A Tribute to the Courageous Falun Dafa Practitioners of China: Commemorating One Year

We gather today in the capitol of a nation founded on commitment to principles, a nation indebted to those who have sacrificed nobly for its sake. Many suffered and died for the principle of liberty in founding this nation, as did many others later, including President Lincoln, for the principles of union and of freedom. Principles cannot be touched, weighed, or measured. Yet principles, when exemplified, have proven powerful and enduring.

We stand here to recognize, honor, and support the thousands of people in China who are risking everything for the principles they know to be more valuable than anything else. They are the practitioners of Falun Dafa, also called Falun Gong, and it is the principles of Truthfulness, Benevolence, and Forbearance that guide their practice.

As we come together to commemorate the banning of Falun Dafa in China one year ago this week, and the Chinese government's on-going persecution, we do well to remain conscious of history. For it is history that has shown us the power of enduring for the sake of principles. In ancient Athens, some 2500 years ago, Socrates refused to compromise his teaching of the truth-even unto death; thus, Western philosophy was born. In ancient Jerusalem, some 2000 years ago, Jesus of Nazareth offered new life to people through his teaching of higher laws-even unto death; thus, Christianity was born. More recently, right here in the capital, Martin Luther King Jr. shook the nation with his vision of brotherhood-a vision that eventually cost him his life; thus, a new America was born.

Today, Falun Dafa courageously embodies this tradition of sacrificing for principles. Practitioners of Falun Dafa have demonstrated to the world again that one can remain true to higher principles under the harshest of conditions and at the greatest of costs. They have argued with their quiet, peaceful resistance that Truthfulness, Benevolence, and Forbearance are mightier than any force of hatred.

For those of you here today who are somewhat unfamiliar with the situation, a moment's review of events is in order.

On July 20th, 1999, the Chinese Communist Party launched a ruthless, systematic campaign to suppress a wide cross section of its own citizens. These citizens-people of all walks of life-had one thing in common: They practiced Falun Dafa, a self-cultivation practice with gentle exercises that teaches people to embody Truthfulness, Benevolence, and Forbearance. Its goodness is unmistakable, and it was this that led roughly 100 million people in China to take up the practice. Yet this popularity led a troubled, authoritarian Chinese Communist Party to move from originally supporting the practice to attacking it and all of its affiliates.

With the ban last July, literally overnight tens of millions of upstanding Chinese citizens were officially forced to renounce their gentle practice and beliefs. The ban implicated not only practitioners of Falun Dafa, but also their families, friends, and loved ones-virtually no one has gone unaffected. Colleagues and neighbors have been fined for not reporting practitioners they know. Thousands of college, high school, and even some elementary school students have been expelled from their schools because they or their family members practice.

An entire nation has been torn at the seams by its very own leadership.

During the past 12 months, tens of thousands of practitioners have been arrested, beaten, and tortured; well over 5,000 have been detained and sent to labor camps without trial; hundreds have been sentenced without due-legal procedure to prison terms of up to 18 years; many have been detained in mental hospitals and given forced, toxic injections; and at least 24 practitioners have died due to maltreatment while in police custody. Millions have been denied their constitutional rights to freedom of speech, assembly and belief.

Many of the harsh punishments practitioners experience in China have been inflicted simply because they went to government offices to exercise their constitutional right to appeal peacefully. Some punishments were even inflicted because practitioners continued to practice quietly at home-something supposedly allowed under the ban.

What, then, did practitioners do to deserve all of this? Their simple refusal to renounce their practice was enough. Yet for anyone who has experienced the profound goodness of Falun Dafa, to turn their backs on the practice would be unthinkable. It would be as good as forsaking the principles of the universe: Truthfulness, Benevolence, and Forbearance.

Countless hardships have been endured simply out of commitment to these principles and the desire to let the truth be known about Falun Dafa. What practitioners of Falun Dafa have endured for this is extraordinary.

Yet in what may be remembered as China's darkest hour, we have witnessed this past year the amazing goodness of Falun Dafa shining forth. We have learned, sometimes even amidst horror, the power of the principles of Truthfulness, Benevolence, and Forbearance.

Consider the power of Truthfulness amidst the lies:

Truthfulness has led Falun Dafa practitioners to risk everything-personal safety, their jobs, their homes, and even their lives-to make known the truth about their practice. Truthfulness inspired tens of thousands to go to Beijing last July to appeal the ban on Falun Dafa, with over 35,000 practitioners arrested in the first three months alone. Truthfulness moves hundreds of practitioners to petition their government every week, knowing full well that they will be detained and punished-even tortured-for exercising their constitutional right of appeal. Some have even walked hundreds of miles to do this. And Truthfulness compels, despite the very real and immediate personal risks, scores of practitioners to meditate and unfurl banners in Tiananmen Square that proclaim simply, "Falun Dafa is Good!"

Consider the power of Benevolence amidst the wickedness:

Benevolence enables Falun Dafa practitioners to cultivate kindness in the most oppressive and trying of circumstances. Benevolence allows practitioners to look into the eyes of their oppressors with deep compassion, seeing what is human beneath the cruelty. Benevolence moved practitioners last July to save a Beijing policeman being accidentally trampled by fellow security officers. Benevolence informed the female practitioner who removed her handkerchief from her pocket to gently wipe the sweating forehead of her torturer. The Benevolence of jailed practitioners has touched the hearts of countless prisoners and guards, leading one inmate to declare, "It is in jail that I learned to become a good person!"

Consider the power of Forbearance amidst the intolerance:

It is their commitment to Forbearance that enables practitioners to suffer the most inhumane of abuses-including torture with electric cattle prods, forced abortion, sanctioned rape, and even toxic injections-without succumbing to anger, despair, or violence. Forbearance gives practitioners the strength to nobly endure the penalties for doing what is right, upstanding, and constitutionally sanctioned. Forbearance allowed Ms. Chen Zixiu to remain committed to her principles even unto death by torture, as reported in The Wall Street Journal's harrowing April 20th account. And it is because of Forbearance that Falun Dafa and, in turn, the dream of freedom, remain alive in China today. Twenty-four practitioners have already given their lives for this cause.

People of goodwill and outstanding institutions have not failed to notice the power of these principles nor the goodness of those who embody them. We offer our appreciation to the Congress of the United States, the US State Department, Amnesty International, Freedom House, Human Rights Watch, and a host of others who have spoken out against the official persecution in China.

Despite the international community's strong condemnation of this atrocity, still, on the other side of the world, thousands and thousands of innocent, kindhearted Falun Dafa practitioners in China continue to undergo persecution for their commitment to righteous principles.

They have endured. And they have done so without resorting to violence, instead remaining noble and upright amidst unimaginable circumstances.

They have sacrificed-so that the truth may stand a chance, and so that others, like us, may come to know it.

For their belief in Truthfulness, Benevolence, and Forbearance, these Falun Dafa practitioners have lost their homes, assets, jobs, education, futures, and even their lives. They have forgone their personal security for larger, higher principles-not unlike those moral exemplars who have gone before us. History promises to reveal the grandeur of what these practitioners have done. This, we can count on.

This past year, the whole world has learned from Falun Dafa practitioners something the Chinese Government resists admitting-that Falun Dafa is good, benevolent, upright.

We look to practitioners in China for inspiration. We look to them to learn the meaning of courage. And we look to them to see where we fall short. They have shown the world in the face of horrendous oppression that one can be a good person under any circumstances. They demonstrate daily that Truthfulness, Benevolence, and Forbearance are not merely philosophical ideals, but something that can be lived. In doing so, they give to the world the greatest gift.