Everyone Has a Kind Heart

Everyone knows Hong Kong is now part of China, and practicing Falun Gong in a public park is allowed. About a week ago I visited Hong Kong. Very early one morning, I went to a park where there was an area with some low bushes and a big old tree on one side. This old tree shaded most of the area underneath that was surrounded by the low brushes. I saw some people practicing Falun Gong there so I went in and joined the exercise. After I finished the exercise, I started to speak with the practitioners that I had never met before and said:" I am from Seattle, and am glad to meet you. Considering that Hong Kong is so densely populated, to be able to have a place such as this for practicing the exercises is very lucky!" One of the gentlemen responded and said that it was not easy to use the location and most people did not know about it. In fact there were many stories about how to keep this place for the Falun Gong practitioners to do their exercises. The following is one of his stories.

In Hong Kong, many people misunderstood what Falun Gong is all about, because of the false information that people received. There was a time when the Chief Gardener of the park ordered his assistant to water the bushes whenever the Falun Gong practitioners were there. Water was spraying through the bushes on them, especially during the fifth set. The practitioners were soaking wet, however they remembered what Master Li taught them and elevated their Xinxing. They did not complain. The next day they brought a lot of newspapers and lay them on the ground before they did their sitting meditation. Every time before they left, they carefully cleaned up the place. They continued to do this and it became routine for a period of time. One day, there was no water spraying on them when they were exercising. They wondered why? They found out later that the assistant and her workers had been blamed by the Chief Gardener because they did not follow his order. The practitioners contacted the assistant and let her know that they did not want her and her workers to get into any trouble because of them. She responded, "...Your people's reaction had a great impact on us, we felt bad to continue to spray water during your practice...." So the practitioners thanked her and her workers for their good hearts. Since then the workers never sprayed water on the practitioners. They waited until the practitioners all left the area before they started watering the bushes.

I am impressed by what these Hong Kong Falun Gong practitioners did. I believe every one has a good heart. As Master Li said "...Everyone has Buddha's characteristics ...." Master Li also taught us that when the billows run high, we should not blame anyone, for everyone has contributed their share to push the waves. I think it depends on how we react. We do not need to be in a high position, or to make grand gestures. If everyone humbles oneself and lets go of their selfishness a little, this world will be a better place. Master Li taught us how to create our environment, and those practitioners did.

Thank you Master Li Hong Zhi!

A Seattle Practitioner