PureInsight | November 15, 2004
[PureInsight.org] [Editor's note: Since August 2004, Dafa practitioners from all over the world have been gathering in the world's financial, cultural and arts center – Manhattan - to tell the people living in New York and tourists from every corner of the world about the brutal persecution against Falun Gong that is happening in China, and to appeal to people to stop the persecution together. On Manhattan's big streets as well as small alleys, practitioners can be seen. Some carry truth-clarifying materials, some hold up boards that tell the truth of Falun Gong, some introduce Falun Gong to people and tell them about the on-going persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China. This series covers the interviews of practitioners from the world who come to Manhattan to clarify the truth about Falun Gong, and it also records practitioners' experiences, understandings and touching stories in Manhattan.]
It has been almost two months since I came to Manhattan. Earlier, I was one of the only two male practitioners from Japan. We took turns playing the role as the evil police for nearly two months until yesterday, when I was replaced. Many people watched the torture exhibits, and the effect is very good. Without the torture exhibits, it was hard to distribute the truth-clarifying newspapers. Among the onlookers, I saw a Chinese person crying as he watched the exhibit. He asked [the practitioners] why the Chinese Communist Party was so cruel. He said that these practitioners were all good people, but the police inserted bamboo sticks inside practitioners' finger nails. Falun Gong practitioners were all nice people, but why they were tortured to this degree?! Also, after seeing our truth-clarifying boards and our practicing the exercises, many westerners lined up waiting to sign the petitions to support us. Many people signed their names.
In 1998, I became a Falun Gong practitioner. In July 1998, Teacher went to Singapore to give a lecture, so I went. At that time, I was seriously ill and was unable to walk. There was an accumulation of fluid in my knees and the doctors did not know what to do. The swelling in my knee got bigger and bigger. Afterwards, I caught enteritis and was unable to eat. I also constantly had hiccups. After checking on me, the doctor said that it was incurable because I had intestinal cancer. At that time, it had just so happened that my younger brother had obtained Dafa and he came home from Osaka. He told me about Dafa, but I did not believe him. Later, he told me Falun Gong had not been taught for hundreds and thousands of years. He further told me that even if I did not know how to read and write, it would not be a problem. I said that on all the pages of the book Zhuan Falun, I could only recognize one of the two words in "China" [In Chinese, the word for "China" – zhong guo – consists of two Chinese characters.] and two other words. I did not know how to read the remaining characters. There were over 300 pages in the book, and the book was too long for me to learn it. He said that if I were more careful in studying the book, Teacher would help me by giving me clues to strengthen the energy for me. However, I still did not believe this.
Afterwards I thought that since I was almost dead, why not just believe in it? I gave it a try. After practicing for half a month, [the pain in] my belly eased quite a bit, and my belly also shrank a little; it was not bloated anymore. After a month, I could walk again. My stomach was totally healed. My wife became a practitioner first. Several months later, I also became a practitioner. Now my three sons, three daughter-in-laws, my daughter, and grandchildren are all practitioners. Now I am very healthy. Even young people cannot catch up with me when I walk. In the long distance walk to clarify the truth about Falun Gong in Hiroshima, it took me three months to walk 1,100 kilometers. I walked without stopping, even though I had a big bag on my back with truth-clarifying materials. When I passed by someone, I would give them the materials. After delivering the materials, I would need to catch up with the other team members. We walked from house to house. In 1999, when the persecution had just started, I told several veteran practitioners that we must grasp this opportunity firmly and break through this difficulty. As a result, none of our veteran practitioners were left behind. Afterwards, I told them that we would follow Teacher's Fa-rectification path and walk together till the end.
At this point of time, practitioners are needed here [in Manhattan], so here I am. I plan to stay here for three months. My wife has also been here for three days. Before we leave our apartment everyday, we fill up our plastic bottles [with water], and drink a little bit when we felt thirsty. We need to save our food and cut back on our spending.
While demonstrating the torture methods, I always meet with many kinds of difficulties. When that happens, I cannot excuse myself and avoid demonstrating them. Our elderly female practitioners perform in the torture exhibits for the whole day. Sometimes nobody could replace them. Hence, I asked others for help. We are people who study the Fa, so we also need to put the principles in our actions.
One practitioner met with a difficulty right after he got here. He had flu symptoms. When it was time to leave our apartment, he wouldn't be ready. I told him not to do that anymore. If he kept on doing that, evil forces could control him. I told him, "Aren't you miserable? The evil forces will just make you suffer. As long as you don't walk together with the other practitioners, the evil forces can control you."
We have here some elderly female practitioners, and they are pretty good. I must learn from them. They carried the newspapers to other places. When they were out of newspapers, they would come back and get some more to take where they were needed. They don't take breaks.
We have to come to New York. [If you have any problems,] observe other practitioners and see how they dealt with similar issues. There are many benefits for one's own progress.
Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2004/10/17/29537.html
