Western Practitioner: Some Thoughts on World Falun Dafa Day

What kind of day is World Falun Dafa Day apart from it being the birthday of the founder of Falun Dafa, Master Li Hongzhi?

To me it is a day to both rejoice in Dafa and to commemorate all those who have and are still suffering under the persecution in China. With those who are suffering I'm also referring to the Chinese people who have been blocked by the persecution to freely, openly decide whether to discover the goodness of Falun Gong or not.

Thinking about this day in relation to myself makes me think about how practicing Falun Gong has had such a tremendous positive impact on my life. And for that I'm very grateful. And on the other hand, World Falun Dafa Day is a day to make up the balance and realize that the ten-year plus persecution is still going on.

Normally on this day there is a gathering of local practitioners, and this helps to strengthen our combined resolve to make as many people as possible aware of this persecution and Falun Gong. Since most practitioners are actively trying to help the world learn about Dafa and the persecution in China using very diverse means, some practitioners who are involved in different projects only rarely meet, and this special day helps get these practitioners together.

When first starting to practice and learn about the persecution, while watching the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party videos I was surprised to find that the media has remained mostly silent about the persecution, even though it's so urgent and has been for more than a decade.

Before cultivating I had a negative view of the Chinese people and China, having encountered some really depraved Chinese people. When I think back now, I pity those people and realize how they have lost their way while being brought up in a communist country. Having practiced Dafa and after watching the Nine Commentaries, I understand better how the Chinese are suffering under the Chinese Communist regime and how it has changed the Chinese people for the worse. More than 60 years of promoting struggle against one another, money worship, and fighting with old beliefs, traditions, and nature, has left the hearts and minds of a nation in chaos and makes the Chinese estranged from each other and the rest of the world.

If I remember correctly, Master Li once explained that communism takes the form of a red dragon in another dimension.

Through my Celestial Eye, I saw a huge, red dragon once, and when I looked closer it was made up of people, like grains of sand or molecules--at a certain level this dragon was made up of people. And I saw that if these people's hearts and minds changed and moved away from communism, they were freed. Because many people were fundamentally changing and distancing themselves from communism and moving towards goodness, holes were appearing in the dragon.

This change of heart is essential. Before cultivation I didn't know the power of our human thinking and awareness. I now realize that there is no middle road. There are two sides to choose from: good or evil. Even not deciding, not acting is a decision. Knowledge guides ones thinking, and can make one's heart change, and only when the heart changes can one change one's course of action fundamentally and change one's environment. Changing one's awareness can make a real change.

I trust that everyone will eventually know about the goodness of Dafa, and the universal principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. I hope that many people begin to clearly understand the persecution and the nature of the Chinese regime so they can distance themselves from it and stop strengthening it. I hope we can reach them in time and provide them with the knowledge they need to decide their futures.