(Minghui.org) Greetings Master! Greetings fellow practitioners!
On January 1, 2020, New Year’s Day, I went to an event to promote Shen Yun, which was to perform in Stockholm from January 3 to 6. That morning I stood next to my car and watched as the sky put on a spectacular show of brilliant colors—pinks and reds. A neighbor stepped outside and we stood there admiring the beautiful sky.
According to an old sixteenth century Swedish folk proverb: “When the sky turns red in the morning on New Year’s Day, there will be a year of great sorrow.”
I did Shen Yun promotion in a shopping center in central Stockholm, and we tried to sell tickets to the last few available seats before the show on January 3. The Shen Yun performances in Stockholm went well. Shen Yun then went on to tour Europe. A few weeks later, after news of an unknown virus spreading in Wuhan, China, restrictions were introduced around the world to stop the spread. The Shen Yun tour was forced to cancel.
When the TV news showed what was happening in Italy, it was like Master said,
“What kind of state will a person be in when he sees dead people strewn everywhere on the street? The things that people don’t believe in and historically have taken to be “superstition” will all unfold.” (“Fa Teaching Given at the 2003 Atlanta Fa Conference,” Collected Teachings Given Around the World Volume IV)
Master’s words were engraved in my mind from the first time I read this, so theoretically, I was mentally prepared for these terrible events. But when people began to die from COVID I still felt that it was unreal. When I heard that Shen Yun had to cancel its performances in other European countries, my first reaction was that this situation was not right. Shen Yun is here to save people, and the old forces must be interfering with it.
Master taught us,
“Also, I should mention that there are practitioners in many regions who are calling upon everyone to send righteous thoughts together to put an end to the Chinese Communist Virus (Wuhan Virus). But that is not the right idea. You are not here to change history, but rather, to save people at this most dangerous time in history,...” (“Stay Rational”)
When I read this teaching, I realized that my original understanding was wrong.
Saving People During the Pandemic
Over the years, we have regularly held events in central Stockholm several times a week to draw attention to the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) persecution of Falun Dafa. We also held daily truth-clarification activities throughout the peak season at attraction sites visited by Chinese tourists during the summer. No weather or other obstacle stopped us.
When it rained, some practitioners asked us if we wanted to stop. I joked that we were already wet so let’s continue. We prepared rain covers for our table and display panels. When the weather forecast predicted it would rain, the practitioners brought umbrellas and raincoats.
In fact, it rarely rained during the event, but sometimes there would be rain before and after the event, and sometimes there would be a brief shower during the event, so we could continue our truth-clarification activities.
During the COVID pandemic, a practitioner working as a tour guide said that because of China’s strict lockdown, there would be no tourists from China in the next few years. It felt strange that the truth-clarification activities at tourist sites where we spent countless summer days disappeared so quickly.
Our truth-clarification activities in other places were also greatly reduced as the number of tourists from other countries was much fewer because those countries closed their borders.
Other countries faced strict pandemic prevention restrictions and residents were not allowed to leave. In Sweden, there were initially fewer restrictions, so we could continue our activities.
The fear of the virus spreading across society meant we needed to change the way we operated. Was it correct to continue with the event? Do we scare people when we hand out flyers? How do people perceive us when we are the only ones holding public events?
I understood that our work of clarifying the truth could not stop. I made a schedule, and everyone signed up before the event. We stood 6 feet away from each other when we practiced the exercises. Only a few practitioners distributed flyers, and they kept their distance from people when handing them out so that we wouldn’t scare them, etc.
A Chinese practitioner pointed out that since there were no Dafa related activities in other countries, it looked like only practitioners in Sweden could continue. Reports about our activities on Minghui.org became more important because the website lacked such overseas reports in the truth-clarification journals for China.
I realized we were part of a bigger picture and it was important that we continue to go out and hold events a few times a week, just as we did before the pandemic.
Pedestrians in the city center were also falling sharply, but there were still people who were not afraid of the pandemic, as well as young people from other countries who had fled their countries’ strict lockdown. The media dubbed them, “coronavirus refugees.”
At each event we met hundreds of people who had a positive attitude towards Dafa and our events, and they encouraged us to keep going.
Sweden also began to limit the number of people attending public events, eventually allowing only eight people.
When we held a peaceful protest on April 25, 2021 next to the CCP embassy at Gardet, Stockholm, to mark the 22nd anniversary of the April 25 Appeal, there were only eight practitioners, plus one practitioner who worked as a photographer for the media.
It was very windy that day and it was difficult to put up the banners. When the photographer practitioner who was about to take pictures tried to help hold up the banner, a police officer stepped forward and said angrily, “Now there are nine of you! There must be one less of you, or I will cancel the permit for this event!”
I said, “Of course no problem!” and asked the photographer to step aside. The entire huge Gardet was basically empty. The whole situation felt completely surreal.
The place where we had group Fa study was also closed because of the pandemic. We managed to find a new place, a run-down library, and finally the basement of a condo association where a practitioner’s son lived.
Even though we met for Fa study, we also limited ourselves to a maximum of eight people at a time to avoid conflicts with the restriction. We were forced to use a schedule and a rotation system so that practitioners could take turns attending Fa study.
The COVID Vaccine
When the COVID vaccine became available, I didn’t feel it had anything to do with me, but gradually, the social debate started to heat up and the vaccine passport started. At first I thought that this may be a natural part of the Fa-rectification process, and conflicts arose between people. Later, I heard that some practitioners in other countries got vaccinated in order to obtain vaccine passports so that they could go out to clarify the truth.
My opinion was firm. I remembered Master said,
“One practitioner who went for treatment found that the needle of the syringe wouldn’t pierce his skin, and several needles even bent in the process; the contents of the final syringe even squirted out without it having pierced his skin. It then dawned on him that he’s a practitioner and hasn’t any business getting shots. It was only at that point that it occurred to him.” (The Sixth Talk, Zhuan Falun)
Later Master taught us,
“You are someone who leads a life of spiritual development under the Great Way and who helps me to save people, and while saving people you have helped to eliminate for many people bacteria and viruses thousands of times more potent than those of any epidemic. And yet you haven’t managed to handle the matter of the pandemic properly, on a personal level. Some practitioners have been afraid of getting infected, while others have adamantly refused to get vaccinated. In either case, you should stop and ask yourself whether you are living up to the title of “Dafa Disciple.”” (“Wake Up”)
I realized that my understanding of this matter was too absolute, that saving people is unconditional, and there must be a compassion that transcends society’s conflicts.
Improving Myself
In a sharing after a group study, a practitioner criticized a decision that I made as the coordinator. This practitioner stated things in a calm tone of voice. After that practitioner finished speaking, another practitioner also took the opportunity to criticize what I had done, as well as pointing out my character flaws and various shortcomings. I was very calm, and I understood that Master arranged this to test my xinxing.
Then another practitioner began to criticize me, but this one became indignant. He looked down at the table and listed what I had done and said to him. I noticed that I was starting to feel a little uncomfortable, but at the same time I realized that this was a big opportunity for me. The practitioner who didn’t want to make eye contact with me, got up and left after he finished criticizing me.
I felt no desire to defend myself. I had no resentment towards these practitioners, and my views on them have not changed.
Looking at the practitioners who criticized me later, I felt as if nothing happened. Afterwards, one of the practitioners said, “After so much scolding, let’s try my daughter’s biscuits.” Everyone laughed. I thought Master encouraged us with his warm humor. Later, the practitioner who criticized me the hardest also sincerely apologized to me.
Letting Go of My Attachment to Social Issues
Social conflicts have become intense, and political debates are ongoing. These have unknowingly affected me, and I somehow wished that those with more traditional values would be treated fairly by society.
Master taught us,
“At present there are also some among us who are very much attached to political happenings and ordinary people’s controversies. Don’t forget what we are here to do. It is not your duty to turn society around. Society is now at its very end, and all of the bad things that are happening are inevitable. All of what we do is for the purpose of saving people. The old universe is what it is; let it be. Your responsibility is to rescue and deliver lives to the new universe. What’s needed for the next historical era—the Fa’s rectification of the human world—is for people to be saved and delivered to the world that is being rectified by the Fa and for the culture and ways of tradition to be revived.” (“Wake Up”)
After reading Master’s teaching “Wake Up”, I understand that what’s happening is a reflection of human society’s downward spiral, and no one can stop these events. After reading Master’s words, I feel much calmer and less concerned with social contradictions and phenomena.
This is my understanding at my level, please correct me if I am wrong.
Thank you revered Master! Thank you fellow practitioners!
(Submitted to the 2022 Nordic Fa Conference)
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