Great Compassionate Master, Dear fellow practitioners,
Part 1: Obtaining the Fa and Cultivating Xinxing
First of all, I would like to introduce myself. My name is David and I came to the UK to study in 2000. I obtained the Fa in 2001, and from that point on I have been cultivating in Falun Dafa.
When I began reading the book Zhuan Falun, which I had downloaded from the Internet, I was reading while smoking a cigarette. But what was shocking for me was, though I could not understand what was said in the book, I found with surprise that tears kept flowing down my face. I was extremely shocked. I had seldom cried before in my life. But why was I crying in such a way just from reading a book? It was incredible! It was after I had read Zhuan Falun several times and had read Master’s lectures from many different countries that I came to realise gradually that what I had obtained was something of indescribable value and significance. Later, I also came to understand why I had come to this country, and why I had been arranged to meet a retired English gentleman after I just arrived. This gentleman introduced me to Christianity, and, as a result, I ditched atheism and came to believe there is God.
After I obtained the Fa, I could feel I was protected me at every minute and constantly given hints along my cultivation path. I could also feel huge changes taking place in myself. In just a few weeks, I completely gave up smoking, drinking, playing the lottery, and betting at the dog races. Once, when I was working in a fast food restaurant, I touched a wrong button on a machine and boiling water spurted across my entire right arm. Having seen what had happened, my manager and colleagues scrambled to the phone to call an ambulance. But I said to them, “There is no need for an ambulance. Some cold water will do.” They studied my arm and saw in great surprise that it was true that I hadn’t received any injuries as a result of the accident.
Another time, I went by car with 4 other practitioners to Newcastle to do hongfa. On the motorway, we suddenly experienced faults with one of our wheels, which caused our car to loose control and bump heavily against the iron railings on the roadside. It was my side of the car that bore the brunt of the collision. But every one of us, including myself, didn’t suffer even the slightest injury. After examining the car, we found that only the tail light bumped against the railings, and there was just a slight mark on the light, though we had thought something must have been broken. Later that day, all the pictures I took at the hongfa activity contained visible law wheels in them. Having experienced these things, I came to understand what Master said in Zhuan Falun, “it’s really hard when you want to do cultivation. There’s no way you’d succeed at true cultivation without my Law Bodies’ protection—the moment you stepped outside, maybe your life would be at risk.” (The Sixth Talk, Zhuan Falun)
When I could not let go of my attachments, Master would give me hints or teach me a lesson. Before I obtained the Fa, I was attached to small gains and often bought children’s tickets to take the tube, without ever being caught. However, after I began reading Zhuan Falun, whenever I bought a children’s ticket, I was caught by either tube personnel or even the police.
Once I borrowed a whole set of kungfu VCDs, 40 in all, to watch at home on my computer. But I only managed to watch just a couple of them before my computer screen suddenly became a mess and nothing was left there for me to see. I thought that the VCDs quality was too bad. However, when I changed to some other VCDs, it still didn’t work. Time is so precious to a Dafa disciple in the Fa-rectification period. How much time would I have to waste if I were to finish all 40 VCDs? And the contents of those dramas were nothing but absurd exaggeration, and struggles and conflicts for purposes of fame, gain and emotion. It was completely against Dafa. When I realised this and let go of my attachment, I returned the VCDs on the following day.
Part 2: Saving Sentient Beings and Helping Master in Fa-Rectification
After I read Master’s article entitled “Fa-Rectification Period Dafa Disciples” (Essentials for Further Advancement II), I understood that Master had bestowed upon us a great and sacred mission. Therefore, I whole-heartedly involved myself in Fa-rectification activities in the United Kingdom.
In “Touring North America to Teach the Fa”, Master pointed out the three things that Dafa disciples are required to do well in the Fa-rectification period, and He also gave clear instructions on how to clarify the truth. Master said, “many students have been quietly doing large amounts of truth-clarifying work—passing out flyers, making phone calls, using the Internet, going to the consulates, and using all different forms of media to tell the world’s people the truth about Dafa and to expose the evil’s persecution. The students inside China are even more extraordinary—under the enormous pressure from the evil, they are validating the Fa and saving sentient beings. All of this is extraordinary, it’s magnificent.” Having read this, I became more active and more determined in sending forth righteous thoughts in front of the Chinese Embassy and distributing truth-clarifying materials in Chinatown. I have been persisting in doing these two things. I have encountered frustrations and xinxing tests during the process, but they have helped me to improve myself and cooperate better with fellow practitioners in the path of Fa-rectification.
With the Fa-rectification process pressing forward, on 5th June 2002 UK practitioners began a 24-hour round-the-clock sit-in in front of the Chinese Embassy in London. With active participation and cooperation from practitioners all over the country, this activity has now been going on for a year and two months. During this time, I have seen and experienced many moving stories.
What I have met most often are kind-hearted British people, who would not only express their sympathy towards us, but also sign our petition to support our appeal, to call for an end to the persecution, and to rescue our family members who are illegally incarcerated and tortured in China. Whenever I see them signing our forms, I feel so happy for them in my heart. By supporting Dafa, they are laying a foundation for a wonderful future for themselves.
Our 24-hour appeal opposite the Chinese Embassy was very eye-catching, especially with the help of the two huge wooden display boards, and everybody walking or driving past could not fail to see us. It has a particularly shocking effect to the Chinese people who come to the Embassy for various purposes. Often, we can see many Chinese people standing on the other side of the street, looking at us, or busy videotaping or taking photographs of our appeal site. I think what they have seen is completely beyond their expectations.
As the evil that has been manipulating people is eliminated, more and more Chinese people, apparently driven by their knowing side, have begun to come to our side of the street so as to learn the truth about Dafa.
One day, an elderly Chinese couple were taking photographs in front of the Chinese Embassy. They saw our display, and saw me practising. So they came to our site, and stood there reading our display boards. It seemed to me that they were interested, so I stopped practising and handed some truth materials to them. They did not accept the materials immediately. Instead, they asked me, “We heard that the self-immolation on Tiananmen Square was false. Is it true?” I answered, “Yes, of course! Even the International Education Development Organisation of the United Nations made an announcement saying that it had been staged by the Chinese government.” They asked whether my parents knew I was practising Falun Gong. I said frankly, “At the beginning, my parents didn’t understand and were very concerned. But, after I told them the facts, and after they got to know the benefits I had got from the practice (like giving up smoking, drinking and gambling), they became very relaxed about it, and they even support my practice.” As all I said was accurate and true to my heart, and we were surrounded by a pure, righteous and compassionate energy field, this old couple didn’t have any doubt in what I said. Instead, they nodded again and again, and said, “Oh, Falun Gong is good. But in China their control is very tight and they don’t allow people to practise.” I said, “Nowadays, more and more people in the world are getting to know the truth about how Falun Gong has been persecuted, and many countries and people support Falun Gong’s campaign for human rights and justice. Jiang has been sued in international courts.” Having heard this, they asked me for our booklet and VCD, which they wouldn’t accept at the beginning. They said “Thank you” repeatedly and bid me farewell. They had hardly walked a few steps way when the lady turned and came to me again, holding my hand and saying, “If you feel it’s good, go on practising. Go on practising! Thank you! Thank you! Bye-bye!” Not having expected this, I didn’t know what to say so I just said, “I will.”
Seeing them walking away, I was quite touched. Had it not been for the persecution, they would have probably appeared at a morning practice site in a park in China. However, I knew they wouldn’t need to wait too long for that day to come about.
Time flies. Our 24-hour appeal has lasted for more than a year. Dafa disciples have stayed in front of the evil’s stronghold, day and night and come rain or shine, for more than 400 days. Some of them even stay there for 7 or 8 hours almost on a daily basis. This is definitely not something that an ordinary person could ever do. This could only be done with diamond-like determination. Compared to some practitioners, I have sometimes been not that pure, especially in some less obvious aspects. For example, when staying in front of the Chinese Embassy, sometimes I didn’t pay enough attention to my language and behaviour and tended to engage in banter with some fellow practitioners. There were times when I didn’t tidy things up and didn’t put my own belongings in the right place, providing thieves with good opportunities. Once they even stole my bag with a Dafa book in it. I started to pay attention to the cleanliness of the posters only after seeing other practitioners wiping them clean with tissues. Through discussions and Fa-study with other practitioners, I realised my shortcomings, and realised that validating the Fa is a serious and sacred matter. No matter where we are, we have to manifest the spirit and behaviour Dafa disciples are supposed to exhibit.
Over the months, when I appeal, practise, and send forth righteous thoughts in front of the Chinese Embassy, I have found that my righteous thoughts are sometimes not that strong. Often, I can feel that, to some extent, I am doing the postures as forms, feeling as if I was just finishing some assignment. I feel that sometimes I am not sitting there with powerful righteous thoughts derived from a strong willingness to reveal the evil and save sentient beings. I know doing it like that cannot achieve the best effect in validating the Fa, and I am still working on it through constant cultivation practice.
London has the biggest Chinese population in the UK, and is also a famous tourist attraction known worldwide. London Chinatown is a place where many Chinese people go. London practitioners started doing hongfa there on an irregular basis a long time ago. But we felt this was not good enough. A few of us shared our understandings on the importance of clarifying the facts in the Chinatown, and we reached the conclusion that we should distribute truth-clarifying materials there every day. Because this is the place where Chinese students, tourists and delegates are most often seen, and these people are the most seriously poisoned by the evil lies, we must create an opportunity for them to learn the facts about Dafa and thus they can be saved.
Every time I go to Chinatown, the first thing I do is to send forth righteous thoughts to clean up any elements that are unrighteous. When distributing materials, I can maintain a relatively righteous mentality. Every time, I can give out a lot of leaflets, booklets and VCDs. I still remember how we were received in Chinatown last year. At that time, Chinese people who had been deceived by the lies would throw the materials I had just given them to the ground or in the bin, or even tear them into pieces and throw them into the air right in front of me. However, I managed to keep righteous thoughts, thinking that, although this person had missed this opportunity to know the facts, he might have another chance. Nowadays, such things no longer happen. While accepting truth materials, many Chinese people would also ask me where they can buy the books and where they can find practice sites.
However, most tourists and delegates from China have not had access to Dafa materials before. This has set a higher requirement for us to use more wisdom in clarifying the facts. If they refuse to take our materials, we use a few words or a short sentence to convey the most important information to them, and at the same time send forth righteous thoughts to eliminate any evil factors that prevent them from learning the facts. Normally, by doing it this way, we could achieve good effects. Helped by our pure and compassionate righteous thoughts, the great majority of people would begin to change their negative attitudes towards Dafa. If one person comes to his or her senses and accepts the materials, other people will most probably follow. Once our righteous thoughts and righteous actions have broken the shell on their surface, they would get to know the truth themselves and consequently become “living media” and play an important role in letting more people know the truth.
In His lecture at the 2003 Washington DC Fa Conference, Master said, “When we've passed through this part of history and we take a look back, if every Dafa disciple is able to say, ‘I've done what I was supposed to do,’ (applause) then that's the most extraordinary. (Long applause) But, there are a lot of students who've done a disservice to themselves, and who haven't fulfilled what they wanted to do and what history bestowed upon them. The good thing is, this persecution hasn't yet ended completely, so there are still chances. As for how to make amends and what to do, that's up to you.” These words deeply touched my heart. In His poem entitled “To Fulfil a Wish” (Hongyin), in my understanding Master made it clear that Dafa disciples had come to this human world with great wishes and historic responsibilities to help Master in the Fa-rectification. This time in DC, Master pointed out that some practitioners have not been doing very well. I think all of us need to search our own hearts to see whether or not some xinxing problems have prevented us from doing our best and achieving the best possible effects. It is very important, in the last stage of Fa-rectification, for us to check what loopholes we still have and to try to mend any problems that still hinder our progress. Master has emphasised repeatedly the importance of studying the Fa. My own experience tells me that, if I can calm down and focus my attention to read a lecture of Zhuan Falun every day, I can maintain a relatively good cultivation state, and I can do things reasonably smoothly.
At last, let me finish my sharing with Master’s poem:
Hurry Up and Tell Them
As Dafa disciples tell people the facts,
It's like sharp swords shooting out together from their mouths,
Shredding apart the rotten demons' lies.
Lose no time and save them, hurry up and tell them.
Thank you, Great Master!
Thank you, dear fellow practitioners!
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