Experience of Practitioner 1

A few practitioners of different nationalities and I have gone to a certain country [Note: country's name withheld to avoid undue interference] several times to Hongfa and to inform the people about the current situation in China. Negative articles about Dafa can be seen there quite frequently in the news, thus there has never been a greater need for truth clarification work. This work had been quite slow for several reasons, most of which were directly related to my attachments of fear and sentimentality towards my family. China and this country share many characteristics, such as a terrible record of torture and persecution by the government, and illegal imprisonment. These similarities, in addition to friendly ties and strong mutual economic and political interests with China could cause this country's government to persecute my family. After some incidents with the Federal Police and having heard about practitioner's phones being tapped, I became quite suspicious. I noticed that while outside the country, I didn't feel anything like this; however, once I was there these feelings were overwhelming and paralyzing. This fear interfered with my ability to safeguard the Fa.

A few months ago we began to plan another trip there. A few weeks before the trip I saw an image during practice: a thick black cloud covered the entire country and practitioners were dispersing it with righteous thoughts. It seemed this field was restraining local practitioners and keeping them from stepping forward.

One of the activities planned was a walk around the city. We had signs and t-shirts made. The media would cover and broadcast the walk, which would end with us attempting to deliver a letter to the Chinese consulate. However, something about this didn't seem right, and a few days before the walk I began to see why. I realized that the walk had been planned using my human notions to follow along with the activities that practitioners around the world were doing, to prove that we were having Fa-rectification activities, and to compensate for my previous lack of action because of my attachments.

In "Path," Master says: "Today, when Dafa disciples clarify the truth in response to the evil's persecution, there are still some students who watch what others do. But a person always has to enlighten on his own to what he should do in the face of tribulations. Every time a person improves, the Attainment Status he has validated and enlightened to rises. The path a Dafa disciple takes is a glorious history, and this history has to be created by his own enlightening."

When a practitioner can let go of his or her human notions, the right path will undoubtedly present itself. In my mind were the thoughts, "Let go of human notions and desire for recognition and approval, let go of fear. Pure heart, pure mind. Think from within the Fa and see what is right. Clarify the truth. Eliminate the evil. Talk to them."

It all came together with little thinking or advance planning. My selfishness gave way to a deep compassion for the Chinese people that worked at the consulate. Instead of putting them on the spot by bringing media attention and possibly forcing them to act as most Chinese consulates do (or are ordered to do)--refusing to have a dialogue with Dafa practitioners or accept their letters--we decided to make personal contact with them. While planning our activities, I was already counting on the fact that they would either mistreat us or refuse to see us. My new understanding quickly eliminated this degenerate notion. Practitioners' thoughts are very powerful, and a cultivator of the most righteous Fa should never think such thoughts. Thus, one more layer of human thinking was eliminated as we looked forward to a dialogue with the Chinese consulate officials.

I looked for an example of a letter to take with us but none seemed right. Then I began to write one myself, and it was not right either. As I began to worry about this, one practitioner said, "Well, maybe we don't need a letter." Once again, I was trying to do what I had seen others do. We put a few truth-clarifying materials together in a folder, hopped in the car and went to the consulate. A fellow practitioner and I walked together towards the consulate, while the other two stayed in the car. I had thought about this day for so many months and all of a sudden it was here. I felt unusually calm and infinitely joyful in my heart, as we Dafa particles stepped forward to validate the Fa in response to the persecution, and clarify the truth to the Chinese consulate.

We stood at the intercom at the entrance. What should we say? Hmm... we were thinking, thinking. If we said we were Falun Gong practitioners they might not see us. But if they asked the reason for our visit we had to tell the truth. After we stood there about 30 seconds, a person came up and rang the doorbell; the door opened and we walked straight in behind him, directly past the guard. We began to try to think and rehearse what we were going to say, but at the same time, "think nothing" came to mind. My mind was clear. After that, the fellow practitioner saw slanderous material sitting on a table in the middle of the room. Our turn came. I grabbed the material, and when the clerk asked me what I needed, I said, "We are here to talk about Falun Gong and what's in this literature." The clerk chuckled in a strange way and picked up the phone. We waited a few minutes. He came back and told us we had an appointment with the consul general the next morning.

We returned the next day and again we had no difficulty entering the consulate. Soon after, we were in a big room with the consul general and a clerk who would be our interpreter. As soon as we sat down, the consul general began to tell us the usual negative stories about Dafa, one after another. They were quite superficial and disconnected. Several of them were stories regarding teachings that cannot be found in any of Master's books or lectures, or they were unsubstantiated fabricated stories about Dafa practitioners. After a while I began to feel very uncomfortable and wanted to stop him from slandering Dafa. This man actually seemed to have a good heart and to be a nice person, but one who had been poisoned by the Chinese government just so he could justify their position against Dafa. I felt pain in my heart to watch him hurt himself like this. In addition, to sit there and listen to so many lies about Dafa, was that safeguarding Dafa? I tried to stop him, but he said sternly: "First listen, then we discuss." I only know Chinese culture on the surface: What if in China it is considered very rude to interrupt someone while they are speaking? Since we were representing Dafa, I decided we could wait a little longer. After he was finished, we had our opportunity to tell them the truth. We told them that there were millions of people around the world who have found in Dafa very precious teachings, that Dafa emphasizes virtue, that it teaches and inspires people to be good people and helps and empowers them to give up bad notions and habits that are otherwise very difficult to give up--also that Dafa shows people how to rediscover their true benevolent nature. We told them our own personal experiences and that of many practitioners around the world, but he maintained that the positive effects resulted from it being a form of qigong and went back to all the negative stories. However, he could not answer when we asked: "How come all of the good things that we tell you about Dafa you attribute to it being a form of qigong, and all the bad things that supposedly happened to your friends you attribute to Falun Dafa?"

He said that he too thought Falun Dafa was good, but then he began to hear strange stories, such as people going crazy. We asked how come all the strange occurrences he cited only happened in China? How come Dafa keeps growing around the world and we haven't met even one person that has experienced any of the things he mentioned. Much to the contrary, we only hear very positive experiences. Unfortunately, he truly believed that Dafa is sponsored by countries that don't have China's best interest in mind. We refuted that immediately.

We voiced our concern about the hundreds of Chinese practitioners who have lost their lives for believing and living by Zhen-Shan-Ren and by the highest moral standards that could be found in society. We were also concerned about the escalating persecution that has been ripping apart thousands of families, taking away their jobs and any means for leading a decent life in China. We said that we knew of the terrible torture and suffering they were enduring in China. At first he said that he didn't know about it. He seemed quite shocked when we said we personally knew people who lived through incarceration and mistreatment. I truly think he had a hard time believing us and also the details of the persecution we described. He asked: "If they were jailed, how could you have talked to them?" We answered, "Some of them have been released, thanks to the support of thousands of practitioners inside and outside of China, as well as of human rights organizations and governments around the world who support freedom of belief." He said that China has its laws and regulations and that those who do not follow them should be punished. I replied that there is an even more encompassing and universal set of rules called the United Nation's Declaration of Human Rights, which was signed by the Chinese government but is not being respected at its most basic level. We asked how could people like us who lived by the precious universal principles of Truthfulness, Benevolence and Tolerance be treated like criminals and enemies of State?

He then brought up the "self-immolation" incident. I talked about the article detailing the facts of this incident--facts that show clearly that the woman involved was not a practitioner. I had been speaking pretty calmly most of the time; however for those few minutes my heart became moved and I was no longer calm. He immediately made an observation that pointed out my overzealous reaction. I quickly realized what had happened and how evil can use our omissions and attachments to hinder our truth clarification work.

We discussed many other things. He spent a great deal of time explaining about the current situation in China and how the country is beginning to open up to the world. We asked why China wouldn't allow third parties to investigate the labor camps. He said China is careful about who they open their doors to. He said the same thing is true with him and us; however, he finished by saying "to nice people like you, our doors will always be open. Although we have different opinions, I think it's always good to exchange ideas."

The consul general and the office clerk spent two hours with us. If there is evil controlling the Chinese consulate in this country, its hold is very weak. I still see goodness in their hearts and think that these beings can be saved from immediate retribution for speaking against Dafa. We emphasized and acted according to the principles of Zhen-Shan-Ren throughout the two hours of conversation. By our actions as Dafa particles, I believe they sensed the essence and the goodness of Dafa. We left them with many unanswered questions--questions that may cause them to think and redefine their own personal stance towards Dafa, perhaps even question its persecution and arrive at a better understanding about Dafa and the people who practice it, and why Dafa disciples are willing to give their lives to safeguard it.

Fellow practitioners let us keep shedding our human notions and steadfastly follow our own cultivation paths, as Master teaches us. Master has made arrangements for us. Although we often work in groups and support each other in worldwide projects, we should always keep in mind Master's precious words:

"... amidst the manifestations of things it's very hard to find a path that others have made, and it's even less possible for a person to get a ride down one. If there really were pre-made paths and effortless rides, that definitely would not be cultivation." - Path

While facing tribulations, instead of allowing our attachments, desires and personal pursuits to judge whether something is right or wrong, we Dafa particles must enlighten to it by taking the Fa as the teacher. As we walk our paths and fulfill our vows as Fa-rectification period disciples, wonderful things unfold time and time again. As Dafa disciples, we shall continue to step forward from our humanness and enrich our paradises by displaying Dafa disciples' compassion and saving sentient beings.

Please point out any gaps in my understanding.

Thank you.

I also was there the day we went to clarify the truth to the consul general. I remember when we were planning to go to the consulate. So many questions arose in my mind. What will we say? What are we going to tell them when they ask why we were there? Were we going to deliver something to them? With so many things in my mind, fear and doubts began to surface. Finally, we decided to just go and stopped trying to plan everything out with our imaginations. Once that decision was made, the fear and the doubts disappeared, and in their place came calmness and steadiness.

The first day we arrived we were confronted with our first obstacle, a giant iron gate. My first reaction was "what are we going to do now?" After a few seconds passed, a man arrived, pressed a button, and we walked right in behind him. Immediately, we passed a guard without any interference. Inside the consulate we found slanderous material about Dafa. When we were asked why we were there, we said it was to talk about this and pointed to the material. Within 20 minutes we had a meeting scheduled with the consul general for the following morning. This experience enlightened me to the fact that, as long as a Dafa disciple remains unattached to any result in his heart and maintains righteous thoughts, the best results will manifest.

The next day when we went to the consulate, I didn't allow any thoughts of doubt to arise. I knew in my heart that if a Dafa disciple does what a Dafa disciple should do with a righteous mind, the right outcome would take place. When the dialogue between us took place, a mental battle ensued. When we first arrived, in my mind we were very large beings while he was very small. However, as we talked with him we began to shrink and he began to become large. This went back and forth, with us becoming larger and then us becoming smaller, until in the end I told myself that this is not right--a Dafa disciple should be larger. In the end we were again large beings compared with him. With this in my mind, at the conclusion of the talk we offered him a truth clarifying VCD, which he accepted. We even asked him to read the title out loud, which he did. Finally, he told us that we could meet with him again in the future.

I believe we left the consul general with a good impression of Falun Dafa practitioners. I think he saw us as well educated, rational, and articulate individuals. He also saw our genuine respect and belief in Dafa. All of this has the power to break through the lies that the Chinese government has been propagating and to place fear into the evil that is manipulating people. When practitioners approach people without pursuit or attachments to an outcome, and from their hearts, anything is possible and the best results will be obtained.