can be done at home, such as writing articles, chatting on the internet, or sending faxes. This is actually seeking comfort. But now the enormous current of the Fa-rectification naturally makes me drive a long way to pick up new students, to show movies during the weekends, to do this or that to get rid of my attachment of seeking comfort. At the beginning of showing movies to Chinese students, I had very strong pursuit mentality instead of following the principle of doing without pursuing. While having group Fa study and sending forth righteous thoughts on Saturdays, I would think, now I should study the Fa well, then later more people will come watch the movies or if I do the sending forth righteous thoughts well now, there should be no equipment problem in this evening's movie show. How strong the pursuit was. Sometimes even after realizing it, it's still difficult to let go of it. In the process of validating Dafa and after fallings down several times, I gradually let go of this attachment.
3. The most important point that I realized was "Cultivation depends on one's own efforts, while the transformation of gong is done by one's master." (From Zhuan Falun) We are only assisting the Master in the Fa-Rectification, while the real work is accomplished by Master. If Dafa disciples are working from the Fa and walk righteous paths, there is no need to worry about the old forces' causing trouble because Master will strengthen our power. I have experienced many things that, before the activities I would always carry the habit formed in everyday society. I would plan this and that, worry about this and that, be afraid of accidents, and worry about the weather, accidents, traffic, etc. In actuality, these are very strong attachments. It is also a very strong attachment to fear. The old force is certain to take advantage when they see this loophole. After many falls, I finally realized that, no matter how well we plan ahead, when things happen the situation is unpredictable and may take thousands of forms. And the attachment of fear is certainly unacceptable. If we are on the Fa, don't go to extreme, walk a righteous path, no matter how tumultuous things are, we will for sure accomplish our goal and Master is also going to strengthen our power when we need it. It is very simple to say it afterwards, but I only realized this after numerous hints by our great compassionate Master.
4. I have one last point to make though I don't know whether I have enlightened to it correctly. If not, please point it out to me. During the process of clarifying the facts I came to the understanding that we need to use different ways to save different people. I remember a practitioner who plays flute very well once cited Master's words: "a dynasty's emperor has that dynasty's courtiers," "a dynasty's sovereign being has that dynasty's people," "a dynasty's culture...," "a dynasty's dress..." (From "Teaching the Fa at the Washington, D.C. International Fa Conference") He said for some people, the flute is their culture, so it can touch them in a special way. While for some other people it can't. I have the same feeling. For example, for new students, our showing movies and other activities are not appealing to them because they have very heavy workload from classroom. Among the people who showed up for other activities no one saw our movies. If we truly need to use different ways to save different people then we Dafa disciples should make greater use of the abilities and advantages given to us by Dafa. "Validate the Fa with rationality, clarify the truth with wisdom, spread the Fa and save people with mercy..." (From "Rationality" in Essentials for Further Advancement II)
Thank you, Master! Thank you, everyone!
