PureInsight | February 16, 2004
[PureInsight.org] I recall an incident two years ago at a Falun Gong group practice site. After doing the exercises, Xiao Liu, a fellow practitioner, approached me and asked, while pointing to a young man in an expensive business suit near us, "Do you know this man? I have never seen him before, but lately he often comes to join our group practices. He always wears a business suit each time he comes. Is he a journalist doing research on Falun Gong?"
[Note: In China, "Xiao" is a common Chinese nickname for younger people appended by their first name. For example, a young man named Wu Minli is known as Xiao Wu among his friends and colleagues.]
I jokingly replied, "His name is Qi Ming. He has just started to cultivate in Falun Gong. As for his suit, he wears it because he has nothing else to wear but suits." Later I told Qi Ming about this dialog to tease him, but I did not expect what he would say. "You are right. I have nothing else to wear but suits. I wore suits exclusively while I studied in Europe. I need to go buy some casual outfits."
Later, this young man really did buy some casual clothes. Unfortunately, he did not dress right for the weather. I first saw him wearing short-sleeved T-shirts on an evening of early May when we did the sitting meditation in front of the Chinese consulate. In Canada, the weather is still very cold. It still feels cold even when you wear a thick wool sweater. I offered Qi Ming a cotton top saying, "Look at you. Why don't you wear this?" But Qi Ming would not admit that he felt cold. "I am fine. I feel perfectly warm," he insisted.
Qi Ming is a real gentleman. After he finished his graduate degree in Europe, he moved to Canada and started working here. It was after he moved to Canada that he started to practice Falun Gong. But soon after, Qi Ming heard from China that the Chinese police had abducted his mother because she refused to give up practicing Falun Gong. Qi Ming burst into tears when he heard of the illegal abduction of his mother who had been widowed many years ago and had brought him up on her own. Qi Ming traveled far and wide to urge the good people everywhere to help rescue his mother as well as the other illegally incarcerated Falun Gong practitioners in China. Qi Ming's friends in Taiwan also helped with the rescue effort. They collected more than 100,000 signatures in Taiwan for a petition to ask the President of Canada to help rescue Qi Ming's mother. He also made a trip back to Europe and stood in front of many churches on Sundays, calling for people's signatures on the urgent rescue petition. The people who attended mass would always see a well-groomed young man silently standing in the icy wind while holding a cardboard sign that said, "Please Help Rescue My Mother." Many of these people signed the rescue petition with tears in their eyes.
In September 2002 when Qi Ming heard that the Chinese dictator Jiang Zemin, who single-handedly ordered the persecution against Falun Gong, was going to visit the United States in October, he asked his boss' permission to take a month off. During that month, he traveled to many places all over the United States, and participated in many news conferences and other truth-clarification activities with the goal of thoroughly exposing Jiang Zemin's persecution of Falun Gong and calling for immediate action to rescue the incarcerated Falun Gong practitioners in China. The intensive travels and activities wore out both his body and his savings. After Qi Ming returned to Canada, I noticed that he could not even afford to eat at McDonalds, one of his favorite fast food restaurants. Yet on those poverty-stricken days, Qi Ming was still happy and smiling at all times. He continued to stay up every night until three to four o'clock in the morning, helping with truth-clarification work. On those poverty-stricken days, Qi Ming would have either a bowl of noodles in water or a bowl of water with noodles. A considerate elderly practitioner detected clues to Qi Ming's reduced financial circumstances and asked him affectionately, "Qi Ming, do you even have enough money for food these days? If you need money, I will get some from my wife for you."
Qi Ming deftly evaded the offer with a friendly tease, "Why do I need to get money from your wife? Aren't you the man of the household?" Of course, Qi Ming politely declined the offer of financial help, and endured the penury on his own.
Qi Ming is known to be funny. Naturally the TV team did not leave his talents idle. In an episode of a TV series, Qi Ming acted as the General Manager of a company that marketed novelty inventions. In one scene, Qi Ming appeared to be a pompous man who flamboyantly bragged about his products, and in the next scene, he declared bankruptcy and fled from the debtors. His brilliant acting brought everyone laughter.
When the 2001 Christmas day approached, Qi Ming's company had a Christmas dinner and his boss asked him to say a prayer before dinner. Qi Ming then recited a poem titled "Foretelling the Fa's Rectification of the Human World" by the founder of Falun Gong, Mr. Li Hongzhi:
The Fa-rectification moves through the world, the grand manifestation of Gods and Buddhas unfolds, and all of the chaotic world's unrighted wrongs and karmic relationships are settled with benevolent solutions. The ones who do evil against Dafa go down into the gate of no-life. As for all the others, people's hearts return to righteousness and they cherish virtue and do good, all the myriad things are renewed, and every single sentient being reveres Dafa's saving grace. All of the heavens and the earth celebrate together, congratulate each other, and exalt together. Dafa's most glorious period in the human world begins at this moment.
Qi Ming's poetry recital in lieu of the prayer won overwhelming applause from his boss and colleagues. Qi Ming smiled in response to this instant gratification for he knew the applause was their gratitude for their salvation and a sign of their spiritual awakening.
Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2003/12/5/24771.html
