(Clearwisdom.net) May 13th is World Falun Dafa Day. On this day 14 years ago, Mr. Li Hongzhi, the founder of Falun Dafa, introduced Dafa to the public for the first time, and Dafa started to disseminate it around the world. Despite seven years of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) genocidal persecution, amongst the great suffering, Falun Gong practitioners all over the globe persist in their righteous belief in Truth-Compassion-Forbearance, at the same time consistently clarifying the truth to expose and stop this persecution. People of different races are increasingly joining the group of practitioners. Why is it that Falun Gong practitioners do not bow to pressure? Why does Falun Dafa have such tremendous appeal that transcends race, nationality and geographic differences?
As the day that Falun Dafa practitioner see as a "Celebration of Life" approaches, reporters from the Minghui/Clearwisdom website and the Minghui Radio Station conducted a special interview with Kebei who lives in Toronto, Canada. Kebei is a tireless volunteer for the Chinese media in Canada. She wrote the song lyrics, "Coming for You." She is the mother of three children. The miraculous, illuminating turning point in her once tortuous life was the study and practice of Dafa. Let us share in her experience and feelings.
Reporter: You wrote and published many articles, stories and lyrics under the penname "Kebei." What does Kebei stand for?
Kebei: I came up with this name after I started practicing cultivation. In Chinese, it rhymes with "ke-bei" [pathetic]. My not-too-long life before the cultivation was filled with obstacles, and I struggled in pain and hardship. After I started cultivating in Dafa, however, all of the tribulations turned into precious spiritual wealth, like a pearl in a gloomy oyster. Maybe I wouldn't have been able to cultivate without the prior suffering, and it is a sign of the miraculous changes Dafa practice brought in my life.
Reporter: So you feel that the tribulations came to help you cultivate in Dafa? Could you talk more about these life changes?
Kebei: I studied chemical engineering in college. I was interested in qigong and passionate about exploring the human body and the secrets of life. I became a student of a renowned acupuncturist in China and studied acupuncture and qigong for treating illnesses. These studies gave me a basic sense of qigong, life and the human body, which were later illuminated in Falun Gong. I didn't realize until later that I had merely scratched the surface during this period of study.
I was not yet 30 when I left China. At that age one is not supposed to feel weathered and beat. I had been through so, so much in my life, however. My mind was really sensitive toward the inconsistency of human relationships and the selfish human nature. I keenly felt the lack of sincerity, caring, and trust among people in China, as people fought each other and schemed over the tiniest things. Any inter-personal relationship was tense and complicated, and I felt really bitter and tired. Although we were well off financially and didn't lack any material things, I felt a spiritual void. I wanted to leave China and opt for a different style to live.
In late 1997 my whole family immigrated to Canada. Because I left China seeking a path for my soul, I became familiar with some Western religions. Later I heard about Falun Gong. As soon as I read Zhuan Falun, I felt the book was so wonderful because I found the answers to all of my life's questions in it, such as the origin of human life, the purpose for human life, and how to rise to a higher existence. It was not easy, however, to truly begin Dafa practice. I thought the requirements for a cultivator were very high, and it was too difficult for me to give up the things I had been desperately pursuing. First I went with Christianity, which I thought had lower requirements. After several months of thinking and comparison, I thought one should be a good person according to Truth- Compassion-Forbearance. I felt that Dafa answered the question of the origin of life more deeply and more thoroughly; it directly points at people's minds and it is true cultivation that allows people to improve their xinxing in daily life. That is why I returned to Falun Dafa and started to truly practice cultivation.
Reporter: You just mentioned that Falun Dafa is a cultivation that directly targets people's minds. What impressed you most when you first started practicing?
Kebei: When we first moved to Canada our life was full of hardships. I applied for immigration as a highly skilled worker. My husband didn't speak a word of English, so he could not get a driver's license. To quote him, he suddenly became a deaf-mute and a cripple. I became the sole breadwinner in the family and faced pressure from all directions. Later, I worked as a doctor at a clinic owned by a Westerner. I treated patients with qigong and acupuncture, which provided a steady source of income for my family.
Soon afterwards, I started practicing Falun Gong and understood that Falun Gong practitioners cannot treat illnesses with qigong. The reason is this will not only hurt my own health but also cannot remove the fundamental cause of other people's illness. It only delays the illness, which will erupt even worse in the future. I was faced with a dilemma at the time, and I thought, "Why do I have to make such a major decision right after I started practicing cultivation?"
If I quit treating patients with qigong, my whole family would face financial difficulties; if I continued, I would be deceiving others as well as myself, and my conscience couldn't be settled.
Later I came to terms with myself. I didn't previously know the principles, so I did bad things out of ignorance. Since I now practice cultivation, how can I knowingly do the same bad things? The world's people are chasing fame and fortune, which now I have to give up in order to live with a clear conscience. My friends couldn't understand my choice, and my family firmly opposed my decision. I was really struggling inside my mind, but I remembered Teacher saying that cultivators must be good people in any environment and in any situation. I put my foot down and decided that I would quit my job at the clinic, even if it meant I would have to wash dishes or clean restaurants.
After I gave up my attachment to reputation and interest, we had a drastic turnaround, just as Teacher had told us,
"After passing the shady willow trees, there will be bright flowers and another village ahead!" (Zhuan Falun, 2000 translation version)
My husband soon found a job, and we received a low-rent house that people usually have to wait for seven or eight years to get. Our work load was reduced. Many of my later experiences told me that as long as we walk the righteous path according to Dafa, all of the heart-wrenching tribulations would dissipate like smoke. Compassionate Teacher dissolved the tribulations for me. Teacher said that we should let things run their course, because we wouldn't lose anything that belongs to us, nor can we forcefully obtain anything that's not ours. I feel that Teacher arranged the best things for me.
Reporter: People in this world are all chasing fame and fortune and trying to live a comfortable life. What made you choose the path of cultivation with such determination?
Kebei: I started practicing cultivation in 1998. In July 1999, Jiang's CCP group started persecuting Falun Gong. My heart was pained to see such a wonderful Teacher and Dafa being slandered and framed by the CCP's mouthpiece media, and fellow practitioners in Mainland China being arrested, barbarically tortured and even murdered. Like other practitioners in my area, I completely devoted myself to telling people about the truth and calling for an end to the persecution.
My friends didn't understand me, and some even ridiculed me. My husband also thought that since this was happening in China, we shouldn't care much about it. We ourselves were in a difficult financial situation, and yet we had to use our own hard-earned money to print "truth-clarification" materials, appealing for people we didn't even know. Later I cried and said to my husband, "If you want me to ignore all these good people who are being brutalized in China and not do anything about it but only make money, I absolutely cannot. If I did, I wouldn't even qualify as a good person, not to mention a cultivator who follows Truth-Compassion-Forbearance."
In fact, the reason that I was able to choose conscience over self-interest at that time is not because I am a very noble person. I was able to pass the test mainly for the following reasons:
First, it is because Dafa is good. This spiritual system clarifies very well issues such as why there are tribulations in life, why there is so much suffering in life, how we should handle them and why we should handle them in such a way. Dafa reveals the truth to its cultivators without preaching and without coercion. But true cultivators conduct themselves according to Truth-Compassion-Forbearance from the depth of their hearts. Falun Dafa gradually raises selfish people to the position of sacred beings who are able to sacrifice for others and who can give up their own interests. I am deeply grateful toward Teacher for being able to become such a holy being.
Second, we are a group, or friends, who share a common goal, and we support and help each other. It may be lonely and difficult for one person to persevere to walk this path, you may not be able to continue. But in such a materialistic world with declining morals, you find that there is such a group of people close to you, although not too many, who are also enduring tremendous pressure from their families and the society. They are all facing the choice of sacrifice for the sake of all living beings or for their own families. We try very hard to perfect ourselves, and we encourage each other to stick to our principles and to be good people in daily life and amidst tribulations, so we don't feel lonely.
Reporter: After all these years of Dafa practice, how do you look at the losses and gains during the process?
Kebei: My experiences validate what Teacher said, "no loss, no gain," while we lose only bad things through the cultivation. For example, I gave up treating patients with qigong; although I suffered some loss in terms of income and reputation, I was eventually able to honestly face my conscience. The resulting openness and broad-mindedness is incomparably wonderful, beyond the description of words.
Also, I know the CCP is wrong for persecuting Falun Gong, and I know that good people are being persecuted in China. I give up self-interest and tell people the truth and call for rescue of the innocent good people persecuted in China. This process is in itself a lifting up of human nature to a higher level. The joy I feel after improving my xinxing cannot be replicated with any material gain. It's a genuine joy that can only be experienced through cultivation.
Reporter: Isn't it only a spiritual thing? Isn't material interest more real?
Kebei: In fact, practicing Falun Dafa is to give up bad thoughts and selfishness. It doesn't imply that one actually loses material things. After all these years of cultivation, I finally realized that from a long-term view, a practitioner does not lose anything if he lives by the principles of Dafa, even if it appears as if one lost something in the short term.
For example, unlike so many, I did not open a clinic, buy a good house, or obtain a degree. It may look as if I lost out in today's materialistic society. But in reality, I became a mother of three children who all are wonderful and healthy. They are as pure as angels. Everyone loves them and all my friends envy us. My husband considers the children the greatest gift we received from heaven and they are the treasure in our life.
Before I began to practice cultivation, "yin" and "yang" were reversed in our family. I was the type of person who strove to excel. I felt that I was very capable. I made money and I was in charge of our family, no matter if we were at home or outside. I did not allow any arguments or dissension to whatever I said. After I began to cultivate, Teacher told us that in a harmonious family, a man should be strong and protect his wife, and a woman should be gentle and be understanding of her husband. One should think of others first at any time and wherever one was, and one should look within if conflicts occur. Therefore, I tried my best to let go of my bad temper, respect my husband from deep within my heart, take good care of our children, take care of our home, and always behave like a good woman should. To achieve the above is a difficult process when cultivating. When I truly abided by what Teacher said, my family became more harmonious and warmer.
My husband, who claimed to have become "handicapped" after arriving in Canada, and who was completely dependent on me, even to the point of being afraid of leaving the house, now has recovered his confidence as a man and takes care of our family. He now has found his self-esteem, is proud, and satisfied. His attitude concerning my cultivation has turned from being against it, to full support. He said, "You go ahead and do whatever you need to do. I will do my best to take care of our family. Let's count this as my support for you."
We both agree that if I did not cultivate, and only cared about how to work hard and make more money, my husband and I would have continued to live under the reversed "yin" and "yang" situation. We would not have stayed married, and we definitely would not have had these wonderful children. Even though I might live in a beautiful big house and drive a luxury car, I would not have understood that material things "can't be brought at birth, and can't be taken along at death." I ask, "Can money buy family happiness and inner peace?"
I say, "Falun Dafa is good," not because Falun Dafa would bring me immediately money, fame, and comfort. Because Falun Dafa teaches the truth about life, it points one to a bright future. As long as one follows what Falun Dafa teaches, lives nobly, openly and with dignity, then one will get true happiness, something that one wouldn't obtain through struggling and fighting.
Reporter: Do you feel anything special while clarifying the truth to people?
Kebei: I'm an engineering major and I had not written for any newspaper. After the CCP began to persecute Falun Gong, and when I saw the overseas Chinese media telling all those lies, when I heard the CCP's slanderous propaganda being repeated, when I saw Teacher and Dafa being slandered, when I saw that people were deceived and poisoned by those lies, I felt deeply hurt. Therefore, my fellow practitioners and I took up the pen and began to write what was in our hearts. The purpose for us writing articles is to uphold justice. Dafa gives me wisdom and inspiration, and my writing ability has improved significantly. At the beginning, we wrote and published articles for other media. We obtained praise and even came in first and received an award for our writing.
Later on, those media became afraid of the CCP and they became too scared to publish our articles. Therefore, we formed our own media so the truth could be told. During the process we faced many difficulties, lacking funds, people, experience, techniques, all we needed to be successful. But the path we are walking is righteous, and we are following Dafa's standard to be a good person. Along with our souls getting purified and the improvement of our xinxing, Dafa provided us with super wisdom and abilities. Our media has grown bigger, stronger, and better.
Another example is the "Divine Land Marching Band" we formed recently. Members of the band came from different backgrounds and age groups. Most of us never played an instrument before. I had never touched a trumpet and did not know how to read five lines of music. But only after one month of practice during our spare time, we could perform as a band. How could we do that? It is all because of the power of Dafa. We only have one wish, that is, show people worldwide the gloriousness of Dafa and its principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. Dafa has created countless miracles.
Reporter: Many people love the song, "Coming For You." I'm often in tears myself when I listen to this song. Can you talk about your experience when creating this song?
Kebei: Although I wrote the lyrics of this song, this song is not my personal creation. I only recorded the touching stories. From November 2001 to February 2002, there were more than 100 Western Falun Gong practitioners, who were from different parts of the world, who went to Tiananmen Square to appeal peacefully for Falun Gong. They went to tell say, "Falun Dafa is good" to those precious Chinese people. The process is so touching and it could move the universe.
Zenon, a western practitioner from Canada, wrote before his journey to China, "Since I began to cultivate Falun Gong, many bad habits that used to pollute my body and heart are gone. Today, I have gained a better understanding of Chinese culture and learned more about Chinese people. Feeling deep respect, I stepped on the land of your nation, and I support the truth for you. I hope this foreign face and pure heart of mine will recall the kindness that still exists in your heart. Please do not follow Jiang's criminal cohorts to persecute Falun Gong - that would really come to haunt you in the future."
There are others - Western twins, a sister and brother, Christina and Jason, whom I know well. They were only 20 years old, they had pure and warm hearts. They lived a good, comfortable life in Canada. They risked the danger of being beaten, detained, even disappearing or losing their lives. They went to Beijing separately to tell those Chinese people the truth about Falun Gong. I am very well aware of the details of their journey, how they overcame their fears and decided to go to China, how they said goodbye to their family and relatives, how they held up a banner with the words, "Truthfulness- Compassion-Forbearance" at Tiananmen Square and shouted "Falun Dafa is good" from their hearts. I am very familiar with their story.
I was very moved. I don't remember how many tears I shed for my fellow practitioners, for our great Teacher who taught us to be kind and unselfish, and for Dafa. Based on these stories, based on what Christina and her boyfriend had to suffer when they went to China, I wrote a novel, called "Beyond Love," and "Coming For You." This is the main theme for the song, "Coming For You." That is why I said that this song is not my work alone, but the work of a group of practitioners. The song is about how Dafa practitioners are risking their lives to protect what's best, what's most precious in their hearts.
That is the reason why people cry when they listen to this song. It holds deep truth and insights. It contains the selfless love of Dafa practitioners towards the precious Chinese people. It exhibits their understanding of "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance" as a group.
Reporter: May 13th, " World Falun Dafa Day," is coming soon. Would you like to share more with your friends about this day, which is called by practitioners' "A Celebration of Life"?
Kebei: May 13th is the most important holiday for celebrating life. Because this is the day when our benevolent Teacher gave Dafa to human beings for the first time, fourteen years ago. Since that day, Falun Dafa began to spread throughout the world. In our hearts, this is the most sacred day for a life that is saved. Dafa corrects any wrongness in everything and brings peace and beauty to individuals, families and the entire society. The preciousness and the outstanding value of Dafa is the reason for practitioners' willingness to give our lives for it, regardless of any pressure or danger we may face. Although at this moment people haven't realized the most abundant, glorious and magnificent side of Dafa, we believe that people in the future will treasure, respect and follow Dafa. May 13th will become the most sacred holiday for all mankind.
From my own experience, before cultivating Dafa, my life was rough and difficult. I felt life was so sorrowful and helpless. After cultivating Dafa, our benevolent Teacher guided me to a brand-new life path, let me understand the truth of life, and let me understand how deep and great the value of life is, how precious life is, and how glorious life can become if enlightened through cultivating Dafa. At this holiday celebrating when our lives were reborn, I would especially like to share with friends the joy and happiness that Dafa has brought. I hope all of you can benefit from Dafa and understand how precious life is.
Reporter: Thank you for accepting our interview and sharing these experiences. We hope your words will make our friends think more and deeper about life.
May 10, 2006