(Clearwisdom.net) Looking at the old photo shown below, I started to reminisce about the practice site at East China Normal University (ECNU) where I began to learn Falun Gong, the greatest treasure imaginable. It was a place where I befriended a group of kindhearted Falun Gong practitioners and where I experienced the miracles of Falun Gong.
Note: In 1959, ECNU was identified as one of the 16 National Key Universities in China.
A group of students from ECNU promoting Falun Gong on the university campus
An Exercise Practice Site Established on Campus
One day I came across a classmate practicing a type of qigong called Falun Gong. We talked about it for a short while, and then I was invited to join their group exercise practice the next day. I followed the directions to the lawn behind the Mathematics Department building, where I saw a group of university students performing the exercises to very peaceful exercise music. One of them started to teach me the exercises, and I felt serenity and friendliness throughout the entire process. The exercise movements were very simple to learn, and it wasn't long before I was able to practice the exercises with the rest of the students there.
I gradually came to notice some characteristics of the group. For instance, no one would trample upon the grass. They would only practice the exercises on the concrete, and only on the sides of the streets, leaving ample room for people to pass by. The group exercises took place in the early morning in a quiet corner of the campus where few people would pass by, yet everyone was still mindful not to obstruct the sidewalk. There were all manner of people practicing the exercises, from students to university employees, faculty members, and their families. When they finished the exercises, the group would then simply disperse and go their separate ways. For a very long time, I didn't know anyone from the practice site, not even their names.
Besides the morning group exercise practice, practitioners organized Fa study groups. I knew of two Fa study groups on campus at that time, but many practitioners chose to study the Fa at home, and still joined the morning exercises. After practitioners graduated from ECNU, they went back home to different areas of China. As a result, it was difficult to come up with the number of practitioners at the university.
All students at ECNU were required to jog every morning. When a student finished jogging, they obtained a stamp from the teacher who supervised them. Students who joined the Falun Gong morning exercises were no exception. We jogged a full circuit around Liwa River and then got a stamp. Unlike others, we never cheated, and we always completed the entire route. The volunteer Falun Gong assistant, a fellow student at ECNU, later asked if we could substitute the Falun Gong exercises in place of jogging, and got approval. We were then able to spend more time practicing the exercises in the mornings, and got a stamp for each day we participated in the morning exercises.
Organizing Fa Study Groups
There were a few practitioners in the group who felt like sharing their cultivation insights and experiences, so one day they decided to meet up on the campus, on Xiayu Island. During their discussions, they came to realize that Teacher had already given them the best form of guidance for cultivation, in the book Zhuan Falun, so they decided that the next time they met they would study Zhuan Falun together. After a few meetings, more and more practitioners joined them, so then they had to find a room to accommodate more people.
They managed to obtain permission to start a Fa study group in a small classroom in the Wenfu building, where they studied one lecture of Zhuan Falun together each time. After a while, practitioners families also started to join the Fa study group. A graduate student studying biology, Mr. Li Yuanguang, organized another Fa study group in the office of his laboratory. As a result, practitioners who had been joining the morning exercises, but who didn't know how to cultivate themselves, could attend the group Fa study to learn how to conduct themselves by reading Zhuan Falun.
I remember there was a student who once published an article with misleading comments about Falun Gong. In order to resolve this person's misunderstandings, Mr. Li Yuanguang invited him to join the Fa study group. This person asked many questions, but regardless of his intentions, practitioners at the group Fa study patiently answered all of them. This person then continued coming to the group Fa study for a very long time.
Fellow Practitioners from ECNU Who Left a Lasting Impression
There are three particularly memorable practitioners I knew of at ECNU. Mr. Chen Fu was a graduate student studying geology. He had hepatitis and once had to quit school because of his health. After he started practicing Falun Gong he was completely cured. He was even able to donate his blood after that. Mr. Chen underwent a blood test prior to donating, and was given the all-clear as a healthy donor.
Mr. Li Yuanguang used to suffer severe problems with his kidneys, and he once stated in an article that he used to be pessimistic because he couldn't find any cure for it. He was simply wasting his life by indulging in all sorts of entertainment. When he started practicing Falun Gong, he became a healthy man with a positive attitude. If it had not been for his article, I would never have known that the healthy and optimistic Li Yuanguang that I knew, was the same man described in his article. When Mr Li graduated from ECNU, he gave up the opportunity to study a PhD abroad and decided to return to his hometown and teach at Daqin Normal College, and received accolades from the Daqin City Education Bureau. Unfortunately, after the persecution of Falun Gong started in 1999, he was incarcerated and tortured because he refused to renounce his belief. He died on March 4, 2004, leaving behind his wife and children.
Mr. Li Baifan was a lecturer in the Department of Electronics. He came from a family of Buddhist believers, and he also had studied Buddhism well. After he read Zhuan Falun and other Falun Gong books, he announced his admiration for Teacher in an article. In the article he said that Teacher had expounded the Fa clearly and revealed the Buddha Fa (Law) at very high levels. Unfortunately, Mr. Li was subjected to torture because he refused to renounce his belief in Falun Gong, and died at Shanghai No.1 Forced Labor Camp on April 14, 2001.
A Few Days in the Suburbs of Shanghai
A few students and I once stayed at a fellow practitioner's home in the suburbs of Shanghai. During our stay, I saw the acts of true selflessness.
This was a family of four people, a couple and their two children, who lived in a single three-story home they had built themselves. It wasn't an expensive custom-built home, but a humble country home that Chinese country folk built with their own hands.
The host offered his home for a Fa study group. We all enjoyed the atmosphere of his home, and so his home became the location for a main Fa study group. Some practitioners met at his home during weekends or holidays and stayed there. The generous host kept only the master bedroom, and graciously let practitioners use the rest of the house for sleeping, group exercise, and Fa study.
During the days of group Fa study, the host cooked for everyone. We paid for our meals, but we found out that our host had also spent money from of his own pocket to cover the food expenses. For every meal, we were catered to first, then only when everyone had a meal would the host family start eating. The host made many sacrifices, but he never mentioned them.
One day an assistant at the Shanghai Falun Gong Assistance Center talked about him. He said that the host never allowed anyone to praise him for what he had done for everyone while he was present. At that time, I didn't even know his name, and have completely forgotten his surname. But I will always remember one thing that he said. A fellow practitioner once complimented him on what he had done for others, but the host replied, "When I hear a compliment, it means I must not have done well enough." At the time, I felt he was a very humble man, but now I feel it was a remark from a cultivator at a high level.
Falun Gong attracted more than 100 million followers in China since its introduction to the public in 1992, because it is a wonderful cultivation practice of high virtue, and because practitioners have been contributing selflessly to help others.
