(Minghui.org) Greeting, venerable Master! Greetings, fellow practitioners!
The APEC summit was held in San Francisco on November 15-16, 2023. Because the leader of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Xi Jinping was scheduled to attend the summit and meet with President Biden, the Chinese Consulate in San Francisco began clearing out their “obstacles” three months in advance, using the means of transnational repression to interfere with and sabotage our truth clarification site.
Due to the COVID pandemic, our truth clarification site at Portsmouth Square (also known as Garden Corner) in Chinatown was temporarily suspended, but it resumed in June 2023. This August, the Chinese Consulate sent an elderly woman in a wheelchair to interfere.
The old woman cursed at us and used her cane to knock down our display boards, which she then sat on. When practitioners tried to stop her, she yelled “I don’t want you to be here. Go and report me to the consulate!” She hit practitioners with her cane and injured several of them.
Practitioners had different opinions. Some said, “Let’s move to another location. We can still save people no matter where we are.”
Master said:
“So you will meet with ordeals, and you will encounter people who cannot be reasoned with. The truth is that some people simply cannot be saved and are not worthy of being saved. You will come across them. But don’t let those cases affect your clarifying the facts or how you go about it, and don’t let it alter your correct way of doing things. In this world, the ordeals that Master faces, as with the accompanying pressure, come in numbers greater than tens of thousands each day, yet no one has managed to make me waver, and that cannot be done. No one can alter what I want to do. No one can alter it, no matter what form the ordeals that I face take. The same holds true for your validating the Fa.” (“Fa Teaching at the 2008 New York Conference,” Collected Teachings Given Around the World, Volume VIII)
I realized that our Falun Dafa information site was a place where we validated the Fa and saved sentient beings. Telling people about Falun Dafa and the persecution is our way of saving people. People choose their futures here.
Garden Corner in Chinatown is a social hub where people gather to chat and enjoy themselves. The largest parking lot in Chinatown is underground below the site, and people pass by our truth clarification site every day. Many tourist groups also visit Garden Corner.
Our truth clarification site has been here for nearly 20 years. The CCP wants to drive us away and prevent us from talking to Chinese people. But only Master has the final say!
Master said:
“Just by staying unaffected you will be able to handle all situations.” (Teachings at the Midwestern U.S. Conference)
So, we persisted and were at the site every day.
The Chinese Consulate doesn’t dare to send their staff to sabotage us, fearing the police will arrest them. So, they incited this elderly woman in a wheelchair to interfere with us. Practitioners tried many times to clarify the truth to her, advising her not to assist the CCP to do wrong, but she was deeply brainwashed and continued to disrupt us.
She came to Garden Corner one day in her electric wheelchair and deliberately ran over my foot before I could move. She got out of her wheelchair and started cursing at us. We ignored her. She then grabbed dirt from a flower bed and threw it at my face and body. I remained calm and didn’t react. She walked behind me and hit my head with her cane and poured water over my head and into my cart.
I kept calm in the face of her provocation. An onlooker scolded her, “Why are you hitting her? It’s illegal, don’t you know?” A homeless man suddenly knelt in front of me, and another homeless man gave me a thumbs up and said, “Compassion! Compassion!” People were making their choice.
Seeing the interference at Garden Corner, the local Falun Dafa Association arranged for more practitioners to strengthen our efforts at the site. They also assigned several English speaking practitioners to help with coordination and communication. We realized that this was an excellent opportunity to clarify the truth and save people.
Master said:
“Clarifying the truth in an upright and open manner are the very things Dafa disciples should do. I’m also telling you that all beings in today’s world came for the sake of the Fa. If you want a being to clearly understand this point, you should go and clarify the truth to him. It is a master key, the key that can unlock that thing all beings have had sealed off for a long time and been awaiting for ages.” (“Fa Teaching Given at the 2003 Atlanta Fa Conference,” Collected Teachings Given Around the World, Volume IV)
The other practitioners and I realized that we had to go through legal procedures and report the incident to the police. On the surface, this was seeking their help, but in reality it was clarifying the truth to them and saving them through the incident. We always looked for ways to clarify the truth to the police and this was a perfect opportunity.
Some practitioners went to a nearby police station to report our being assaulted. One officer said the woman should be sent to a mental hospital for treatment if she had a mental illness. The police station also assigned an officer to handle our case.
Before we left, we expressed our goodwill as Dafa disciples and gave each officer a small lotus flower which they gladly accepted. We went to the parking garage to get our car. We had no lotus flowers left so we gave the gatekeeper a card introducing GanJingWorld. He was delighted and thanked us repeatedly. Wherever Falun Dafa practitioners go, they bring with them the beauty of Dafa to benefit sentient beings.
We visited another nearby police station the next day. The officers there received us warmly. We told an officer about the incident, and the officer made a detailed record of the assaults. He gave us contact information, and advised us to call immediately in case of any further harassment. Before leaving, we gave each of them a lotus flower, which they happily accepted, and they thanked us repeatedly.
Two days later, the officer who took our report came to Garden Corner to see if the elderly woman had returned. When I told him I hadn’t seen her, he smiled and left reassured.
Thanks to the cooperation of fellow practitioners and Master’s compassionate protection, the CCP’s plan failed. In this process, more people understood the truth and made the right choice for themselves.
Master said:
“So, whenever the wicked CCP wants to do some bad thing, it will turn into a failure and scandal as soon as it’s begun. Take a good, objective look and you will see that everything that has happened over the past nine years has turned out that way.” (“Fa Teaching at the 2008 New York Conference,” Collected Teachings Given Around the World, Volume VIII)
The elderly woman has not passed by our truth clarification site at Garden Corner since then. At least, I haven’t seen her during my shifts.
Our truth clarification site represents the image of Dafa. Therefore, maintaining the environment at the site is our responsibility. Each time I go, I bring trash bags and I pick up the litter, cigarette butts, and fallen leaves, to keep the area clean. The three benches beside our site hadn’t been cleaned for many years, and were covered in dust and grime. One rainy day, I brought two buckets of water, detergent, a brush, and a dishcloth. I cleaned them thoroughly, providing a clean place for people to sit and listen to our truth-clarification so we can help them withdraw from the CCP.
One elderly woman used to wave us away with an annoyed expression when we passed out fliers. One day, she saw me picking up trash at Garden Corner and asked, “Are you doing this?” I smiled at her and said nothing. Her attitude completely changed and she now takes our newspapers.
I don’t speak Cantonese, so I can’t communicate easily, but I can validate Dafa through my actions. We also understand that CCP spies are still stirring up trouble among those who don’t know the truth, confusing people by conflating the CCP with China. Befriending elderly Chinese is one way to save them. At this precious moment in the Fa-rectification, we must save more people and fulfill our prehistoric vows.
Everything we encounter at the truth-clarification site is closely related to our cultivation, and nothing happens by chance. When water was poured over my head, it was a reminder for me to wake up. When I was hit on the head with a walking stick, it was a wake-up call. Of course, we don’t acknowledge the old forces’ arrangements, but we must improve ourselves and eliminate human attachments in the process of validating the Fa and saving people.
We must dig deep to find and remove our selfishness. When problems arise, we must consider our first thought—does it come from an altruistic standpoint or a selfish one? We must seize each thought and eliminate any selfish or unrighteous thoughts immediately.
I am grateful to Master for his compassionate salvation! Thank you, fellow practitioners, for your kind assistance!
(Presented at the 2024 San Francisco Fa Conference)
Views expressed in this article represent the author's own opinions or understandings. All content published on this website are copyrighted by Minghui.org. Minghui will produce compilations of its online content regularly and on special occasions.
