(Minghui.org) I began practicing Falun Dafa quite young and have been cultivating now for 18 years. I have encountered many obstacles along the way and only made it through to today under the merciful watch of Master Li, founder of Falun Dafa. I would like to share my Falun Dafa (also known as Falun Gong) cultivation experiences at tourist sites.
In the beginning of 2009, I realized that tourist sites are urgently in need of manpower, so I made use of my free time after class to clarify the truth at Merlion Park in Singapore. At that time, I woke up at 4 a.m. to study the Fa and left the house after sending righteous thoughts at 6 a.m. I also made use of the travel time to the sites to memorize Zhuan Falun.
On the first day that I started doing this, I was able to persuade more than 10 people from a tourist group to quit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). They also expressed their gratitude, and some even exclaimed, “Falun Dafa is good!” before leaving. This made me realize the importance of studying the Fa; if I study the Fa well, even my words will be full of energy.
Since the tour guides would usually brief their tourists for a short while before dismissing them to the sites, I would take the initiative to strike up a conversation with the tourists by introducing them to the environment, giving directions or taking group photos for them. By doing so, I made a connection between the tourists and myself, and they would be more willing to listen to what I was about to say. Then, I would try to deliver the main points succinctly without any hesitation or loopholes for the evil forces to take advantages of. Most of the tourists were willing to listen and quit the CCP thereafter.
Yet some tourists were still indifferent. Others even spewed vulgarities, tried to intimidate me, or threatened to beat me. Some tour guides even attempted to call the police to apprehend me. I saw myself as a practitioner and kept my composure. Master is constantly beside me, and no one else is able to move me. I told myself that they are all sentient beings who are unaware of the truth. Yet they all once believed in Dafa and courageously came down to this world with hopes of being saved; it’s just that they are misled by the old forces. If we do not save them, they will not have a future, and all the countless cosmic bodies and sentient beings behind them will be destroyed.
When I thought of this, all that was left in me was not hatred toward their hostility but rather pity for them.
During that time, I continued to go to the site every day. I also told my classmates and all the Chinese people I came across in my daily life about Dafa. I faced a lot of tests during the process. When I first started at the tourist site, my passport was stolen. The next day, I received a call from the Central Police Division and was told to go to a specific location (not the police station) alone at 3 p.m. that day. At that time, the Singapore government was very close to the Chinese Communist Party, and initially, I was a bit nervous and wondered if the police had stolen my passport to send me back to China. After that, I realized that they were also sentient beings who are here to listen to the truth and that there was nothing to worry about. Hence, I arrived at the designated location while memorizing the Fa along the way.
The person who met me said that he was from the Singapore Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), and he denied finding me through my passport. He expressed bewilderment about why Falun Gong practitioners in Singapore continued to set up display boards despite the numerous lawsuits against them over the years.
They wanted to understand this situation from the perspective of an educated youth. I began to clarify the facts to him and started by explaining Falun Gong itself and the reasons for the persecution. I talked for two hours, and he listened intently. At last, the man said, “I now understand why you are doing this. You Falun Gong practitioners are good people. I will help you if you have any problems in Singapore.” The man also expressed his good wishes and hoped that I would find a suitable job after graduation and be able to obtain a residency permit soon.
After the incident, I went to replace my passport. A fellow practitioner raised a concern that I would not be able to receive my passport from the Chinese embassy since I was photographed at the tourist site every day. I replied, “They are not the ones to decide if I am to receive my passport. Only Master can decide.”
At the same time, my student pass was about to expire, so if I could not get my passport replaced on time, I would have to return to China. By normal procedure, a passport replacement in Singapore takes about 3 months, but I miraculously received my passport in one or two days before the expiration of my student pass, so I was able to extend the student pass without any problems.
Once, I was clarifying the truth near the train station. A Singaporean Chinese senior shouted at us and tried to stop us from speaking. He even blocked the entrance path to prevent us from walking away. I pointed at him and said, “You sit down and don’t move!” Immediately, he was unable to utter a word and sat down silently on the stairs.
I encountered countless tests every day at the tourist sites, which also helped me to eliminate my attachment to fear. I could maintain my composure and clarify the truth to the police every time they came to record our identification or to confiscate the display boards. After a few times, many of them learned about the facts of Falun Dafa and the persecution. When some of them received calls reporting us, they would simply come down and tell us, “Please take down your display boards for a while. You can set it up again when we are gone.” Once, when I was struggling to hang up a huge banner that said “Falun Dafa is good” by myself, a nearby security guard came to help me.
In October 2009, former Chinese leader Hu Jintao was attending the APEC forum in Singapore. The Singapore government, in an attempt to appease the CCP, illegally arrested and filed charges against Dafa practitioners for the ninth time. It also confiscated our passports for more than a year. None of the police officers who knew the facts of Dafa participated in this. The government sent the officers who are responsible for economic crimes to take part instead. After some time, one of the officers realized that what he did was wrong. He told us that he tried to make up for his wrongdoings by donating money to a charity.
Under the compassionate watch of Master, I went to the island of Bali in Indonesia and worked with the practitioners there to set up truth-clarification sites. Initially, I was a bit apprehensive when I came to the Tanah Lot site because the mainland Chinese practitioner who was here previously was taken to the Immigration Office by the local security guard and police officers. Later, I realized that I should not let fear overtake me. Hence, I took the initiative to find the security guard and explained to him how Falun Gong practitioners were being persecuted in China. I also told him that I would be talking to people about Falun Gong at the site and hoped that he would do his job as a security guard to keep me safe. I also asked him to remember, “Falun Dafa is good,” and he happily agreed.
Many Chinese tour guides in Bali had been misled by the lies of the CCP and refused to listen to the facts about Dafa. Some even threatened to call the police to sue us for harassing their clients when they saw me talking to the tourists. I replied, “Is it illegal for me to talk to my own countrymen? You are the tour guide. They need to pay you to talk to them, but they do not pay us. Do you want to sue me? I want to sue you for intimidating and ‘harassing’ us in this conversation! You can call the police and let them be the judge.” The tour guide put his phone down immediately.
After that, I felt that I should make friends with tour guides instead of stirring up conflicts with them. Hence, I always greeted them politely and wished them success and prosperity. They were very happy upon hearing my wishes. After that, I respectfully sought their permission to briefly speak to their Chinese tourists, and they would often agree.
Some tour guides told their tourists that we were paid money to talk to them. I explained that this was not the case and that we were not receiving any money. I told the tourists, “The reason we clarify the truth to all of you is that many Falun Gong practitioners in mainland China have been persecuted to death by the CCP, some even have their organs forcibly removed from their bodies when they are still alive. Falun Gong practitioners are kind people who live by Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. The CCP relentlessly persecutes us and lies to the Chinese people, so of course, we will not sit back and do nothing.”
At the same time, I would ask the tour guides to give their tourists a chance to listen to the facts. By doing this, I explained, they would also be taking part in helping to stop the persecution and save lives; one would definitely be repaid with blessings when they do something good. The tour guides all nodded in agreement. One guide previously scolded me, but whenever he sees me now, he tells me, “I brought you Chinese people again today!” Some tour guides will even remind me when I accidentally miss some of the people. When certain tourists refused to listen, some tour guides even helped me to clarify the truth and hand out materials on the bus.
Once, a tour guide gave permission for me to distribute materials and gave me a microphone to clarify the truth on the bus. I told the tourists about how people all over the world practice Falun Gong, the staged “self-immolation” at Tiananmen Square, the international outcry for the Chinese regime to stop the persecution of Falun Gong, the lawsuits against Party officials responsible for carrying out the persecution, and the global movement of Chinese people quitting the CCP. My explanation was met with a round of applause, and I quickly helped the tourists to quit the Party.
Looking back at my days at the truth-clarification sites, I felt a strong urgency to save people. I once dreamed that the sea was full of people calling for help. I was on a big boat with a practitioner who was steering toward a group of drowning people, while I was trying my best to pull these people out of the water.
After coming to Canada, I have been fortunate enough to take part in media-related projects and also make use of my free time to make phone calls to China. The Fa-rectification process is near the end, and I still have many attachments yet to be eliminated. At the last moment, I will work hard to cultivate diligently, assist Master in rectifying the Fa, and save more sentient beings!
Please kindly correct me should there be anything inadequate in my sharing. Thank you, Master! Thank you, fellow practitioners!