Shared at the 2006 New York Falun Dafa Conference
(Clearwisdom.net) In July 2004, practitioners from New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and other cities around the world gathered in New York City to blaze a new chapter in Dafa disciples validating of the Fa and cultivating. Following Master's teachings, practitioners came to this place with ultimate reverence for Master and Dafa and the grand responsibility of saving sentient beings in NYC. During the past 18 months, every practitioner has made his/her own efforts and become more mature on the road to godhood. Along the way, we have been establishing our mighty virtue.
Now the Bergen, NJ, Team would like to share a few key points that we have enlightened to with our fellow practitioners.
1. Manhattan is a Good Place for Dafa Disciples to Save Sentient Beings with Compassion
When we first started to "clarify truth" in Manhattan, some practitioners thought it should be easy. This is the United States after all, a country that respects and promotes freedom and democracy. Most Americans have religious beliefs, and they can tell good from bad, righteousness from evil. Among the rich business owners, senior executives, and white-collar folks in mainstream society here in NYC, many had yet to come across Falun Gong, let alone listen to our truth clarification face to face, owing to the fiercely competitive environment of the city; and this, despite the fact that the evil CCP has persecuted Falun Gong for more than six years. So it wasn't odd that they would act cold and detached towards us. We believed that as long as we could give them an opportunity, they would soon understand things and start to change.
However, the reality of it seemed far from our expectation. Big display boards were placed on the sidewalks where these people passed by, pictures of tortured practitioners were within their eyesight, and torture re-enactments were right by the roadside. Yet, some of them did not even want to raise their head one bit and look. Practitioners greeted them warmly, "Please learn the truth about Falun Gong!" and politely handed them our flyers. They might give you a seemingly "polite" smile and raise a hand to say, "Thank you," but most of them would have coffee in one hand and a cell phone in the other, with a thick newspaper or two and folders under their arm. They would murmur something and walk on fast. Their body language said clearly. "I'm busy, don't bother me!" After a while, practitioners started to wonder, "What's wrong with these people? How can they ignore such brutal persecution when it is happening right now in this world? How can they be so insensitive?" It was as if our enthusiasm had been doused by cold water. It was like a wake-up call for us at the same time. In reality things weren't going to be so easy.
Manhattan is the world's financial center, the global economic hub. People in Manhattan are special and so is its environment. It's because of this uniqueness, as we understand it, that the old forces of the cosmos gathered here and have prevented New Yorkers from learning the truth. And notably, the evil CCP regime has, while on its last legs, done its utmost to make use of this place to deceive the world's people.
By placing us in Manhattan, Master had provided us a good place to save sentient beings with compassion. In front of these cold, indifferent faces, I thought, if there was no boundless compassion by Master, if we reacted in kind as if the people before us were "not worth a single glance," then would these people still have a future? If we failed to treat them with compassion, would there have been any point in Master asking us to come to NYC? We had to put down the attachment of feeling that "New Yorkers are cold" and stop worrying about our own feelings. We realized we must make the task of saving these people our top priority and clarify truth with calm hearts.
Thus, no matter who we had to face, we were able to treat them with kind hearts. Gradually, we learned to remain calm here in this strange city. We came to no longer judge something by its face value or with our own notions. When someone with long hair down his back and a thick beard walked towards us, we would not avoid him. When a teenage girl showed a pierced belly button, we would not look down on her, for nothing was more important than helping these lives. We constantly remembered that,
"...no matter how many lives have emerged or how many there still are in the world today, they all came for, and were all born and created for, this Fa." ("Teaching the Fa at the 2004 Washington DC Fa Conference")
Thus, as we went about clarifying the truth, we came to no longer label people or treat them differently.
Gradually people in Manhattan began to learn the truth about Falun Gong. They started to understand that it's the evil nature of the CCP that led to the brutal persecution of Falun Gong. As a result, their attitudes toward us began to change. One day, an African-American man politely walked toward a practitioner and said that he had read our material and believed that everything we said was true. A few Chinese colleagues in his company often told him how bad Falun Gong was. They were deeply poisoned by CCP. He asked for several copies of the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party and said that he would place them on his Chinese colleagues' desks so that they could learn the truth about the CCP. He said, "It's the 21st century. I can't believe such brutal things are still happening on the other side of the world!" He then signed our petition and told us, "Your cause is noble, and I fully support you. I wish you success!" We were happy that he learned the truth and worried about those who were still poisoned by the evil Party.
"...clarifying the facts has become a unique way of cultivation for you cultivators today." ("Teaching the Fa at the 2004 Chicago Conference")
Clarifying the truth, we have cultivated our compassion, and we have become more rational and wise.
Thanksgiving was particularly bustling in NYC. Tourists from the States as well as around the world all like to walk around Broadway and Times Square, where we clarified the truth. Students who participated in the Macy's Parade were especially excited, having fun together in the streets. We noticed that they showed no interest in our torture re-enactment, nor did they pay any attention to our truth clarification. On the surface, they were just kids. But on a deeper level, they didn't show up in front of us just for fun. They were here to learn the truth, we believed, and we couldn't let them pass by us just like that! We saw a man who looked like a teacher leading one such group. In a loud voice, one practitioner asked him, "Hi, did you know that this is happening in China?" He replied, "What's happening there?" So this practitioner began to clarify the truth to him. He asked a few questions, and the practitioner answered them in detail. The teacher's attitude apparently had an impact on the kids, and they started to ask questions, one after the other. The practitioner answered each and every one of them in the same way. The kids looked very surprised. Without being asked, they signed their names on our petition form. The practitioner taught them to say "Falun Dafa hao," and they repeated it loudly.
2. Clarifying the Truth in Manhattan is a Good Opportunity for Dafa Disciples to Cultivate Themselves
During the truth clarification in Manhattan, we New Jersey practitioners were responsible for clarifying the truth to pedestrians and answering their questions. We were also responsible for collecting signatures on petitions against torture. Some practitioners' English skills were quite good, and they could express themselves well. Usually there would be people around them listening to their truth clarification, and they could guide people to sign our petition. These practitioners played a good role in the truth clarification effort.
One day, one practitioner suddenly manifested sickness karma, such as having a fever, chills, and dizziness. He's normally very healthy and had never experienced such severe sickness karma before. He thought that based on prior experiences, as long as he kept on studying the Fa, doing the exercises and sending forth righteous thoughts to negate the old force's arrangements and interference, these symptoms would be gone in a few days. Apparently it was different this time. He then increased the intensity of his Fa-study, exercises, and sending of righteous thoughts, but a week went by and still nothing had changed. He further increased the intensity of doing the three things, hoping to eliminate the evil force's interference. But a month went by and still no change. In fact, it was getting worse, for he could no longer lie down at night. He had to sit throughout the night, half asleep, half awake. He tried hard to look inward. He wanted to find and eliminate his attachments quickly so that they wouldn't be utilized by the evil and interfere with his validation of the Fa. However, he still wasn't successful. He thought about it hard, but could not figure out the reason for it.
Despite the sickness karma, he was still busy with all kinds of activities every day. However, not being able to find his attachment, he could not do well in his Fa validation. After a while, he felt exhausted and miserable, both mentally and physically. His heart was uneasy and he couldn't calm his mind when he studied the Fa, did the exercises, or sent righteous thoughts. He grew depressed without realizing it. This went on for two months on and off. Finally he realized the seriousness of the situation.
A snowstorm that hit NYC gave him the opportunity to study Fa for a full day. As he was reading, his eyes caught the following paragraph from Master's teachings:
"Some students show their attachments, but some students don't, they keep them inside and they are incredibly attached, and in the end they can't let them go on their own. The evil will make you more and more abnormal, and make you fall hard--so hard you will never forget it for the rest of your life." ("Explaining the Fa During the 2003 Lantern Festival at the U.S. West Fa Conference")
He examined himself again and suddenly it became clear. He had found his attachment. His current condition was exactly like what Master had described. That is, at the beginning he did not pay attention to his attachment and failed to seriously face it for a long time. And the longer he delayed, the more unlikely it grew that he would find the attachment. Since the beginning of clarifying the truth in Manhattan, he had frequently heard praise from others as to how well he could speak with people. In particular, practitioners from other areas said things about how practitioners in North America had cultivated well and were amazing, being so capable, and that a single person could handle the tasks of many, and so on. When he had heard these flattering words he felt that indeed he was really capable when it came to speaking with others. He began to grow overly happy in his heart. Feeling happy with himself, he forgot that he was a cultivator, and forgot that Master had sternly warned of how being too happy could be easily exploited by demons. It was not until that day of extended Fa-study that he came to realize that he still had fundamental attachments to fame, self-interest, and feeling, despite having cultivated for a number of years. Cultivation is a serious matter, and we cannot take it lightly. No matter how well we do in clarifying the truth in Manhattan, we should still cultivate ourselves solidly.
All of this is a reflection of how well you are doing in your personal cultivation. Cases like the one just described began to come up after the truth clarification in Manhattan had been underway for a while. After a period of intense and busy truth-clarification, we found that some practitioners couldn't become still during Fa study, and their righteous thoughts weakened. Some practitioners would even fell asleep during Fa study or sending righteous thoughts. Sometimes they became happy with themselves over being so focused and busy. Going to and fro, they were always in a hurry, and some of us indeed regarded it as a sign of diligence and real cultivation. But in fact, it was far from real cultivation. They were swapping Dafa work for cultivation.
We knew the importance of Fa study and we each had a daily Fa study schedule based on our own situations. But sometimes we unconsciously treated Fa study as just another task to complete. Whether we truly studied anything grew less important. Sometimes we unconsciously regarded Fa study, exercises, and sending righteous thoughts as a mere means of getting rid of personal challenges. Whenever we had challenges, we would remember that we hadn't seriously studied the Fa, or exercised, or sent righteous thoughts for a long time, and then we would immediately do "aggressive catch-up" in an attempt to do away with the challenge at hand or the interference. We shouldn't of course say that it was wrong, but perhaps we could say that this type of Fa study contained elements that weren't all that righteous. First, it was trying to use Dafa. Second, it was attachment of seeking something in Fa study. It was using Fa study as a means of getting rid of challenges, and not true cultivation. This is disrespectful of Master and Dafa. So, although on many occasions we tried hard to study the Fa, the result was not as effective as before, or as other practitioners had described in their online writings. Master has again and again asked us to study the Fa, study the Fa, and study the Fa, and he has told us that at no time should we skip Fa study. Only this way can we "melt into the Fa" and "assimilate to the Great Law." I believe we should eliminate attachments through cultivation in Dafa, and eliminate our notions so that we may march toward consummation. When we truly melt into the Fa, how can evil elements dare to even get near us?
As the Fa rectification process moves forward, there are more and more things for Dafa disciples to do, and the tasks are getting heavier and heavier. Sometimes many things happen at the same time and compete for manpower, and we aren't able to assign enough practitioners to each project. We all understand that there is no ranking of Dafa projects. All of them are important, and we need to do them all and do them well.
Sometimes in our NYC effort there was only one practitioner who could play the part of a victim in the torture re-enactments, as we couldn't find others at the time. It was wintertime, and the wind blew in strong gusts. The practitioner would have to sit inside a cage in the cold for a whole day without a single bathroom break. Over the years, whenever we read Internet accounts of the torture and abuse Dafa disciples in China endured for not giving up their beliefs, all sorts of feelings would well up inside us. Their stories inspired us to do even better here in the America. When I felt cold, I thought about the practitioners who were imprisoned in China. Evil police would bury them in the snow, with temperatures well below freezing, or tie them to a tree and dump bucket after bucket of icy water over their heads. Every time I thought about this, I no longer felt cold. With these thoughts, five hours would go by fast, as if mere seconds.
Manhattan's 42nd Street is always busy, whether it's a hot summer day or a cold winter one. All the attention we got from passersby made those of us participating in the torture re-enactments feel that our responsibility was great. However, things were quite different in lower Manhattan, especially during the winter. You could sit there for one or two hours without seeing a single soul look your way. People would just walk by the cage as if you didn't exist. At those times I would have doubts in my mind, questioning whether my efforts were at all meaningful.
When I had doubts, though, I would think of Master. Master has said,
"I have never felt bitter for the numerous hardships I have suffered. Then what do you have that still can't be abandoned?" ("True Cultivation" from Essentials for Further Advancement)
Did I have a reason for not abandoning my human attachments and for being concerned over the number of onlookers? Was I cultivating for others?
The process of clarifying the truth in Manhattan was also a process of slowly cultivating away our attachments to selfishness and gradually becoming calm under all circumstances.
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