PureInsight | September 20, 2004
[PureInsight.org] Recently, between August 21 and 29, we went to the Big Apple to clarify the truth. We concentrated our activity mostly around Broadway and Manhattan. At first, I was mainly responsible for handing out truth-clarification materials. Many people wanted to learn the truth. After seeing the anti-torture exhibition, they were anxious to hear about the facts. This was my opportunity to approach them and tell the truth about the persecution. I said, "One hundred million people in China were practicing Falun Gong. They lived by the principles, 'Truthfulness, Compassion, Tolerance'," improved their moral character and practiced the five sets of exercises. They benefited greatly. All their illnesses disappeared, they had more energy, and they became physically stronger. Therefore, practitioners believe strongly in Falun Gong. However, the former Chinese leader Jiang used the Chinese government to persecute Falun Gong, trying to force practitioners to stop practicing. If practitioners continued to practice, they would be arrested and imprisoned. They have used more than 100 torture methods to persecute them. To this day, at least 1,000 practitioners have been tortured to death." I then told people, "I am 74 years old. Several years ago, I suffered from many illnesses, including heart disease. However, through practicing Falun Gong, my illnesses have completely disappeared, my moral character has improved and I am increasingly energetic. I used to feel very weak, but since practicing Falun Gong, I feel physically very strong, no matter what I do. Since Falun Gong is so good, why should I stop practicing?"
A few people asked why Jiang and his regime would persecute these practitioners. I said, "Because they only allow people to believe in communism. They will not allow them to believe in Falun Gong. Also, there were many, many Falun Gong practitioners, exceeding the Communist Party membership. Therefore, they had to carry out the persecution. They cannot face people who are steadfast and faithful in anything other than the Party. Falun Gong had to be eliminated."
One time, several people gathered around me to listen to my explanation. They were very sympathetic toward Falun Gong practitioners. One gentleman asked me, "Why don't you approach the Chinese Embassy in the US, raise your concerns, and ask them stop the persecution?" I said, "We want the public to hear about Falun Gong. We want for people to see the beauty of and understand Falun Dafa. At the same time, we hold anti-torture exhibitions and hand out truth-clarifying materials to let people learn the facts about the persecution. We do this in the hope that the world's people will understand the truth about Falun Gong. There are currently practitioners in over 60 countries worldwide. We hope people will lend us a hand in stopping the persecution. We wish to let more people understand the truth, so that the Chinese government will stop the persecution of Falun Gong. We also hope that the persecutors, such as Jiang, will be tried in court and be brought to justice." Lastly, I said to this gentleman, "If you had the opportunity to meet the Chinese ambassador, you could ask him: Falun Gong is so good and so many people have benefited from it, why are you persecuting them so brutally?" The gentleman and the rest of the people present were anxious to help and support us, so that we stand united to stop this persecution. In the moments that followed, several passersby signed their names on our Petition Form to show their support for Falun Gong.
One time, I clarified the truth to a middle-aged Caucasian lady. She told me that she was French but understood English. She also showed her willingness to support Falun Dafa.
One other lady approached me and asked for some materials in Spanish. From these incidents, I saw the compassionate hearts of people from many countries and their sympathy and support towards Falun Gong. A few people wanted to hear the details, so I told them that they could find information on our websites, where they can download Falun Gong materials and exercise information for free. I also mentioned that they would find practitioners' cultivation stories. Many of them showed great interest in learning more.
After a few days of clarifying the truth, I realized that the people in New York and the people from various countries were all anxious to learn about Falun Gong. When I handed out truth-clarifying materials on the sidewalk, several cars either honked their car horns or rolled down their windows to receive materials. Several people felt sickened about the persecution of Falun Gong and a few people showed hatred towards those who played the police officers. Upon seeing the anti-torture exhibition, a few of them said, "It's horrible." After having clarified the truth, I would say to each one of them, "If you understand Falun Gong, you are lucky," because I remembered what Teacher said in Hong Yin II, "Ordinary people will receive a lot of blessings just from learning the surface things" (a quick translation from the poem "Journey of Falun Dafa"). They smiled when they walked away. A few people patted me on the shoulder to express their gratitude, because they understood and supported the moral message of Falun Dafa, 'Truth Compassion Tolerance.' I also felt grateful, because through my explaining the facts, more people have been saved and I have done what a Falun Dafa disciple should do.
I will now take the opportunity to talk a little about my experience in learning English.
When I was a teenager, I learned English while attending a Christian Middle School. The teachers' being Americans gave me a great incentive to learn English. After China opened its door to the west in the early 1980s, because of work I often needed to read technical papers in English. I was able to understand the essence of each paper, though I still needed the dictionary. In 1996, my daughter came to the United States to study. At that time I thought I would probably have the opportunity to speak English, so I was determined to take every minute to learn and improve my English, the world's most popular language for communication. Thereafter, I attended an English language class for seniors at a university. I learned conversational English at the beginner's and intermediate level and also studied other English language materials. But, I realized that my speaking skills and listening comprehension were not good, so I searched for an American to teach me. In 2002, I came to the United States to visit my family, and in the short 6-month period, I attended Nile School, a school that specializes in teaching English as a second language. Together with students from all over the world, we used English to communicate with each other. At the time, I still felt my verbal skills and listening comprehension were poor, so when I returned to China, I focused on those areas. Every day, I would insist on listening to the news in English. I especially listened to unfamiliar words. I paid attention to the pronunciation of the words, which I felt was a good way to help me memorize the words.
I came to America again in 2003. I found that my listening comprehension was much better than before, but I still had a hard time understanding those who spoke English very fast. So I joined Nile School again. At the same time, I continued listening to Special English programs provided by the Sound of America radio station. Because they spoke slowly and we had reference materials available to us, I learned many frequently used words. Normally, I don't force myself to memorize words but rather become familiar with them gradually through repetitive usage.
After I started cultivating Falun Dafa, I've always had this wish to use the English I had learned to tell the world how wonderful Falun Dafa is. So after I came to America in 2003, I learned a few Falun Dafa-related words, such as practitioner, persecution, etc. Thus when I distributed truth clarification materials to people, I could also tell them in English how wonderful Falun Dafa was and how inhuman the persecution of Falun Dafa in China was, and so on.
Teacher said, "Every blade of grass, every tree, every speck of soil, every stone, from people to things - all the beings have come for this Fa." (From "Teaching the Fa at the 2003 Washington DC Fa Conference".) My understanding is that my studying English was in preparation for promoting Falun Dafa today. This time, I felt at ease clarifying the truth in English in New York. People greatly appreciated us for letting them understand Falun Dafa and they told us that they would like to support and help us.
Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2004/9/7/29042.html
