PureInsight | June 20, 2010
Experience sharing at the 2009 European Fa Conference
[PureInsight.org] Greetings Master, greetings fellow practitioners!
I started Dafa cultivation in 2002. Through cultivation I found answers to all the questions in life. Everything that happened to me was exactly as Master described in Zhuan Falun.
Once I read an experience sharing article by an Australian practitioner, which mentioned, “Fa determines what we should do, not what we would like to do.” I then realised that I should clarify the truth to Chinese people more. I often gave out Russian language truth clarification newspapers, clarified the truth to Russians, made paper lotus flowers, and took part in truth clarification events in the streets, as well as “Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance” Art Exhibitions. However, I never forgot that I should clarify the truth to Chinese people and tourists in front of the Chinese Embassy, in train stations, and other places, including Chinese students in university dorms.
This spring, a fellow practitioner who had been to Vladivostok to clarify the truth three times asked me to join her on another trip there. The invitation was very tempting, as Vladivostok borders with China. There is a huge Chinese market and many Chinese tourists. There would be opportunities to save a lot of Chinese people. But I am a pensioner. To go or not to go? I pondered for a long time and finally decided to take on the journey.
I bought train tickets a month in advance, planning to spend August and September there. Interference followed straight away. My son suffered a stroke and was hospitalized. He needed to be cared for. My grandsons had to prepare for exams and my daughter-in-law could not do it herself every day. I had to take turns with her, staying in the hospital two days and nights a week to look after my son. There I continued to study Fa, send righteous thoughts, and do the exercises as normal. Soon my son regained his mobility. I took colourful paper to the hospital and folded lotus flowers. My son also helped me. When I gave the flowers and truth clarification newspaper to doctors and nurses, they were so happy. They thanked me sincerely. My son took all of this in. I felt that he was very happy. Actually, when I first started practicing Dafa, he was against it. At that time our relationship was strained. Like that I no longer had to worry about my son when I left for Vladivostok with the fellow practitioner.
On the 1st of August, our train left for Vladivostok and got there after seven days and nights. A practitioner couple took us to their home. They had moved from Moscow to Vladivostok specifically to clarify the truth to more Chinese people. I think they were terrific, as it took courage to do what they did.
In the 45 days that followed, we kept to a set schedule. Every morning we got up at 7am, set off at 8am to a park to do the exercises and send righteous thoughts, and then went to a World War II memorial, which was a tourist hotspot with most tourists coming from China. Speaking Chinese, we distributed the Nine Commentaries and other truth clarification materials to those tourists. Fellow practitioners displayed the truth exhibits, which had Falun Dafa’s spread in the world on one side and photos of practitioners being tortured in Mainland China on the other. Chinese tourists all read the exhibits carefully. I said in Chinese, “The Communist Party killed many people.” “Heavens will eliminate the CCP!” “Quit the CCP to guarantee safety!” I also showed them the “Quit CCP” button I wore on my chest, pointed to the total count of those who withdrew from the CCP published in the paper. They watched and chatted. Some even took photos of the exhibits.
When they had time, other practitioners came to help at the pier before 12 noon. Usually at that time many Chinese came for boat rides. Most of them were happy to accept our truth materials. Before the boats set off, another practitioner would stand close by and open up the truth exhibits to show them. Many Chinese would become sad. One lady even shed tears. Once a Chinese tourist came close to me and in a small voice said in Russian, “Falun Gong is persecuted where we are.” I replied, “I know.” Having seen the truth exhibits the fellow practitioner showed him, he was deeply saddened.
Around 3pm we would return to our lodging. After a few bites to eat and some rest, everyone went to the beach to do the exercises. We would display the exhibits. Passer-bys would come up to watch and accept truth materials. Some learned the practice from us. Some asked where they could purchase Zhuan Falun. Chinese people came by often too. Seeing our exercises, almost everyone would say, “Falun Gong!” We would reply in Chinese, “Falun Gong is good, very good!”
In the interim, three things revealed my attachments. The first was according to local practitioners, every Chinese working in the Chinese market had renounced the CCP. This was confirmed when I went to the market myself. Most Chinese tourists stayed only for a few days. Many dared not sign to quit the Party. I felt disappointed not being able to claim victory in urging Chinese to quit the CCP.
The second was when a fellow practitioner from Vladivostok went to another large city in the far east of Russia, Chabarovsk, to clarify the truth to local Chinese and got 80 renouncements in one go. But he did not ask me to come along. I felt a bit hurt.
The third was when that fellow practitioner was about to make another trip to Chabarovsk, and my travel companion offered to go with him, which he accepted. When I offered to go, however, he declined. Why was that? I felt a bit upset.
Two days later, when I came out of the room in the morning, it was too dark to see. I kicked hard a pile of truth newspapers that had just arrived the night before. My toes did not break or dislocate, but were bruised. I thought then how many tribulations I had to go through to look inward and realise why these things happened? I had not enlightened, so I received the “stick wakeup.” Indeed, a whole pile of attachments burst out in me - conceit, showing off, anger, jealousy, blame, selfishness, etc. I had carried out the sacred mission of saving sentient beings with such strong attachments.
Later, the fellow practitioner went to Chabarovsk with another practitioner and a practitioner from a nearby village. The three of them gave out 800 copies of truth materials and got 200 signatures for quitting the CCP. When I heard the news, I felt very clam, as I had found my problem.
After exercises on the beach each day, we usually went to Chinese restaurants nearby to clarify the truth. Often groups of Chinese tourists dined there. When I first went to a restaurant, some tourists came out of the restaurant and were very friendly. They accepted the papers and were reading there. At that time, a Chinese who seemed to be the restaurant owner came out and asked us to leave in Russian. Whenever we clarified the truth in front of the restaurant, he would come out, stare at us and ask questions. Once I told him about the millions quitting the CCP, which he would not believe. I showed him the paper, pointing out the statistics. Still he did not budge, “This is not true. It’s all a lie.” I took out a name list of Chinese people quitting the CCP from Petersburg and said, “What is this then? I can not write Chinese.” The Chinese people around us all came over to see. He went quiet and disappeared into the restaurant.
It was even easier for those Russian-speaking Chinese to accept the truth. Often those people helped us to clarify the truth. They would take leaflets from us and pass them on to Chinese tourists. Once a Russian-speaking Chinese even shouted out loud, “Falun Dafa is good!” Of course there were also bad incidents. Once we ran into a group of Chinese at a bus stop. We gave them truth newspaper and showed them banners. Everyone accepted the newspaper and started reading. At that time a Chinese came over and said something angrily. So they returned the paper to us. One of them even grabbed a hold of the banner and was about to tear it up. I stopped him. I felt so sad for those people. On one hand, they wanted to know the truth. On the other hand they were afraid that someone would report them when they returned to China.
On the last day in Vladivostok, we went again to the Chinese restaurant. I distributed newspapers by the door. All of the Chinese coming out of the restaurant accepted the paper. Soon the papers were gone. At that time the owner came out. I told him that we were leaving, and said goodbye and invited him to visit Petersburg. When we parted ways, the owner said, “Good job, well done!” Hearing this, I was moved. Dafa is changing people.
Thank you Master!
