(Minghui.org) Greetings, Master! Greetings, fellow practitioners!
Through the process of rescuing my mother from China, over the past two years I have gradually opened a door to clarify the truth to the Australian government and media. I‘d like to share that experience with fellow practitioners today.
My mother has been arrested a number of times. In 2012, she was arrested again for talking to the public about the persecution of Falun Gong. I was so worried, but felt clueless about how to rescue her from Australia. Everyday people’s attachments, such as sadness, depression, and resentment, all arose in me.
After sharing with fellow practitioners, I enlightened that only if we expose the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) evil deeds can my mother be safe. More importantly, it was an opportunity for more people to learn the truth and be saved.
I started to search for the contact information of my local Members of Parliament (MPs), media, and churches. I wrote the details of the persecution my mother had suffered and sent emails asking people in these organizations for help. After I received some responses, I kept those people informed about my mother's situation. For the others who did not respond to me, I was not attached to the results. I enlightened that as long as they opened my email, they will learn the truth behind the persecution.
I visited my local MP’s office and left a copy of my mother’s story. The MP later wrote letters to the former foreign minister, whose far-east office then contacted the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs asking for the release of my mother and condemning their violation of human rights.
Seeing the good start, I tried to maintain a relationship with them. Every Christmas, I took chocolates and cards to them as a way to show my appreciation. I also sent them local news stories with updates about my mother, because MPs care about what is happening in their community. By doing so, I sent them an indirect message that what they do also matters to the community.
I also contacted my local newspapers. They were shocked by CCP’s brutality but also touched by my mother’s bravery. They agreed to help also because I was a local resident and the news carried a proximity of impact that would interest their readers.
They followed my campaign to rescue my mother and reported news about it five times in six months. My mother’s story also appeared in the Daily Telegraph, a much more influential media. All of this played an important role in disintegrating evil in other dimensions. I also tried to contact other mainstream media by sending them my mother’s story. Though they did not respond to me, I was sure that as long as they read the story, their knowing side would radiate positive energy.
My mother was locked up in a forced labor camp, and my everyday people’s attachments to her often surfaced to distract me. I worried that she would not survive the torture, or that we might be notified that she had disappeared or died. I could not think straight. Attachments of fear and a sense of urgency for better a outcome started to overwhelm me. I complained to myself that I slept for only 3-4 hours a day, that I was busy with my university studies and my part-time job that I needed to support my family.
However, I studied the Fa every day no matter how busy or tired I felt. Sometimes, I was so tired that I had to force myself to stand up while reading the Fa. I had done everything I could, but why could my mother still not go home? I became disappointed and frustrated. I envied veteran senior practitioners who had been rescued and can now practice in this free country.
After sharing with practitioners, I enlightened that if I were so attached to my mother based on the everyday people's relationship between mother and daughter, in another dimension the negative substances could influence my mother in the labor camp. It could exacerbate the persecution. I realized that my relationship with her still lingered around the level of everyday people. I had not upgraded to the level of fellow practitioners who encourage each other using the Fa principles to become more diligent. I studied more to fill myself with the Fa and put more effort into exposing the evil.
The power of social media is immeasurable. I came up with an idea to set up a website for my mother as a platform to expose the evil on an even larger scale. The story spread quickly around the world, even to the former communist country of Slovakia. The St Elizabeth University's School of Health and Social Sciences was so touched by practitioners’ persistence in upholding their belief that staff there decided to award my mother the Gold Medal for the Defense of Human and Religious Rights.
The university sent an invitation letter to my mother in the Beijing Changping Detention Center, but she had already been transferred to a labor camp. Though my mother did not receive the letter, I was sure the evil guards would open the letter and be scared to learn that their brutality and atrocities had been made known to every corner of the world.
The days were counting down to the award ceremony, but my mother was still in the labor camp. I decided to go to Slovakia on my mother’s behalf to receive the award, because I knew this award was not just for my mother. It was sentient beings signaling their support for the truth.
On the day of the event, I met local MPs in the morning and briefed them about my mother’s plight. I also clarified some confusion they held about the CCP. The award ceremony was in the afternoon. The auditorium was full, with a few hundred people in attendance. The dean explained my mother’s experience to the attendees, including the staff, professors from different countries, students, and their family and friends. Many people were touched and showed their support for Falun Dafa.
I also uploaded my mother’s story to Twitter and Facebook, together with an online petition that would eventually be sent to China and Australia's foreign ministers. I was not attached to the number of signatures, but used it as another channel to expose the evil. Besides these efforts, I also contacted the Amnesty International headquarters in England. Due to a shortage of manpower, they were unable to initiate any rescue action for my mother, but I was not disheartened. I knew there would always be a way, and regardless of when my mother would be released, I would never stop clarifying truth to sentient beings and exposing the evil.
I kept sending updates of my mother’s situation to Minghui, both the Chinese and English sites. To be frank, my level of writing is just okay, so those articles were not perfect rhetoric but simply stated the facts. In those days, I carried a notebook in my pocket so I could jot down ideas whenever or wherever they came to me. Sometimes, when I was resting, Master helped me think of a way to state those facts, and I immediately wrote them down.
In this way, I always had information to update Minghui and get something published. This made the evil really scared. For example, when a policeman in the detention center who interrogated my mother saw his name on the perpetrators' list, he threatened my mother, “You dare put my name on Minghui! I'll arrest all of your family members and bring them here to spend the Chinese New Year in the detention center.” This showed that he was actually really afraid of what he had done to Falun Gong practitioners.
Because the foundation with local media had been laid, it was easy to promote other projects, such as the documentary “Free China.” When I approached the media and told them the connection between the movie and my mother, they gladly agreed to write a story to inform local residents.
After sharing with fellow practitioners, I enlightened that I could also contact local radio stations and suggest they do a film review. But I had no experience approaching radio stations. I did not get discouraged. Instead, I studied the Fa, purified my mind to discard any attachment to the outcome, and knocked on the door of the first radio station. After clarifying the truth, they were happy to make an announcement to the community about the screening.
Encouraged by the first success, I approached ABC radio. Things went so smoothly that it was beyond my imagination. After I clarified the truth, they decided to interview the film's producer Michael Pearlman the next day, since he was in New Zealand at the time. A week after that interview, they interviewed me about my mother’s plight, live in their studio.
We thus established the connection with our local radio stations. I enlightened that this time, it was not about how capable I was, but about how we practitioners treat our projects. For any Fa-rectification projects, as long as I diligently purify my mind and put my sole focus on clarifying the truth about the Fa, Master can increase my wisdom, consolidate my abilities, and create opportunities for me.
One thing to mention is that the promotion of the film conflicted with my final exam timetable, so my time was really precious. I was not sure in the beginning whether I should proceed with the promotion or if I would have to give it up.
I fought back against myself. I thought, “The screening can only be done once, and it is because of a predestined relationship that I settled down here, so I should be responsible for the sentient beings here. Fa-validation projects are to save people. I cannot miss the opportunity. Master will arrange everything for me. I just need to focus on the project. After the screening, it turned out that my marks did not suffer.”
I did not have experience clarifying truth to media and government before. Through the effort to rescue my mother, I gradually worked out a way to approach them.
Due to the foundation laid earlier, the media publicity of the signature drive for raising awareness of forced organ harvesting this July was quite effective. My local media, including newspapers and radio stations, all got involved to publicize this event. They published news before announcing the event, carried out interviews during the event, and published news afterward.
After my mother was released, fellow practitioners and I visited two federal MPs who had previously helped with the rescue of my mother. We were interviewed by ABC radio. The presenter was so surprised to see my mother in person. He said he remembered the interview two years ago when my mother was still in the labor camp in Beijing.
When I visited them after the signature drive to thank them for their great work, they were so excited to tell me about positive comments on their website about the program. It was so encouraging. I told them about our exercise and teaching site that we had established on the same site as the event. They offered to do another follow-up interview about the exercises and teaching. Good news kept coming in. The two newspapers reports had attracted some locals to our exercise site to learn Falun Dafa.
Through this signature drive, Master had removed some bad substances from me. On the day of the event, I argued with a local practitioner about some of the arrangements. I was surprised at her attitude and lost my temper. After the event, I did not realize the severity of losing my temper. I even treated my parents badly. I blamed my menstrual cycle and said that’s something I could not control.
One day, my father seriously pointed out my bad temper. Though he said only a few words, each of them knocked me on my head. But I still did not enlighten and thought I had been mistreated. The next day, my parents still looked within as usual, as if nothing had happened.
My mother then shared with me, “It may be that Master used your dad to enlighten you. You are not aware of your bad temper lately. The menstrual cycle is something that affects everyday people's tempers, but you are a Falun Dafa practitioner. If you cannot even discipline yourself by being 'tolerant,' are you really a practitioner?”
My mother’s sharing awakened me. At the same time, I felt that since the night before, the substance that had driven me crazy had been removed, so my temper had improved a lot.
Master said,
“What is a "heart of great forbearance?" As a practitioner, the first thing you should be able to do is to not fight back when you are beaten or sworn at—you must be tolerant. Otherwise, what kind of practitioner will you be? Someone says: "It’s really hard to be tolerant, and I’ve got a bad temper." If your temper is not good, you should change it, for a practitioner must be tolerant.” (Zhuan Falun)
I later enlightened that through losing my temper at that signature drive, some of my attachments had been exposed, such as my ego, self-centeredness, prejudice, and unwillingness to hear any criticism. These shortcomings of my cultivation had to be exposed.
I thank Master for equipping me with the wisdom to clarify the truth and save sentient beings, and for allowing me this chance to upgrade my level by getting rid of bad substances that hinder the progress of my cultivation.
(Presented at the 2015 Australia Falun Dafa Cultivation Experience Sharing Conference)