PureInsight | November 1, 2004
[PureInsight.org] I am a practitioner from Denmark. I came to Manhattan last Friday. This is my second journey to New York since Falun Gong practitioners decided to clarify the Dafa truth and the persecution in Mainland together in Manhattan. I made the first journey during a weekend two weeks ago. I stayed in New York for three days that trip. This time around, I feel people in Manhattan are increasingly receptive to our offers of truth-clarification materials. Many people told me when seeing the cover of the materials, "I already have this handout." It is a good sign that an increasing number of people in New York have learned the truth about the persecution against Falun Gong in Mainland China.
Yesterday, when I first started to distribute truth-clarification materials outside a shopping mall across the street, I felt the area was enveloped with an evil field. I felt my righteous thoughts were somehow obstructed and my energy field was restrained. I decided to verbally describe the persecution against Falun Gong practitioners in China to the passersby. After doing so for twenty minutes, I felt my righteous thoughts became stronger. Then people became more receptive to my offer of the handouts. In another 30 minutes, a fellow Falun Gong practitioner from Atlanta brought two small Falun Gong practitioners and joined me. Because the number of Falun Gong practitioners increased, our field of righteous thoughts became increasingly powerful. Those two small Falun Gong practitioners are very pure. They did not seem to have as many notions as we grownups who often feel rejection and hesitate to offer truth-clarification materials to certain types of people. As if it was a very natural thing to do, the younger people picked up copies of the truth-clarification newspaper from a large stack and started to hand them to passersby. Many passersby took a copy of the newspaper from them. Under their good influence I was becoming less frustrated by the feeling of rejection and more confident in offering truth-clarification newspapers to everyone. I realized that I should purge all of my various notions and keep a pure mind when clarifying the truth to people. I should not worry about the possibility of people rejecting the truth-clarification materials, throwing them away or putting them aside. Such notions will interfere with my efforts. I should just keep my pure intention of sharing the truth about the persecution against Falun Gong with other people and offering people the truth-clarification material with sincerity. This is what truly matters. A pure heart/mind will lead to a good result while notions will most certainly lead to less desirable results.
We study the Fa in the hotel before we go out to clarify the truth; we study the Fa on the subway; and we study the Fa after we return to the hotel. If we don't study the Fa well, our thoughts will become less powerful. Our strength of truth-clarification work comes from studying the Fa! If we don't study the Fa well, the effect of sending righteous thoughts, clarifying the truth and distributing truth-clarification materials will be compromised.
I started my cultivation practice in Falun Gong relatively early, before Jiang Zemin started to persecute Falun Gong practitioners in China. I first discovered Zhuan Falun, Falun Gong's main study text, in a bookstore. I picked up a copy and started to read it in the bookstore. The bookstore carried the deluxe version of Zhuan Falun, which cost 68 yuan at the time. As a poor college student I could not afford to spend 68 yuan on a book. Instead, I spent two evenings in the bookstore reading Zhuan Falun. Next, I went looking for a group exercise practice site. At the time I was a student at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province, and I was spending my summer vacation in Beijing taking English language classes. I found a small group practice site in Zizhuyuan Park, Beijing, where an elderly Falun Gong practitioner in her 60's or 70's volunteered to teach the five Falun Gong exercises. Her composure and rosy complexion gave me the impression that Falun Gong was not an ordinary qigong. She performed the hand signs for me to teach me the fifth Falun Gong exercise called "Strengthening Divine Powers." It struck me as a very high-level and precious exercise. I immediately decided to learn Falun Gong.
At the age of seven, I developed viral myocarditis (an inflammation of the heart muscle) after I had influenza. I had been frail and prone to illnesses since I was born. There were few days I was healthy. I either had cold and flu or was tormented by more severe ailments. My parents had sought many types of Western and traditional Chinese medical treatments. They had also prompted me to try different types of sports. I had even tried Tai Chi. Between the ages of eight and nine, I was admitted to the hospital many times and went through three surgeries, but nothing helped and I continued to be afflicted with illnesses. My parents paid a lot of money for me to attend different types of qigong lessons hoping to improve my health, but no qigong was able to remove my illnesses. I was sick all the way to college.
When I first started to practice Falun Gong, my goal was to improve my health. I was therefore not very serious about practicing Falun Gong, although Teacher tried to completely cleanse my body. After having practiced the Falun Gong exercises for a period of time, I stopped the practice because of the heavy workload at school. I thought I would pick up the Falun Gong exercises again after I graduated from college. Then the persecution against Falun Gong practitioners began in China. At the time I did not stay in contact with fellow Falun Gong practitioners in Zhejiang Province, so I did not know very much about the development of the persecution against Falun Gong. I felt the Chinese Communist Party was full of deceit so I simply ignored its slanderous propaganda against Falun Gong. The only thing that mattered was that I knew Falun Gong is great!
After having participated in the June 4th Student Movement in 1989 at Tiananmen Square and having learned that the Chinese Communist Party had made up lies to justify its act of oppressing the student movement by slaughtering the college students, I became impervious to the Chinese Communist Party's TV propaganda against Falun Gong. I had no idea, however, of the severity of the persecution because I didn't keep in contact with fellow Falun Gong practitioners. It was not until I went to Denmark in 2000 for graduate study and accidentally came across Minghui Net's reports of the persecution in China that I learned the persecution was so severe, and it had claimed the lives of so many Chinese Falun Gong practitioners. I had no idea that I should step out and do something for my fellow practitioners in China. I was terribly shocked by what I learned and was condemned by my own conscience; however, I didn't know what I should do. To be honest, I was even a little scared by the Chinese Communist government's terrorism. I read many articles written by fellow Falun Gong practitioners in China. They were willing to sacrifice their own lives in order to clarify the truth about Falun Gong in a peaceful manner. I was immensely touched by their great compassion and great forbearance.
After Teacher published the article, "A Suggestion," I felt I ought to do something to validate that Falun Gong is great, but what could I as a small individual do? I was quite at a loss for some time. It was not until later, when I read a news item that my fellow Falun Gong practitioners in Denmark started to send forth righteous thoughts in front of the Chinese Embassy in Denmark that I knew there were other Falun Gong practitioners in Denmark. I managed to find them. With the help of veteran Falun Gong practitioners in Denmark, I started to come forward to help end the persecution.
In 2002, I went to Geneva to visit the United Nations for the first time. Practitioners went there to call for an end the persecution and also attended the Falun Dafa practitioners' experience sharing conference. Many western Falun Gong practitioners who had just returned from their trip to the Tiananmen Square to appeal for Falun Gong were present and shared their experiences of validating Falun Gong in Beijing. Touched and inspired by their experiences, I stepped out more to help end the persecution. As time went on, I realized that the environment [for truth-clarification] was not as horrible as I had imagined. I gradually removed my attachment to fear and began to actively help with the truth-clarification work.
In order to attend the 2004 Falun Gong practitioners' experience sharing conference in Washington, DC, I applied for a multiple-entry tourist visa to the United States that is good for six months. I have been using the same visa for my journeys to New York to help with truth-clarification activities.
I used to suffer from multiple illnesses. When I studied in Denmark, these illnesses surfaced again because of the stress from my demanding graduate study and the exhaustion from my part-time job. I picked up my cultivation practice in Falun Gong again. After I started to genuinely cultivate myself according to Falun Gong's teaching, my illnesses disappeared one after another. It was truly miraculous. Since then I have never been sick again. I feel wonderfully healthy. I feel that I should share the excellent benefits from Falun Gong with other people. Because I speak English, I decided that I should come to the United States and share the wonders of Falun Gong with the people in New York. This is why I have come here.
The Mainland Chinese media's vicious rumors about Falun Gong can never fool me because I have personally experienced the benefits of Falun Gong. I sincerely hope that those who have been suffering from illnesses will open their hearts and minds and learn Falun Gong. They should at least try practicing the Falun Gong exercises and not miss such a precious opportunity.
My personal experiences are very good testimonies when I clarify the truth about Falun Gong, letting people know I had always been sick before I practiced Falun Gong. Each time I clarify the truth about Falun Gong, I would tell people my medical history and how I became illness-free.
Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2004/10/12/29496.html
