(Clearwisdom.net) I am handicapped, but I was lucky to learn Dafa in 1998, which gave me a new life. After the onset of the persecution in 1999, I made a commitment to explain the goodness of Dafa to people, our mission as practitioners. I would like to share my experiences and to provide proof that explaining the cultivation system to people is an efficient way to stop the persecution.
1. Explaining the truth based on my experience
I started by telling people my experience and all the benefits I derived from Dafa. I wrote letters to the city government officials and to the city, the province, and the country TV network stations, using my real name and home address. In the letters I told them how much I benefited from Dafa since I began the practice, that it could make people healthy and could improve their morality, all of benefit to the country. Eventually I wrote to the Civil Complaints Office of the State Department and asked them to forward my letter to the Prime Minister, telling them the persecution was wrong and asking them to investigate.
A few practitioners disagreed with my using my real name. I hoped by then that the regime officials would contact me and investigate my case, but I did not get any response. Nevertheless, I do not regret having used my real name and address. I truly feel that Master and Dafa are treated unjustly. Master and Dafa have done so much good for people. There was no reason for the persecution.
I spoke with county government officials about my experience before and after the practice, and told them that the practice teaches one to become a better person and to think of others first. Because local practitioners constantly explained the truth to our county officials, the persecution in our county was milder than in any other county.
In 2000, a group of us practitioners went to Beijing to appeal. Some were worried and said, "If we are arrested, we will be detained at least for a month, which might delay our planting our fields, since it is almost May now." My wife and I decided to go, but some still hesitated, wondering, "Is this a good time to go? Many practitioners were arrested at a train station." I said, "Explaining the goodness of Falun Gong in Beijing is our priority."
Under Master's protection, I arrived at the Office of Letters and Complaints. Police blocked the entrance and asked, "What are you here for?" "I am here to appeal for Falun Gong," I said. I showed my disability identification card and continued, "I would not be here were I not practicing Falun Gong." One officers looked at me for a long time and walked around me several times. "Are you sure about this disability card? Is this real?" I told them Falun Gong and our Master were being maligned, that Falun Gong taught one to be a better person and be kind, and that Falun Gong would be a benefit to society and to the people. They listened. Some said, "Go home to practice if you think it is good and don't practice outside." I said, "The reason I am here is to ask the government to provide a cultivation environment for us."
Failing to make me leave, they contacted our local liaison office in Beijing, which served the purpose of detaining local practitioners back home. I showed my disability card again and told them of my significant improvements since beginning the practice. The Beijing office staff contacted the local officials. The county Politics and Law Committee head arrived, picked me up, and took me home without adverse consequence. I did not miss a day of work in the fields.
As long as one wants to cultivate, Master will be there to help.
2. Explaining the truth wisely
Explaining the practice to people should be done according people's level of comprehension and circumstances. The message should attract people's attention and not interfere with others. As Master tells us, people have both kind and evil sides. We should let a person's kind side open up and control the evil so that the person can be rescued and the persecution of Falun Gong will stop.
One day in early November 1999 after dinner, six policemen came to my house. I was not afraid and offered them a place to sit. They looked very serious and asked, "Do you still practice Falun Gong?"
I did not answer right the way. Instead, I told my story, about how, prior to the practice, I was disabled, and that it happened when my youngest daughter was only five years old. My wife shouldered all the burdens for our family. To survive, my wife worked in the fields in the mountains while our five-year-old daughter stayed with me and took care of me.
My older daughter was ten years old by then. She picked up trash with her sister on Sundays and sold it. I recall the day my daughter brought me the first twenty yuan she earned from collecting and recycling trash. We all cried. Once when my wife was sick and unable to cook, my daughter learned to cook for the family. All I could move around was on crutches, which I did to help my wife crush the weeds.
The police were listening. I told them that, after I practiced Falun Gong, I got rid of my crutches, and I was fully recovered. My story moved them, and they admired the power of Dafa. Before they left, the police chief said, "Great! Practice at home! We cannot monitor you at home everyday."
3. Explaining the truth when facing persecution
In 2001, CCP officials held brainwashing sessions in our area. One morning, just as we had just completed sending forth righteous thoughts, I heard car noises. I told my wife, "Someone is coming to get me. Let's send righteous thoughts to clear our thoughts. We will not cooperate with them." When I opened the door, there stood a group of policemen. They said, "The Party secretary demands that you to come with us." I told them, "I am not going." By that time, more people had joined the crowd. I went into the street and talked to the bystanders. "Hi, everyone. I used to be disabled and had to use crutches and could not work. There was no one to watch after me. Now I practice Falun Gong, which let me get rid of my crutches, and I became a healthy person, able to work. These officials have come to demand that I give up Falun Gong and are forcing me to attend a brainwashing session. They said if I continue to practice, they will detain me at the police station."
One of my neighbors spoke up, "No one was here when he was sick. Now you come here and bother him when he is recovered. Do you want him to get sick and die? Don't listen to them! Practice it if it works."
I refused to go with them and explained my situation to the crowd on the street. The police chief said to me, "Let's go inside to talk; don't let's talk outside." I replied, "I am not afraid of the people, because I did nothing wrong." They contacted county officials, and one additional police car and motorcycle showed up, with police officials present now amounting to a dozen. I told my cultivation story to the crowd and to the police. People were arguing and questioning the officials' motives, and the police, with only their chief inside of my house, hesitated to force me to go. The police were there for the whole morning. I refused to cooperate with them. Eventually, I left. The chief came out and looked for me. He asked the crowd where I went, but no one told him anything, because even they did not know.
I came to the profound realization that once people know about Falun Gong, they are likely to be rescued, and the persecution will likely be stopped.
These are my cultivation experiences. Explaining the truth to people and exposing the evil persecution, I have encountered many hardships, and Master has always been there to protect me. Explaining the truth to people calmly, we can reduce and even stop the persecution.