PureInsight | September 15, 2012
Experience Sharing at the 2012 International Fa Conference at the U.S. Capitol
[PureInsight.org] I am a Taiwanese Falun Dafa practitioner who obtained the Fa in July 2002. Ten years have now passed in the blink of an eye. I am so fortunate to have become a Dafa practitioner. What an honor and blessing this is! I cannot express enough my gratitude for Master even if I exhaust all the human languages.
I have gone through a fundamental change from not being able to understand Falun Gong at the beginning to being completely in awe of its principles after cultivation. When I first obtained the Fa, I finished reading all the articles by Master in two months, and understood that what Master has given us is the best. Consequently, I began to participate in the sacred mission of clarifying the truth to the public. In “Touring North America to Teach the Fa,” Master said:
“The beings that you’re saving, think about it, are they just ordinary human beings? If they really correspond to gigantic cosmic bodies, then when you clarify the truth to one of them you’re rescuing a gigantic cosmic body, a gigantic group of beings, and you are rescuing a Lord, or a King. I’d say, aren’t Dafa disciples magnificent?”
Below I would like to share with all of you my experiences in truth clarification over the past years.
1. The Opportunity for Truth Clarification is Everywhere in One’s Daily Life
Over the past 10 years, I have persisted in carrying truth clarification materials with me wherever I go. In order to save sentient beings, I have made strenuous efforts carrying the truth clarification materials in my briefcase. Sometimes when I forgot to carry the materials, I would feel sad. I have taken every opportunity, such as shopping, meeting people, going for dinner, or taking public transportation, to clarify the truth. Master said in “Teaching the Fa at the 2003 Atlanta Fa Conference”:
“Even when in your daily life you pass by people so quickly that you don’t have a chance to talk to them, you should still leave them with your compassion and kindness. Don’t lose those who should be saved, especially those with predestined connections.”
In Taiwan, most people would ask why the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) wanted to persecute Falun Gong. Some people would say: you should focus on doing exercises, but why do you want to get involved in politics? Some others say that it was wrong to surround Zhongnanhai and “attack” the government, so no wonder they are cracking down. This indicates that many people have been misled by the CCP and they still have a lot of misgivings towards Dafa. If Dafa disciples do not take the initiative to clarify the truth to them, how can they understand the facts about Falun Gong? I have found that there are still many people who do not understand Falun Gong. Even in a free and democratic region like Taiwan, there are still some government officials and individuals in society who are poisoned by the evil CCP and go against us or ignore us. The lives of these people are endangered. Therefore, the truth clarification work every day becomes especially important.
I have found that after I told these people the answer [to these questions], the misgivings in their minds were cleared, and they became joyful inside their hearts. Their lives are not only saved but they also help spread the truth to others. Master said in “To All Students at the Nordic Fa Conference” (Essentials for Further Advancement II): “So in clarifying the truth, don’t wait, don’t rely on others, and don’t just hope for changes in external factors.” “Every person you come into contact with in society is someone to clarify the truth to…” If we do not actively clarify the truth, I think we will miss a lot of opportunities to save sentient beings. It is not sufficient to only distribute truth clarification materials during Dafa activities. In fact, it is crucial to take advantage of every possible aspect in our lives to clarify the truth.
2. Persistence in Making Phone Calls to the Public Security Bureaus in Mainland China
In order to reduce the persecution of fellow practitioners in Mainland China and rescue some of them, it has been a mission of mine to make phone calls to the public security bureaus and law courts in Mainland China over the past 10 years. Two and a half months after I obtained the Fa, I began to make the phone calls. Although sometimes my work prevented me from making a lot of phone calls, I constantly reminded myself that no matter how busy I am, I should not give up. During the phone calls, I was oftentimes sworn at by the public security officers or aggressively pressed to answer some absurd, senseless questions. I regarded these as good opportunities to upgrade my xinxing. Sometimes I could be irritated and wanted to fight back, but I could see my competitive mentality come out at that moment. With intensified Fa study, my forbearance increased and gradually I could handle myself well under those circumstances. Especially when my righteous thoughts and compassionate heart were strong, I could feel the other party transition from swearing to peace, quietly listening to what I said. Master said in “Fa Teaching Given in Manhattan”: “…if your righteous thoughts are strong, the evil will be dissolved. The power of true compassion can dissolve all deviant factors…” I understand that the process of making phone calls is one that requires constantly giving up human attachments.
At one time, I was traveling and spent several hours in a long-distance coach. I thought: “Today I do not need to make any phone calls and I can take a break.” My human thinking came out. However, when I got home and turned on my computer, one persecution case after another on the Minghui website appeared in front of my eyes. I thought in my mind: when fellow practitioners in Mainland China have been persecuted so severely, how can I claim that I am tired. So, when I once again picked up the phone, a warm current filled my whole body down from my head. I understand it was Master who was reinforcing me after seeing my compassionate heart come out.
In 2009, Taiwan suffered from a major flood, which inflicted heavy losses. With the ever-increasing rainfall, I went up to my attic and found there were five locations in my house leaking water. I quickly took several buckets and washbasins to hold the water when I was planning to make phone calls to the public security bureaus in Mainland China. I thought to myself that nothing could interfere with my making the phone calls, so when I got down from upstairs, I picked up the phone and forgot about the water-leaking issue until that night when I went upstairs to check the leaks again. To my surprise, the five leaking locations had all stopped leaking water, despite the ever-intensifying rain outside. The house miraculously did not leak any more. I understand that when we focus on saving people whole-heartedly, Master’s Fashen and the Fa-guardian gods have already helped us solve the thorny matters around us and bestowed us with the best of everything. My heart is filled with infinite gratitude for our revered Master.
3. Clarifying the Truth with Wisdom at Tourist Attractions
With the change of celestial phenomena, many tourists from Mainland China flock into Taiwan, so truth clarification at various tourist attractions has become the key of truth clarification activities, and the critical part is to enable tour guides to understand the truth, because once a tour guide understands the truth, more sentient beings can be saved. Therefore, when I went to a tourist attraction, I often took the initiative to get in touch with the tour guide. One time, a tour guide said to me: “I support you, but I do not really understand why you carry these poster boards to interfere with all of us.” I gave the tour guide an example. I said: “In Taipei 101 square, a Falun Gong practitioner was fined 300 Taiwanese dollars for purportedly interfering with traffic, because he carried poster boards with him. This practitioner appealed to the court and the judge ruled in favor of the practitioner against the police.”
I went on to explain that the judge ruled that this Falun Gong practitioner was peacefully expressing his opinion to the Chinese tourists and he did not interfere with the traffic, so his rights should be protected by the Constitution. If he did not appear at the tourist attractions where Chinese tourists frequent and display his posters there, how could he let the tourists know the truth? Therefore, the judge removed any penalty against him.
I also told the tour guide: although it was the ancient Roman emperor and governors who persecuted the Christians, why did nearly all the people in Rome die when the four plagues struck the city, although these ordinary folks did not directly participate in the persecution? It was just because these people were so poisoned as to endorse the Roman Curia for persecuting the Christians that their lives were not safeguarded.
I said that there are many people who are influenced by the evil CCP and support the suppression of Falun Gong. So, when tribulations occur in the future, wouldn’t these people face the same consequences? On the one hand, Falun Gong practitioners are rescuing their fellow practitioners persecuted in China, but on the other hand, they are also rescuing all lives whose minds have been poisoned by the CCP. I also told him that when Falun Gong is persecuted and somebody is standing up for justice, this person will be greatly blessed! If the tour guides can help the tourists understand the truth and quit the CCP, they will be blessed tremendously!
After listening to what I said, this tour guide nodded his head with a beautiful smile and expressed his gratitude to me.
Besides tour guides, truth clarification to police with wisdom is also especially important. Recently, I encountered a policeman who came to the tourist attraction to confiscate our posters. I clarified the truth to this policeman the same way I did to the tour guides. I especially emphasized the case in which police lost the lawsuit in terms of the fines. I urged that he handle this issue with care. He replied: “But these poster boards are not allowed to appear in the national park.” I asked him rhetorically: “Can an ambulance run through a red light in order to rescue people? Today, the persecution of Falun Gong is so severe. In order to save people, we have to do this and I hope you will understand.” My answer left this policeman speechless. He stepped back and quietly watched us for a while and said to me: “I understand what you meant. It seems that you did not treat the tourists from Mainland China badly. As long as you do not overdo it, I will be fine.” After saying this, he left.
In my locality, some fellow practitioners dare not open their mouths to clarify the truth. They think face-to-face truth clarification is the job of those practitioners who are eloquent and persuasive. I shared my thoughts with them. In fact, when people can realize the importance of opening their mouths to clarify the truth, they will take action to do it. Also, the more we do it, the more experiences we can accumulate and the better we can do it. As long as our hearts are positioned correctly, Master will give us wisdom at any critical moments. Sometimes I feel that what I say is very powerful. In fact, it is because Master has been strengthening us.
4. Clarifying the Truth with Righteous Thoughts During My Speech
It has been three years since I retired from my teaching post. I used to be director of academic affairs in a high school in Taiwan. After practicing Falun Gong, I understood the seriousness of moral degradation among students, so I voluntarily proposed to the principal to undertake the work of student discipline when I was transferred to a new school. The function of this job was to handle student affairs and manage students’ daily lives. Under the currently degenerated social environment, a lot of students’ behavior has been deviant. It has been quite chaotic on campus. Almost nobody else wanted to assume this position. However, after Dafa cultivation, I have become more healthy, my morality has been elevated, and my heart is more peaceful, so I feel that I should be able to handle this job well. More important is that I intended to lay a moral foundation among students in that school.
After I assumed this job, I realized that the level of difficulty was actually higher than I expected. The deviated behavior of the students was beyond my imagination. Four years have past and many teachers admire me, wanting to know how I have accomplished it. In fact, without Dafa’s strengthening, I would not have been able to forebear the difficulty.
During my four-year tenure as a director of student disciplines, I have always put morality in the first place and brought the Zhen-Shan-Ren principles to over 3,000 students at the school. Gradually, the environment has changed and things there have been turned around. Four years later, this school was appraised by the Department of Education to win first place in moral education with a score of 95 out of 100. In addition, the students’ rate of enrollment to higher education has also increased, and more and more parents want to send their children to our school for secondary education. In the year I was about to retire, I said during my speech at the graduation ceremony: “I have thousands of words to wish you well, but they all condense into these words: ‘Falun Dafa Is Good!’” After I said this, enthusiastic applause broke out among the entire faculty and students in the ceremony. In the meantime, they shouted in a high voice: “Director Zhang, I love you!” The scene at that time was very touching.
Because of my successful experience in moral education, after my retirement, I was often invited to speak to principals, teachers, parents, students, and some organizations or even prisons throughout Taiwan. I have been spreading Zhen-Shan-Ren to various places. I understand it is really a blessing for ordinary people to know about Zhen-Shan-Ren, because Master said in “Dafa’s Journey” (Hong Yin II, translation version A):
Lucid the principles, clear the words
Generously blessed is the common man
who learns even its most basic meaning
Clear in vision, like a mirror, is the official
who knows it even shallowly
Later I noticed that in several speeches, I did not frankly acknowledge myself as a Falun Gong practitioner. As my Fa study intensified, I realized that this was an incorrect thought of mine. Master said in “The Fa Rectifies the Human Heart” (Essentials for Further Advancement):
“Why can’t you tell the interviewers in an open and dignified manner that you do those things because you practice Dafa cultivation?”
Therefore, I made a fundamental change. At the very beginning of my speech, I told people with a strong righteous thought that my Falun Gong practice enabled me to have the courage to undertake the role of director of student discipline. In the face of various conflicts and difficulties, I constantly upheld my belief and mission as a cultivator and broke through one barrier after another to be what I am today.
As the number of speeches steadily increased, I did not slack off. Instead, I required myself to strengthen Fa study and sending forth righteous thoughts, and made progress every time. I also realized that besides presenting the beauty of Dafa, I must also clarify the facts about the persecution of Falun Gong and play the introductory video of Shen Yun shows in every single speech.
One time, I was invited by the deputy chief of a county to make a speech to all school principals and college presidents in the county as well as all officers in its education department. Three minutes before the speech, the deputy chief discovered that I was a Falun Gong practitioner and he appeared to be a bit nervous. He told me that this county is close to Mainland China and asked me not to mention Falun Gong, especially because of the fact that the county chief was not very happy about Falun Gong practitioners who constantly displayed Falun Gong posters in the tourist attractions and thought this would interfere with tourism in the county.
After listening to what he said, my heart was not moved at all. I told him peacefully: “I believe from the content of my speech, they can tell anyways my association with Falun Gong, so it is not advisable to purposely avoid this issue. It would be better for me to make this clear myself.” When he saw my unambiguous and confident position in this matter, he said that he would directly tell the audience in his introductory remarks that I am a Falun Gong practitioner.
In my speech, I also took the opportunity to openly and solemnly tell the audience that Falun Gong practitioners have been severely suppressed by the CCP in China, even suffering from live organ harvesting. In order for the tourists from Mainland China to understand the truth, Falun Gong practitioners have stepped forward rain or shine to clarify the truth to them and try to save them. As long as the persecution does not stop, Falun Gong practitioners will continue to step forward for truth clarification, until the day the persecution ends. You should pay a highest tribute to the Falun Gong practitioners standing in the tourist attractions or on the streets distributing the truth clarification materials for their noble and lofty acts.
I also said, some principals would not allow the school to subscribe to The Epoch Times newspaper for their students, just because the newspaper reports on Falun Gong. Please think about it everyone, if there were media to reveal the atrocities of the Nazis when they were killing the Jews, there would not have been six million Jewish people killed by the Nazis. Today, Falun Gong suffers even more bloody persecution in China. Would not this be the best material for human rights education at school? If we purposely avoid talking about it, how can we explain to the students in the future? When these students—our future pillars of the state—grow up and understand the matter, they will question us: why did you hide the truth from us?
The next day after my speech, I called the deputy chief to inquire whether my speech yesterday caused any trouble for him. He said not at all. On the contrary, most principals showed their admiration of me. I thought that besides the attractive content of my speech, more important was that I conveyed the truth about Falun Gong to them. In order to help me improve in my speech, my local practitioners have formed one body to share their thoughts of how to present truth clarification materials in my speeches. In order to enrich the content of my speeches, some practitioners stay overnight to make videos for me. Some practitioners send forth righteous thoughts during my speeches. The selfless cooperation among local practitioners has deeply touched me.
The process of truth clarification is truly one of genuine cultivation. Master said in “Transformation of Karma,” Zhuan Falun (Lecture 4): “One must truly temper and upgrade oneself through actual practice.”
Every time when I face police, tour guides, and tourists from Mainland China and clarify the truth to them, I feel there is a battle between the righteous and evil that takes place one after another. Every time before my action, I hold an even higher requirement in my own cultivation status, e.g., more Fa study and higher frequency of sending forth righteous thoughts. Every truth clarification event is an opportunity for me to advance myself. For example, when I was shouted and cursed at by the public security officers, tour guides, and tourists from Mainland China, how to maintain my xinxing and yet clarify the truth to them with wisdom became an opportunity to advance myself. In the process, my karma has been transformed, my xinxing upgraded, and my Gong increased. Master said in “Teaching the Fa in San Francisco, 2005:” “Some people say to me, ‘Teacher, why do I improve so slowly nowadays?’ To which I would respond: it’s not enough if you only read the books, for Dafa disciples need to do the three things well, and you have done only one of them, so you don’t sense any improvement.”
This year, the situation of Fa-rectification has been changing by leaps and bounds. I feel that the time left for us to save sentient beings is really short. Master said in “20th Anniversary Fa Teaching:” “I will tell you: cherish the path that you have traveled and what you’ve done, cherish all of the time you’ve spent validating the Fa. What has passed shall never return.”
The above is my sharing of truth clarification experiences. I hope we will all cherish the precious predestined opportunity of being a Dafa disciple.
Thank you Master! Thank you fellow practitioners!
Chinese Version: http://www.zhengjian.org/node/111788
