PureInsight | April 30, 2006
[PureInsight.org] (Geneva Fahui, 2006)
My name is S. and I live in Stavanger, a city on the south-east coast
of Norway. I started practicing Falun Gong about four years ago, some
weeks after a course in Stavanger.
When I started practicing Falun Gong a lot of things around me were
chaotic. I had recently received a medical diagnosis of a rare form of
rheumatism. All cartilaginous tissues in the body, including the heart,
could be attacked, and I had been taking cortisone for more than a
year. When I asked the professor at the hospital what I could do to
avoid taking the pills, the answer was brutal; I had to take pills for
the rest of my life. He believed that nothing, neither lifestyle nor
food could help cure me.
After only two months of practicing and reading I felt my body was
lighter, the pain was reduced and I had more energy. In agreement with
my doctor I reduced the dose of medicine. And to make a long story
short: I am cured. The pain is gone; I am full of energy and I threw
away the pills more than three years ago. My body is purified.
The last three years I have hardly been away from my work because of
illness. The previous years I had a lot of sick leave. I could handle
the pain because I was used to it, but at times the exhaustion stopped
me from going to work. Now my colleagues look at me, saying: "S., you are
never ill!"
At that time I was living with a man. He had an aggressive
kind of lung cancer and had been told that he had less than a year left
to live. When I started to practice Falun Gong, I knew little about
what Falun Gong could do, both to the physical pain concerning my
illness and to the psychological pain concerning losing a loved one.
My daily life became a huge challenge, working full time and with a
severely sick man at home. We had many happy days and many bad ones
together. I wanted him so much to stay alive. My wish was that he
should start practicing Falun Gong at home together with me. "I don't
believe in this, but I see that Falun Gong is good for you. You keep on
with it", he said.
He had a different view of life and death. He was preparing for his own death.
One night I walked the dog alone. It was a clear and starry night.
Suddenly a thought came to me: "He is living on overtime because of me.
He is ready to die. It's me who won't let him go! He has made his
choice. He is reconciled with death and is ready to die. I must respect
him in this."
From that day on everything went very fast. He weakened and eventually
lived on morphine. Five weeks after he went into a coma and died. The
last days at his bed, I read Zhuan Falun.
I had been a Falun Gong-practitioner for three months. I knew that
people must be allowed to make their own choices. I knew that I had to
respect his choice. In hard moments I had been in despair that I hadn't
been able to convince him. At this moment I realized that I could offer
Falun Gong to everybody, but every human being has the right to make
their own choice.
I let go of him, and it made me calm. A certain period of my life was
left behind, and I could continue to the next step with cultivation.
By this I am not saying that the time afterwards was easy. I had heavy
moments but was supported by practicing the exercises and reading Zhuan Falun, and this eased the pain.
I practiced Falun Gong, read Zhuan Falun
and cultivated on my own for some time. Then I was ready to go out and
tell the truth. I took part at health fairs, anti torture exhibitions,
handed out flyers and did the exercises in crowded city centres. It was
easy telling about Falun Gong and the persecution in other cities; it
was worse in my own hometown. "Who is seeing me? What are they thinking
about what I have to say? What if they think it is stupid!" These
thoughts and questions appeared constantly. It was my big attachment.
It was easier to sit by the computer at home doing translation work for
the Norwegian Clearharmony web site. Here no one could see me and I was
anonymous. I could work several hours a week and spread the truth
in that way. I could save people from my home office. It was safe.
I wish to tell a little about how I have matured as a practitioner.
First of all, I must tell you that I am a teacher in elementary school.
Only a few of my colleagues knew that I was a Falun Gong practitioner.
Several of my pupils have met me in the city, handing out flyers, some
have turned up when I was doing the exercises in the city, and others
have been standing outside the window, peeping in while we were
practicing Falun Gong in my school. But I had never talked about Falun
Gong and the persecution and torture in China with my pupils. I thought
that it was not right to tell small children about the persecution.
We are very lucky that we were able to present the international art
exhibition "Truth Compassion Forbearance" in our city.
During the exhibition a lot of things happened with the practitioners
involved. I could almost touch and feel my maturing. I became more
secure in my own conviction and more certain in what I believed in. For
the first time I began talking about the exhibition with friends,
family and colleges. I invited them to come and see the exhibition.
When I could talk naturally about the persecution through the
paintings, it was easy for the listeners to understand the cruelty
happening in China. I felt that my heart was righteous.
In the exhibition area we had a corner where children and youths sat
down to make paper lotus flowers. I sat down on the floor and talked
with them about the persecution in China. It turned out to be nice,
calm conversations about something cruel. I saw their interest and how
curious they where, even the little ones.
I thought, saying to myself: "I have to try this with pupils in my
school." At first I was trying to avoid telling the truth by just
making paper flowers in Christmas colours. I talked with another
practitioner, and she was absolutely clear in her voice: the idea
behind is to tell the truth, not making paper lotus flowers! I knew
this was right, but there was my attachment again. It's good to have
someone around helping me to keep the right direction and we can help
each other to do what is best to save the people.
I prepared myself and thought thoroughly about how to tell the truth to
children. Then I made a special plan for pupils in the 3-7 grades. I
would tell them a little about Falun Gong and show some exercises, then
I would tell about the persecution and the torture in China using the
painting "Homeless," painted by artist Daci Shen. What and how much I
would tell would depend on the level of each class. At the end I would
make paper lotus flowers together with the pupils. Each pupil would get
2-4 flowers to take home. We call them flowers of peace. The visit in
the classroom takes about 70-90 minutes.
The first lesson was fine. It is horrible information, but it was a good event for the pupils in 4th
grade. They went home with flowers with a slight touch of Christmas.
The first barrier was broken. I had been standing in my classroom,
demonstrating exercises, talking about Falun Gong and above all, about
the persecution and the torture. I discovered that it was ok to talk
about the persecution with small children. I saw and heard the response
from the children: "Is what you have shown us really forbidden?"
They could hardly believe it.
The next step followed by itself. A colleague came to me in the staff
room with lotus flowers in her hands and talked about the lesson. She
had been present in the classroom, listening, and was as shocked as the
pupils. She was very impressed by the lotus flowers. The other teachers
became interested and asked me to come. I have now been in seven
classes on my own school, grades 3 through 6. With 28 pupils and a
teacher in each class, many are being saved. Maybe some of their
parents have been told about the persecution too? It's great to see
what happens and what abilities that turns up when attachments are
eliminated.
When I was going to visit one of the classes to tell the truth, I felt
happiness and excitement. I was thinking: "What have I achieved?
How many can I save?" I felt a strange feeling in my whole body. I knew
at once I was too engrossed and went through the hall sending righteous
thoughts. Suddenly I felt calm and humble. I was righteous and ready to
tell the truth. Doing this with a righteous heart is important. Before
entering a class I always sit down sending righteous thoughts. This is
important for me. In this way I can enter the classes both humble and
with a righteous heart. My challenge is to not treat this as a job, but
as an opportunity given to me to spread the truth to many people.
Once I was invited to a class with a teacher who has the habit of
criticizing everything, and doing things with his pupils is the worst
task he can imagine. "What is he going to think of this?" I thought,
and was worrying about visiting his class for a whole week. I was happy
when it all of a sudden turned out that he couldn't make it after all
that day. "I escaped today". I was cheering inside. We made a new
appointment for the next week. The same evening I felt sick. It was so
bad that I wanted to phone my workplace and say I was sick. My ears
were aching, and my whole body hurt. I knew it was just a symptom, but
it hurt. That evening a practitioner called me. During our conversation
I was aware that I just had to go forward. The next day I was at work.
Then the day came when I was to visit the class with the criticizing
teacher. I had been thinking the whole week. I had realized that what
he thought and felt about me was irrelevant. The most important thing
was to tell the pupils about the persecution, hoping that he would
listen as well. I sent righteous thoughts on my way to the classroom.
My ears and body were still aching, and I had difficulty hearing
things, but to delay the meeting was out of the question.
The pupils in the 5th grade were very interested. They asked a lot of
questions. To be able to hear their questions, I had to wander around
in the classroom and only ask the ones sitting close to me. When the
pupils folded paper lotus flowers, they where very eager and made them
very well. They were smiling and very satisfied when I left them 90
minutes later.
That evening my body stopped aching and I could hear normal again.
The day after, that teacher came towards me, saying, "S., what you told
us yesterday was very good! And you know, I, who hate doing things with
my pupils, sat for several hours at home making lotus flowers with my
children!"
With the Righteous thoughts and righteous heart, I can tell the truth
to everyone! With this new understanding in my mind, I managed to plan
several visits to different classes. I planned immediately to make
visits to other schools.
After the positive experiences from my own school, I have composed a
letter to teachers of the third through the seventh grades, offering
lessons. I tell them I can come to their classroom and talk about the
violations of human rights in China. The letter describes my lesson
about persecution and torture in China.
To get in contact with other schools, I use my network. I visit
teachers I know, mostly at lunch hours, talk a little at their
workplace and hand out the letter to those I know and others sitting
nearby. I am always warmly welcomed, and take the opportunity to put
some letters and some lotus flowers in the staff room. My intention is
that if teachers don't want me in their classroom, they have to at
least read my letter about persecution and torture in China. In this
way they get to know the truth. However, the responses from the
teachers have been good. I have been to several school classes in two
different schools and I have more schools on my list.
What has happened to me? I, who barely wished to talk about the
persecution and the torture with people I know, now go seeing teachers
I know, asking them to come into their classroom! With a righteous
heart and a righteous mind one's human thoughts are put aside. The goal
is to spread the truth and save more people. When I manage to do so,
the responses are positive from teachers and pupils.
The art exhibition "Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance" has meant a lot
to me. It has helped me mature in my cultivation. I am grateful that we
could have the art exhibition in our city, in order to help more people
understand the truth of Falun Dafa and the persecution.
