Cultivation Experience of Clarifying the Truth in an Airport

[PureInsight.org] My name is HXY and I am a practitioner from Los Angeles. When I was little I had always had an unknown illness in the joints of my hands and feet. As I became older, the illness worsened so much it felt meaningless for me to live. During spring break in 2001, I went back to Taiwan for the Chinese New Year. During that time I had fortunately ran into Dafa and began to cultivate. Soon after, all of the illnesses that had tortured me for so long had disappeared. Now I feel energetic and my relations with my relatives have become a lot better.

This cultivation way is so great but is now ironically being brutally persecuted in Mainland China by Jiang's group. In July of 2001, I went for the first time to participate in an experience sharing conference in Washington DC. When I first saw the pictures of the brutally persecuted practitioners in China, I began to think of what I could do to help. Master said: "My Law bodies are aware of everything. Whatever you think about, they're aware of it, and they can do anything." (From "Buddhist Anointment" in The Fourth Talk of Zhuan Falun) Master saw my heart and a few days later, some practitioners who where clarifying the truth in an airport asked me if I might also be able to distribute truth clarification newspapers there to. I immediately and excitedly agreed to help. So now I would like to share with everyone my experiences within the two years that have passed since that time.

1. Overcome Fear when Clarifying the Truth

Master once said: "I'll tell you a truth: the whole process of cultivation is a process of constantly getting rid of human attachments." (From "Truly Guiding People Up to High Levels" in The First Talk of Zhuan Falun) Clarifying the truth in the airport is also a process of cultivation. I came to realize that fear is also an attachment. In clarifying the truth to people, getting rid of fear is the first step. When I came to the US, I never walked the streets alone and I rarely talked and was not talkative. I am not good with Chinese spoken Mandarin, and had a difficult time understanding people who spoke with accents from various parts of China. I was worried they would not understand me. I was also afraid of being denied, shouted at, laughed at, and embarrassed in front of people when speaking in public. I also feared not being able to answer people's questions because of being a new practitioner. Once, as I recollect, there was someone from China that asked me, "Why do you not kill a mosquito?" I questioned him twice, but still could not understand his question. This led into a line of people on the street laughing at me. I was stunned. Thus, I began handing out truth clarification flyers to them during which time my hands were nervous and shaky. Through continuous Fa study, experience sharing with other practitioners, and reading more truth clarification articles on the Minghui website, I began to understand how to do my truth clarification task better.

In reality, "fear" is also an expression of "selfishness." It is for protecting oneself against being harmed. As a Dafa cultivator, getting rid of "selfishness" is a definite. Most importantly, our clarifying the truth is mainly to uncover the truth of the persecution, tell people that Falun Dafa is truly good, and save all beings from deception. What we do is truly good for people and there should not be any fear within it. In "Eliminate Your Last Attachment(s)" from Essentials for Further Advancement II, Master says, "If you are not afraid, the factor that would make you afraid will cease to exist."

Los Angeles Airport is an important place for truth clarification because there are many groups of people arriving there on their travels from China. Chinese people are being poisoned and lied to the most severly. They are indeed in need of our help. In the lecture, "Touring North America to Teach the Fa", Master said:

…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.

From this I realized the importance of my truth clarification work.

After enlightening up to this level, I felt much better. My hands are no longer shaky and cold and when facing unfriendly people: I am no longer afraid of them. For instance, once there was about seven or eight men from a Chinese tour group. I displayed a newspaper to a tall, neat, middle aged man from the group, and he coldly asked me, "You are Falun Gong?" My mind was peaceful and calm. I looked at him nodding my head and remained in the same position displaying the newspaper. There seemed to be moment of silence, around more than ten eyes gazed upon me and time had seemed to stand still. Then suddenly he accepted my newspaper. This was followed by many others coming to grab some for themselves as well. It happened this way because I do not have fear in my mind, consequently the field around me carries no fear, so the evil has no loophole to take advantage of. The aware sides of ordinary people have awakened. As the depth of my cultivation increases, along with Master's hints and a deeper understanding of the Fa, my clarification of the truth has greatly improved. Now, every time I clarify truth and regardless of the location, I have no fear. But what I do feel is that I am on a sacred mission. And now I feel that I clarify the truth to people naturally and with much ease.

2. Have Compassion and Dignity While Clarifying the Truth

At times when I clarified the truth, I encountered people who made negative comments or even scolded me. I felt very depressed and worried not being able to explain their questions completely.

Think about what Master has said, "I often say that if all a person wants is the well-being of others and if this is without the slightest personal motivation or personal understanding, what he says will move the listener to tears."(From "Clearheadedness" in Essentials for Further Advancement) He has also asked us to use compassion when clarifying the truth. So I asked myself: am I doing this to save people by clarifying the truth or am I doing this just for the sake of talking about the truth, what kind of mentality do I actually have? Am I being benevolent and compassionate enough? Clarifying the truth is also a cultivation process. After realizing this point, I was not worried about how people perceive me, and realized I should just the best I can with what I should do.

There was an instance at the airport's shuttle bus stop. I had seen a Chinese tour group at a fairly far distance away. At that moment I thought about what Master said in his poem, "Hurry Up And Tell Them,"

As Dafa disciples tell people the facts,
It's like sharp swords shooting out together from their mouths,
Shredding apart the rotten demons' lies.
Lose no time and save them, hurry up and tell them.

I quickly approached them while sending forth righteous thoughts, and held out a newspaper, but none of them would accept it and even when I asked them where they had came from, they all kept silent. I began turning the newspaper to the page describing the deception of the self-immolation. Suddenly, a person responded by telling me to shut my mouth and voice from annoying them. I immediately got on the bus ride with them. While sitting next to them on the bus, I began to say, "You sit first…" One man starred at me and said "Your speaking gives me a headache, why don't you sing instead?" I instantly thought about this and agreed. I felt they really needed to be saved, so I sang "Be Saved." I would never had thought that I would be standing on a bus full of old people singing out loud to them. As I sang, I looked at them, watching their eyes. Time had froze and everything seemed calm and silent as they all listened. The voice came from my throat, but I felt that it truly did not originate from myself. I continued singing untill they departed the bus. As they went to the check-in area of the airport, I said to them, "Have a safe trip!" They all carried smiles on their faces, and a few of them even came to shake hands with me. Master stated: "The Fa is merciful to all beings, but at the same time it's solemn and dignified." (From the "Fa-Lecture During the 2003 Lantern Festival at the U.S. West Fa Conference")

When clarifying the truth at the airport there is less of an opportunity in being able to directly talk with people because of the fact that it's a place where people are busy. Upon encountering stubborn people deeply poisoned by the lies I send forth righteous thoughts to clear away the evil field behind them. On one occasion a tour group passed by the check-in gate, so I gave each of them a flyer. However, a person on an elevator from up above shouted down to the people below saying, "Don't read it and throw it away!" Then without hesitation, I said firmly to all of those people, "You must read it, you must read it!" I felt I had said it with compassion and also in a solemn and dignified tone with the purpose of warding off the evil field surrounding them. The person from up above was then stunned and no longer said anything. Nobody listened to what he said and those people began to read and turn the pages of the newspapers. This reminded me of what Master said in His poem, "A Righteous God:"

With righteous thoughts and righteous actions
He is diligent without letting up
Eliminating demons that damage the Fa
He is good to all beings

For the sake of saving lives, all evil must be eliminated with righteous thoughts.

3. Have a Good Appearance, Be Well Organized with the Truth Clarification Material, and Clarify the Facts in Accordance with People's Various Needs

At the airport, there are Chinese people who quickly pass by. They always like to judge a person by their appearance. Therefore it is my hope to give them a good impression, so as to not lose an opportunity in meeting them just because of my appearance. Notably, my appearance may leave them an impression influencing their thoughts about Dafa. Therefore, every time I go to the airport, I make sure to be neat, clean, and energetic-looking.

People's needs for the various abundance of truth clarification information is different. Some like reading the newspaper, some had read the newspaper and want other material, or some demand more information. Some want to read Zhuan Falun, and others don't like reading materials and so I will give them a web address to visit. Therefore, I always bring a variety of information material with me in order to suit everyone's different needs. I don't want to let my carelessness be the reason for loosing a precious opportunity to save a Chinese person.

Occasionaly someone will ask me questions about the so-called Tiananmen Square self-immolation, the suicides, mental illnesses, and etc. In such cases I point out how these issues are addressed in Zhuan Falun, in sections of the book such as "In Cultivation You Need to Commit to One Discipline" (From the Third Talk), "Practicing in an Evil Way" (From the Fifth Talk), and "Qigong Psychosis," "Breeding Demons in Your Own Mind," "Your Master Consciousness Needs to be Strong", and "Your Thoughts Have to be Proper" (From the Sixth Talk). Since Zhuan Falun clearly points out the truth of those issues, some people will then become silent and take my newspaper to read. Master said, "The Fa can break all attachments, the Fa can destroy all evil, the Fa can shatter all lies, and the Fa can strengthen righteous thoughts." (From "Drive Out Interference" in Essentials for Further Advancement II). By directly quoting Master's words, the power is boundless.

From telling the truth to various types of people, I started to learn how to talk more effectively with people from different backgrounds, use different angles, and utilize every occasion to clarify the truth. For example, a person who looked friendly and polite passed by. I asked him if he would like to read a free Chinese newspaper. He talked with me and said, "I saw you a while ago, and think you look innocent and nice, why are you being used to give out such materials to people?" He began making negative comments and saying false information about Master. As he talked more, I became worried and felt so sad that tears almost fell from my eyes. For his sake I stopped him from talking and without any facial expression, he just left. There are Chinese people who are good and nice just like him, but because the poison from Jiang's lies are so deep these kinds of people have misunderstandings about Dafa, and some of them even harbor hatred against Dafa. I began to send forth righteous thoughts hoping Master would give him another chance for me to clarify the truth to him. Then he actually approached me, and I greeted him and said, "Sir, you have not got it yet? You look nice and well-educated, many people will enjoy talking to you." Thus, I began to tell him about myself, the story of how learning Falun Gong benefited me, and the reason why I came here especially on my own to give people a chance to understand what Falun Gong really is. I told him that he should be fair to people and listen to what a Falun Gong practitioner says and compare it with what others say. After he heard me speak he accepted my truth clarification newspaper, and said, "Good, Good, I'll read it." As we speak to others it is truly for them, therefore the atmosphere will change.

4. Finding Shortcomings Within and Doing Things Better

During the process of clarifying the truth I had not done everything to the best of my abilities. Once an airport worker who was cleaning came and asked for a truth clarification flyer from me. From this incident I began to think about how I don't pay enough attention to clarifying the truth around my present surroundings. Looking back at the past two years, I feel I was one of those people Master said (not in exact words) that didn't integrate saving lives into their daily lives, in everything they do, and to everyone they meet.

Sometimes I have an attachment to happiness. On one occasion, some practitioners and I were preparing to go home when we met a group of Chinese people. They were actually pilots and flight personnel, waiting for another scheduled plane. We started to talk to them about the truth. One of them asked me for various truth clarification materials pertaining to different topics. As I spoke there was about five to six of them listening. They all asked me various questions. They asked why practitioners protest in front of Tiananmen Square, they asked if the practice prohibits killing, if I eat meat, and who sponsors the newspapers and flyers. Some ask me about my age and mentioned that I look like I'm in my 30's, however, I'm actually in my 50's. Some of them asked me what Master looks like, so I showed them a picture of Master and they said he looks nice. While speaking to them I turned through pages in the newspaper as well as Zhuan Falun. Since they had plenty of time we were able to tell them a great deal. One among them supported me by saying that there is always consequences for doing good or evil, and it is only a matter of time before the consequences of ones true actions come about. We talked for about a half hour, and parted wishing them to "Have a happy and safe trip!" They were all smiling very happily when they left from our sight. On the way home, practitioners and I share our experiences with with on another. While sharing I displayed how excited I was and how I thought I was doing such a terrific job by telling those previous people everything that I wanted them to know. However, one practitioner hinted to me that I should not become attached with the thought of being happy and excited, and being too engrossed since this kind of of mentalty will be easily exploited by the evil forces.

When I encountered fewer passengers, the number of flyers we passed out were much lower and I was worried by this, feeling things were going too slow. But in "Teaching the Fa at the 2003 Midwest-U.S. Fa Conference" Master said:

Your every word, every flyer, every keystroke, every telephone call, and every letter is having a huge impact. Beings that have come to understand the facts become mobile media, and they too clarify the facts. It's had a big impact on society.

Dafa diciples utilize every means to clarify the truth, and unite as one body. Two years have passed by and ever since then, in newspapers alone, we have handed out more than 20,000 copies. We have also handed out VCD's, small booklets and flyers, and the people who have taken our material will also tell other people about it.

Master said:

So I say that the most important goal for you in clarifying the truth is to save even more beings in the process. This is what's foremost, and this is the real purpose of clarifying the truth.

(From "Teaching the Fa at the 2003 Atlanta Fa Conference")

I hope I do better in the future in clarifying the truth and save more lives.

Thank you everyone, thank you Master Li.