September 8, 2002

Greetings, Honorable Master! Greetings, fellow practitioners!

We are students from a Korean university who obtained the Fa just eight months ago. Earlier this year, with determination, we went to Mainland China. Sometimes we worked with local practitioners to organize Fa-rectification activities. Other times we were on our own to do our Fa-rectification work. We truly witnessed the evil's madness and Dafa disciples' steadfastness. We saw and heard the magnificence of Dafa disciples in Mainland China. Through them we saw the boundless power of righteous thoughts from Dafa. All these various feelings and inspirations made us realize that we have fallen short and fallen behind. However, it has also become the new starting point of our Fa-rectification cultivation.

I. Righteous Thoughts and Wisdom--Practitioners in Mainland China are Like Pure, Solid Diamond that has Withstood Raging Fire

This past summer, upon arriving in Beijing, we followed our plan and went to City A in Northeast China. A fellow practitioner once told us that he recently met with a reporter who came from City A. When this fellow practitioner asked the reporter about the situation in City A, the reporter said: "It is really quite something in our area. Every day when you walk out of your home, you are guaranteed to see Falun Gong material, and almost every household gets one. I think that in our city, with a population of a few hundred thousand people, some tens of thousands to few hundred thousand flyers were distributed--and this doesn't just happen in one or two days, it is actually happening each and every day. You probably won't believe this is true. But Jiang Zemin's suppression of Falun Gong is a waste of his time. There is just no way (Jiang could defeat Falun Gong)." I was deeply inspired when I heard that, but I was also skeptical, because reporters like to brag about everything. However, when we arrived at City A where that reporter resides, we saw with our own eyes that what he said was indeed true.

When we flew from Beijing to City A, the local Dafa disciples were already waiting for us at the airport. Under their arrangement, we were able to settle down in a safe place. That night we met with other local practitioners. They were very concerned about Dafa's spreading in Korea and other overseas countries. The also missed Master very much. On the other hand, we were very anxious to learn about the situation in Mainland China and in City A. We rarely came in contact with practitioners from Mainland China and they rarely communicated with overseas practitioners. In this special environment where overseas practitioners shared experiences with Chinese practitioners, we all felt from the bottom of our hearts that this kind of experience sharing was very precious.

When we explained the overall situation of Dafa's spreading in Korea and around the whole world, local practitioners were greatly inspired. Local practitioners told us the situation in City A. In the first one and two years of the vicious persecution, because the evil regime had fabricated and spread a lot of phony articles in Master's name, some practitioners took the path of evil enlightenment. When they were in prisons or forced labor camps, they received various kinds of cruel torture. Some of them wrote the so-called guarantee statements against their wills. Nevertheless, after reading Master's article "Dafa is Indestructible," they deeply regretted having made the mistake. Some of them published their solemn declarations on the Clearwisdom Net, and again steadfastly took the path of Dafa cultivation. However, almost all practitioners who had published their Solemn Declarations were again arrested by the evil and had to endure even greater pressure and suffering. Yet they bravely faced the persecution and maintained a steadfast belief in Falun Dafa. They told us a lot of moving and touching stories of fellow practitioners who had lost everything of theirs in this world and sacrificed their lives for the dignity of Dafa and Dafa disciples.

Master says: "At this great moment in history, every steady step is a glorious historic testimony, and is incomparably-magnificent mighty virtue. All this is being recorded in the history of the cosmos. The magnificent Fa and the magnificent epoch are forging the most magnificent Enlightened Being." ("The Disciples' Magnificence") They told me a story of a female practitioner. The police used various cruel tortures on Dafa practitioners, yet most practitioners refused to write the so-called guarantee statement. So the police came up with a despicable and vicious method: they hung up the practitioners and put Master's picture on the floor. If they didn't want to step on Master's picture, they would have to bend their knees. Most people could only last for an hour, yet that female practitioner was able to hang there for eight or nine hours. The police respected her very much and gave praise in front of her by saying: "You are really great, you are a genuine Falun Gong practitioner! We respect you!" After discussing among themselves, they released her. Before she left, they told her that they would never arrest her again.

However, the situation in Mainland China, where "red terror" is everywhere, is extremely complicated, and the actual situation is extremely cruel. When it comes to clarifying the true facts about Falun Gong, some instances were very successful while some others were hard lessons to learn. They told us that just not long ago, the person in charge of making truth-clarification materials and a group of Dafa practitioners who were involved in making the Dafa materials were arrested. Their arrest had brought a great loss to Dafa. The wife of the person in charge was also a practitioner, but she had a strong attachment of fear in terms of going out to clarify the facts. So, when everybody was able to go home safely after a truth-clarification activity, she was the one who was arrested by the police. She had strong fear before she was arrested, and when she was arrested she simply couldn't pass the test after being beaten up badly. Because of this, every practitioner who used to contact her husband for Dafa work was later arrested. Nevertheless, the majority of Chinese practitioners still risked their lives and stepped forward with determination to distribute and post Dafa materials. The have awakened a lot of people and earned people's understanding and sympathy towards Dafa. People's minds are now leaning towards Dafa and they have many complaints about the heinous suppression of Falun Gong. Before, there was a huge picture of the evil head Jiang Zemin in the city center. Ever since Jiang started suppressing Falun Gong, people would constantly pour different colors of paints on the evil head's picture. When the local authorities saw what happened, they were terrified. Bystanders would gather there making fun of it. Eventually, the local authorities had no choice but to take down the picture. So the city center now looks neat and tidy again.

We think that the reason that practitioners in Mainland China are able to validate Dafa with their lives is due to their firm belief in Dafa. Master says in "the Disciples' Magnificence": "Dafa disciples are magnificent, because what you are cultivating is the ultimate Great Fa of the cosmos, because you have validated Dafa with righteous thoughts, and because you have not fallen during the massive tribulation. Dafa disciples' doing Fa-rectification has no precedent in history. In the magnificent, grand feats of validating the Fa with rationality, clarifying the truth with wisdom, and spreading the Fa and saving people with mercy, each Dafa disciple's path of Consummation is being perfected." It doesn't matter whether it is prisons, forced labor camps, arrests or cruel beatings--nothing in the world can intimidate Dafa disciples.

When we were with practitioners in Mainland China and organized Fa-rectification activities, two things impressed us the most. One is that they were in the state of righteous thoughts all the time, and their sending righteous thoughts during Fa-rectification activities was strong and firm. The other is that when they clarified the facts, they did it with great wisdom. They carefully deliberated on every detail, which manifested Dafa disciples' maturity. For example, being in such an adverse condition, they almost could never hold their palms erect or hold lotus hand position when they walk right into society to send forth righteous thoughts, yet they sent forth righteous thoughts all the time and most of them were able to return safely. They were constantly followed by plainclothes policemen, or chased by the police. Whenever this happened, they would send forth righteous thoughts towards the plainclothes policemen or the police. And the police who almost caught up with them would either freeze there or just walk past them. In "Dafa Disciples' Righteous Thoughts Are Powerful," Master says: "When some Dafa disciples see evil beings, they send out Falun and Dafa's divine powers to eliminate the evil. There are also students who have set certain times when the world's murderers and assailants who beat people will receive retribution. They have effectively eliminated evil factors and restrained the bad people." According to local practitioners, due to the cruel environment, they usually minimized the number of practitioners in a team, that is, there were usually two to three persons per team. One night, about a dozen practitioners organized a larger-scale truth-clarification event. They hung up banners, put up posters and distributed flyers, but they were chased by a dozen policemen. They were cornered on a hill in the suburbs of the city. The police department mobilized more police forces to surround the hill and they claimed that "not a single one will escape." Fellow practitioners sent forth righteous thoughts without any fear. They used feigning tactics to decoy the police away from their route. And the dozen practitioners were able to safely return to their original place, while the police were running around on the hill like fools. This way, the practitioners in Mainland China validate Master's words: "Dafa disciples' righteous thoughts are powerful" through their actually carrying out and doing Fa-rectification.

II. Doing What Dafa Disciples Should Do

In the week when we were in Mainland China, we both did what Dafa disciples should do.

In "To All Students at the Nordic Fa Conference," Master tells us: "So in clarifying the truth, don't wait, don't rely on others, and don't just hope for changes in external factors. Every one of us is creating history for the future, that's why everyone is not only participating in group activities, but also taking the initiative to look for things to do. As long as something is good for Dafa, you should take the initiative to do it, take the initiative to work on it." After we arrived at City A, as we had planned earlier, we immediately got involved with the work of making VCD copies. We had each brought a computer with us and we made VCD copies in a secure place arranged by local practitioners. It took three to five minutes to make a VCD copy. So we each could make about one hundred plus copies per day. The first day, we made about two hundreds plus copies of truth-clarification VCDs. We thought that the things that we could do in China were after all very limited and we could only offer local practitioners our help; the large amount of Fa-rectification activities still depended on practitioners in Mainland China. Therefore, as we made VCD copies, we also taught them how to operate the computers, and we eventually gave them our computers. Before we were there, it was very difficult for them to get a hold on truth-clarification material in VCD format, not to mention making VCD copies. Now they are capable of making more than two hundreds copies of VCDs on a daily basis. They were really pleased to see this happen. They felt that this was all arranged by our great, compassionate Master and were determined to make more VCDs and distribute more truth-clarification materials to assist Master in the Fa-rectification.

After sharing experiences with local practitioners and making several hundred copies of VCDs, on the night before we left City A, we went out with several local Dafa practitioners to a residential community to post the words "Falun Dafa is Good." The words were in red on a yellow background. This was the first time we participated in a truth-clarification activity in Mainland China. Local practitioners usually went to areas far away from their residential areas to post or distribute Dafa materials, because in their residential areas, most people, including the community officers, all know who practices Falun Gong and they put Dafa practitioners under surveillance if they find out about their activities. That night we went to a residential community. The residential complexes in City A usually don't have lights in their corridors or stairs, which made practitioners' posting of truth-clarification materials more convenient. As we had originally planned, each of us was responsible for a building, working from the top floor to the bottom floor. Because it was my first time, when I walked up to the sixth floor that was the top floor, I thought about posting the slogan, "Falun Dafa is Good." Although the corridor was all dark and empty, all of a sudden I started to become nervous. So I stood there quietly for a few seconds and sent forth righteous thoughts. After my heart was calm, I started to post Dafa banners. One floor after another, one unit after another--I squeezed truth-clarification materials into every unit's door. I posted the banner "Falun Dafa is Good" on each floor.

That day, the two of us and several local practitioners split into two teams to do our work. The practitioner who went to Mainland China with me was in team A and their progress was very smooth. But the team I was with, which was team B, had some problems. The problem mainly came from me. I sensed that somebody was following me when I walked into a certain unit. I acted as if nothing was wrong, yet I felt the pressure in my mind. Because there are usually no elevators in that city's residential units, I steadily walked up the stairs, and that person also steadily followed me. I was not sure if he was a plainclothes policeman or a resident of the unit. Then I remembered a local practitioner's advice, which is "the more severe the situation, the more calmly you should send forth righteous thoughts. Never be overcome by fear and never think nonsense to let the evil take advantage of." As I walked up the stairs, I sent forth righteous thoughts, and that person still followed me steadily. I didn't expect him to follow me to the sixth floor. There were only two units on the sixth floor, which was also the top floor. I suddenly remembered what a local practitioner told me the other day. He said, whenever you run into something like this, you need to strike up a conversation with the person in question. You could either deliberately say an incorrect number for the unit, or say you are looking for a person with a very uncommon name. The person in question will then think that you have walked into a wrong building and will not suspect you. I was prepared to approach him, but before I turned to him, he opened one of the doors and went in. So, I understood that my false impression of this person was targeting my fear and was meant to test me. After that I regretted it a lot, because my mentality was not pure and righteous enough when faced with such a small test.

After we were done with posting and distributing truth-clarification materials, we felt the need to post Dafa banners on the outside wall of every building. So we started to do it. Local practitioners had very valuable experience in this kind of work. They did it in a clear-cut and quick manner. For example, they could post a Falun in less than half a second. In order not to leave their fingerprints, they had come up with some special ways so that the evil could not collect their fingerprints from the posted Dafa materials. Perhaps it was because I was outside that I was a little nervous. One time I failed to post a Falun successfully, so I had to do it again. I got a big surprise when I turned around and found that a taxi driver was watching what we had been doing. As he sat still and watched me, I immediately started to send forth righteous thoughts. I didn't know where I got the courage, but I felt that as a Dafa disciple, what we do is the most righteous. Chinese practitioners are not afraid of the evil, and neither am I. So I finished posting all the Dafa materials I had in hand without any hesitation. That taxi driver had a cell phone and had seen what we had done, yet he didn't report us to the authorities. This proves the old saying "The more Tao one follows, the more help one will get. The less Tao one follows, the less help one will get." I hope that kind-hearted driver will have a good, bright, and rewarding future.

Master said in "Teaching the Fa at the Washington, D.C. Fa Conference," "This is why each Dafa disciple needs to realize the importance of clarifying the truth. This, more than anything, is what you should do with all your effort, and it's the most magnificent. The salvation of sentient beings and the Consummation of cosmic bodies that correspond to you are all part of this. Every single Dafa disciple needs to do this. Don't miss a single opportunity."

After our four-day Fa-rectification activity in City A, we returned to Beijing. We had brought 200 truth-clarification VCDs with us. In order to safely distribute the VCDs, we went to Tiananmen Square, the Summer Palace, the Great Wall and several residential buildings around our hotel. In the end, we chose the residential buildings as our targets. There are several types of residential communities in Beijing. The ones with enclosed buildings have relatively stricter security measures against outsiders; that's why we chose the residential buildings with relatively loose security measures. We found that there were less people walking around between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. As it's not yet midnight, people usually don't get suspicious at this time. Almost all residential communities have group mailboxes and bike barns. Most Beijing people have baskets on their bikes, which provided convenient spots for us to leave truth-clarification materials and VCDs. Since we made sufficient observations and had prior experience of posting and distributing materials in residential communities in a city of Northeast China, we were not so worried about distributing VCDs, but this is Beijing, where the evil is most rampant. Also, since there were no local practitioners present, we felt some pressure and nervousness. After we walked separately up to the highest level, we put VCDs through every door or in front of the door. Then we put some VCDs in bike baskets. That night, we distributed all 200 VCDs that we brought from City A. After hanging a banner reading "Falun Dafa is good" in the residential community, we returned safely to our hotel.

The two of us went to Tiananmen Square and sent forth righteous thoughts five times during our five-day stay in Beijing, twice in the daytime and three times at night. The first time we went to Tiananmen Square, [we noticed] the flag-raising platform was very prominent, and it was exactly where the 33 Western practitioners unfurled the banner that read, "Truth, Compassion, Tolerance." Uniformed and plainclothes police were everywhere, and any kind of suspicious hand gesture would attract a group of them. We sat down and commemorated the magnificent Fa-rectification scene with the 33 Western practitioners. We had other Dafa work to do; otherwise, we would really have liked to unfurl a Falun Dafa banner and shout loudly in Chinese, "Falun Dafa is good!" According to our original plan, we could only send forth righteous thoughts here. We used mostly the single-legged lotus position and we displayed the single-hand-erect posture during the sending of righteous thoughts. Soon, we heard footsteps. Many people approached who spoke in Chinese, which we didn't understand. A woman plainclothes police officer called us, and more and more people surrounded us with curiosity. They might have thought that more Falun Gong practitioners had come. Later, many uniformed officers came, and they took turns asking us questions in a severe manner. All we said to them was, "No!" Which means you, the vicious police who persecute Falun Gong, are "No!"

We always remembered that we were Dafa practitioners. Although we still had some fear when posting Dafa phrases at night several days before, surprisingly, we had absolutely no fear when facing the aggressive stares of the vicious police. We only felt as Dafa practitioners, we were tall, and those vicious police were nothing! The woman plainclothes police officer who first found us suspicious, together with another police officer, snatched our backpacks and carefully looked at the Chinese phrase book and tourist's guide, trying to find some leads. They asked us in Chinese, and our answer was still, "No!" which the people surrounding us found amusing. Yes, you are right about laughing--these vicious police are indeed "No!"

Maybe it was because we had no fear in facing the evil, or maybe the righteous gods in heaven encouraged us. After sending forth righteous thoughts for several hours with the single-hand-erect position, sitting where the Western practitioners had sat, we looked up and saw a circular, crystal-blue sky appearing among the murky sky.

We couldn't help but utter, "ah"! Hearing this, people around us also looked up, but their faces told us that none of them saw the circular blue sky!

On the second day when we went to Tiananmen Square, we sat at the same place, using the same hand posture. People stood around us with curiosity. Several police officers walked up to us and one of them spoke to me. He pointed at my fellow practitioner, imitated the single-hand-erect posture and asked something angrily and loudly. I did not even stand up but smiled and made a "sleepy" sign to him. He pointed at my fellow practitioner with his right hand erect and said something to me in a severe manner, and again I made the "sleepy" sign. He looked at my fellow practitioner with a suspicious eye, although we did not even bring our backpacks that day. After mumbling for a while, the police officer walked away without getting anything.

There was another time when we sat at Tiananmen Square. The wind blew strongly and it was about to rain. People all rushed into the subway and quickly filled it up. We sat on the ground and began sending forth righteous thoughts. Soon, several police officers came and shook us. When we opened our eyes, several police made hand gestures in a vicious manner, as if asking, "What are you doing here? Are you practicing Falun Gong?" I looked at people around us; they surrounded us with curiosity. I found that all people in the subway were sitting in a casual manner, and we were the only people sitting in a half meditation pose, with upper bodies erect and motionless. Obviously, our sitting position was very eye-catching. I only said repeatedly to the police, "Korea," "tour," and I shook my head at whatever he said. After a while, the surrounding people began laughing and the police couldn't do anything with us, so they gave up. For three nights in a row, we spent the night at Tiananmen Square. In the deep of night, we sat in the corner of the square, erected our palms and sent forth righteous thoughts for several hours. We not only did not feel sleepy at all; we felt as if our bodies were in a furnace. We both felt a gush of warmth surrounding us. It was indeed strange that when we sent forth righteous thoughts, the wind and rain above Tiananmen Square immediately stopped; and when we finished sending righteous thoughts, the rain began falling again. This surprised us greatly. When we boarded the plane to go back to Korea, looking at Beijing below, I said from my heart, "Beijing, we will be back!"

III. The Lessons We have Learned from the Nine-day Trip to Beijing

Although we stayed only a short period of nine days in Beijing, we learned a great deal from this experience. First, the practitioners in China taught us a great lesson. Looking at it from our own perspective, the greatest gain from this trip to China was the opportunity to thoroughly look back and enlighten on our Fa-rectification cultivation. Through sharing of experiences and holding truth clarification activities together with them, we felt and understood many things. The difference is about studying the Fa; understanding and improving is based on the Fa. After we returned to Korea, we felt that we were really far behind them. Although we did not say anything before we went to China, we still had the thought that we were also contributing to Dafa. Now, looking back, we felt very ashamed of this thought. Remembering doing something for Dafa is an impure thought in itself, and the thought that we did something for Dafa was shameful. In addition, the thought of wanting to do something for Dafa is not high-level, either. Master said, "As a Dafa disciple, a particle of this Great Fa of the cosmos, you should do that." ("Teaching the Fa at the Western U.S. Fa Conference" ) We are Fa particles; truth clarification and Fa promotion are simply our responsibilities. As Dafa particles, we are supposed to do that. As overseas practitioners, although we also experience difficulties, basically we clarify the truth and promote the Fa in a peaceful environment. If we can't do well in truth clarification and Fa promotion in such an environment, then we are really not worthy of the title, "Dafa practitioners."

IV. The Experience of Sharing with a Local Practitioner in a City in Northeast China

Through practitioners' introduction, one night we went to a fellow practitioner's home. That practitioner turned off all lights in the room and spoke to us in a low voice. I asked him why he didn't turn on the lights and why he spoke in such a low voice. He said he was a "target" and had been arrested and sent to jail. Right now, he doesn't contact his family and hides here. It's hard for people to imagine there is someone living in that room. However, he ceaselessly wrote Dafa phrases and drew Falun. Some of them he gave to fellow practitioners and some he posted himself. Because it was very dark in the room, it was hard to see his face. Hearing his story and seeing him explaining the truth under such difficult conditions and circumstances to offer salvation to people and to rectify the Fa, we couldn't help but cry. We immediately remembered our cultivation and the conflicts among practitioners in Korea, and felt that we were really doing poorly. We shared experiences for a long time and felt that our trip was really worth it. This room was located in an obscure place and many mosquitoes came in at night. The next morning, that practitioner got up very early and asked us if we didn't sleep well because of the mosquitoes. He also ran about to help us. When we were about to part with him, in a solemn manner, he gave us a small yellow banner on which he wrote, "Falun Dafa is good" in red ink, along with a picture of a Falun which he drew himself. Holding the banner, the Falun picture and other flyers in our hands, we cried... our hearts were greatly moved. We felt that this was truly a Dafa practitioner, and this was the way Dafa practitioners were supposed to be! Master said, "No matter what you do for Dafa and no matter what it is you're doing, you are placing yourselves in Dafa instead of thinking about "I want to do something for Dafa" or "I want to improve myself in this way or that way" as you did before. No matter what you do, you aren't thinking that you're doing something for Dafa, about how you should do things for Dafa, or how can I do things well for this Fa. Instead, you are placing yourselves in Dafa. Like a particle of Dafa, [you feel that] no matter what it is, you should just do it." ("Teaching the Fa at the Great Lakes Fa Conference in North America")

Fellow practitioners, our trip to China was a precious opportunity to thoroughly reflect upon ourselves and improve in the Fa. We hope it will serve as a new starting point for our Fa-rectification cultivation. Benevolent Master arranged all of this for us! We sincerely thank Master!

We are new practitioners and have many shortcomings in many aspects. Fellow practitioners from all countries, please kindly point them out. Thank you.