Western Practitioner: Rectifying Myself and Clarifying the Truth in Chinatown

(Minghui.org) Greetings Master, greetings fellow practitioners! I’d like to share with you my experience of moving to San Francisco’s Chinatown and clarifying the truth and cultivating there.

About a month ago, I moved to Chinatown. Master said in “Teaching the Fa in San Francisco, 2005,”

"But I have noticed that the Chinatown area is a blank spot in your efforts to clarify the truth and validate the Fa. And yet that is the most, most important place in your region out West."

If Master says something is important, no matter if I fully comprehend why or not, then as a disciple I should just do it.

Master said in “Teaching the Fa in San Francisco, 2005,”

“The persecution that has been perpetrated upon Dafa disciples and upon the people of China was launched by the wicked Party in mainland China, and this means that you need to focus on mainland China, to focus on the people of mainland China. Chinatown is precisely the kind of place that mainland Chinese patronize the most, so you can't let up there and lose out on that place, a place where Dafa disciples stand to have a tremendous effect.”

In “Fa Teaching at the 2007 New York Fa Conference,” Master said about Chinatown,

“If you haven't persisted at it and there have only been a few people involved, of course things won't change!”

I have been going almost every day to hand out flyers in Chinatown at the Falun Dafa umbrella that Sound of Hope manages on the corner of California and Grant Streets, where the cable car stops, or helping hold the Quit the CCP banner on Stockton Street. Doing this truth clarification work in Chinatown has helped my cultivation a lot. I started this work on the day we moved into the office. When we moved in, the president of Sound of Hope introduced me to the coordinator for their umbrella. Right away, this practitioner asked me, "What time tomorrow can you help? Can you do it every day?" I wasn't sure if I really had the time to do it every day and if it was the best use of my time, since I manage a few projects, but I went ahead and set a time anyway, knowing that it was a good thing.

So I went every day to where our coordinator told me to go. There would often be last minute changes in the location or what I should do, such as give out flyers, hold a banner, or do the exercises. I didn’t mind, because I remembered Master’s words from “Be More Diligent,”

"So whatever the main coordinator of a project—regardless of what project he heads up—or the coordinators of Dafa Associations in different regions, do, all you need to do is follow them and do the same."

Nonetheless, even though I went along with all the changes, giving out the flyers was a challenge for me. Not a lot of people would take flyers at first. I knew it was a good thing to do, but I knew there must be a better way. Hence, a lot of thoughts went through my mind such as, “Was this the best way to do it? Was I wasting my time? Should we have different flyers?” etc. So sometimes, I just practiced the exercises and let someone else give out flyers.

And in fact, I think it became a downward spiral, just as Master described at the “Fa Teaching Given at the 2011 Washington DC Metro Area Fa Conference,” about when we don't properly send righteous thoughts:

"However, we need to look at what some people were sending out when sending righteous thoughts. They would be sitting there, palm erect, but their thoughts would not be righteous, ‘How come we’re taking this approach this year? I did a great job selling tickets last year. Why are they making me send righteous thoughts here when I could be out selling tickets? Why do we have to target society’s cultural mainstream? These tickets are so expensive—who’s going to buy them?!’ (Laughter) While it sounds funny to hear this now, that was in fact an extremely widespread phenomenon. Do you realize that with all that being sent out, all around the world it formed into a sticky, glue-like substance, and it took just a very few evil beings to be able to interfere with you. It was not something that you could clear out, and it directly blocked our Dafa disciples’ ticket sales and blocked the Dafa disciples who were sending out true righteous thoughts."

Then a couple weekends ago, I had a breakthrough. After finishing teaching the exercises to a tourist at Portsmouth Square, I went to our umbrella location to see if we needed any help there. I went a bit reluctantly because while I enjoyed teaching the exercises, I wasn't looking forward to having a lot of people brush me off when offering them flyers.

I saw our coordinator standing on the corner all alone holding flyers. She's not a native English speaker like I am and most of the people who come by speak English, not Chinese.

So I decided I would at least help her for 20 minutes. Our spot is a prime location at the top of the hill entering Chinatown and a great many tourists enter Chinatown there both from Pine Street as well as from the cable car. Plus, it is right in front of Old St. Mary's Cathedral. Since it was a Sunday, people were going there for services, and on top of that there was a wedding, so people were flooding into the church. Even if only ten percent of them took flyers that would be a hundred-plus per hour. So it was a particularly important day. But that's not what happened at all. Instead, about eighty to ninety percent of the people took flyers from me. I was amazed. I was still feeling afterglow from practicing the exercises, so I was filled with energy. I could feel energy pulsating through my arms and out my fingers, and when I spoke, my words were filled with authority and enthusiasm. As I gave out flyers, I'd say, "Welcome to Chinatown. This is free traditional exercise from China. It's amazing." To the Chinese, I would say a few words I was taught in Chinese.

Almost everyone took a flyer, be they English speakers or Chinese speakers. Some tourists stopped to ask questions about the practice or ask for directions. And while I was giving directions or when I turned away, some other tourist would ask for a flyer. Instead of staying for only 20 minutes, I stayed for the entire time, for another three hours, until we closed the umbrella. The coordinator was amazed as well. She told me that no one had ever given out flyers so quickly.

She wanted to know my approach. I explained my understanding that when our energy is strong and our mind is righteous, we break into the everyday person's field and repress or eliminate any negative thoughts that are blocking them from learning the truth. I believe this is because righteous elements help us do this. Master said in “Fa Teaching Given at the 2011 Washington DC Metro Area Fa Conference,”

"...sometimes when a Dafa disciple’s thoughts are quite righteous, there is a righteous god or righteous elements present, serving to reinforce his righteous thoughts."

This is the positive potential when we have righteous thoughts. When our minds are truly clear, it has a tremendous effect.

I furthermore explained to the coordinator my approach of talking with a lot of enthusiasm and joy, because I believe this is positive energy that people can feel. The next day she tried it herself and she reported back that it worked for her as well and she gave out more flyers than ever before. Since that day, other practitioners have asked me about this approach and they have been adapting it for themselves and their own understanding and having better results.

That night, when we studied Lecture 6 of Zhuan Falun, the words jumped out at me,

"An everyday person is very weak. His messages are unstable and may change."

I realized how easy it is to direct ordinary people to take the flyers when our mind is righteous.

Based on that, the next day I took things to a higher level. I sent righteous thoughts when I began. My mind became like still water and the peacefulness bubbled out of me. Some people took flyers without my having to say anything. Sometimes, as people approached, I sent righteous thoughts directly at the people. Some of them came right toward me to take a flyer. For example, I sent righteous thoughts at a businessman in an expensive suit as he was crossing the street coming down the hill towards me. Usually businessmen who walk through that place are in a hurry and don't stop for anything. At first, this man was like that too. I said what I usually say, "Free Chinese exercise practice." He replied, “Thank you very much” and hurried on by. I kept sending righteous thoughts. About ten feet down the hill he stopped and turned around, asking, "What kind of Chinese exercise? Is it Tai Chi?" "No, it's qigong," I clarified. "OK, I'll take a flyer," he said as he started walking back up the hill toward me. I smiled.

In summary, there are some extraordinary opportunities right now in Chinatown and I encourage everyone to come help.

I’ll end with Master’s words about Chinatown in “Fa Teaching at the 2007 New York Fa Conference,”

"How many people have really gone to San Francisco's Chinatown to clarify the facts? If you haven't persisted at it and there have only been a few people involved, of course things won't change! Given that there are so many disciples in the Bay Area, why don't you make that area a priority and put in some effort there?"