Never Let Dafa Leave the Body

Greetings Master Li and greetings Everyone.
I would like to start with Master Li's Hongyin:

Mighty Virtue

Dafa never leaves the body
Heart contains Zhen, Shan, Ren
A great Arhat in the world
Spirits and ghosts fear the most

I would like to take a moment to share some experiences of trying never to let Dafa leave the body.

First experience:
When I had just begun to practice in 1999, I was invited to the Chicago experience sharing conference. I happened to be carrying my luggage to the airport, and it was quite heavy. A Chinese practitioner with children and a lot of responsibilities ran up to me and grabbed my luggage and carried the weight for me. That small action made a lasting impression—I thought, wow, Falun Dafa practitioners really do what they say, they act on the words that they read. I was so happy to be with people who genuinely keep Zhen, Shan, Ren in their hearts. Upon reflection, what the practitioners said never really impressed me, what really made me happy was that practitioners do not just talk, their actions are righteous. I saw practitioners act politely and let others speak before they spoke. Letting others speak before you is thinking of others, and I felt comfortable with people who thought of others first. When Master Li said that Falun Dafa is a "pure land" it moved me to tears the first time I heard it. When we practitioners think of others first, all people will see clearly that Dafa is great.

In Master's recent article he wrote, "If all Chinese Dafa students can be more mindful of their conduct in daily life, be neater, and be considerate of other's in everything they do, then that's the demeanor of Dafa disciples." When I was at the Boston conference a few years back, we held a march in the downtown area. I saw a religious, non-practitioner man handing out fliers. He looked cold and bitter and his tone was kind of harsh, and his dress was not very neat. In fact, people felt really uncomfortable around him. Nobody took his fliers. But in contrast, a Chinese practitioner was dressed beautifully, she had a wonderful smile on her face and stood straight and tall, and she passed out many fliers. In fact she did not have to say anything, her actions said a thousand words to clarify the truth. Almost everyone took her fliers.

The other day a practitioner's husband came to the practice site, I think he was worried about his wife some. He had some questions for us. At first he was not smiling much. I noticed that the practitioners smiled at him a lot. I do not think it was necessarily what we said to make him feel better, I think the smile and the warm-heartedness helped him feel better about his wife's practice. I noticed that when we smiled to him he began to smile and talk more lightly as well.

When I went to China I had a test to keep Dafa in my heart. Here is the brief story. But studying Zhuan Falun while in Beijing was what helped me pass the test.

The day of the event:
I finished reading Zhuan Falun in full while in China. Reading Zhuan Falun from cover to cover while in Beijing was important to me. I finished chapter 9 at around 11:30. By reading this chapter a few hours before going to the square I felt deeply prepared for this journey. Master says, "No matter how much loss he suffers, he will still be smiling and in good spirits without any concern. If you can really do this, you have already reached the entry-level Fruit Status of Arhatship." Was it possible to be surrounded by so many police and be calm and without concerns? This was a true test.

My fellow practitioner Drew and I practiced unfurling the 9-foot banner in the bathroom. This preparation was very much needed. One major issue for me in cultivation is minding the minor details. For example, while in DC giving my experience sharing the first time, I lost my 3^rd page of the article. I was up here reading and it was gone. Do not ask me how I did this, but I did not have a 3^rd page. A young girl suddenly found the page under my seat down in the audience, and she ran it up to me at the stage. I think this problem has a little to do with laziness. As you see my papers are tightly sealed today. Actually, it's time for us to tightly eliminate the gaps in our cultivation, so no interference is allowed. In Essentials for Further Advancement, the passage Sage reads, "He has bountiful virtue and also maintains a benevolent heart: he is full of great aspirations while minding the minor details." By "minding the minor details" practitioners have accomplished many things. I never took the little things very seriously before cultivation, but things like washing the dishes have become an important part of my life. Anyway, upon reflection, I am glad we spent the time to find out the most efficient and timely way of pulling out a 9-ft banner, because we saw that the policeman on this day were watching Westerners' every move.

As we walked into the square, we immediately noticed that troop after troop was marching into the square. I said, they must know we are coming because they have an incredible number of police in the square. I heard that they had 10 times the usual number of police that day. At that moment, my thoughts were not those of a practitioner. I got a little fearful at the number of police. Dafa seemed to have left my body in that moment. But luckily, I had studied Dafa earlier and I did not let the police discourage me. Suddenly, we realized that it was great that so many police would be in the square. Wouldn't that mean that more people could learn that Falun Dafa is good? After realizing this, I had less fear and more compassion.

After this righteous thought, from that point on, every time I saw a policeman, instead of having fearful thoughts, I thought, there is just one more person we can clarify the truth to. We walked straight into the square without being checked. We found a bench in the back of the square and read Hongyin poems. It was getting near 2PM, so it was time to clarify the truth. It seemed like everyone was staring at my fellow practitioner and I. I could tell that at any moment, a policeman would come and check us. I felt a policeman moving in on me, so I stopped and played with a little 3-year-old baby in the square. Then at 1:59, another policeman seemed to be moving in on us, but a lady ran up and asked us to take a picture of her. Right at 2:00 we moved to the center of the square and unfurled our 9-foot golden banner. For a few powerful moments on this day where the evil knew of our arrival, "Zhen, Shan, Ren" radiated and penetrated the Square. Moments later I was swarmed by police, someone either kicked the back of my knees or hit me with a baton, as they were trying to knock my feet from under me, but they were not successful. Upon reflection, I felt my main consciousness could have been stronger at this moment. For a few seconds, it was like I was in a daze, but then I heard my fellow practitioner singing "Falun Dafa Hao" and that jolted me out of my daze. I joined to sing with him to the crowd of observers. They pushed and shoved me into a van.

I would like to add one more thought about this trip. When we were on a bus going to a detention center, the police wanted to control us and would not let us stand up and sing "Falun Dafa Hao." One female practitioner tried to stand but the police did not let her. So she began to sing "DeDu" beautifully, and then they let her stand and sing. The song was beautiful, but even more powerful was the act of standing and looking deep into the policeman's eyes. This element of being strong and compassionate marks the difference in a cultivator. Two policeman had physical tears in their eyes during this song, and a couple of policeman even gave her a thumbs up, as if to say, "you are great, we are sorry we are forced to detain you." I think when we talk with people in general, it's important that our words in conversations or song are appropriate, but, it is more important that our actions are upright. If we are smiling, if we are kind, if our body is upright and proper, then we are conveying thousands of positive words in just a few simple actions.

When one simply looks at the actions of Falun Gong practitioners, the good is easily recognized and the evil is easily exposed. For example, we were in the mountains of North Carolina, at a festival in Black Mountain when lady came by our booth. She saw the peaceful meditation, and then in horrible contrast, she saw a poster where a lady was beaten to death and had her spine broken. She almost ran to me and asked, "What happened to this woman?" We replied that she was beaten by the police in China because she lacked the basic rights to practice this peaceful meditation and the principles of Truth, Compassion, and Tolerance. The lady asked if she could sign our petition. She insisted on knowing if the petition would help. We said "yes." The lady then went back to the poster and her heart went out to the beaten practitioner. She hastily came back to me and asked to sign the petition for her husband, she then asked, will that help? We said, "yes, it will help." She then went back to the poster of the beaten practitioner, looked around at the peaceful meditation, she then hastily came back, and asked, can I sign the petition for my neighbors? This woman in Black Mountain had never heard of Falun Gong, but simply by walking through a festival, she turned the corner and saw us. She had no notions and when she saw the actions of the practitioners in contrast with the actions of the brutal police in China, the truth was revealed and she naturally wanted to help and make a difference. Not many words were needed, just a clear view of the righteousness of the practitioners and the horrible violence in China.

In Master's recent article, "Righteous Thoughts and Righteous Actions," it says,

A Great Enlightened Being does not fear hardship
Having forged adamantine will
And with no attachment to living or dying
He walks his path of Fa-Rectification openly and nobly

Recently, while in Russia and Estonia, we sent forth righteous thoughts while staying in our rooms. This was a great opportunity and I think the time was well spent. But, there was an element in my heart that was not comfortable. Master says that we should "walk our paths openly and nobly," and I did not feel that we should spend so much time indoors. We had a gathering in Russia and reflected on the intense days of sending forth righteous thoughts. One Chinese lady talked about how she approached situations. She said that whenever she goes to a foreign country, she always tried to clarify the truth to the government. She tries to contact the media, and practices outdoors and hands out fliers and she sends forth righteous thoughts. She has been to many countries to send forth righteous thoughts when the Chinese president was in town. She even gave out fliers to the delegation in the hotel once. I thought, wow, this Chinese lady does so much and acts so independently. Imagine if we all did this wherever we went, if we contacted media, government, if we practiced outdoors and let the people know, if we sent forth righteous thoughts, we would let the Chinese delegation know of our righteousness. I felt like I was falling behind, as I sent forth righteous thoughts while in Russia, but did I do the exercises outside? Did I clarify the truth to the government, did I contact the media?

After hearing this, we visited some government departments in Russia, and found the experience to be very good. We had friendly conversations with four different departments. We also held a press conference in Russia. When I was down in Estonia, all the practitioners were kind of quiet and sent forth righteous thoughts, but nobody knew that Falun Gong was there. The dictator of China was staying in the hotel, and we were across the street sitting around in different spots sending forth righteous thoughts, which was a great opportunity, but were we fulfilling our other responsibilities as Dafa disciples? Suddenly, a couple of practitioners "openly and nobly" began to pass out fliers. They did look truly noble in their actions. Somebody in the Chinese delegation decided to try to stop this, so they forced the Estonian police to arrest them. I saw them get arrested and thought, what should I do? Their intention was to expose the evil, but they were stopped. Shouldn't I expose the evil, and shouldn't I do something about the injustice of their being arrested for nothing? So, in response, we ran to buy a phone card, then we ran to find a phone, and then we ran to find a phone book. We began to call all the media to have a press conference right in front of the hotel while the president was still there. The Chinese delegation saw what we were doing and demanded that the Estonian police stop us, but we kindly clarified the truth. The Estonian police knew we were good, and they did not stop us at all. In fact, the major newspaper of Estonia showed up and instead of a few people on the streets hearing the truth and the evil acts, the 1.4 million Estonian people had a chance to hear about the injustices because this newspaper basically printed our whole flier on the front page.

After the president left, the Chinese delegation was coming out of the hotel to load their bags onto a bus. We decided to talk with them in a friendly and open manner. When a Chinese delegate would pass by, we would say, "ni hao" or "hao bu hao." We stood straight and tall, with a friendly manner and big smiles on our faces. Many smiled back and some talked with us. Some took our fliers. Once there was a big gathering around the bus, many Chinese people in the delegation were gathered and chatting. They were not paying any attention to us, so in that moment, I turned to the Chinese gentlemen next to me I asked very kindly and somewhat loudly, "Ni chi fen le me," which means "Have you had your lunch?" in Chinese. He smiled and laughed and talked to me, and when he took my flier, others began to take the fliers that exposed the evil acts.

This simple experience with the Chinese delegation reminded me of a recent discussion
in which a young man brought up the example of pulling a tooth in Zhuan Falun. The Chinese man on the street only used a matchstick to pull a tooth and it was very effective, but the Western dentist uses complicated instruments. I think we do not have to be so complicated in clarifying the truth, by using fancy words, etc. Sometimes we can just be simple and friendly and upright in our actions, in fact we do not have to say anything at all sometimes, we just have to be upright, and well, the truth is clarified by our actions.

Well, I hope you point out any weak spots you see in me, and I hope we continue to strive forward together. Thank you, xie xie.

Presented at the Washington, D.C. Fa-conference, 2002.