Falun Dafa—The World’s Conscience

May 21, 2012 | By a Falun Dafa disciple in China

Category: Opinion

(Minghui.org) The 20^th anniversary of Falun Dafa’s dissemination in the world has arrived, and more people are discovering that Falun Dafa can be deemed the “World’s Conscience.”

Many noble people have once been considered “Hong Kong’s Conscience” or “China’s Conscience,” yet no one has ever heard of anyone being called the “World’s Conscience.” So why do I say Falun Dafa is the “World’s Conscience?”

Living in a world driven by material pursuit, Falun Dafa practitioners have always held firm to their belief of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance and put elevation of their morality, not fame and self-interest, as their first priority. They never bend their moral standards or give up their conscience for petty interests, even when faced with the loss of their lives.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) often promises freedom to practitioners if they agree to “no longer practice Falun Dafa.” If they insist on practicing Falun Dafa, practitioners are conversely threatened with grave consequences (such as detention, torture or loss of job or even life). Numerous practitioners not only refuse to give up their belief, but also advise the perpetrators to stop doing evil and to do the right thing.

Many non-practitioners feel that practitioners are too naïve and stubborn. Why not succumb to the pressure for the moment and then go home practice in secret? What they don’t get is that the “Truthfulness” that practitioners practice is pure truthfulness, meaning no cheating Heaven, Earth, other people or self. To practitioners, moral values are the most important thing and they, of course, will never tell a lie just for personal gain.

There are also people who don’t understand why practitioners have to step forward to clarify the facts, instead of just staying home and practicing. The reason is that the “Compassion” practitioners practice is altruistic compassion. Wouldn’t it be selfish if practitioners never told other people about the wonderful practice they’ve been benefiting from? Would there still be any compassion if practitioners remained indifferent when Falun Dafa is being viciously attacked by the CCP? Practitioners risk their lives to tell people about the truth of Falun Dafa because they want to stop the world’s people from committing crimes and to advise people to side with goodness for their sake. They are safeguarding the entire human race’s moral principles and this does not involve even one ounce of selfish motives. Their truth clarification efforts are the most benevolent acts.

Some people doubt whether unarmed practitioners can ever defeat the CCP. Actually, that is a misunderstanding, since Falun Dafa has never considered anyone its enemy. During the past 13 years of the CCP’s suppression of Falun Dafa, practitioners have never exhibited any irrational behavior, nor have they resorted to armed force or violence. The “Forbearance” practitioners practice is not treating anyone as an enemy and holding no grudges or hatred against anyone. Even when the CCP has committed such grave crimes, practitioners are still trying their best to save as many individual CCP members as possible. They advise people to quit the CCP and its affiliated organizations, not because they intend to overturn the CCP, but because they want to save those people.

Ever since Falun Dafa was introduced to the world in 1992, practitioners have been following the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance in earnest and working hard to elevate their own morality, thereby guiding the ascent of human morals in the process. Despite the past 13 years of persecution, they have never betrayed their conscience.

In a world with declining morality and an ever-worsening ecological system, people are witnessing nobility, kindness and dignity in practitioners. They are beginning to see hope for a bright future and an opportunity to transcend the warped society. More and more people are also noticing the moral gap between themselves and practitioners and are rediscovering their long forgotten conscience.

The nobility of Falun Dafa has illuminated numerous people’s hearts and given them courage to awaken their conscience. Abandoning evil and choosing kindness is becoming an unstoppable trend in the world.

History will prove that Falun Dafa is worthy of the title the World’s Conscience.

Chinese version available

 

The Story of a New European Practitioner

May 31, 2012 | By Samet Mehmed from Germany

Samet Mehmed

(Minghui.org) I am originally from Bulgaria, and currently reside in Germany. When I lived in Bulgaria in 2009, I heard about Falun Dafa for the first time. I had been very interested in Asian cultures and practiced martial arts in high school. Regardless of whatever activities I engaged in or wherever I traveled, however, I had been searching for spiritual answers.

I also learned Chinese medicine. I was told that in Asian culture, medication and medical equipment were not the sole means of treatment; spiritual factors also played important roles. Therefore, I began to be interested in reading books on ancient mysteries, and at the same time, I also read materials that focused on spiritual subjects. However, nothing gave me the answers to the meaning of life. Some of the books that I read carried bad messages, which caused me to have depression.

When I returned home one day, I found a Falun Dafa flyer in my mailbox. I was about to throw it away, but an unknown power stopped me. After reading the flyer, I searched for Falun Dafa on the Internet. I spent hours on the website, and realized that I could not let it go. I was completely empowered by the teachings. Immediately, a brand new world opened up in front of me, and I realized that Falun Dafa was exactly what I had been looking for my whole life.

I still do not know how the flyer ended up in my mailbox, because back then the city that I lived in did not have a single Dafa practitioner. I later learned that everything had been well planned for me.

After reading Zhuan Falun, my depression disappeared, and at the same time, I also graduated from my study of traditional Japanese medicine. At the end of 2009, I came to Dortmund, Germany, and bought additional Falun Gong books. Since coming to Germany, I have read Zhuan Falun more than a dozen times.

In the first few months, I could not find any practitioners; hence I practiced the exercises by myself in a park. In August 2010, I went to the exercise site in Dortmund for the first time. Both the practitioners and exercise site were very tranquil and peaceful. It seemed like the exercise site was a peaceful island located in a bustling ocean. From then on, everything in my life became meaningful and well organized. Things that I had come across before seemed to be a ladder for me to climb up and eventually meet up with Dafa. I also found out that I had so many attachments and all kinds of human sentimentality before cultivating in Dafa. Now that I have found the Great Law or Dafa of the universe, I will follow it to cultivate myself. I am now one of the happiest beings in the universe.

I finally determined in 2010 that a requirement for being a cultivator means I must purify myself at every level. I immediately stopped drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana. I found out afterwards, that as soon as I truly realized that I was a cultivator of the Great Law of the universe, and once I had the desire to let go of bad habits, it was actually not hard to let them go at all. I also often came across conflicts with people, which helped me to improve my xinxing. Living in a complicated environment with conflicts is really very helpful. I saw how I changed into a peaceful island amongst the bustling and noisy ocean. From then on, I did not have any illnesses and my body felt very light. Because there are still many lives out there waiting to know the truth and be saved, I did my best to participate in truth-clarification activities.

I want to share about a car accident that I was involved in. One day in December 2011, while I was crossing a street, a car came speeding toward me. At that moment, some kind of force drew me about two feet backwards, and I could see that the car should have had enough space to stop, but it still hit my knees.

Very quickly I realized what had happened, and my mind was very clear. I was not angry and neither was I afraid; I was actually very calm. People stopped and looked at me. The lady who hit me was panicky and terrified. She sat in her car, unable to gather sufficient energy to come out. She could do nothing more than repeatedly say, “I’m sorry” to me. Smiling at her, I waved and told her that I was fine, and that she should be more careful in the future. After that, I continued on my way.

I checked my knees after I got home and found out that they were not hurt at all. As a matter of fact, my knees did not even have any bruises. People, including my father, told me that I could have asked that lady to pay me one thousand Euros for the accident, but I just laughed at the idea.

There is a lot more that I could write about, but I just want to say that I hope more and more people will be fortunate enough to learn Dafa and genuinely cultivate. I thank Master from the depth of my heart.

Chinese version available

Category: Beginning Cultivation

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[Selected Submissions] Blessings Received: The Story of a Husband Who Supports Dafa

May 25, 2012 | By Li Yan, a Dafa practitioner in mainland China

(Minghui.org) I started practicing Falun Dafa in 1998. As a child I was introverted and not comfortable socially, and as I grew up I felt that life was tiring and boring. Zhuan Falun changed my whole attitude. Upon reading this book, the goal of life became clear to me.

Even after the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) started the persecution of Falun Gong on July 20, 1999, my cultivation in Dafa remained firm. My husband did not try to stop me from practicing Dafa either. However, in June 2001 I was illegally detained for a week because I went to Beijing to appeal for justice for Dafa. After I was released, my husband started to be against my cultivation practice due to fear. In order to reestablish support from him and to help him cause less karma for himself, I decided to have a heart to heart talk with my husband.

It was in November 2001. We talked late into the night for several consecutive nights. I talked about my mother, who used to have high blood pressure and heart disease. She so ill that she would not be able to get out of bed whenever she got upset at something. However, once she started practicing Dafa, she quickly regained her heath. She is almost 70 years old and rides a motorcycle just like a young person. I also told him that Dafa practitioners live by the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. I told him how the CCP had fabricated false information in order to persecute Falun Gong. I asked him to watch DVDs on the staged self-immolation and exposed more of the CCP’s lies.

Actually, my husband already knew most of the things I was telling him. However, our long talks deeply moved him. Eventually, he completely understood the truth about this persecution, and he changed his attitude and approved of my cultivation. He also agreed to let me move the equipment I used for making Dafa truth-clarification materials home, as I used to rent a place to make Dafa-related materials. My fellow practitioner and I moved two copiers and a DVD burner home. When my husband saw our large copier, he cried out in surprise, “This is a big one you have here!” He did not say anything else afterwards. Over the following few years, he had always helped us with the printing of Dafa materials.

My husband does not have much education or and he is not very sophisticated. However, he has a very kind heart and is very empathetic; he cries whenever he sees other people cry. When he sees the poor on the street, he’ll empty his pockets even if he had only ten yuan on him. He willingly lends money to friends and family when they need money for emergencies.

The first few years after 1999 was the period that the CCP persecuted Falun Gong most brutally. To protect me from harm, my husband took over the job of going into town to get CDs. During that time, policemen watched the roads closely. My husband smokes and uses vulgar language, so therefore, no one suspected him of being a Falun Gong practitioner. He safely brought home large amounts of CDs every time he went to town. In addition, he once protected non-local fellow practitioners. One time, my husband told me that after he got on the bus to come home one day, several policemen came up to the bus to question the travelers. Two other travelers also had large suitcases; they had kind faces, did not smoke nor talk, and in my husband’s words: “They looked just like one of you.” He then said to the policemen, pointing to the two travelers: “We are together.” The policemen saw that my husband did not look like a Falun Gong practitioner, so thus they did not bother the two travelers.

My husband also bought equipment for our printing center and helped me with transporting Dafa materials.

In September 2003, I was reported to the authorities. The police knocked on my door at 3 o’clock in the morning. I was not home. My husband hastily covered up the machines and hid what needed to be hid. Our balcony was full of empty CD boxes, so he quickly consolidated them and opened the door. My husband used his wisdom to talk to the policemen. They did not find anything and did not look on the balcony either. They took my husband with them to the police station. My husband used the excuse of going to the bathroom to call me and told me to hide for awhile. He likes to joke around so I did not take him seriously. He was anxious and found other excuses to call and text me. I then realized the severity of the situation. The policemen could not find anything against my husband and so he was released. Once he was released, he found a trusted friend and asked him to move all the printing equipment from our house. My fellow practitioners and I found a place to rent and established our printing center again.

In the winter of 2005, a fellow practitioner with whom we had contact was arrested, and our printing center needed to be relocated. However, we’d just finished printing three thousand copies of the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party, and there was just an elderly fellow practitioner and I. Moving those books, other materials and our equipment would be very difficult. I asked my husband for his help. He immediately borrowed a motorcycle with a trailer attached. The trailer did not even have a door at the back, just a piece of cloth as a curtain. We used this motorcycle and relocated everything that needed to be moved.

My husband had a job involving business affairs. In 2004, he wanted to open his own factory. We took out our savings and borrowed some money and opened a factory that had only a net worth of a few tens of thousands of yuan. At that time, we were short ten thousand yuan, so I asked my fellow practitioners if they could lend us some money. They right away lent money to my husband. My husband was moved. He knew that under the CCP’s persecution, none of my fellow practitioners were doing well economically; however, they lent him the money when he needed help. I remembered after we left a fellow practitioner’s home with the money, my husband rode the motorcycle and shouted through the streets: “Falun Dafa is good! Falun Dafa is good!” He shouted this over and over without any fear.

Nearly nine years have past, and my husband’s net worth has increased from tens of thousand of yuan to over a few hundred million yuan. The change was unimaginable. Only a deity could make such a miracle happen. Several years ago, my husband bought a factory that had gone bankrupt for 10,000,000 yuan. Three years later, just the land itself was worth 70,000,000 yuan. He planed to buy one piece of production line equipment early this year. The market price would be 2,000,000 yuan, yet he bought the exact equipment for only 250,000 yuan through a court auction. The equipment had only been tested and had not been actually used in production. My husband now owns several factories.

Compassionate Master used to say that an ordinary person would be blessed by merely shouting “Falun Dafa is good!” Ordinary people that protect Dafa disciples and support Falun Dafa will be blessed. Through my husband’s experience, I have personally experienced the compassion of Master and Dafa.

My husband has a good understanding, and knows that it is Dafa that helped him with his business. It is because my husband supports his wife who is a Dafa practitioner and supports Dafa, that he is protected and blessed by higher beings.

(Note: to protect the safety of the author’s husband, their location is not disclosed in the article)

Chinese version available

Category: Good is Rewarded

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Rise-Ascend Explains Making Hip Hop Music To Stop Persecution In China

Credit: Hiphopdx.com

by HOMER JOHNSEN

posted May 14, 2012 at 12:30AM EST

Hiphopdx.com

In 2009, rapper Rise-Ascend (f/k/a Ankh Amen Ra)released his debut album, Divine Compositions. The Washington D.C. area-based emcee did not have an agent and he was not signed to a record label. He was just making music for the world to hear.

Not long after, he received a Facebook message from a producer in Sweden named Direction, who expressed an admiration for Rise’s lyrics. The two began to collaborate through cyberspace, and the pairing proved to be a success: “Once I heard his music, over the course of sometimes 48 hours, sometimes three days or so, I would have a song written, and you know I would send him a message back like, ‘Hey Man, the song is done, let’s keep moving,’” recalls Rise-Ascend during a recent phone interview with HipHopDX. “Then after awhile it was like, ‘Hey we need to do an album,’ so we went ahead and made an album.”

That album, Hurry Up, Tell the World, is hugely important to both Rise-Ascend and Direction for many reasons. For one, it is their debut collaborative effort, showcasing both of their respective talents. More importantly though, it promotes an awareness of human rights injustices in China – specifically, the ones being levied against the Falun Gong practitioners. It is an ideology both Rise-Ascend and Direction adhere to. According to Rise-Ascend, “Falun Gong is a cultivation practice: a practice of mind and body and it’s something that helps people to improve their morality and their spirituality…And it’s something that’s really been the core of my personal development.”

Central to Falun Gong are three pillars known as Falun Dafa: truthfulness, compassion and forbearance. Rise-Ascend stresses that his and Direction’s adherence to Falun Dafa has helped them spiritually. Rise-Ascend changed his stage name- which had previously been “Ankh Amen RA” – and he felt more uplifted and positive than ever before. But the injustices in China only fueled his passion further: “Once I found out that on July 20, 1999, the Chinese Communist Regime started viciously persecuting Falun Dafa practitioners in China, I knew that I needed to use my voice and use my music to help inform people and tell people the truth about Falun Dafa.” He doesn’t see it as a task, though. Instead, it is more of a privilege than anything. “Obviously Hip Hop has a history of…bringing awareness to issues. So for me it was natural to use our music to inform people about the persecution of Falun Gong.”

“The most viciously persecuted group in China are Falun Gong practitioners. Some people know that Christians are persecuted in China, Muslims are persecuted in China. Pretty much anyone who doesn’t believe in the Communist ideology is a target for persecution.” Rise-Ascend noted that Falun Gong practitioners are vulnerable to being attacked in their own homes by the Chinese Government, a disturbing fact, mainly because their mission is to promote truthfulness, compassion and forbearance. They also are spreading awareness about government-sponsored torture chambers and brainwash centers, something the general public is not fully aware of. Rise-Ascend asserts, “They [practitioners] could at any time have their house raided, you know, be arrested and be placed in a torture chamber and be murdered simply for trying to be a good person.” He firmly stands by this analysis of the injustice.

Aside from Hurry Up, Tell the World, and their spreading awareness about the mistreatment of Chinese Falun Gong practitioners, Rise-Ascend and Direction are currently promoting their new single, “Split A Mountain,” available for free download on their website MusicToStopThePersecution.org. Citing a desire to target a wider audience, Rise-Ascend notes that the track “…does have a Dubstep type of feel, it has that Electronic, new-age type of feel to it, but yet it’s still something that has a righteous feel to it; has an uplifting and inspiring feel to it.”

For now, check out Rise-Ascend and Direction’s website and music. The duo still have yet to finally meet each other face-to-face, but that hasn’t deterred them from planning for the future: “I feel really confident in saying that in the near future, you’ll probably be seeing us coming out and doing a show and performing the music for the people,” says Rise-Ascend.

Visit MusicToStopThePersecution.org.

 RELATED: Divine Compositions by Rise-Ascend [MIXTAPE]   

United Nations Sees the Celebration of World Falun Dafa Day (Photos)

May 24, 2012

(Minghui.org) Two thousand Falun Dafa practitioners performed in front of The United Nations building in New York City on May 11, 2012, with an exercise demonstration and other performances, to celebrate World Falun Dafa Day and the 20^th anniversary of Falun Dafa’s public introduction.

In the morning, 2000 practitioners started the celebration with a group exercise practice. White clouds floated in the blue sky above a sea of yellow exercise suits. The scene was solemn and touching, and the participants felt the immerse energy field. After the exercise demonstration, the practitioners performed dances, singing, dragon dance, lion dance, and a Divine Land Marching Band performance.

The participants came from various countries, but they have all benefited from Falun Dafa, and wanted to thank Master.

Dafa Is Most Precious

Sophie from Sweden: I can’t use language to express my thankfulness to Falun Dafa.

Sophie from Sweden has practiced Falun Dafa for ten years. She was very happy and excited about being able to participate in the celebration in New York City. “I had been looking for a belief. After I learned Falun Dafa, I felt it was very, very good. This is what I have been looking for. Now I have practiced Falun Dafa for ten years. Nothing in the human world can compare to Dafa.” she said with a smile on her face.

Sophie learned Falun Dafa outside of China. In some truth-clarification materials, she learned that Dafa practitioners continue their beliefs even in the face of persecution. Her heart was shaken. She realized it is a belief that one will protect with their life.

Sophie has higher education degrees and prefers to look for answers herself. “At first, my family asked me why I would practice Falun Gong. Was it like what the Chinese Communist Party pictured? Actually, in oversea countries, many practitioners have advanced degrees, and are scholars, doctors, and many are westerners. I think this is enough to show what Falun Gong is.”

Before practicing Dafa, Sophie was troubled by a persistent cough. “It came a few times every year. A very bad cough woke me up 4 or 5 o’clock in the morning. I tried many therapies, including Chinese medicine, but nothing could cure it.” She talked about her initial experiences with Falun Dafa. “The second and third day after reading Zhuan Falun, my cough was very bad. It might have been the worst cough I had in my lifetime. But in my heart, I understood that master was cleansing my body. I have not coughed since then, for ten years. No science can explain it.”

Dafa also raised Sophie’s moral level and even affects the people around her. “For two years, my job was to take care of senior people. They would lose their tempers if they didn’t get what they demanded, and were sometimes very irrational. The cultivation practice made my heart calm. Sometimes, I didn’t need to say anything. I often just stood by the person and he would quiet down. My colleagues felt it was impossible. For other people, it took a lot of time and energy to quiet them down. And their own emotions would be disturbed too. Cultivation gives me such deep peace. Dafa is what my true self was looking for.”

“Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance” Is a Universal Value in the World

Mr. Lu from Japan

Mr. Lu and his wife came to New York from Japan to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of Falun Dafa’s introduction to the world’s people. The couple had been to New York City every year since the Chinese Communist Party started the persecution of Falun Gong. “At that time, we demanded the United Nations and America to side with justice and support Falun Gong. Now in America, more and more Americans support Falun Gong. This is very different from ten years ago. People now support Falun Gong. It is same in Japan.” Lu said.

Lu began to read the book Zhuan Falun after a friend introduced it to him in 1996. He immediately recognized that it was a very special book. “Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, very good principles. The book touched my heart. I felt very lucky to read and learn Falun Dafa.” he continued.

Lu’s major was in history. But this is a very special book that taught him to look inward whenever a conflict erupted. “When other curse you, misunderstand you, you look at yourself to find out if you did anything wrong to cause this. When you are peaceful, you yield, and without any resentment in your heart.” When he can achieve this, he feels his xinxing raising quickly. His physical health has also improved dramatically.

Later, seeing her husband’s change, Ms. Lu also began practicing Falun Dafa. Mr. Lu also introduced the practice to his colleagues, and three of them began cultivating.

No Regret of Tribulations

Ruan Shuang from Australia: I will come to New Year every year if I have the chance, till the persecution ends.

Ruan Shuang, a practitioner from Australia, said openly and enthusiastically, “I am excited. Today is a special day.” Ruan said, “I started practicing Falun Dafa on April 25, 1999. Soon after that, China started the persecution of Falun Gong. Today is the 13^th anniversary of World Falun Dafa Day. It is also the 13^th year that Falun Gong is being persecuted.

“My feeling is complex. The Chinese Communist Party vowed to eliminate Falun Gong in three months, but the result is just the opposite. Falun Gong has spread to over 100 countries. But it is still being persecuted in China. I am one of those being persecuted in China. So if I have chance, I will participate in this event every year, till the persecution ends.”

For the first time, Ruan only took two days to read through Zhuan Falun. Many puzzles in her life were solved, and after practicing Falun Dafa, her health improved. She also realized that in life and work, there are always conflicts or confrontations. She can see the reason behind each matter and can easily give up the attachments and maintain a pleasant mood. Ms. Ruan once went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong and was thus put in a forced labor camp.

“I experienced the persecution, my life changed, but I am still a happy woman. Every practitioner experiences the beauty of Falun Dafa, and the persecution can’t eliminate it. The Chinese Communist Party failed.” Ruan said.

Chinese version available

Category: Dafa Day Celebrations

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Falun Gong Practitioners “Deserve Respect”

This opinion piece was taken from: Style Weekly

 Opinion & Blogs » Letters [May 08, 2012]

I was profoundly sad to read Lea Marshall’s take on the cancellation of Shen Yun Performing Art’s production. Ms. Marshall appeared to take the opportunity to impugn and degrade the Falun Gong spiritual discipline. She cites a 12-year-old New York Times report to substantiate the notion that Falun Gong is a “cult” — allegations that are profoundly inconsistent with mainstream understandings within the scholarly community.

Falun Gong is a form of meditative practice whose central values are truth, compassion and tolerance. Does Falun Gong believe in extraterrestrial life? Yes. So does Stephen Hawking. The existence of aliens is a peripheral concept mentioned in passing in Falun Gong’s texts.

It plays no important role in either Falun Gong’s greater cosmology. The practice also counsels against activities such as premarital and extramarital sex, as well as homosexuality. In this respect, Falun Gong is no different from Christianity or Buddhism.

By late 1998, the Chinese government estimated that 70 million people were practicing Falun Gong. Demographic surveys from the mid- to late-1990s showed that Falun Gong practitioners in China held college degrees at a rate 10 times higher than the national average (28 percent compared to 2.8 percent).

It was for this reason that some of the party leaders felt threatened by Falun Gong. In 1999, then-party leader Jiang Zemin launched a persecution of the practice that continues to this day.

Falun Gong practitioners have responded to this persecution in a remarkable fashion. They have completely eschewed violence even as they are vilified in the media. Instead, they have dedicated themselves to promoting freedom of information in China, and — in the case of Shen Yun — seeking to convey an uplifting message of hope, moral courage and peace. For these efforts, they deserve respect, not derision.

Dong Xiang, Executive Director
Falun Dafa Association of Washington

Poem: The Divine Gate Opens after History’s Long March

Upon the occasion of the 20th anniversary of Falun Dafa’s spread

By Tang Bi

The Divine Gate Opens after History’s Long March

***

Over 7,000 years of human civilization, how many heroes have taken the stage?

Rise and fall, success and failure are like waves gone by,
Love, hate, gratitude, and resentment are like sand taken away by the ocean.

Wise men and sages of the past have exhausted their wits,
Enlightened beings descended to the world to impart their religions.

Seeing sentient beings suffer in reincarnation, they tell people to become good.

Wise men foretold a divine message: the Gods will steer the boats that save people during the last havoc
Through thick and thin, people have waited for thousands of years.

Taking goodness as a boat, you have suffered through many lifetimes in waiting.

Today, the moral level slides down, kindness and conscience disappear from people’s hearts.

The earth is as small as a village. You wonder, “Why haven’t gods arrived yet?”

You don‘t know what has transpired for 20 years: He has spread the Fa [the Law or Dharma] with great effort, and his hair has become tinged white.

He kindly persuades such an evil and poisonous world to be good, even while bad people spread salacious rumors about him.

They create an enormous lie to cheat the world, ruining people’s chance for salvation by the righteous teachings,
Which brings sadness to every village in the land.

But, there is Shen Yun to rotate Falun [Law Wheel or Dharma Wheel] again,
There is a giant boat to save sentient beings from tribulations and eliminate the last disaster.

The divine gate opens after history’s long march,
Buddhas and Gods come down to save human beings.

All the effort made is to help people discern good and evil in their hearts,
The truth will sweep away the dark haze from your path.

Read original Chinese article.

Tang Bi is the nom de plume of a Chinese poet and artist.

The Epoch Times publishes in 35 countries and in 19 languages. Subscribe to our e-newsletter.

Weekend of Celebration of World Falun Dafa Day Begins in New York

By Shar Adams
Epoch Times Staff

NEW YORK—What was an anomaly near the UN on Friday morning used to be a daily occurrence throughout China in the mid-90s.

Hundreds of people lined up in neat rows, a sea of peaceful faces with eyes closed—meditating.

Hundreds of Falun Dafa practitioners celebrate 20 years of the spiritual practice in the world at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza near the UN on Saturday, May 11. (The Epoch Times)

Dag Hammarskjold Plaza on 1st Ave. was filled with people who had traveled from all corners of the word to celebrate 20 years of Falun Dafa (also known as Falun Gong) as part of a weekend-long observance of World Falun Dafa Day.

Korean practitioners of Falun Gong wearing traditional dress meditate outside the U.N. building in New York City on May 11. (Epoch Times Staff).

“[Falun Gong] is…the greatest single spiritual movement in Asia today. There is nothing that begins to compare with it in courage and importance,” Mark Palmer, former U.S. Ambassador to Hungary and board member of Freedom House, said a decade ago.

Exactly 20 years ago on Sunday, Mr. Li Hongzhi taught his first public class of Falun Dafa in a schoolhouse in Changchun, northeastern China—introducing a practice with roots extending back thousands of years, according to the Falun Dafa Information Center (FDIC). By early 1999, there were 100 million people practicing Falun Dafa in China alone.

The rest of the world has been catching on, too—Falun Dafa is practiced in over 70 countries around the world, according to the FDIC. Outside the UN practitioners from Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Australia, and Asia could easily be found, alongside practitioners from the United States and Canada.

Hundreds of Falun Dafa practitioners meditate in front of the UN buildings in New York City. (The Epoch Times)

Practitioners of Falun Dafa seek to live by the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance. The practice consists of doing five meditative exercises, studying the teachings of Falun Dafa—the main text is “Zhuan Falun,” and applying those teachings to everyday life.

“Although Falun Gong is part of an ancient tradition, tens of millions around the world have found it to be ideal for the modern day,” says Erping Zhang, spokesperson for the FDIC. “In Falun Gong, we have not only found a practice from the Buddha School that brings health, serenity, and wisdom to our lives, but even more so, we have found a way to return to our original, true selves…to get back in touch with our kind, divine side.”

For Mr. Bill Xie, a 42-year old photographer from mainland China who was granted asylum by the United States, being at the plaza in New York on Friday was significant. Xie said Falun Gong has brought him a lot of good things, most notably, “Health in my mind and my soul, and the purification of my body.”

Xie said he took up the practice in 1995 when he was 25. His whole family began to practice, and all benefited—including his father who suffered from chronic illness. China was a very different place to live in during that time, he said. “A lot of bad people became good people—many, many.”

After the persecution began in 1999, China changed, Xie said. Like many others, his twin brother was arrested and tortured by the regime in its endeavor to get practitioners to renounce the practice. His brother was imprisoned for 8 years and, on his release, managed to escape to Thailand, where he now waits for final approval so he can be united with his brother in the United States.

Outside the United Nations building in New York City on May 11, two Falun Gong practitioners hold a banner emblazoned with the core principles of this spiritual practice: truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance. In the background, hundreds of practitioners meditate. The event is part of a celebration of the 20-year anniversary of the introduction of Falun Gong in China. (Epoch Times Staff).

Australian Rajna Jollie spoke of how Falun Dafa had changed her character, “I think I am a lot nicer person, more considerate, less selfish.”

For Georgi Pleshko, a 30-year-old man from Sofia, Bulgaria, Falun Dafa and abiding by the principles of truthfulness, compassion and tolerance—zhen, shan, ren in Chinese—had provided answers to the big questions of life.

“I can understand everything—what is life, what is my purpose, why are people doing something—everything,” Pleshko said.

From India with two other colleagues in the IT industry, Deepak Yadav laughed at his previous life before he practiced Falun Gong.

“I was a guy who used to tell lies, every second—every single second—I used to lie,” he said. Yadav said that once he read the teachings in the book “Zhuan Falun,” “I understood how good it is to have these principles in your heart.”

Yadav said the friend who had taught him the practice had suffered from severe drug and alcohol problems. His friend’s parents had heard about Falun Dafa and had sent him to learn the practice. His parents could not believe the change. “They had never seen such calmness on this guy and he understood that should not take those things,” he said.

Falun Gong is now so popular in India it is being taught in schools, Yadav said. “It has been going for about 8 or 9 years… many schools have taken up the practice and they are doing it every day.”

From Iran, whose people are dealing with internal repression, a university lecturer attended the New York event. Unable to give her name for fear of persecution in Iran, Falun Dafa has been a source of nourishment for her in a country where social media has become the primary means of communicating.

“Falun Gong has made me stronger and able to handle life with good wisdom and understand what is right and wrong,” she said, while helping her to stay calm and less stressed in a country that rules with fear.

Benny Brix came from Denmark. A former university teacher he said, “On the surface, I’m looking like me, myself, but I’m totally transformed,” he said recalling how he used have a bad temper before he started to practice Falun Gong. “Now, when there are conflicts … actually, it’s easy. So yes, I have changed, really a lot,” he said.

Amongst the gathering was also a flotilla of Korean women in traditional dress with many pastel colors.

“My body has not always been healthy but after practicing my body became very healthy,” said Zhang Shuk through a translator. She had come for the event accompanied by 100 other Korean practitioners.

Falun Dafa has given meaning to her life, she said, “I found peace and calmness in my inner self.”

Of the corruption scandals and leadership changes happening in China, the diminutive woman said, “The Chinese have a saying ‘good will be rewarded with good and evil with evil.’ When the time comes, due retribution will happen.”

There were live performances outside the U.N, including dragon dances and much singing. The event marked the beginning of a weekend of activities that include a parade, demonstrations of the Falun Dafa exercises, and a vigil outside the Chinese consulate.

Erping Zhang said the events are a celebration, but he also offered a more somber note.

“It’s an opportunity to shine a light on how our fellow Falun Gong practitioners in China face detention and torture simply for pursuing the same spiritual path we are openly celebrating here in New York,” he said.

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Created: May 12, 2012
Last Updated: May 12, 2012