PureInsight | August 16, 2004
[PureInsight.org] It has been my experience that when clarifying the truth about the persecution of Falun Gong to Chinese people, they have many questions. I found that my ability to answer those questions effectively is directly related to my understanding of the Fa. From one perspective, these questions are almost like tests to see if our understanding of the Fa is firmly and grounded.
Previously, when clarifying the truth about Falun Gong to an individual, I would be very aggressive, ignoring whether that person liked to listen or not. This would often have the opposite desired effect. Now, I'll usually say: "How are you? I'm a Falun Gong practitioner. Do you have an opinion of Falun Gong? If we do things that need improvement, please give us your valuable input." Unless they attack Teacher or Dafa, no matter how irritating his opinion might be, I usually say: "You're right. I'll seriously consider your opinion. Because we're cultivators of Truth, Compassion and Tolerance, and each of us is trying our best to be kind, we have to change if there are things we aren't doing right." This method usually eliminates hostility and defensiveness. Afterwards, they feel friendly, feel the open nature of a Dafa cultivator, and are willing to talk.
When coming across an evil person who curses and attacks Dafa, we must respond and stop him from saying such lies. If we are strong in our righteous thoughts, and if we speak with wisdom and lightheartedness, the effect will be tremendous. It is not easy to always do this though. If we often encounter this matter and at the same time study the Fa well, Master will give us wisdom and naturally we will handle the situation well.
In 2001, a Chinese newspaper in Boston published an article defaming Dafa as a cult. At the time, many practitioners called the newspaper to clarify the truth. I felt it was not enough to just call, it needed to be dealt with through a deeper and more thorough exposure of the evil involved. We know that the Chinese Communist party always uses lies to fool the public. In particular, Jiang Zemin consistently uses fabricated lies to target Falun Dafa. They are truly the most sinister cult in the world. Therefore, it is most fitting to apply the label of "cult" to the CCP, itself. I wrote an article clarifying the facts to the newspaper. They published my article with a note of apology for publishing that first bad article. The editor also asked us to continue writing articles for the newspaper.
I have noticed during Fa-study that Teacher occasionally uses examples to answer questions. Sometimes Master would say it was a joke. But we know for sure it is the Fa, and not just a joke. This really opened my mind. If we answer ordinary peoples' questions directly, it sometimes tends to become too difficult for them to understand. But if we use a joke or analogy to answer, the truth becomes easier for them to grasp.
For instance, one time while distributing Dafa material, someone approached me and asked: "You look like a university student…The teacher of Falun Dafa is only a high school graduate, why do many doctorate and master degree holders still believe in Falun Dafa?" This type of question is a little hard to answer, because what Teacher has taught is the Great Law of the cosmos. Dafa does not come from human knowledge, and was not learned from any ordinary school. People won't understand if they are told this truth directly. In human history there have been many great people, whose excellent achievements were not a result of any academic achievements. Therefore, I used this example to answer: "Do you question whether Confucius was a high school or college graduate? Confucianism has been a central teaching in China for over 2000 years. The 6th patriarch of Zen Buddhism, Hui-neng was illiterate, so why did learned people such as Zhuang-Yuan Wang Wei worship him so reverently? People will follow him if what he teaches is great. Nobody cares if he has an education or how high his education is. Furthermore, the great American inventor, Thomas Edison, only held an elementary school education. Without Edison's invention of the electric bulb, we could still be using oil lamps. Do you know the piano genius Mozart? He started playing the piano at age 3, composed music at age 6, wrote a symphony at age 9, and wrote an opera at age12. At the age of 7, he went on a 3-year music tour. There are so many such examples; it's hard to tell them all."
Many Chinese tourists visit the Yan-Ling Dream House Forum. It is a great place to clarify the truth to Chinese people. One day a person asked me: "A good person...what is a good person? If you use the theory of relativity, there is no such concept as good or bad. For some people, it's considered bad if you don't let them attain power and wealth. Since there are so many people being persecuted in China, some even to death, and because each of those people are being tortured just for being a good person, Master Li should ask everyone to stop practicing Falun Dafa. Then he should sacrifice himself and return to China. In this situation, Master Li could save so many people from misery." For a Dafa practitioner who understands, this situation, it involves a factor of the Old Force's arrangements to persecute Dafa. But we can't tell ordinary people these high-level things. From this comment one can see how degenerate peoples' minds have become. There is not even a single trace of righteousness in that comment made.
I started by correcting his distorted thinking and enlivening his righteous mind. The best example I could think of was Yue Fei. Yue Fei was not concerned about his own life and was always trying to do the right thing for his country. I said: "What is a good or bad person? There is a clear standard to judge this. You cannot say that Rui-feng was a bad person and you can't say that Qin-kui was a good person, right? Would you say Yue Fei is stupid? Why did he bother to worry about the country being defeated? Wasn't it enough for him simply be concerned with fame and wealth? Why bother to try and be some kind of hero? If everybody thought this way, we surely would become a nation of people without a country. People need to value true goodness. Jiang Zemin is persecuting and murdering people who believe in Truth, Compassion and Tolerance: Falun Gong practitioners. He is mad, not rational, and certainly doesn't meet the standard of a good person. Jiang has turned the standard of good and bad all around, he makes up lies about Falun Gong practitioners in order to turn the public against Falun Gong, and so he can commit crimes without consequence. He puts good people in jail and lets real criminals go free. In what direction is he pushing the country? A country is in danger when it is full of lies and nobody dares to speak the truth. During the period of great advancement in China, they said tens of thousands of pounds grain per acre were produced, and yet millions of people were dying of starvation. During the Culture Revolution, the government persecuted Liu Shaoqi and almost destroyed the economy. In history during the Qin dynasty, Zhao Gao called a deer a horse and all the officials agreed without objection. The Qin Dynasty quickly dissolved thereafter. For the good of the country and nation, Falun Gong practitioners tell people the truth about the persecution they are enduring - they expose Jiang's lies, even at the risk of losing their lives - Isn't this noble? Are there better people in the world? Aren't they sacrificing their own lives for a righteous cause, and for the whole nation? Remember, as soon as Yue Fei returned, he was cruelly put to death.
Someone else asked: "Why doesn't your teacher tell people to stop practicing? I don't say this because Falun Gong isn't good, but for the safety of the people practicing it. If nobody were practicing, then the communists couldn't persecute anyone?" This question does not say Dafa is not good on the surface. But it states that if the government won't let you practice, you shouldn't practice and if you insist on practicing the suffering you endure is your own fault. This is a form of deviated thinking. I gave another example: "If Falun Gong is good, why can't we practice? Are we afraid of persecution? There is a problem in your logic. For example, when the Japanese invaded China, the Chinese army and population were defending the country under very difficult circumstances, fighting to the last person. They would rather have died than surrendered. But according to your logic, you would say, 'Surrender our country for the sake of protecting people's lives, no one should defend the country. To be a people without a country is better than being dead.' Some people may even say, 'Let us all follow the example of the traitor, Wang Jingwei, we can all get promoted and be rich!' Is this right to do? No, it's not. Insist on the truth; insist on righteousness, this is actually the core principle of being human."
On the issue of why Falun Gong is being persecuted, someone asked: "There are so many Falun Gong practitioners. If I were the leader of the country I would also want to kill the potential threat at its initial stage." This is typical deviated thinking and needs to be corrected. A very good example to use in responding to this question is the one about the traitor, Qin Kui, conspiring with foolish King Zhao Guo to kill Yue Fei's whole family. "A leader must first consider the interest of the nation, creating a stable country, so that people can enjoy life and work. The country will naturally become prosperous, rich and strong. He should not think just about his own power or rank. A leader cannot torture and kill at will. That is what foolish kings have done throughout history. These crooked ways can only ruin a nation. This is just like what Zhao Guo did. He was fearful of Yue Fei because of Yue Fei's accomplishments. Zhao worked with Qin Kui to kill Yue Fei's whole family, thus King Zhao became renowned as a horrible person in history. Isn't Jiang Zemin doing the same thing now?"
Another question asked was, "I don't understand. If Falun Gong is really good, why is it being persecuted?" This time, the tale of Snow White came to mind. I said, "Actually, to persecute Falun Gong was the decision of Jiang Zemin himself. Many in the Chinese government objected to the persecution, but were afraid to speak up for fear of being suppressed themselves. Just because Jiang says Falun Gong is not good, does not mean it isn't good. I think it is because Jiang wanted to be the most popular person in China that he began persecuting Falun Gong. He wanted the people of China to listen to him. But then he found that there were over one hundred million people practicing Falun Gong and following the teachings of Master Li Hongzhi. Since there were only about 70 million communist party members, and not all of them truly believed in Jiang, he became jealous and angry. He decided to start the bloody persecution against Falun Gong that has been so damaging to our country and people. Have you heard the tale of Snow White? Even though Snow White was hiding in a house in the woods with the seven dwarfs, the ugly, evil queen did everything she could to try to kill Snow White. Was Snow White really bad? Not at all. It was the evil queen who was jealous of Snow White's beauty and goodness. Snow White's goodness made the queen's mean and ugly nature stand out. The Queen just couldn't stand it. Jiang is just like the evil queen; jealous, corrupt and ugly.
I feel that when we clarify the truth it is usually very effective to use analogies. This way, it only takes a few words to clarify the truth in order to let people truly know the nature of the persecution.
Making telephone calls to rescue fellow practitioners is an effective way to validate Dafa and save sentient beings. When a Dafa disciple clarifies the truth about Falun Dafa, the righteousness and compassion emanated by him will save sentient beings and scare the evil away. In addition, we call the public security bureaus and labor camps to suppress the evil to reduce the severity of the persecution. We also call the family of Dafa disciples who were arrested, to tell them the truth, to reinforce their righteous thoughts, and to let them support their family members who are enduring such brutality. While visiting Dafa disciples, the family members will tell them about the phone calls from around the world, tell them that everyone cares for their welfare, and encourages them to be strong as the evil will not last long.
When you call judicial and public security departments in China, they usually say: "Falun Gong is illegal. Falun Gong practitioners are disobeying the law by distributing Falun Gong material or by talking about Falun Gong. Thus, they should be arrested and sentenced to jail." Or "We had to carry out our duty according to the law." These are things that were not experienced previously while telling the truth to the North American Chinese community. Overseas people believe in freedom of religion and freedom of speech. To practice whatever qigong and to distribute Falun Gong materials are perfectly acceptable in the west. But in China, this mentality is a very common problem. Many people, including the family members of Dafa practitioners, cannot understand why the Dafa practitioners have to tell people the truth about Falun Gong and the persecution.
In order to clarify the truth to ordinary people, we must have a clear understanding of the Fa. Ultimately, practicing Falun Gong and clarifying the truth are not against any law. It is against the law to lie, to persecute, to hurt and to kill innocent people. Jiang Zemin is really the greatest criminal. He is the one who should be incarcerated. By clarifying the truth, we are exposing the truly criminal acts committed by the Jiang regime. Should it be against the law to expose those criminal elements? Then we will use this opportunity to tell people persecution stories, like those contained within the clarification materials we distribute.
What follows are the experience of two telephone calls.
1) A call to a government official
Government official: You always call to disturb people, pasting slogans and distributing leaflets, this damages public security and the cooperation of the people.
Dafa Practitioner: Did these things happen before the persecution was started? If the government stops the persecution today, you will see if there are still people making phone calls, and pasting slogans. Do you think we have nothing better to do? Actually, the one who damages the security and cooperation of people is none other than Jiang Zemin. He establishes brainwashing classes across the country; monitors telephone calls, uses countless resources, and wasting millions of Yuan. This money was earned with the blood and sweat of the Chinese people. Why isn't it used for economic development and for improving the quality of life? So foolish…they use the money for persecuting innocent citizens, who only want to be good people, who believe in truthfulness, compassion and tolerance. Presently, there are so many workers without jobs who are forced to retire early. Many farmers themselves cannot even find enough food to eat.
2) A call to a policeman
Dafa Practitioner: She is a fellow citizen in Hong Kong. When the police arrested those people without proper cause it made a very bad international impression on Hong Kong's government. Please think about this.
Policeman: She was arrested because she was breaking the law. Anyone breaking the law will be prosecuted.
Dafa Practitioner: In practicing Falun Gong and telling the truth about the Mainland Chinese Government's persecution of Falun Gong, she did nothing wrong. The Constitution guarantees freedom of belief and freedom of speech. Falun Gong practitioners are good people. They just want to practice Falun Gong to improve their health. They have not done one thing wrong. But they are continually arrested and jailed. You are the people's policeman. You are supposed to protect the people. You should arrest bad people, not good people. I believe you are a person of good conscience, so I hope you won't arrest these innocent people anymore. Please treat Falun Gong practitioners well. Falun Gong is very well received around the world.
Policeman: In China, Falun Gong is outlawed and it is illegal to practice it. As policemen, we have to do our jobs as the law directs us.
Dafa Practitioner: Actually, Jiang Zemin and his corrupt cohorts are truly the ones breaking the law. He has issued orders such as: The "Murdering [of] a Falun Gong practitioner will be recorded as a suicide", as well as there being "No need to investigate" these murders. You know, Jiang has been sued in over twelve countries around the world for his genocidal crimes. He is one of the world's most infamous criminals. If you really want to serve justice, then you should arrest Jiang and prosecute him according to the law! Right now in China you are innocent if you lie and persecute people, and you are guilty if you speak the truth and try to save innocent people's lives. Murderers are free from prosecution, but those trying to be good people are persecuted. If this continues, China, as we know it, will definitely disappear from the stage of history.
While making telephone calls you might also have the occasion to talk to someone who has enlightened along an evil path or who has been brainwashed in detention. They will ask: "Why cultivate? Isn't the point of cultivation to reach consummation? And what is consummation for?" This is a question I have asked myself countless times. It was also frequently and hotly discussed in our Fa-study group. It would take thousands of words to explain. But in this situation I can only briefly answer: "Human beings were originally from a higher level, a very good world. They dropped down to this most filthy world because they didn't act good anymore in their hearts, you can see this everywhere in society. Then shouldn't we try our best to return to where we came from. The purpose of being human beings is not to continue to be enshrouded in the delusions of this world, but to return to one's original, true self; to return to where we came from. It is just like one who has fell into a pit of human excrement. One would only want to escape from it. Would you bother to ask why one would want to escape that kind of place? Is it comfortable staying in a pit of excrement?
In the process of telling the truth I could very realistically feel the power of Dafa. Many questions posed by ordinary people appear so difficult to answer at the outset. But during Fa-study, practice and sending forth righteous thoughts, good ideas constantly evolve. Sometimes it is just like what Master wrote in Zhuan Falun - that one would have a headache when thinking about a problem too much. Then when you stop thinking about it and sit down to rest a while, an answer comes to mind while in that state. One other great thing is how many good ideas evolve during experience sharing among practitioners. Those enlightenments were the result of the collective wisdom of Dafa practitioners working together.
At one time I read an article by a practitioner. He stated that Teacher has called us each particles of Dafa. Through this title he enlightened that we will become unbreakable, and forever a part of Dafa! I was momentarily shocked. No wonder Teacher said Dafa Disciples are great. Master gave us the most lasting, unceasing, and highest honor: to be a particle of Dafa! Cherish everything we have. If we lose this chance, we will never recover it again. Continue to work harder. Be sure not to lose the opportunities that Master has given us at his own cost.
