After our regular large-scale group study this week, another western practitioner and I spoke to a Chinese practitioner about some of the ongoing projects to clarify the truth. The Chinese practitioner showed us a VCD that had been bought from a local Chinese music store. The VCD was a 140-minute propaganda video that attacked Master Li and Dafa with lies and fabrications.
We felt immediately that something must be done to correct this. I asked the Chinese practitioner if we could have the VCD and asked him for the location of the store where it was bought. The other western practitioner and I took the VCD and prepared to visit the store the next day. At first I was a bit anxious, but my fellow practitioner helped me to calm down. We talked about what we could do to clarify the truth and effectively correct this situation. We called another Chinese practitioner who lived near the store and asked her to come with us the next day to visit the store and clarify the truth. She agreed.
The next day, the three of us got together, sent righteous thoughts and prepared some truth clarifying materials for the storeowner. We found some materials that we thought would be very effective, including the verdict from the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council (CBSC) that recently ruled the CCTV propaganda against Falun Gong that aired on Chinese TV in Canada to be "unethical and improper."
Just as we were about to print these materials, however, the power in the practitioner's house went out. Immediately, we sat down to send forth righteous thoughts. As I sent forth righteous thoughts, I thought of two things: one was that I should not be attached to any truth clarifying materials and I must be clear that it is Dafa disciples' righteous thoughts and righteous actions that can help save people, not the materials. I focused on removing any reliance in my mind on these materials. At the same time, I thought that the evil has no right to interfere with Dafa disciples clarifying the truth and saving people. Even if we have attachments and shortcomings, the evil should be eliminated.
After a couple of minutes the power came back on in the practitioner's home and we printed out the materials.
We drove to the music store and again sent righteous thoughts. We decided that we would go with the sole purpose of compassion for the store owners and doing our best to help them know the truth and be saved.
When we arrived at the store, the owner was not there and we could not find any other copies of the VCD in the store.
We approached the store clerk and began to speak with him. The other western practitioner told the clerk about the VCD that had been bought here. He said that in Canada, many people like to practice Falun Gong and that there is enormous support for Falun Gong from the Canadian people. He said we could not accept this material being spread here and that we would take appropriate means, including police and legal means, to ensure it was stopped. He said however, that he knew this store did not intend to slander Falun Gong but was just running its business. The practitioner told him that we do not want to hurt his business or give his business a bad name, so we would like to resolve this for everyone's best interest. We gave the store clerk a copy of the CBSC verdict and a Dafa flyer.
The store clerk was moved by the practitioner's kindness and firmness, and was apologetic. He said, "Yes, we didn't intend to defame anyone, we are just running our business. I will tell the store owner about this and she can call you. I will tell her not to get this VCD again." We gave the clerk our telephone numbers. Then the Chinese practitioner told the clerk that she would like to show him a short video on her laptop. She played the Cantonese version of the "Witness To History" truth-clarifying video.
We told the clerk that the other western practitioner and I would watch his store for him while he watched the video. As he watched the video, we could see that he was captivated. Every time he looked up, he could see us keeping an eye on things and watching the shoppers to ensure there was no shoplifting. As the video went on, he seemed to become more interested in it. When people approached the checkout to buy something, he only quickly looked up and then resumed watching the video. When the portion of the video came that showed the western practitioners' appeal in Tiananmen Square, the Chinese practitioner pointed out to the clerk that the practitioner in the video appealing in Tiananmen was the same one standing in his store. The store clerk looked at the western practitioner with a big smile and said, "Wow!" Then the video showed footage of myself in Tiananmen and the Chinese practitioner pointed to me. The clerk was again amazed. He watched the entire 20-minute video with close attention. The whole time we were watching his store, we were also sending righteous thoughts.
After the video concluded the clerk had been very moved. He had been really changed after learning the truth. He shook our hands, gave us his name and again promised to tell the owner about the VCD. He said, "I'll tell her to never to get that one again." The clerk pointed to other stores in the same mall that he thought also carried this propaganda VCD. He suggested we go to visit them too. We thanked him and left.
We visited a couple of other music stores and gave them the CBSC decision and Dafa flyers. We watched as one store clerk read with great interest and then passed it on to the other clerk saying, "Look, read this."
As we were leaving the mall, we again ran into the clerk from the first store, he stopped us and promised again to tell the owner. "We will never sell those VCDs again." We thanked him with a sincere heshi [hand gesture of respect] and said goodbye.
The very next day, the owner of the store called. She said her clerk was very impressed with our video and that she was very sorry about selling the anti-Falun Gong video. She told us that many stores were given those videos for free and that is why she had them. She promised in the future to contact us whenever she received anti-Falun Gong VCDs and said, "We're very sorry. We'll never carry an anti-Falun Gong VCD again."