PureInsight | December 23, 2002
I am a sixty-four-year-old retired medical doctor from St. Petersburg, Russia. . Three years ago, I found Falun Dafa through a chance encounter. I was attracted by it when I discovered that it could enable me to improve my mind and body by myself. I read Master Li's Zhuan Falun as part of my daily cultivation practice. I try to conduct my behavior, thoughts, and everything around me according to the universal principles of "Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance." Cultivation practice is an endless and complicated effort. Sometimes, I feel very painful when many bad or unidentifiable attachments surface from deep within my heart. But eventually I always find the answers to those complicated problems while reading Zhuan Falun over and over again.
Every day I send forth righteous thoughts, practice the exercises, and read Master's Fa lectures. I join group exercise at a practice site in a stadium in downtown St. Petersburg three times a week. A Dafa practitioner pays for the rental fee of the stadium. Some other practitioners volunteer to furnish and decorate the place. Last month, I started to join group practice twice a week at Victory Park also.
Under the influence of Falun Dafa, I have improved my moral principles, my relationships with others, and my attitude toward the world. Consequently, I have begun to have a positive influence on the people around me. I have discovered that I can be adaptive and independent. I have found the true meaning of my life.
I have become even more peaceful than ever. I have resolved all of my personal problems easily. Sometimes, they seem to resolve themselves miraculously. I even have different understandings about art. I no longer need to worry about my illnesses. Gradually, my stubborn and disturbing arthritis disappeared without a trace.
In St. Petersburg, Dafa practitioners continue to spread the Fa and expose the truth about the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China and the reason why Jiang's regime is so adamantly against Falun Gong. With the permission of the city government, Dafa practitioners distribute Dafa newspapers every Saturday downtown at Ukrainian Park and every Sunday at Victory Park. Those practitioners print the newspapers at their own expense. In addition, we practice the exercises as a group, send forth righteous thoughts together, and also teach the exercises at these places. To help reduce the persecution against the practitioners in China, we send forth righteous thoughts together in front of the Chinese Embassy downtown.
We also distribute Falun Gong newspapers at subway and major bus stations. We take giving newspapers to Chinese people as a priority in order to inform them of the truth about Falun Dafa and expose the brutal persecution against Falun Gong practitioners in China. Some practitioners sometimes travel to different cities and rural areas to spread the Fa. Not long ago, we went to Weinberg to spread the Fa.
Recently, many fellow practitioners made appointments with the government officials in St. Petersburg to clarify the truth about Falun Gong to them, and supply them with the latest versions of our truth-clarification materials, including statements of Falun Dafa practitioners' tremendous health improvements as a result of practicing Falun Gong, which will be an important benefit to the citizens in St. Petersburg. We have also shown them that Dafa is widely received around the world, and we supplied these government officials with truth-clarification articles and pictures from the web to help us clarify the truth about Falun Gong. We explained to them why the Chinese government persecuted Falun Gong and why the Chinese Embassy in Moscow and consulates in St. Petersburg would concoct false news and information slandering Falun Gong and release them to the media.
Veteran practitioners contributed a lot to Dafa. For example, they have held photo exhibitions, organized Falun Dafa experience sharing conferences in St. Petersburg and Moscow, and photocopied Master's articles, practitioners' experience-sharing papers from Fa conferences, and cultivation experience articles from other countries for local practitioners. They also help local practitioners create exercise music tapes and have helped local practitioners in many other ways. Not only do they volunteer to perform these tasks and services without any pay, but also they continue to work tirelessly at their everyday jobs and pay the rental fees for the practice sites without mentioning their contributions at all.
It wasn't until recently that I started to spread the Fa with others in the park every Sunday. I spread the Fa with my heart. I talk about Dafa and my life as a Falun Gong practitioner with my relatives, friends, former colleagues, and college classmates. I have sent copies of Zhuan Falun to them, sometimes, with Master's Fa lectures and exercise music audiotapes. I have also sent copies of Zhuan Falun to other cities and started to help distribute Dafa newspapers. Nowadays, I also talk about news from China as part of my truth clarification efforts. I always carry some truth clarification flyers and newspapers in my bag. Wherever I go, I remember to distribute these materials to people I meet.
In the end, I'd like to confess my lack of persistence in cultivation. Sometimes, I didn't participate in the group practice, and I didn't practice enough at home. Apparently, I have a lot of attachments yet to be removed. However, I try to put myself within the Fa at all times, which I think is most important.
Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2002/11/16/19169.html
