PureInsight | April 26, 2004
Chapter 15: Waiting for our Flights
[PureInsight.org] Afterwards, the senior officers came barging in and it was time to go to the airport. As we all got up to get into a single file line I turned to all the 19 year old policewomen who had been sitting with us all night and began to speak in a loud voice. One of the officers tried to raise his voice to overpower mine until he realized that I was just saying "thank you my little sisters", which they replied to with a bunch of very cute giggles. Then we were taken to the airport.
Throughout the bus ride and in the line up into the building where they were going to be holding us, I kept speaking in a low voice, so as not to draw too much attention, repeating my main points of not being against the government, Falun Dafa is good and so on. Even when it was my turn to go through the metal detector I walked over to the lady to get my belt and put it on slowly so I had enough time to quickly recite my main points to her. I didn't even look at her face but recited my main points to her in a low voice. As I walked away I turned back to look at her and she was just staring at me. I know she heard every word.
As I turned away from her I stood facing this beautiful painting. It was a picture of the "eight immortals" painted on glass. I glanced into the top right hand corner and there he sat on his donkey. It was Zhang Guolao. I thought to myself, you have got to be joking! This couldn't be more perfect. Although I mixed his name up at first with another immortal, my friend Peter corrected me and then I became really happy, like a young child. With a big smile I kept going to the police saying do you know who Zhang Guolao is? Do you know why he rode his donkey backwards? I couldn't say that very well so I accompanied my questions with some charades of me riding a donkey backwards; I was having so much fun. One of the other practitioners whose Chinese was better began to explain. Then one angry policeman who I approached made a loud noise, waving his hand and head left and right while he half mumbled Zhang Guolao's name.
Most likely the younger police wouldn't know who Zhang Guolao was. So maybe they would wonder why is this Canadian making such a big deal about Zhang Guolao? It wouldn't be too important to them but more like a passing thought over dinner with their family the next night. They will ask their parents who is Zhang Guolao and why did he ride his donkey backwards. The parents may not even know but then one of their grandparents would begin to explain that he was a cultivator from Chinese history, one of the eight famous immortals. An enlightened being (Tao) who rode his donkey backwards to symbolically tell the people in society that although you think you are moving forward in fact you are moving backward. That is to say although society thinks it is moving forward, developing and progressing, in fact it is moving away from their inherent nature, sacrificing morality and virtue for material benefit.
There were about fifty police officers in this small building on the outskirts of the airport property where we were being held. As planes seem to become ready, practitioners would be escorted out. Many of the police were leaving as there were only four of us left after a couple of hours. We had about four hours until it was our time to go.
It had been at least two and a half years since these police had the chance to see the peacefulness and the beauty of the Falun Gong exercises. I decided that this was the perfect chance to show them. I started doing the fifth exercise. It is a seated meditation. At one point the sound of a picture was taken and a camera flash shot through my eyelids but I didn't move. After I finished I sat down to eat something and the camera man raised his camera to his eye and I looked over at the cameraman and shook my finger at him because he knew I didn't want my picture taken while I was eating. I did it in a half playful manner with a grin and he smiled back and put his camera away. There was no problem filming or photographing me while I do the exercises but to take pictures of me while I eat so they could show the public how "well" they treated us, no sir.
After my snack I stood up to do the four standing exercises. At first I was only doing the exercises on the surface, like a demonstration for them but still thinking, "are they watching? Should I speak?" Then I realized that I should calm my mind and really do the exercises and not for just a show. It was the difference between showing them that I was peaceful and being peaceful.
Once I made that decision I could feel powerful energy surging through and around my body. In a short while my entire body felt light and translucent. When I was doing the motionless exercise my body felt as large as a giant and so light it was as though I almost disappeared. When I was doing the slow motion exercises it felt as though my arms were floating and powerful yet benevolent warm energy not only encompassing me but the entire room. My mind felt like a mountain, huge, solid, motionless and tranquil. This wonderful feeling began to show up as an ever so subtle smile grew across my face.
Some of the younger less disciplined police officers were starting to make funny noises to try to distract me. They even started snapping their fingers close to my face. However all their efforts were just child's play and were useless in distracting me. One of them blurted out a term in Chinese "zou huo ru muo", which means "cultivation insanity", implying that I was or becoming insane from practicing Falun Dafa. At this point I almost stopped to correct him, as he shouldn't make those statements harming himself and others. But rather then react emotionally I waited until I was finished that exercise. Then I turned and looked at them saying Falun Dafa is not cultivation insanity. It is the highest level school of cultivation practice. Then he repeated the statement again. Then I snapped at him. Don't make these comments. Falun Dafa is good. Stop laughing - this is serious. You don't understand the issue of cultivation practice. Stop talking about something you don't know anything about. I went back and finished my exercises. Then for about the last 5 minutes the entire room was silent and you could here a pin drop on carpet. After I finished the exercises I opened my eyes to find the nice policemen and women watching while the mean ones were fast asleep. Then I sat down to read.
Before long the policeman who originally interrogated me back at the hotel walked up to the four of us who were left and said maybe we would like to use the washroom? It might be a long time before we would have another chance to do so. We asked him if we were getting on the plane soon? What are you talking about, he replied and he just walked away. My fear was back all over again trying to make me crazy. What did he mean? Aren't we getting on a plane? Are they taking us somewhere else? My stomach was getting tight all over again. I remembered to temper myself again but it was hard. After everything I had just been through I couldn't believe the fear was still there. I kept hearing voices in my head. "They are going to take you away. You're not getting on any plane."
Then it hit me. I was getting complacent. Once I get too comfortable I go back to my old and selfish ways, being concerned for only myself. If I wasn't so concerned about myself why would I be so worried about what was going to happen to me. Why wasn't I happy to take the chance to speak to more Chinese people? It was because I was satisfied with a sense of accomplishment and forgot about the real reason in my heart for going to China in the first place. That's when I really understood how subtle and serious cultivation is and how easy it is to go off track. To always remain within Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance is not easy.
Sitting there on the floor, as more of my shortcomings became clearer, I became more determined to remain resolute and strengthen my determination to become a better Falun Dafa practitioner. It didn't mean I had to just do things on the surface. Instead I had to genuinely continue to change my very being, becoming purer and more dignified. Not just for myself but for others as well. Lets face it, how can I think of others before myself, which is part of the teachings of Falun Dafa, if I am just concerned about myself. Yet how can I help others if I don't cultivate myself? It's quite the balancing act.
We were then taken to the actual airport. Policemen surrounded us as they escorted us to our gate to catch our plane. When we arrived I heard someone call out my name and I knew the only person that it could be was my consulate representative. I walked over to shake her hand and she said she was very happy to see that I was OK. Those words touched my heart because I knew that she genuinely cared.
