PureInsight | March 18, 2002
Most respected and beloved Master, fellow practitioners:
I obtained the Fa and became a Dafa disciple after April 25, 1999. I felt extremely fortunate that I was able to follow Master Li in the Fa-rectification. At the same time, I felt deeply pressured by the swift passage of time. I still had so many attachments to discard, as compared to most Dafa disciples and as required by the fast-unfolding Fa-rectification process. Today I would like to share a few of my experiences of truth clarification to technical peers in an annual convention and to my colleagues in a corporate setting.
I have been in the U.S. for over 15 years. Since 1994, I have worked for four American companies including my current employer. In the first few years, I was involved in project management. At one time, I was an executive of an American company that helped direct projects in China. Another time, I was in charge of multi-national projects. In recent years, I switched my career to computer programming.
Last July, right after the Washington, D.C. Conference, I went to the Annual Borland International Conference on New Technologies in Long Beach, California for four days. Borland is an American software company that has sponsored this annual convention for more than 10 years. There were about 2,500 participants, mostly senior software developers or software engineers from all over the world.
In D.C., it was the first time that I saw our most respected and beloved Master. Listening to Master expound upon the Fa in person, I was full of tears. In the taxi on my way to the D.C. airport, I carried with me the resolution that I must firmly assist Master with the Fa-rectification. In his D.C. speech, Master again emphasized the importance of truth clarification. I said to myself that I should use the Borland Conference to clarify the truth. Master says in 'The Effect of Righteous Thoughts,' “Regardless of how complex the dimensions are or how rampant the evil is, these are only appearances before the arrival of the incomparably immense force of Fa-rectification. When the force of Fa-rectification arrives, everything will end in an instant.” I thought that with our flesh bodies in the human world and in the Three Realms, we need to demonstrate the power of Dafa here in the Fa-rectification process and in the elimination of evil. Our clarifying the truth to the public around us is in fact assisting our Master in the Fa-rectification before the arrival of the incomparably immense force of Fa-rectification.
The taxi driver asked me why there were so many people at the Kennedy Center on the weekend. Still immersed in the above Fa-rectification ideas, I told him about our D.C. Conference, our rallies in front of Capitol Hill, other activities in the previous few days and the persecution of Falun Gong by the Chinese government. He told me he had seen our parades and had received our SOS flyers - being very sympathetic and supportive. His words made me understand even more clearly, the significance of truth clarification and the salvation of sentient beings. It also prompted me to think about how to utilize the coming conference to clarify the truth. It was clear to me that was my responsibility. However, I was not sent to the conference as a panelist, but rather as an attendee to learn new technologies. Last year, I had been doing hongfa (spreading the Fa) to fellow developers using breaks and lunch and dinner times. But those were limited to just a few people. I had no specific ideas by then as how to break through this pattern.
Stepping into the hotel room in Long Beach California, I was immediately greeted by a very unpleasant cigarette smell. I called the reception desk, wondering if the receptionist had made a mistake since I had reserved a non-smoking room. The reception desk assured me this was a non-smoking room. However, it would be all right if I would like to change to another smaller room at the same price. The new room number would be '911.' Isn’t this the signal that reminds us of the emergency to rescue lives? I took a few SOS flyers and went to the registration desk, thinking about how to take action.
After registering, I read through the meeting schedules and looked around in the entrance hall. This was a typical large American convention center. It had at least 2 big conference halls each capable of accommodating about 5,000 people. It also had dozens of smaller panel session rooms each capable of holding 200-300 people. I calculated that it would be too late to apply for and run a free discussion session. Thinking broadly, the bulletin board across from the registration area suddenly caught my eye. On the bulletin board, there was conference news and all sorts of employment notes. I noticed that almost everyone would stop by the board and take a look at its contents. If I could put the truth information on the board, it would be possible that every conference participant could at least take one look at the material. Moreover, in the following conference days, as people checked the board everyday for meeting schedules and other information, the entire conference population of 2,500 people could thus learn about the truth of Falun Gong. Wasn't this pre-arranged for Dafa truth clarification?
I was much too thrilled by the idea that I couldn’t help worrying about getting the permission to do this from the conference management. This was bad in a sense that it actually tended to restrict me within an earthly human frame of thinking. Believe it or not, the ensuing result was opposite to my wishful expectations. I asked a low-level administrator about putting the SOS flyer on the board. After looking at the flyer, she said something like, the content was good; but the flyer was advertising, so it could not be put on the bulletin board. She recommended that I hand write a letter like a note and put that on the board. She was beyond any attempt to explain anything otherwise. Suddenly, it came upon me that my complacency exposed a moment ago may have well deviated from the Fa. Apparently, it did not make sense that those well-printed employment information notices were not considered advertising, thus granted display, while the Dafa truth that saves future human beings was considered advertising, and thus denied presentation. The problem was on my side. I did not argue with her. Saying 'Thank you' to her, I headed back to the hotel.
On my way back to the hotel, I first strengthened the righteous thought: clarifying the truth is the most righteous thing; no matter whether it is a service person or a manager, they are to benefit from learning the truth, therefore, never will they nor can they stop the truth clarification. I was sure it was not that this administrative person did not agree with the SOS flyer, but that she was pointing out my attachment and giving me chance to upgrade my level. Secondly, I thought I needed to improve my approach. I may have needed to work out a notice as she recommended. The notice should look personal to meet the requirement for the bulletin board.
Back in the hotel, I drafted a letter to all fellow developers and engineers who were attending the conference from a fellow developer on a letter size sheet of paper. I then borrowed a pair of scissors and a roll of tape from the hotel. I cut out the most important information from the SOS flyer including Falun Dafa, Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance, the persecution and a photo in which a group of practitioners are sitting in meditation. The Western practitioners in the picture happened to be computer engineers from New York. I made a note underneath the picture that those were our fellow computer engineers and they, like me, benefit from practicing Falun Gong, while such a good practice has been persecuted in China. Interwoven with text and picture, the handwritten letter looked pretty personal and fit the taste of computer programmers.
For the second time I went to the registration desk with the letter. This time I first sent forth righteous thoughts, clearing away the interference before I got into the hall. With a pure mind, I asked to see the manager. Before meeting the manager, I sent forth righteous thoughts again. When I saw the manager, I explained to her succinctly how Falun Gong has been persecuted in China and how we programmers have benefited from practicing Falun Gong. Then I made the request to put the letter on the bulletin board. After listening to my statement and briefly looking at the letter, she said, 'OK, OK. Go for it.' I pinned the letter to the center of the board and left a few truth clarification materials on the ground under the board. Again I sent forth righteous thoughts: May all the participants learn the truth and may the letter be kept until the end of the conference.
In the following days, I noticed that almost everyone who stopped by the bulletin board read the letter. Some picked up the truth clarification materials. Meantime, I did not lose the opportunity to tell the truth to my fellow programmers during lunch and dinner time. One predestined person even had a long talk with me about Falun Gong during lunch.
On board the plane back to New York, I struck up a conversation about Falun Gong with a well-dressed young man sitting besides me. He happened to be a conference participant. He told me, he had seen the notice of the persecution of Falun Gong on the bulletin board at the conference.
Now I would like to share some experiences of clarifying the truth in my company. For a long time, I sort of knew I needed to tell the truth to my colleagues and managers. Yet, when acting upon it, I would always attach more importance to the people outside the company, government officials, etc. Within the company, my clarification of the truth was confined to those that I felt comfortable with.
I took a day off from work once to collect signatures in the underground dining area of the Metro-North Grand Central Station in New York City. I told the diners that I was an employee of the railroad company. Today I am taking a day off to tell you the truth of the Chinese government's persecution of Falun Gong and ask for your signature of support. I quickly collected hundreds of signatures within a couple of hours. Among those who signed their names were my colleagues whom I did not know. Inspired by the encounter, an idea suddenly came to my mind that why couldn't I collect signatures from my own department - Information Technology?
The following day, I used my breaks knocking on one door after another of offices and cubicles to tell the truth and to collect signatures. In the beginning, I was a little nervous when knocking on the doors of those managers that I was not familiar with, worrying that I would interfere with their work. My heart was beating hard when I was at the door of the CIO who is the big boss of Information Technology. I heard that he was ill-tempered and would yell at people when he is in a bad mood. Some colleagues even warned me that one should never ever talk to him about things that are not related to your work, things like belief systems, which would jeopardize your career in the company. I calmed down and figured that this test was possibly arranged to rid me of the attachments of fear and self-esteem in facing my bosses and colleagues. I thought to myself, those practitioners in China were not afraid of death, why should I be so concerned about losing face in stopping the persecution? My managers and colleagues may be busy with their work, yet they are always like that everyday, and they will never have a day that is not busy. I will only spend a few minutes to let them secure their eternal bright future. Is there anything else in the world more important to them than this? I am not interfering with their work, rather giving them opportunities. Following this thinking, I knocked on the doors with a peace of mind, telling the managers one by one how the Chinese government had been persecuting Falun Gong. As a result, they put down their work and listened to me. They seemingly understood my approach and agreeably signed their names. After I had the face-to-face talks with them, more than 95% of the managers and colleagues in the Information Technology department signed their names.
In the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, our company was asked to serve as some sort of reserve forces in supporting the rescue work at the World Trade Center. The CIO of Information Technology sent a department-wide email asking all employees to apply for the supportive work. At IT, generally speaking, no one is so terribly fantastic about doing blue-collar work. I applied instantly with a statement that I am a Falun Gong practitioner. Having prior clarified the truth of Falun Gong among my managers and colleagues, the CIO mentioned my name for an immediate application in a department meeting. To date, I have conducted 3-4 small Falun Gong sessions within my department related to this meeting announcement.
Each person has a different path to take. The requirements for each person at different levels of Fa are different. Through clarifying the truth in a corporate environment, I have realized more clearly than before that the only purpose of my journey on this world is to assist Master in Fa-rectification and the salvation of sentient beings. Master let me expose my selfishness in clarifying the truth in my company environment, such as worrying about risking my career, the fear of interfering others' work, being complacent over occasional success and enlightenment and so forth. This was arranged by Master to let me continuously dig out deeply hidden roots, further cultivate and exalt myself, thus breaking through to higher levels. Through clarifying the truth in a corporate environment, I more firmly believe, wherever a Dafa disciple is, through the disciple the power of Dafa will be felt, the disciple thus realizes their oaths taken. The place where Dafa disciples are is the place where the force of Fa-rectification sweeps through.
The above are my immature experiences. I sincerely welcome comments from fellow practitioners in any places where they are improper, thus we will strive forward together.
