PureInsight | August 29, 2005
[PureInsight.org] Recently, a fellow practitioner asked me, "How did you manage to persevere in calling China to clarify the truth?" Because of her question, I started to look back the journey I have taken thus far. I hope my experiences will motivate more fellow Falun Gong practitioners to pick up the phone and call China to clarify the truth.
About a year ago, I felt terribly sad after I read facts about the persecution against my fellow Falun Gong practitioners in China on Minghui.org/Clearwisdom.net. I decided that I must do something to deter and end the persecution. I charged up my courage and started calling several public security bureaus and police stations in China. All of them cursed me and hung up on me. Some policemen told me to throw myself into the sea, some told me to reach consummation, some called me nuts and some told me that I had obstructed their "freedom." But all of them were extremely fierce and vicious. At the time I had just started practicing Falun Gong, so I did not know at all what to say. I didn't even know about the Self-Immolation that was staged to instigate people's hatred of Falun Gong. With the speaker in my hands, I trembled and was almost brought to tears. After calling China for two days, I found myself unable to go on. I started attending the telephone team's Fa study and thus began my journey of calling China to clarify the truth about Falun Gong.
When I first started calling China from home, it was very difficult for me to pick up the phone as though it weighed a ton. Each time I had to push myself to call China and each time my whole body was trembling except my voice. After making ten or fewer phone calls, I would have diarrhea once or twice. My energy was almost completely drained. Afterwards, I had to eat something immediately. Otherwise I would pass out. Later, the volunteer assistant in my area asked another practitioner and I to organize another regular telephone group's Fa study. I was very naïve. I agreed before I gave any thought to whether I was capable of the responsibility. The other practitioner is a very seasoned caller. Together we coordinated the group Fa study for over a month and exchanged a lot of experiences. But later she decided to go to Manhattan to clarify the truth at the anti-torture exhibit. I was left alone to coordinate two group Fa studies of the telephone group. One of the group Fa studies is held every Tuesday morning, so usually there are only one to two practitioners attending this group Fa study besides the other coordinator and me. Since she left for Manhattan, I was often the only practitioner in the "group" Fa study making calls to China alone. Although the diarrhea problem has improved, I am just as nervous as before. I would even suffer from heartache. Each time people hang up on me or curse me, I would take a deep breath and say to Teacher's photograph, "Teacher, I beg you to reinforce my righteous thoughts." Then I would charge up my courage and make the next phone call.
Gradually I became familiar with many important facts in the truth-clarification materials and accumulated more experience in calling people in China. But it was not the end of my cultivation practice. I encountered a new round of tests. I started clarifying the truth to college students in China who refuted my statements with twisted logic. (At the time I didn't know that was a symptom of being severely poisoned by the Chinese Communist Party's education.) No matter how much I tried, they would not accept the truth about Falun Gong. Once I made ten calls to college students in China. Nine college students refused to listen and one number was no longer valid. Following the ten phone calls, I made nearly 200 calls to China, which turned out to be invalid phone numbers. I felt as though I had worn out all of my righteous thoughts. I felt at the time that I was a terrible cultivator. Fortunately I refused to give up. I thought of only one thing: I must continue to clarify the truth. Thanks to Teacher and fellow practitioners' encouragement. I finally realized that it was a hint that it's high time for me to upgrade my cultivation practice. Thus I passed another round of test.
After "The Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party" was published by The Epoch Times in November 2004, we started clarifying the truth using "The Nine Commentaries." My cultivation state during the phone calls advanced by leaps and bounds. I found my attachment to fear vanished almost completely. There is an indescribable power in "The Nine Commentaries." When I read the contents of "The Nine Commentaries" to people in China over the phone, I had a strong feeling of the shock in their minds. I realized that "The Nine Commentaries" truly has the power to purge the remaining poison of the Communist Party from their bodies and minds. From the bottom of my heart, I was very happy for them when they woke up from the lies of the Chinese Communist Party.
On January 12, 2005, The Epoch Times published "The Epoch Times' Solemn Statement." I realized that we must help the Chinese people to quit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), its Youth League and the Young Pioneer Team in order to erase the mark of the Beast from them and to save them from being filtered out in the future. After I repeatedly exchanged my understanding with the local volunteer assistant, I was determined to call China and help people withdraw from the CCP and all of its affiliated organizations. Because I am a relatively new practitioner and have not studied the Fa for a long time, I lack confidence in myself as a cultivator. Some veteran practitioners told me, "It will suffice that they withdraw from the CCP in their hearts. They don't necessarily have to publish a statement at The Epoch Times to quit from the CCP and to erase the mark of the Beast." I started to doubt myself and was afraid that my understanding might not be right. During that period of time, fellow practitioners from the telephone team gave me a lot of moral support. I became more confident and wrote a telephone script to encourage the Chinese people to quit the CCP. Soon a person from China agreed to quit from the CCP. However, many fellow practitioners still questioned my action. As a result, I often doubted myself. Then I discovered that I was insisting on getting approval from every fellow practitioner in order to be convinced that I was doing a good thing. In hindsight, it was an attachment to self and selfishness. Then Teacher published a new article, "Turning the Law Wheel toward the Human World," in The Epoch Times and a few other articles about quitting the CCP on Minghui.org/Clearwisdom.net. We became convinced that the Chinese people must publish a statement at The Epoch Times' website to quit the CCP. Then the telephone team went into full force and started calling China to encourage people to quit the CCP.
Many fellow practitioners often praised me and told me that I was made for the calling project because I have strong righteous thoughts. The reason why I wanted to write this article is that my righteous thoughts actually came from the continuous process of calling China. There have been a lot of trials and tribulations along the way. I have doubt in my abilities and myself from time to time. I remember once when I became frustrated and depressed again, a fellow practitioner told me, "You lack faith in Teacher." I refuted, "Of course I have faith in Teacher. I just don't have faith in myself." She explained, "If you don't believe in yourself, you don't believe in Teacher. You are a Falun Gong disciple. The Fa has bestowed all the wisdom you need to save people, but you don't believe that." After these trials and tribulations that had forged and tampered my will, I now believe in Teacher, the Fa and myself as a Falun Gong disciple in the Fa-rectification period. I believe Teacher's words in Hongyin II:
"When a disciple has sufficient righteous thoughts,
Teacher has the power to bring him back to heaven."
On April 22, Minghui.org/Clearwisdom.net published two notices that the CCP is making its dying struggle by frantically arresting Falun Gong practitioners nationwide.
Practitioners Pursued and Arrested as CCP Launches Largest Nationwide Assault on Falun Gong Since July 20, 1999
http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2005/4/22/59968.html
Large-Scale Arrest by the Evil Party is an Act of Desperation
http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2005/4/23/59969.html
Falun Gong practitioners all over Taiwan started encouraging every Taiwanese practitioner to call China immediately to deter the persecution and asking practitioners worldwide to call the forced labor camps and the police in China. We must clarify the truth to the police and rescue fellow practitioners in time. Prior to this, I rarely made calls to the police to deter the persecution. Once while I was clarifying the truth to a Chinese, he told me that he knew a Falun Gong practitioner in China. I asked him to ask the practitioner to call me. Shortly afterwards, I got a phone call from the practitioner. He asked me to call the local police station in his area because the police kept harassing him and he had been homeless for a long time. On the following day I called the police station. They kept hanging up on me and I kept calling them. Among the four policemen, they took turns taking my calls for over a dozen times. I kept calling the police station for a few days. Shortly afterwards, the practitioner called me and thanked me for my help. He told me he could now return home safely.
However, I still had a lot of attachment to fear when it came to calling the forced labor camp. I was not sure if I could call the forced labor camps or ask other practitioners to do so. In a cultivation experience sharing in the telephone group, a fellow practitioner in China shared his story in the forced labor camp. I was deeply touched by the story and I will relay it briefly in his words:
"When several fellow practitioners and I were imprisoned in a forced brainwashing center, we went on a hunger strike to protest the illegal detention. But we felt very frustrated and had almost given up all hope. We hardly had any righteous thoughts. One day a fellow practitioner passed us a note. It said, 'The news of your arrests and illegal imprisonment has been published on Minghui.org/Clearwisdom.net. Fellow practitioners outside of China will try to rescue you by calling and mailing truth-clarification materials to the forced brainwashing center.' Upon hearing the news, our hope was renewed. We became revitalized and our righteous thoughts were strongly boosted. We started to seek inward for our loopholes. On the next day, we repeatedly heard the telephone ring from the '610 Office.' At first, they would take calls. Later they stopped answering the phone because they knew they were from our fellow practitioners. The phone kept ringing and ringing for many days. Twenty days later we were released unconditionally. The Head of the '610 Office' told me, 'I am reluctant to do such things to you. I knew you are kindhearted people. After all, there must be a good reason why so many people are attracted to Falun Gong. Even if my boss refuses me to transfer me out of the '610 Office,' I still don't want to do such a bad thing again.'"
Now I realize that when I called forced labor camps in the past, the telephone rings actually contain my righteous thoughts even if they refused to answer the phone. I also realize that, when they cursed me or hung up on me, it was because they were terrified that their crimes had been exposed. All it takes is for me to pick up the phone in order to eliminate the demons manipulating them to commit crimes against Falun Gong practitioners. We shouldn't be attached to the surface results. Instead, we should believe that there is a powerful effect in another dimension. Now when I read a report at Minghui.org/Clearwisdom.net about a Falun Gong practitioner being kidnapped and imprisoned, I will not just feel sad and I will not think myself powerless. My first thought will be to deny the evil persecution. I will send forth powerful righteous thoughts to eliminate the evil before I make calls to the Chinese police.
Each time I demonstrated calling in other areas to encourage more practitioners to call China, some fellow practitioners would ask me, "You are eloquent and know how to respond to their questions. As for me, I cannot even speak Mandarin without a thick Taiwanese/Minnan dialect accent. How can I call China when they don't understand my accent?" I always tell them the following stories.
A fellow practitioner in my area is already in her 70's. She has been calling China but she keeps a very low profile. Sometimes she told me, "How come no one on the phone list answered the call?" Sometimes she would feel frustrated, but she has never given up calling China. If no one answered the phone, she would call again at a different time. She would make a brief note of the minute of the conversation next to each phone number. This elderly practitioner speaks Mandarin in a Hakka accent, so sometimes people in China cannot understand what she says. She would repeat a few times until she was understood. Last month we called China together in a group in a telephone group that gathered in Sinfeng, Taiwan. A 10-year-old kid in China picked up the phone and was all ears. She had to say only a few words before the kid quickly agreed to quit from the Youth Pioneer Team.
A fellow practitioner in Changhua, Taiwan often complains that she did not have much education and that she speaks Mandarin in a very thick Taiwanese/Minnan accent. She decided that these are the reasons why her phone calls to China have not been very effective. However, she has never used them as excuses to stop calling China. I know that she speaks both Mandarin and Taiwanese/Minnan in a conversation because she does not have a very good command in Mandarin. Once she called a man in Gansu Province. The called person spoke in a very thick Gansu accent, so she had difficulty understanding him. And he had difficulty understanding her as well. Nevertheless, she delivered all the important facts to the man. The boundless power of the Fa is truly magnificent.
The success of calling China does not rely on one's eloquence or voice, but a sincere determination to save people. We should not evaluate our phone calls based on the surface results or the number of people who agreed to quit the CCP. Instead, we should ask ourselves if we have fulfilled our responsibility as a Falun Gong disciple. I remember that I helped a family in China to quit the CCP during this year's Lantern Festival. The father in the family told me, "Don't give yourself airs. It is not your accomplishment that I quit the CCP. I have always detested the CCP." It must be a hint from our compassionate Teacher. Each call to China is Teacher's arrangement. We are just fulfilling our duties.
Finally I would like to share my humble understanding on the progress of the Fa-rectification.
Teacher said, "What lies before you is not merely personal cultivation or saving a few people. The entire human race is before you, and the Chinese people, in particular. The situation will change later on, and it won't be as hard to [save people then]." (From "Teaching the Fa in the City of Chicago")
Lately when I call China, I feel the number of evil beings behind people keeps decreasing and the number of people willing to quit the CCP or to accept the truth about Falun Gong keeps increasing. Half a year ago when I clarified the truth to college students in China, all of them spoke the language of the Communist Party. Lately all it took was for me to read the news at The Epoch Times about the protests all over China or about China's economy, and they would agree to quit the CCP. Even if they might not have completely purged the poison of the Chinese Communist Party's culture, they are willing to listen to news and information from a different source than the CCP's mouthpiece media. They rarely argued with me with that twisted CCP logic. Of course, I am not just talking about college students. Civilians and government employees in China have become a lot more receptive to my calls.
People in China are waiting to quit the CCP and to obtain the salvation from Teacher. However, the number of people resigning from the CCP seems to have plateaued. Sometimes there are only 10,000 people quitting the CCP. It is a sign that we are not doing enough. We must try more ways and encourage more practitioners to help out. There are 1.3 billion people in China, but as long as we work cohesively, as long as we work with one heart, as long as more and more fellow practitioners are calling China, and as long as we are using more channels to spread the truth to China, it is not impossible for me to reach 1.3 billion people. The Celestial sign is truly changing. The situation keeps improving. Let's follow the Celestial sign and help accelerate the progress of the Fa-rectification so as not to let Teacher down.
Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2005/8/18/33509.html
