(Clearwisdom.net) Today, I made a phone call to China to a person who helps the jail warden persecute Falun Gong practitioners. Upon picking up the telephone, this man immediately said, "Are you Falun Gong? What do you want to talk about?" When I tried to reply, I couldn't finish even one sentence -- he did not allow me to continue and simply kept saying, "Stop!"
This person had a deep misunderstanding of Falun Gong. At first, I was exceedingly concerned for him over his slandering Falun Dafa. He commented that I was not kind enough to listen to him. Then I realized that I was perhaps too eager to clarify the truth to him, so I slowed down my voice, relaxed my attitude, and listened attentively to his thoughts. He then told me that he believed very much the news of the self-immolation in Tiananmen Square.
While talking about it, he was stubborn and angry. I said to him, "From the news video clip, in a matter of seconds, every self-immolated person was surrounded by 3 or 4 policemen with fire extinguishers in their hands. Does it make sense that police on regular patrol would carry fire extinguishers?" I continued, telling him about all the questionable points of the incident and hoping that he would analyze all of these rationally. Gradually he cooled off. It took him some 80 minutes to ease up in our conversation. The reason it took so long had to do with both his doubts about Falun Gong and his difficulty in understanding Teacher Li's teachings. Finally he asked me in a very low voice, helplessly, "Then what should I do?"
He told me that he resented very much that Falun Gong practitioners were calling him to let him know that his name was on a list of persecutors. I explained to him that practitioners were informing him because they fear for his future and hope to let him know that good is met with good and evil receives karmic retribution. They were doing it to protect him so that he would not lose everything in the future. I remarked further, "You have the right to know the real news. It is not fair to you that you are still liable for what you did without knowing the truth." I found that I did not say this just for clarifying the truth to him or just to gain his trust, but rather, it was purely from the bottom of my heart and for his own good.
Before we said farewell, we agreed to keep in touch. He is looking forward to our next conversation, and trusts me to help him safely read more of Teacher's latest articles. He also wants helps getting on the Internet in order to gain more understanding through listening to practitioners' experience sharing about cultivation. He hopes to have the opportunity to follow the path of cultivation practice.
This phone call began with a very rough start and it was difficult for me to have a chance to talk. Later, I realized the following: The party at the other end of the telephone line is deeply influenced by us, and many times the main reason for our difficulty in communicating lies within our own hearts. This person did things wrong while being a victim himself of the persecution. As cultivators of a righteous Fa (1), how could we not maintain the kindest heart and patiently listen, then clarify the truth?
(1) Fa: law and principles; the teachings of Falun Dafa.