PureInsight | July 1, 2002
Greetings, Honorable Teacher! Greetings, fellow practitioners! Greetings, everyone!
We are over a dozen Falun Dafa practitioners from a small city compound in Illinois called Champaign-Urbana. We are honored to have this opportunity to share our experience of assisting Teacher to validate Fa with you. We, except for one practitioner, all moved to the Champaign-Urbana area about a year ago. Our small Fa particle-cluster of Champaign-Urbana includes members of all ages. Besides young and middle aged, we also have an elder of 70 years, two teenagers, and one baby of less than one year old. In society, we are from all walks of life, including university students, professors, a computer engineer, and housewives. In the past year, we took the advantage of living in a small city, utilized each one's specialty, and took concerted actions to clarify the truth of Falun Dafa and to spread Fa to people.
Since last summer, we held numerous outdoor Hong-Fa (spreading Fa) activities, which included participating in holiday celebrations, cultural events, a county fair and farmers' market, and dozens of parades in Champaign-Urbana, as well as in small cities within two to three hour's drive. On these occasions, we frequently brought Dafa to the public. Consequently, TV and newspaper reporters took initiative to cover Falun Dafa because we reached out and participated in those activities. What we did most was parading and we cannot count how many parades we have participated in. We even labeled ourselves "Mini parade league". We made banners and decorated our car. Later on, when we became skilled, four to five people would cover one parade. When we came to a place, we would have one person to drive the car, two hold a banner, and one or two to distribute Dafa flyers. Everyone would right away play his/her role. For each city we have visited for the parade, we first searched the Internet to find out local Chinese restaurants. After the parade, we visited the restaurants to give out some truth-telling materials. We were always surprised to find out that some tiny towns would have one or two restaurants run by Chinese.
As we have visited many small towns and villages, we deeply realized what Teacher told us, there are many kind-hearted people in small towns in the US who are waiting for obtaining the Fa. A reporter from Champaign once told us that we, with our yellow T-shirts, are very eye-catching and it is very good to see us again and again showing up in front of the public. Americans will turn from being curious to having a willingness to learn Dafa.
Over the past year, we have held seminars at libraries, the Champaign park district, and the university YMCA. Even though some seminars didn't have a big turnout, we found that it is a good opportunity for people to have an overall understanding of Falun Dafa. Those who can regularly attend our group practice and study are mostly coming from our seminars.
To clarify the truth of Falun Dafa to governments of small cities, we first sought proclamations. After exchanging ideas with practitioners in New Jersey, we learned that we could participate in city council meetings and request for resolutions to condemn Jiang's regime for the persecution toward Falun Dafa practitioners. We, however, didn't limit ourselves to any certain format. Sometimes, we would directly give a talk at the council meeting in front of the mayor, council members, staff and local media. We would also contact the secretary of the mayor and find out if it is more appropriate to first meet with the mayor and then participate in the council meeting. We also utilized what we have learned from last summer's "SOS Trip via Small Cities", that is, we would first meet with the mayor; then we would get a local map at a local library where we could also arrange a possible seminar and get some information about local media; after that we would talk with media people and, lastly, visit the local Chinese restaurants(s). This way it can be done to fulfill multiple purposes.
We as a whole also function as a Fa particle in the greater Chicago Fa particle-cluster in numerous activities. For example, we participated in the truth-clarifying activity to meet with state senators and house representatives, Illinois' SOS walk, and a photo exhibit at the state capital building. On those cooperative activities, we exchange Hong-Fa experiences with Chicago practitioners. It is worth mentioning that we always get full support from Chicago practitioners. The Dafa practitioners are indeed an entirety and there is no geographical separation.
The University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana is located at Champaign-Urbana, a small city complex. It is, however, an international university with more than 45,000 faculty and students. Since we have some practitioners studying and working there, we registered an organization with a name of UIUC Falun Dafa Practice Group. With the name of this organization, we participated in various university activities, for example, the twice-a-year Quad Day set for welcoming new students, where we demonstrated Dafa exercises. We also held mini Dafa exhibits at university library and at the student center. Little by little, we introduce Falun Dafa to faculty and students. We remembered that the first day we had a group practice at the Quad, a lawn at the center of the university, after three practitioners from other cities had just joined UIUC group, the university newspaper photographer took a picture of us. The second day, the photo was published on the front page of the university newspaper, the Daily Illini, which well served as greetings to those practitioners.
There are eight to nine hundred Chinese students, visiting scholars, faculty and their family members at UIUC. We have been exploring means to clarify the truth of Dafa to those Chinese people. We mailed truth-clarifying booklets and CD-ROMs to Chinese students and scholars. When we learned that we could hold Chinese movie shows and play some Dafa video clips at the same time while playing the movies, we took advantage of the conditions provided to our registered organization. We borrowed meeting rooms, rented equipment, and started Chinese movie shows. The movies were provided by practitioners in Ohio. At first movie show, five or six people showed up and they left right away after the movie. Later on, more people came to our movie shows and we also accumulated some experience. We first played a small video clip introducing Dafa to those who arrived first. We also provided some refreshments that helped to have a light atmosphere. We approached the Chinese people to have small talks with them and they also came to our table to read Dafa materials. We, however, feel that much more needs to be done to facilitate face-to-face communication with the Chinese people. It is our desire to exchange ideas with fellow practitioners on how to better clarify the truth of Dafa to Chinese people.
Besides participating in collective efforts to clarify the truth, practitioners also take initiative to do whatever he/she can do. Some would take part in some major projects. Some would send faxes and emails to China. Some would make phone calls or use BBS and chat rooms to clarify the truth to people in China.
When we look back at what we have done, they were all small things. However, it is in the process of Fa validation and Hong-Fa that we have, bit-by-bit, gained advances in our cultivation practice. What we have learned most is that we should be a whole when assisting Teacher to validate Fa. We should do what the Fa requires us to do. Our advancement in Fa rectification period is one in which we advance as a whole and thus the advancement of each individual Fa particle is fused into that. For example, there is a teenage practitioner who came to the United States when he was seven years old. His Chinese, therefore, has gradually become unused. When we first started reading Fa together, he experienced difficulty and also was embarrassed to read out loud in front of others. After more than one year, with the encouragement of fellow practitioners, unknowingly he became relatively fluent in reading Zhuan Falun and Teacher's articles.
In the recent months, however, when we were doing Dafa work in a collective manner, the attachments of each one got exposed. From time to time, we would blame others with "Without righteous thoughts", "Without one's own judgment" or "Without a kind heart when speaking and doing things," and the like. Some practitioner would not bear the sight of some other's words and deeds and would even be alienated from him/her. At that time, we didn't follow what Teacher told us to be "in a state of immense tolerance" and "being able to understand everything with kindness". Sometimes, a dispute was curtailed but contradictions would have been stirred up. It looked like every thing had come back to its original state but the separation in the hearts would have been put in place. This has lasted for quite a while. Even though we were still doing things together but we always had a feeling that the environment was not as harmonious. Usually, after group study, we would talk about what Dafa work we would do and then dismiss. There was no true heart-to-heart communication.
We didn't realize this problem until we once took part in a weekend group Fa study in Chicago where some practitioners introduced the experience of Canadian practitioners. They did a good job in truth-clarifying because they put emphasis on group Fa study and paid attention to advancement as a whole through exchanging understanding of Fa. They as a whole have risen to such a state in cultivation so that the outside environment was also changed accordingly. When we came back, some practitioners realized that what behind our disputes and disharmony was selfishness, a manifestation of non-righteousness that tries to hold onto the ego and is not willing to assimilate to the Fa. Teacher told us, "All sentient beings in the cosmos are amidst the Fa-rectification, and all the manifestations might appear in this human place since I'm doing this in this human place." ("Teaching the Fa at the Western U.S. Fa Conference") Our selfishness and tendency to safeguard ourselves are all reflections of the impure factors of the old cosmos that are something we have to get rid of. We are aware that the old forces are utilizing our remaining attachments to human notions and other attachments to separate our practitioners, lay down divisions between Dafa particles, and to weaken our overall power. When we see others' drawbacks but fail to show tolerance, and are not able to point it out with a kind heart, when we fail to search inwards to find our own problems, instead blaming others and even being alienated from them, we are not viewing ourselves as a member of our entirety. If we can really realize the importance of these problems, it is as what Teacher says in Zhuan Falun, "The cultivation depends upon the practitioner himself while the transformation of Gong is up to the master. It will be sufficient if you have such a wish. It is the master who actually does such a thing as you cannot do it at all." Teacher also says in "Touring North America to Teach the Fa", "When you conduct yourselves righteously Master can do anything for you."
"The magnificent Fa and the magnificent epoch are forging the most magnificent Enlightened Beings." We believe that we Dafa practitioners are able to help each other and advance as a whole during the magnificent Fa rectification period. We will assimilate ourselves to the Fa, eliminate our impurity, and fulfill the great duty given to us during the Fa rectification.
Thank you, our great Teacher!
Thank you all!
