(Minghui.org) In 1999, when one reporter was assigned to "expose and criticize" Falun Gong, he said, “I don't yet understand Falun Gong. I should understand it first.” As a result, this reporter did not write a critical article. He became a Falun Gong cultivator.
Four years later, this story reminds me of what happened to me. From indifference to scrutiny, from antipathy to support, from sympathy to admiration, through comparison and research, I was finally impressed by the principles and started to practice Dafa.
Press in Mainland China
I have worked in the press industry for nineteen years and know a lot about news. I know that the news cannot be freely written. Thousands of nationwide television and radio stations and thousands of newspapers are the mouthpiece of the Party. What is saied and how it is said depends not on fact-finding, but is told according to the needs of the Party. Fabricating lies and concealing the truth are their two main jobs.
My concern about the Falun Gong issue began relatively late, as I had been somewhat indifferent at first. Outside exposure of the persecution of Falun Gong in China is different from the information we received. On the one hand, the regime strongly suppressed any news about Falun Gong. On the other hand, more and more people in countries around the world were practicing Falun Gong? How is this happening? Something did not add up.
Truth about Falun Gong
When I tried to access relevant information I could not open the foreign network. The reports in China were all negative. So I had to read old newspapers.
According to a 1998 Shanghai Television report, hundreds of millions of Falun Gong practitioners inside China and abroad were cultivating. Because of the obvious positive effects on healing illnesses and maintaining health, Falun Gong became China's largest qigong movement and was spreading overseas. Before 1999, some media reported Falun Gong news and cited many examples of healing and fitness. Beijing's Youth Daily named the book Zhuan Falun as the the top ten best-selling books. Also in 1998 officials from Beijing, Wuhan, Dalian, and Guangdong carried out a large-scale Falun Gong survey. The results showed that the overall efficacy of health and fitness benefits was more than 98%.
In July 1999, the regime's media suddenly changed their attitude toward Falun Gong and criticized Falun Gong as "superstition" and declared a “ban” on Falun Gong on July 20, 1999. For a while they broadcast “news” about Falun Gong on TV every day. The announcer's expression was harsh and strongly worded. Party members and Youth League members were not allowed to practice Falun Gong. Gradually, there were only brief reports on Falun Gong. What situations were Falun Gong practitioners facing, and how many people had been arrested and sentenced to labor camps and prisons? Because of a complete news blackout, not only the general public but the press itself lacked information, so the truth was not known.
By contrast, overseas, more and more countries accept Falun Gong, and a growing number of countries condemn the regime's persecution of Falun Gong. Falun Gong has become the most forbidden news topic in China.
Cruel Persecution
The communist regime has set up the 610 Office, specializing in the persecution of Falun Gong. All prisons and labor camps have 610 Office agents specifically targeting Falun Gong. The police departments also have special teams, called the Domestic Security Team. This is a huge network of repression.
After the police arrest Falun Gong practitioners, the Procuratorate sets up the case. The court sentences people to jail and then puts them into prison; or the Police Department sentences them directly to forced labor. Even in prisons and labor camps, Falun Gong has been treated as special cases to process. All possible means for Falun Gong practitioners to protect themselves - for example visiting the appeals office, the media, and legal ways, have been blocked.
I have come into contact with a Falun Gong practitioner who had been sentenced to prison and was released. She is a teacher who had all manner of health problems prior to her practice of Falun Gong, including cervical spondylosis, stomach illness, rheumatism/arthritis, and others. She regained her health soon after commencing the practice. After the regime's ban of Falun Gong she went to Beijing to relate the real situation to the regime.
This practitioner was arrested and sentenced to four years in prison. She was incarcerated with hundreds of Falun Gong practitioners, including intellectuals, officials, police, workers, and peasants. The oldest was over seventy, and the youngest was sixteen. Once Falun Gong practitioners are taken to a prison, they face "reform" and are forced to write the three statements promising to give up the practice. If they refuse to write it, the guards will firstly “persuade” and then torture them. They use electric batons to beat them and deprive them of sleep. They tie their hands, and if the practitioners close their eyes the guards beat them and pour cold water on them. The practitioners' eyelids are sometimes held open with toothpicks.
Practitioners are also mentally tormented, by forbidding meetings with the practitioner's family, and forcing them to listen to TV programs that slander Falun Gong. Falun Gong practitioners's toilet visits are monitored. They are often subjected to humiliation and physical torture, including being forced to stand still for a long time, lockup up in a small cell, and extended sitting on a small bench. As far as she knew, more than 20 people had been tortured to death in the prison. Hundreds of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners are in custody, although accurate statistics are hard to come by.
The forced camps earn money by compelling practitioners to do slave labor. The regime kills practitioners for their organs. Chongqing City Police Department head Wang Lijun even got an "academic achievement" certificate for his involvement in organ harvesting, confirming findings from the international community's investigation.
What Kind of People Are Falun Gong Practitioners?
I have met a 40-year-old practitioner. Her pure, open-hearted smile is the most beautiful smile I have come across. I also observed another characteristic. While encountering problems, most people say how correct they are, but Falun Gong practitioners don't boast about themselves. They always mention their shortcomings and in what areas they should do better. Usually, in order to solve problems, people always point out what others should do. Falun Gong practitioners say, "I should learn how to do it." Every practitioner is trying to make himself act better.
Another characteristic of Falun Gong practitioners is altruism. A practitioner told me that she never picks things over when buying food, because if you pick things over, other people don't want to buy what is left. When encountering conflicts they look inside. While thinking things over they are considerate of others. It is one of the principles of Falun Gong cultivation. One story relates the following. There is a table of food in both heaven and hell, and people sit around the table. Each person has a long-handled spoon. In hell, everyone feeds themselves, but people are unable to eat anything. In paradise everyone feeds others, and everyone eats happily. Falun Gong is truly a pure land.
A Writers' Association General Secretary said, "The best people in our unit are the two Falun Gong practitioners. They don't fight for recognition and profit. I have protected them for years."
My wife works in the pharmaceutical industry. She heard that the chief surgeon at a big hospital was practicing Falun Gong and never accepted a red envelope (gift money/bribe). The gray income of several million yuan per year is not a small allure to ordinary people.
A well-known professor (a Falun Gong practitioner) in another hospital also does not accept red envelopes.
A police officer told me that Falun Gong practitioners don't lie or do bad things. I told the head of the Domestic Security, "These people are the best I have seen."
What Falun Gong's Master Teaches
According to the beginning of Zhuan Falun Master teaches the Fa so as to be, “Genuinely Guiding People Toward High Levels.” Also, He told us, "This is the last time we will teach a righteous way in the Dharma-ending Period." (Zhuan Falun)
Master held fifty-six classes to teach the Fa in China in 1992-1994. Tens of thousands of people have attended the classes. He also taught overseas, including France and Switzerland.
Master said, "I have said that I have done something unprecedented and opened the widest door." (Zhuan Falun)
Falun Dafa has spread to more than one hundred countries during the past twenty years. The disciples number over one hundred million. Jesus demonstrated through miracles, Buddha had shown miracles, but Dafa's master really shows humanity's greatest miracle, which had neither been seen in China's history, nor in ancient and modern times in the world. As a result of genuinely practicing and cultivating, hepatitis B, leukemia, diabetes, cancer, and all kinds of incurable illnesses have been cleaned up for millions of disciples, and they improved mentally and physically.
Gentle movements and five simple exercises are a part of Falun Gong practice. The system also stresses strict requirements for xinxing in accordance with Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. Being good people, respecting their parents and disciplining their children, and doing a good job with everything they undertake, cultivators are considerate of others everywhere. They “consider others first, so as to attain the righteous enlightenment of selflessness and altruism” (“Non-Omission in Buddha-Nature,” from Essentials for Further Advancement).
Lord Francis, British diplomat and former British Ambassador to Ireland, said, "Falun Gong not only belongs to China. It is a global spiritual movement of a new civilization and represents the future of humanity. The spiritual strength and moral courage of Falun Gong will soon spread to the whole human race and create a new civilization."
Becoming a Falun Gong Practitioner
After reading Falun Gong books I have had tremendous insights. I know from Master's teachings how the universe and the three realms formed, and how gods arrange human progress. I also know how morals have plummeted, and how mankind ought to cultivate to return to its origin. Everything is clear and Master's teachings let us see the whole picture. This never happened before.
My confusion has been resolved. For example, Sakyamuni said that Tathagatas are as countless as particles of sand, but why did Jehovah say he is the only God? Pangu was epoch-making and Jehovah said he made man from clay, approximating the Chinese legend of Nu Wa-made man, and East Indian worship a God that made man. Which one is right?
Master's lectures tell us that Pangu made a small universe, and the earth within the Three Realms is equivalent to a cell. Different gods created different races, and Asians are a part of what Nu Wa made. Daos also made a part of Asians. As I understand it, Jehovah made the Jewish and Caucasian race, and Buddhas made Indian people. Some people call the God that made them "Lord." Just like how parents are unique to their own children, but there is not only one set of parents in the world. So people address their own creator from different points of view. They are all correct.
I now know how to be a good person. I would not use a pen to deceive others, and I would not deliberately do bad things. I have been taught and internalized the principles inherent in Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, and measure my standard of weighing things and myself. I am changing day by day, and my mind becomes more and more empty of clutter. My life is full of gratitude and the good of others.
I want to tell everyone: Falun Dafa is great!
