PureInsight | June 7, 2007
[Toronto Fahui, 2007] I
emigrated to Canada a few years ago and I have been living with my
children, helping to take care of their kids and doing housework. The
only chance for me to participate in group study of the Fa and take
part in Fa validation activities is on the weekends. I really wished I
could have my own place and the freedom to choose to do things that
assist Master in rectifying DaFa. Last October, my wish finally came
true. With Master's strengthening, it only took me 52 days to apply and
get a senior's apartment. With this apartment, I now have many chances
to clarify the truth about the goodness of Dafa to the Chinese
community.
There are close to 30 Chinese people living in my apartment building.
They are from mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, with cultural and
educational backgrounds that vary greatly. Some have a Bachelor's
degree, some are illiterate, some believe in Buddhism, some are devoted
to Christianity, and others only believe in themselves. My first step
was to get along with everyone. After a person accepted me, I would
then tell them the truth step by step according to their various
situations.
I noticed that my neighbours have one thing in common - they all want
to be healthy. Unfortunately, most of them are not in good shape. When
I get to know what their problems are, I always offer to help in some
way. I tell them, "I'm very healthy, let me do it for you." People ask
why I look younger and am so healthy; and they are curious about how I
keep so fit. I use this chance to tell them how I benefited both
physically and mentally from practicing Falun Gong, how I became
easygoing and open, and that with a positive attitude I will stay
young. I also tell them that Jiang Zemin and his gang are not open,
rather they are very jealous, they are envious of Master Li having so
many disciples, and that the number of Dafa disciples even exceeds the
number of CCP members. That's what started the overall persecution. And
then I tell people that the CCP even takes organs from Falun Gong
practitioners and sells them for exorbitant amounts.
A friend of mine, who is over 60 and an engineer, was abducted from her
home, taken to a brainwashing center, and beaten to death just because
she wouldn't give up cultivation practice. Because I practice Falun
Gong I haven't been able to return to my home in China for the last
seven years. The information gives people a basic understanding about
Falun Gong. When people hear the facts, they are sympathetic and show
understanding towards Falun Gong practitioners. People often say that
the CCP is very evil and that it is better not to go to China now -
just go home after the CCP collapses.
Before, I used to think that taking part in community activities was a
waste of time. Now, I realize that it is a good chance for me to meet
others in the community, and try to show up more frequently to birthday
parties, or participate in doing crafts, playing games to keep fit, and
to attending daily English lessons, etc.
When I am with ordinary people, I try very hard to meet the Dafa
requirements set forth for practitioners, and to think and act in
accordance with Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. I try to be
especially helpful to those senior people who find it difficult to walk
or move around. Each time there is a birthday party, I make delicate
lotus flower bookmarks with "Falun Dafa is good" on them. Also, fellow
practitioners regularly deliver Chinese and English Epoch Times to the
residents of the building. It helps people to learn more about Dafa.
When we introduced the NTDTV New Year Spectacular, people accepted it
without any difficulty. Some of them watched the gala this year, and
their responses were positive. People said they want to watch it again
next year. One woman missed the gala because she had returned to China
for a family reunion. When she learned how the others felt after seeing
the gala she felt very regretful and said she must watch it next year.
I still remember the first time I volunteered to help a woman who is
over 90. I lined up to get a box of rice and three different soft
drinks for her. But by the time I got to the front of the line there
were only two kinds of soft drinks left. The old lady became quite rude
to me. She nagged and criticized me all the way back to her apartment,
and even refused to listen to my explanation. At that time I thought of
Master's words in "To the Chicago Conference":
"A cultivator cannot achieve Consummation when laden with human
thoughts, laden with karmic debts, or laden with attachments. Gold's
luster increases as it is refined over time. Through righteous thoughts
and righteous acts, Dafa disciples are establishing every aspect of
their divinity, and are, at the same time, building the cosmos's
future."
I did not feel wronged or hold any grievance towards the old lady.
Instead, I asked the staff working for this community to explain to her
what had happened and to give her another soda to make up for what I
couldn't get for her.
Once, when I was teaching the elderly ladies to make paper lotus
flowers, I showed them a picture album of the Divine Performing Arts.
They were very excited and appreciated the beauty of the performances.
"How wonderful! How gorgeous!" Then, a person in charge of the
community center came over. I introduced the New Tang Dynasty Global
Chinese New Year's Spectacular to her. She responded coldly, "I've got
a friend who practices Falun Gong, I know about everything, but simply
am not interested at all." Then she looked at me in a strange way, "I
did not expect you to be a Falun Gong practitioner." I did not care for
her rude attitude. While sending forth righteous thoughts to eliminate
the evil factors behind her, I smiled and said, "Were it not Falun
Gong, I would not stand before you as energetic as I am right now." She
left without replying, but her impact remained as the other ladies got
up and followed her and left me standing there. So I said loudly,
"Please don't go. We were having a great time, weren't we? You were all
saying the album and lotus flowers are terrific, weren't you? So why
all of a sudden have you lost interest? See? These lotus flowers are
glittering, by putting them in your homes, no evil dares to enter the
room, it can protect you." After I spoke, they all returned, each of
them with a small lotus flower in her hand, and chanted the words on
the bookmark – "Falun Dafa is good." It seemed a great scene, and I
felt truly happy for them.
I was told there were many people were previously practicing Xianggong
(Fragrance Qigong). I had seen some of the incantations hanging on the
wall in the activity room. I could not tell them directly that
Xianggong is an animal-possessed qigong, so I asked my fellow
practitioners to help remove the animal by sending forth righteous
thoughts. But our efforts didn't seem to work well. So I looked for a
chance to talk to the people one by one while we were doing activities
together. I told them how that qigong is bad for them. After I informed
them of the facts, they said they wouldn't practice that qigong any
more. I then spoke with the most influential person in the group and
further clarified the truth. I suggested that it would be best to
remove the board with the formula on it. As a result the placard was
removed. Now, I tell those with reduced mobility and those who are
uneducated about the goodness of Dafa, I teach them to chant "Falun
Dafa is good" and "Zhen-Shan-Ren is good" every day. They tell me they
feel great when they do it. The people I meet who are of Chinese origin
have truly experienced the wonderfulness of Dafa.
Those people had a deep misunderstanding about us, and they thought
that Falun Gong has become political. They presumed that we are paid to
distribute truth clarifying materials, otherwise we wouldn't be so
attentive and diligent. After they learned the facts they were no
longer deceived by evil propaganda. If I am engaged in Dafa activities
and can't participate in the community activities, they say that
practitioners are kind-hearted, always think of others first, and so we
are kept busy every day and that was why we couldn't join them. If
there is anything being given to us, they will voluntarily help me to
get my share. Their negative attitudes towards Falun Gong have been
totally changed.
Usually, I am also very careful to maintain relationships with
neighbors and friends. I often send greetings to them, call on them,
and help those elderly people to solve urgent problems, like shopping
for them when they run out of something. I also share the food I make
like porridge, meals, cookies, and cakes, just so they will know that
Dafa disciples are not like the descriptions they read in the CCP
propaganda; but rather I am a friend who is trustworthy and easy going.
During my contact with people, I think that it is important to always
regard myself as a true cultivator, cherish the great ambition in my
heart while being concerned with details, treating people courteously,
acting strongly and righteously, and being well-disciplined. It will be
easier for people to accept that Dafa is good if we maintain a nice and
patient attitude, if we clarify the truth naturally, and don't brag or
go to extremes. When I act righteously and gain the approval of others,
then I clear up their resistance and they accept the facts without any
difficulty.
The activity sponsor living in our apartment building is a Christian.
She had some negative opinions about Dafa due to her own beliefs, which
was evident in her words. But I never fussed or argued with her.
Instead, I sent forth righteous thoughts to dissolve all evil elements
behind her, and tried to take part in the activities that she
organizes. I did well what I was supposed to do. Within a few months of
getting along with her, her attitude changed, and she became
friendlier. She is willing to let me do more volunteer work during the
activities she provides.
There are also older Chinese people who settled in Canada after they
retired from mainland China. With decades of being deceived and
poisoned by the evil culture of the CCP, they still hold misconceptions
about Dafa and refuse to read the Epoch Times, believing it is too
political. They are even afraid that by associating with us they will
be put onto a blacklist and be implicated. With these people, we need
to be more patient and take time and effort to clarify the facts about
Dafa thoroughly and wisely so that the evil spirits will no longer
control them and they can quickly return to normal human ways of
thinking.
The other way for me to meet Chinese people is to participate in the
English classes in the community center. When fellow practitioners send
the Epoch Times to everyone in the class, the papers provide topics for
us to chat about, and I get to learn about people's motives and
thinking, so that I can talk with them according to each person's
situation. If I meet people with a relatively higher education level I
tell them my own story in cultivation practice to eliminate their
notions and misconceptions about Dafa. I say, "Talking about age, I am
over 60, talking about education, I have a university degree, talking
about the title of a technical post, I worked as an advanced engineer,
talking about practicing qigong, I tried several other kinds but picked
Falun Dafa, and this is the true pursuit of my life. You know, long
ago, my understanding of the universe, qigong, and everything else was
like that of an elementary school student. I longed to go to high
school and even university to receive a higher education, but there was
no way for me to do it. But when I read Zhuan Falun
(Turning the Law Wheel), I felt so happy from the bottom of my heart,
for hopefully and finally I had found the greatest book that could give
me "university" level information. Once, after talking with a lady on
the phone for an hour and a half, a lot of her doubts and suspicions
were gone. And even when her dinner was ready she was unwilling to hang
up the phone. She said, "Your words are more enlightening than anything
I have read in ten years."
Our English tutor is a westerner, and a fellow practitioner delivers
the English Epoch Times newspaper to her. She thinks highly of Falun
Dafa and often uses articles in the paper to teach our class, and to
help us to learn new words. I never miss a chance to promote Dafa. Once
the instructor asked, "What kind of sports do you Chinese enjoy?" A
woman beside me answered, "Taichi qigong" and then the tutor asked her
to do some of the moves in front of the class. I thought it was a great
chance for me to present Dafa to class, so after the woman finished
demonstrating the Taichi, I went to the front myself and told everyone
that I enjoy practicing Falun Dafa. Then I demonstrated the first,
third, and fourth exercises. Our tutor showed great interest when I
performed the first exercise and she followed along and tried to do it
with me. When the other students saw the tutor was doing it with me,
they took off their coats and followed along too. I used my broken
English to tell the class about the benefits I experienced from
practicing the exercises. When I failed to fully express myself with
words, I drew on the blackboard. I told the class about being thrown
off my son-in-law's motorcycle and landing in a muddy pit. I landed so
hard that the wind was knocked out of me and I couldn't speak. My
son-in-law was very scared, and asked a stranger to drive me to the
hospital. I could not speak, so I gestured to him, trying to tell him
that I was OK. I am a practitioner, and Master has told us very clearly
in the Fa what I should do when encountering something like this. This
accident occurred to take away my life. But I have Master and Dafa
protecting me, so what was there to worry about or be afraid of? Indeed
I felt so thankful towards Master. A few minutes later, the air
returned to one lung, but the other lung was still blocked. However, I
could speak even though I felt suffocated and was in pain. I suffered
through a month of pain before I fully recovered. During that time, I
didn't miss a single day's work. Using a combination of gesturing,
drawing, and speaking, even students from other countries understood
what I was saying. They said, "Good!" Ultimately, this half hour of the
class turned into a class about Falun Dafa. From then on, our tutor
never said my name, she just called me, "Falun Gong."
I wanted to take part in the LA Fa conference held last March, so I had
to ask my tutor for permission to miss the class. But I did not know
how to say it in English. I held a globe in one hand and told my tutor
that practitioners from every part of the world, expect those in China,
would attend the conference. My tutor responded "China is persecuting
you (practitioners). Please do not return to China, or you will be
killed." The tutor also taught me some words, including
"meeting/conference." When I came back she asked for information about
the conference. I told her that there were a lot of people, parading,
quitting (the CCP), and meeting each other. She was very pleased.
Later, when I asked for permission to miss a class so I could
participate in the Dafa activities in Ottawa, she said, "Falun Dafa is
good."
Each time a newcomer joins our class, the instructor asks us to talk
about the things we like. Each time I tell the class, "I like Falun
Dafa! Falun Dafa is good!"
Chatting with people who are visiting with relatives in Canada is also
a good way to tell people the facts about the persecution. Once, during
our "conversational English" class, which is given to us weekly, the
tutor's mother showed up. So I talked to her mom actively and told her
about the great tide of Fa-rectification in Canada, and about how the
"Nine Commentaries" have spread through China, and of the tidal wave of
people quitting the CCP and its affiliated organizations. Being a
person with a predestined relationship, she accepted everything that I
said. She followed me to my room and quit the CCP and its affiliated
organizations using the website. She also quit for her dead husband. I
then let her read the "Stories of Cultivation" book. After reading it,
she wanted to read Zhuan Falun,
for she knew that the book had led Li Qihua, former president of 301
Hospital, to start cultivation practice. She is reading it for the
third time, and sometimes participates in our group study. While her
daughter does not allow her to read the book, in fear of her being
persecuted when she goes back to China, the elderly lady said "I do not
fear the wicked CCP" and she carries on with her reading. I have also
lent Essentials for Further Advancement and Hong Yin to her. She is
very happy that she had the chance to read those books. She is now
helping me to distribute The English Epoch Times in her apartment
building. When I expressed my gratitude, she replied that it was
something that she should do. I felt so happy for another life awaking.
The mission of Dafa disciples during the Fa-rectification period is to
assist Master to rectify Dafa and to save sentient beings. As a veteran
disciple, I feel ashamed and regretful that we are still far below
Master's requirements. The "Three things" (to study the Fa, send forth
righteous thoughts, and to clarify the truth) are not always performed
well enough, and there are still a lot of people in delusion who are
desperately waiting for us to save them. We still have a long way to
go. I have to study the Fa more diligently and study it well, and I
will do what Master requires as stated in "Rationality":
"Validate the Fa with rationality, clarify the truth1 with wisdom, spread the Fa and save people with mercy."
