(Clearwisdom.net)
Recently, the media has been widely reporting the incident where many Falun Dafa practitioners from Taiwan were detained and even expelled by force from Hong Kong. We've been talking about this among ourselves as well. I'm one of the practitioners from Taiwan that went to Hong Kong to clarify the truth. I have just come back from Hong Kong and haven't read the related articles by other fellow practitioners. With a pure heart, I'd like to share my experience and understandings regarding this incident.
I'm one of the practitioners who successfully passed through the Hong Kong Customs Office. I'm not saying that I'm a very good practitioner nor am I trying to show off or criticize others simply because I entered Hong Kong. In fact, I don't think I did very well when handling this incident. I didn't always completely reach the requirements for myself, but still, I passed through. Many other practitioners passed through as well, which proved that entering Hong Kong shouldn't have been very difficult.
After entering Hong Kong, we constantly sent forth righteous thoughts for practitioners who would be coming later on. About 100 practitioners kept sending forth righteous thoughts. However, we were quite surprised that more and more practitioners got detained every day, even with our strong righteous thoughts. The situation turned worse and worse. Many practitioners that I thought were very diligent and had been solidly practicing the Fa weren't able to enter Hong Kong. It didn't make sense at all.
We tried to share understandings, but the initial sharing wasn't successful. We should have communicated our experiences, and the tips that we used, to the practitioners coming later on so that we could improve on an overall basis. However, we had attachments to competitiveness and trying to protect ourselves. We weren't willing to seriously think about what happened and we pursued comfort. We were very tired and there was a lot of interference. Our sharing was interrupted several times. We got similar phone calls when we were right about to get to our points. Two practitioners who had successfully entered Hong Kong with strong righteous thoughts suddenly decided not to join the sharing. We failed to dig out the reasons why some of us got through and the others didn't. Just before we came back to Taiwan, we were finally able to deeply share our understandings. We came to realize that we didn't do well as one body with the plan of clarifying the truth in Hong Kong. Those that passed through and those that didn't are all particles of the Taiwan one body. We need to seriously think about the omissions of the Taiwan practitioners as one body. We have the responsibility to share our understandings in a timely manner with our fellow practitioners in order to find out how we deviated from the Fa. Let's truly think about this incident.
As practitioners, we do not recognize the persecution. Therefore, if we had accorded with the Fa, more and more practitioners should have been able to enter Hong Kong. As we improved on the Fa, eventually, all the practitioners who went to Hong Kong should have been able to pass through the customs office. However, what we saw was the opposite. Obviously, we had omissions as one body and we didn't walk down the path that Teacher had arranged for us.
Fellow practitioners from Taiwan, did we somehow take entering Hong Kong as going to jail to validate the Fa?
As we walk the path of the Fa, it should become wider and wider. If we follow everyday people's notions, we will be diverted by everyday people's tricks and we will fall into abiding by everyday people's rules.
On June 25, and 26, some practitioners who went to Hong Kong got expelled. It started to become a test for those of us who were going to Hong Kong to see whether we had the attachment of fear and whether we would be moved by everyday people's notions. When we were about to leave for Hong Kong on June 27, coordinators gave us a document from the airline before we got on the plane. They reminded us that we should show the document to the customs office if we got detained to let them know that we knew their plan already, in order to expose and intimidate the evil. Some of us were kindly reminded that it would be good if we could enter Hong Kong, but it would be OK if we were unable to since we might have other tasks to do and therefore we should not care about the results.
The night before we left, many of us were told to bring a shirt with the words Falun Dafa on it, so when we got detained we would wear it as a proof of the persecution. Also, by wearing clothes with Dafa words, it would expose their lies if they claimed that we were dangerous people.
These are what fellow practitioners did to help us get prepared and get through the customs office. They all have understandings and kindnesses at different levels. However, they stirred up everyday people's notions in our minds. Besides the attachment of fear, we unintentionally started to assume that we would be detained. Most importantly, we didn't share on the Fa but just tried to get prepared with everyday people's means. I'm not saying it was wrong to do these things, however, from a practitioner's perspective, we should have first shared on the Fa and then used other means as supplements. Then it would have been more righteous. It would have been better if we were given experience sharing articles about entering Hong Kong or understandings on the Fa instead of the document from the airline. Then we would have been able to strengthen our righteous thoughts and improve ourselves.
Later on, besides the document from the airline company about detaining Falun Gong practitioners, practitioners were also given talking points and documents regarding our legal rights when being detained so we would know what to do when we got detained. However, this caused assumptions and fear that it was becoming more and more difficult to enter Hong Kong, especially for those practitioners who had just started to practice Falun Dafa, senior practitioners, those who were experiencing illness karma, those who had many everyday people in their families, and those who were going abroad for the first time. Similarly, I'm not saying they shouldn't have provided those materials but that we still lacked communication and improvements on the Fa. Instead, we were trying to get more prepared from an everyday person's perspective. More importantly, we recognized the old forces' arrangements that we would be detained. We started to acknowledge that our cultivation level would be tested at the airport and that we would validate the Fa at the airport.
In fact, how many of us, especially those who didn't receive a lot of education, were able to understand the terminologies and the process of realizing our legal rights when being detained. How many of us could remember all of those talking points? However, our attachment to fear and our heart of validating the Fa on a grand scale at the airport was stirred up, which affected a lot of things later on.
On the night of June 29, when practitioners were about to enter Hong Kong, they received a phone call and were asked not to go to the Customs Office since, "They've got a list of our names. Therefore please stay at where you are to purify the field." Some fellow practitioners might have already prepared to stay at the airport. They brought big banners and they opened the banners and started to study the Fa and practice the exercises at the airport. Police immediately surrounded them. The other practitioners who planned to enter Hong Kong thought that they should stay with the group after they received the phone call. Later they said they were not unwilling to enter Hong Kong but thought that the fight between the righteous and the evil would happen at the airport when they received the phone call.
The righteous thoughts and righteous actions of the practitioners who stayed at the airport were admirable. Many of them didn't follow the police's orders. A mother brought her three kids. They were wearing short-sleeved shirts and short pants at the airport where the air conditioning made it very cold. They stayed at the airport for two days. They clarified the truth with righteous thoughts. The spy who talked to them didn't know what to say and was scared away. Fellow practitioners from our own media took clear pictures and recorded evidence. Many practitioners were forcibly expelled. A young practitioner who is an elementary school student sat down and refused to be expelled. A policeman grabbed her hands and pulled her away as she screamed. Later, when practitioners said to her, "In order to collect evidence for the lawsuit, please describe how frightened you were and who made you suffer." She said, "I wasn't frightened. I screamed because I was so sad for that policeman since he was committing a crime."
All of these situations showed that the incident happened not because we didn't handle it well or because we didn't have righteous thoughts, but because our basis was not correct. We showed our righteous thoughts and righteous actions when following the old forces' arrangement rather than doing what we should do. Personally, I think it was interference and it was not on the Fa when another practitioner called and asked the others to stay at the airport and not to enter Hong Kong. Please correct me if my understanding is wrong.
This incident seems to be a test of the old forces during the final Fa-rectification stage for the overall practitioners from Taiwan before we reach consummation. Taiwan practitioners haven't directly faced detention or persecution and therefore the old forces arranged this. It appears "reasonable," however, the old forces are not qualified to test Dafa practitioners. Our cultivation paths are arranged by Teacher. Also, we should have the final say in the everyday people's society.
Did some of us develop the attachment of competitiveness with the evil when we heard about what happened in Hong Kong? Did we try to validate the Fa on a grand scale and have the thought of, "Ah, I should use my own body to safeguard the Fa!" Did we doubt ourselves, saying, "I have the attachment of fear and I probably won't be able to pass this test. I'm not qualified to be a Dafa practitioner." In fact, all these thoughts recognized the old forces' arrangement and their being a "witness" for us and their arranging a test to help us improve. The old forces are unable to make arrangements for us. We should completely deny them.
When more and more of us took entering Hong Kong as a test, the Hong Kong airport became a "detention center." The phone calls asking practitioners to stay at the airport caused more practitioners to recognize the old forces' arrangements when they agreed that they should join the fight between the righteous and the evil at the airport. On the same night, more than 100 practitioners were sending forth righteous thoughts inside Hong Kong. However, their efforts were in vain. My personal feeling on that night was that I wasn't able to send my righteous thoughts into the customs office. Now I knew it was because those fellow practitioners had decided to stay at the airport.
My understanding is that Dafa practitioners should gather together to eliminate the evil instead of passively fighting it within the evil's own field.
Our front line was inside Hong Kong, not at the Hong Kong airport. We should not pursue a large scale effect at a "detention center." It is just like inside China, when fellow practitioners go to Tiananmen Square, their purpose is not to get arrested but to validate the Fa. The purpose of our entering Hong Kong is to eliminate the evil in the other dimensions. We shouldn't have opened banners at the airport and forced the police to immediately choose between right and wrong. Everyday people are weak. Due to their pursuit for physical interest and their notions of protecting themselves, the police who shouldn't have committed crimes, surrounded practitioners under the pressure from their boss. Think about it, how could the police who were ordered to "handle" Falun Gong practitioners not do as they were ordered when those practitioners publicly opened Dafa banners and practiced the Dafa exercises?
Maybe that practitioner who made the phone calls meant to have the evil exposed and maximally use the media. However, those practitioners who stayed at the airport had their pictures taken from every angle. Their contact information from their cellphones was collected and therefore, those that weren't on the blacklist are all on the blacklist now.
In fact, the list of names is an everyday people's list. It exists in the field of everyday people and the evil. Not all of the practitioners that entered Hong Kong were not on the blacklist. In other words, the evil "knows" some of them. But those practitioners eliminated the evil and broke through with righteous thoughts. Seen from this dimension, the computer simply didn't show their names or the airport staff missed their names or they simply let them in. Some practitioners were not with the group and therefore didn't get the message asking them to stay at the airport. They successfully entered Hong Kong even when the airline company already had their names.
During our sharing, we learned that many practitioners had stayed since they were confused by the evil's tricks. They thought the airline company knew everything, so they followed the policemen's orders. Some were tricked by the airport staff and told them they were in a Falun Gong practitioners' group. Some practitioners who entered Hong Kong wrote down their names and contact information and handed it over to strangers.
I'm not saying that I had a more solid understanding on Fa principles nor that I would have done any better. Every time when I heard a new story about this incident, I asked myself whether I could have done it better if I were there. Would I not be afraid when I knew so many fellow practitioners had been expelled? Would I have been able to hold righteous thoughts and righteous actions if I stayed at the airport? Wouldn't I have been terrified when I saw the policemen's electric batons and when they surrounded me and covered the other practitioners in blankets and dragged them away? Would I have seen through the evils' faked kindness? I'm not at all sure how I would have reacted. Of course, I don't mean that those who successfully entered Hong Kong need to go through the same thing again, since we aren't supposed to go through this test. It is not a test that we should accept. Simply because we recognized the test, this incident happened as if we were at a Chinese Communist Party's detention center even when we were actually outside of China, at a place that respects democracy.
Those fellow practitioners who fought with the evil at the airport should have entered Hong Kong to clarify the truth and save sentient beings. Those who opened banners at the airport should had shown their mighty virtue at the grand parade inside Hong Kong. The very well behaved young fellow practitioners should have eliminated the evil inside Hong Kong instead of at the Customs Office. The evil was truly afraid of many Falun Dafa practitioners entering Hong Kong and going to the front line of the battle where practitioners would be able to eliminate the evil together and demonstrate our power during the parade. We drew international attention at the airport and the evil was terrified when it got exposed. However, the evil would rather surround practitioners at the airport since their loss would be smaller in this way while they were able to paint a nice and "peaceful" picture to the head of the Chinese Communist Party visiting Hong Kong.
When some coordinators heard that it would be the first time for some practitioners to go to Hong Kong, they were happy and felt relaxed since they thought that those practitioners would have a better chance of entering Hong Kong since most probably weren't included on the blacklist. In fact, this is a trap of the evil. They focused on blocking the practitioners who were more experienced at clarifying the truth in Hong Kong. Of course, I'm not saying these practitioners would have more Fa power nor those who visited Hong Kong the first time would have less righteous thoughts. However, it is a fact that it would have taken those practitioners going to Hong Kong for the first time more time on transportation and settling down in Hong Kong. Also, they might not have had enough experience to catch all the opportunities to explain the facts about Falun Dafa to people in Hong Kong. Therefore, our power of clarifying the truth diminished. The coordinators' judging who would have an easier time entering Hong Kong indirectly recognized the old forces' arrangement of this "test."
The first day after we arrived at Hong Kong, I saw the weather forecast for that week. It was going to rain and have thunderstorms through July 1. In that week, we all felt strong evil interference. It should be a hot summer, yet we spent those days in chilly storms. We kept sending forth righteous thoughts for almost ten hours in waterlogged depression. The rain seemed to be targeting Dafa practitioners. When the court started and when the parade began, the weather suddenly got worse and the storm came, trying to sweep through us. Young practitioners saw in their celestial eyes that the evil's bodies were falling from the sky. At midnight, when we were in front of the Hong Kong governmental building, the storm was as strong as a hurricane. It suddenly dashed towards all of our banners as if the evil had launched a final aggressive charge. When more practitioners arrived on the night of June 30, the weather gradually got better. On July 1, when all of us gathered at the square, a few enormously large black clouds followed and hovered over us. However, no raindrops fell. It was strange weather for the whole day, but there was no rain. We could tell that the evil was terrified and intimidated by the arrival of more practitioners. Every one of us brought a huge energy field with us. We surrounded and annihilated the evil with the Fa strengthening us. We shouldn't have been surrounded in the evil's dens.
Teacher's arrangement for us doesn't include a persecution. We would be able to assimilate to the Fa without the evil's tests. To awaken everyday people's consciences and to establish practitioners' mighty virtue, Teacher's arrangement doesn't include practitioners' organs being taking out when those practitioners are still alive, nor does it mean that practitioners will be beaten to disability at forced labor camps.
The point is not about whether we could pass through the Customs Office or whether we could pass the test. The point is, why we would encounter such a test? It wasn't a test from Teacher and it wasn't a path for us. The path that we originally chose was to enter Hong Kong to eliminate the evil in other dimensions instead of being teased and tricked by the demons. Our levels are higher than those of the old forces'. We should have the final say.
Putting it more seriously, we indirectly recognized the rationality of this test if we thought those who entered Hong Kong were good practitioners and those who didn't had omissions. We indirectly recognized that we would improve ourselves with this test if we felt that those who stayed at the airport did well when they kept righteous thoughts and righteous actions or when they publicly fought against the deportations and looked directly at the evil or when they refused to cooperate with the police.
Of course, practitioners would display their true nature when faced with any tests and they would be able to see their shortcomings and improve themselves. However, the issue is that the evils' test shouldn't have existed at all. Teacher has arranged paths for us. Teacher's tests for us are based on the Fa and they help us pay back karma and improve our xinxing level. As long as we improve ourselves and as long as we are determined to pass the tests, we will be able to pass them. Therefore we don't need the evils' persecution to improve ourselves.
Among those who passed through the customs office, not all of them always had abundant righteous thoughts in their everyday lives. Not all of them did very well with Dafa projects. Not all of them studied the Fa very well. Not all of them were without the attachment of fear at the airport.
We are all at different levels and therefore we might act differently at the customs office. However, we should have something in common, that is, we should have never thought we wouldn't be able to enter Hong Kong. We should have never planned to stay at the airport to validate the Fa and fight with the evil there.
One senior practitioner originally stayed at the airport on June 29, when he received the phone call "instruction." However, he then passed through the customs office. The reason was very simple. He could only speak a local Taiwan dialect and he doesn't understand Mandarin or Cantonese. Therefore he simply didn't listen to the police. He quickly went to the customs office and then passed through.
The group that I was with arrived on June 27, and most of us in our group entered Hong Kong. I later learned that our group also received the phone call saying "Hong Kong has the list of names of your group as well." The practitioner who received this phone call talked to another practitioner who decided that this message shouldn't be passed on to the whole group. Her reason was that our path is arranged by Teacher. We wanted to go to Hong Kong and the list was irrelevant to us. Therefore she said there was no need to let the group know about the list since it might stir up our attachment to fear. Thanks to her righteous thoughts and correct decision, most of us kept a pure and calm heart. At least none of us took on more burdens. The leader of our group received too many messages and she was too worried, so she wasn't able to enter Hong Kong. The other practitioner who decided not to let the group know about the phone call message was blocked twice. However, she didn't follow the order to wait aside. Instead, she kept joining the line and sending forth righteous thoughts. Eventually she passed through the customs office.
In this world, there might be complicated situations. However, from another dimension, all that we face is actually how we understand the Fa and whether we keep strong righteous thoughts. Did we choose the path arranged by Teacher or follow the path arranged by the old forces? Did we choose to believe the illusions that we saw with our eyes or the power of the Fa and our righteous thoughts? Our righteous thoughts can break through anything.
The reason that I wrote this article is to clearly describe what happened. As a result of this incident, I'm sure there will be a lot of sharing. For the things that we didn't do well and the omissions due to lack of sharing on the Fa before we left for Hong Kong, let's talk to each other and see how to make up for it. Let's truly improve ourselves by learning from our experiences. Practitioners from Taiwan have been living in a peaceful and comfortable society. We always cooperate with each other very well and we have a team spirit. However, we lack solid understandings on the Fa when handling things. We, including myself, tend to follow others and we are used to a harmonious atmosphere. When we followed a practitioner with strong righteous thoughts, we would do very well as a whole. However, when some of us didn't enlighten to the right Fa principles, we tended to go down a wrong path together.
From the media's perspective, this incident helped us clarify the truth. The efforts of our fellow practitioners are truly magnificent. However, our original plan to eliminate the evil in Hong Kong failed. We must dig out our attachments. My personal understanding is that we should not ever indirectly recognize the rationality of the persecution. The evil will take advantage of us if we unintentionally judge our fellow practitioners or treat some fellow practitioners as heroes or tend to show off or feel embarrassed that we didn't pass through the customs office. Did we question our cultivation in the past? Did we enjoy talking about some exciting scenes at the airport? Did we unintentionally develop hatred against the Hong Kong government? Did we try to fight with the Hong Kong government? Did we compare ourselves with others? Did we think of ourselves as vulnerable victims? These thoughts are all wrong.
My personal understanding is that practitioners from Taiwan had great righteous thoughts and righteous actions. Some practitioners in China were moved, painted pictures, and presented those pictures to us as gifts. However, we must remind ourselves that whether we successfully entered Hong Kong or stayed at the airport to fight the evil or got expelled and clarified the truth on their way home, it isn't something that needs to be praised since that's what we were supposed to do.
We need to seriously think about our shortcomings. We should not try to cover up what we initially didn't do well by showing off the results from our later truth-clarification efforts. Only in this way can we walk well down the path of validating the Fa in the future.
My above sharing is not very well organized nor perfect at all. Fellow practitioners corrected some of my points in my previous version. I also uncovered my attachment of thinking highly of myself. This is a revised version.