Dear friends and family,
You have known me only recently or you have known me all my life. In China, because there are so many people in the world, people believe that a chance to meet is predestined by the heavens. It is because I consider our predestined relationship of knowing each other so precious, that I have put my heart into writing you this letter today on the eve of July 20, which is the day 5 years ago that former Chinese dictator Jiang Zemin initiated the most brutal suppression of the spiritual practice of Falun Dafa, which is what I practice. It is my wish to share with you what is in my heart every moment of every day. That is: Truthfulness, Compassion, and Tolerance.
Ever since I learned Falun Dafa I learned to cherish these principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Tolerance in both myself and in others. I do my best in daily life to follow these principles and to become more assimilated to them by letting go of harmful habits and selfish mentalities, and by practicing how to put others first and take responsibility for my own shortcomings.
Our Teacher, Mr. Li Hongzhi, taught that these characteristics are the true foundation of life, the composition of the universe and the nature of all life--including our lives. Without a doubt I believe this to be true.
I believe that it is true because I have discovered benevolence and purity inside myself, and I see it expressed in other practitioners that I know, and also those who do not practice. I learned that everyone has a "Buddha nature/good nature" and that everyone also has a "demon nature/ bad nature." What is really crazy is that the demon nature hates the Buddha nature and will always try to prevent goodness from predominating. This can be understood in daily life. For example, when we want to loose weight, stop complaining about things, prevent angry outbursts, etc. it is really hard to do and we usually have to suffer to make improvements. From Falun Dafa's teachings I can understand some deeper meanings that have enabled me to improve myself in these areas on a daily basis. What is most wonderful is that when I can let go of my mentality of "impatience" for example, I will naturally experience a wonderful compassionate feeling accompanied with the ability to understand others better.
You may know about the persecution inside China against Falun Gong. It is so brutal and systematic throughout China under dictator Jiang Zemin's power that it is really hard to imagine with our western minds. In order to carry out Jiang's order to "eradicate Falun Gong," the 100 million Falun Gong practitioners were targeted with requests to give up their belief by signing a renunciation statement. Out of fear and intimidation many gave up on Falun Dafa, at the same time giving up on such wonderful opportunities to attain the enormous benefits from practicing Falun Gong. That was such a great loss. Countless others refused to give up their belief, and were thus targeted for attack by the government. Today is July 20, 2004. It was this day 5 years ago that Jiang ordered the eradication of Falun Gong and implicated an entire nation's people to carry out atrocities--or face persecution themselves.
Falun Gong practitioners believe that "what goes around comes around" and that good deeds bring good returns, and bad deeds bring great harm to oneself. It is kind of like the principle of karma. It is known that even a person's thought toward something counts for something. In the case of persecuting Falun Gong, the entire nation of China was hit with a deafening barrage of propaganda attacks on Falun Gong, confusing and frightening people. The lies about Falun Gong were spread all over the world to support such inhumane policies of persecuting innocent people. The Chinese dictatorship also threatened and coerced the world's governments, which has affected the media's willingness to report on the issue positively as well as the average citizen's ability to learn the truth.
In fact, a lot of people around the world have been adversely affected in this persecution. I feel a lot of compassion for everyone so I have been taking action over the years to tell the truth and to try to stop the persecution. It is because I believe so strongly in the goodness of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Tolerance, and the practice of Falun Gong, that I wish to help others.
Falun Gong practitioners everywhere share the same heart. They have taken very peaceful actions to encourage citizens of all nations to speak out to protect the freedom of this belief and to prevent further harm to large numbers of people. We are doing this via candlelight vigils, 24-hour appeals at consulates, parades, SOS walk, writing letters, talking to media, etc.
The things we are doing to end the persecution are related to our fundamental principles of self-improvement. When we are appealing we are showing our compassion and deepening our compassionate understanding of the world.
Toward those who are instigating the atrocities against us, we do not have animosity. We still have compassion to appeal to their Buddha natures and try to let them understand that what they are doing is wrong. We have filed lawsuits against many top offcials responsible for the persecution to seek justice and to serve as a deterrent to those persecutors. While there is no justice system in China to protect Falun Gong practitioners at present, there is a system of international laws, and most importantly, there is the law in the heart.
It is to kind-hearted people that we are appealing to help us to stop this persecution in China in order to protect the precious good nature of humanity and the universal principles. We only wish for your understanding on this matter. Every person has a choice what to believe and what not to believe. I do not wish to confuse you regarding issues of belief or religion. I am just talking about people's good nature.
I believe without question that without this good nature, without Truthfulness, Compassion, and Tolerance, there would be no true happiness in the world.
With best wishes to you and your family,
[a Western practitioner]
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Category: Perspectives
