(Minghui.org) Helen, a Falun Gong practitioner, is also a doctor of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). She has been practicing TCM since her days in Mainland China. She recently opened a clinic in Scandinavia and often tells people about Falun Gong in her professional capacity. What follows is her story of how she came to understand what it means to cultivate Falun Gong.
TCM clinics in Western countries are rare, especially in Northern Europe. However, there is one small clinic on the quaint avenue of Guthenburg Karl Johans. It was opened by Helen.
I met Helen at a Chinese workshop and was curious about TCM and her love for traditional Chinese culture. I was happy to make a friend and was especially amazed by her pure Beijing accent. Although I am not a native of Beijing I grew up listening to the Beijing accent. How could I not feel close to her?
Helen is always cheerful and likes to talk. I knew that was one of the characteristics of her profession, and that she gathers information about her patients by casually asking questions. By listening carefully, she is able to find clues to the patient's condition.
Her clinic is small but simple and clean. There is a bookshelf opposite her desk with three particularly striking potted flowers on the top shelf. The three green-black porcelain pots stand side by side, and each pot has a big red character “Enlightenment” on it.
The three flowerpots in Helen's clinic, each emblazoned with the character for "Enlightenment"
“They're so pretty!” I could not help exclaiming when I saw them. She laughed, “Look at my three pots. What principles do you see in them?” I said, “I saw them and I want to find three pots like yours!” Our conversation started from these three pots. She sighed and start chatting with me.
“Enlighten! Enlighten! Enlighten! Look at these three pots. I see them the moment I raise my head. How many meanings are behind the character 'Enlightenment,' and I have three “Enlightenments” here...”
She told me the story behind the three flowerpots with the character, “Enlightenment.”
It was shortly after she had just started to practice Falun Gong. She had no in-depth understanding as she had only read the book and learned the exercises. Her understanding was superficial. She knew that Falun Gong was miraculous at healing illnesses and keeping fit. However, she knew nothing about the cultivation that Falun Gong mentions, much less how to cultivate.
When she first practiced the exercises, she looked peaceful, but there were thousands of thoughts racing through her mind. She planned to live comfortably. She thought of earning more money so she could live in a bigger house. She wanted to own a sailboat, a plane, etc. These were not impossible goals. Her small clinic was filled with patients, and her business was getting better.
One day, a very pretty German older lady came to her clinic. She wore a pale blue denim dress, and her white-blond hair was styled attractively. There was a yellow flower basket hanging from her arm. The basket was elegant and quaint, but it was empty. Helen said to her affably, “Your flower basket is beautiful. It would be even better if you put a bouquet of flowers inside.” The lady smiled, “I'll give you a bouquet of flowers when I come by next time!”
A few days later, the older lady came again. This time, there was a pot of flowers in her basket.
“I came here for treatment and to give you a gift at the same time. See if you like it.” As she spoke, the lady took the pot out and put it on Helen's desk.
Helen was stunned. An eye-catching Chinese character – “Enlightenment” - emblazoned in red on the green-black porcelain pot jumped out at her.
“Do you like it?” The lady asked.
Helen nodded and could not contain her excitement, “I love it! Love it! It's so beautiful! So beautiful!”
“I thought you would when I saw that it seemed to have a Chinese character on it. So I bought it. Do you recognize the character?”
Helen thought to herself, “This Chinese character has thousands of implied meanings! How could I convey to a Westerner the mysteries of Chinese characters?” Helen was extremely grateful to this German lady. What a wonderful gift.
After the lady left, Helen put the flowerpot on the very top on the bookshelf so that she could see it whenever she raised her head as she sat at her desk.
Although this flowerpot was placed on top of the bookshelf and the character “Enlightenment” occasionally jumped out at her, it was still just a flowerpot that was beautiful to look at, just like those Falun Dafa books on her bookshelf. To Helen, these were all decorations in her clinic; she was still chasing her dreams.
It was 1998. Having spread in China for six years, Falun Dafa gradually spread abroad. The TCM practitioners who had left China with Helen were already cultivating diligently in Dafa. Occasionally, Helen heard from Falun Dafa practitioners. Some practitioners wrote her a letter, “Come quickly! Master is coming to Switzerland to teach the Fa!” She brushed it off, “There's no time. I'm working.” Other practitioners passed the information to her, “Come quickly to listen to Master's nine-day lecture audio recordings.” She replied, “I'm busy. I'm on duty.” Thus, she missed two opportunities to more deeply understand Falun Dafa.
The older German lady came to the clinic for an appointment a few days later. This time, her flower basket was filled with two flowerpots. The moment she stepped in she said, “Ah! That florist is closing down and has no intention of selling flowers anymore. So, I bought these two flowerpots that have Chinese characters on them. The characters on these two pots are the same. I thought that you would like them, so I bought them. Take a look...”
Helen's eyes widened the moment she saw them. The two pots were the same as the first one. Enlighten! Enlighten! Enlighten! If they were placed side by side, it would not be just beautiful. It would be simply stunning!
“Do you like them? Do you really like them?” The lady asked looking at Helen's surprised expression.
“I love them! I really love them!” Helen exclaimed.
“Oh! Although you like them, this time they will not be a present. You have to buy them,” the lady said seriously.
“I'll buy them!” And she paid the lady on the spot.
When the lady left, Helen placed the three identical flowerpots together and went back to her desk. When she looked up, she was shocked. The three “Enlightenments” filled her field of view. They were like the sound of bells echoing in her ears, “Enlighten! Enlighten! Enlighten!” It felt like something had penetrated her body and gone into her heart.
She thought of Dafa immediately. “Are you telling me, Master?” This was the first time her heart was excited and stunned. She could not really understand why, but from then on, she started to read the Dafa books carefully. What is cultivating? What is Falun Gong? She started to really “Enlighten.”
Westerners pay attention to “Faith,” while Chinese pay attention to “Enlightenment.” The level of enlightenment determines the level of wisdom. Truly enlightening and acting on that enlightenment are fundamental to practicing the righteous Fa. Helen repeatedly said to me, “It's not easy for a person to walk into Falun Gong cultivation. There are many hidden heavenly secrets. How many predestined relationships helped a Chinese to practice Dafa and cultivate overseas?” She sighed with emotion. These three “Enlightenments” changed her completely and rectified her cultivation path.
“Enlighten! Enlighten! Enlighten!” The characters on the pots helped Helen truly begin cultivating. Over the years, whenever she has encountered obstacles, she has relied on “Enlightenment” and “Righteous Enlightenment.” She is very grateful to that German lady and wanted to see her again. Amazingly, she disappeared and Helen could not find her.
Helen said that her decision to leave China had to do with the "June 4th" Massacre on Tiananmen Square in 1989. If she had stayed in China and continued as a doctor, she would be in her own element. However, she could never erase June 4th from her mind.
Her previous job was behind Beijing # 301 Hospital. Helen witnessed many soldiers gathering in the courtyard of the hospital where she worked. The soldiers had guns and bayonets. She thought, “How did the hospital become a military training field in the blink of an eye? Two soldiers with bayonets are guarding the morgue doors. Are they afraid that the dead will escape?” Helen was full of questions and at a loss.
She was shocked when she reached the laboratory and heard the doctors discussing expanding bullets! "They do not believe the things that are happening before their eyes. This expanding bullet has been banned internationally for many years because it will explode inside the human body and cause inevitable death. Why are they using such bullets? How do we save them? Why did the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) army fire at the innocent civilians?”
There were one thousand, ten thousand questions that the doctors could not understand, and they were devastated. Shortly after, many doctors chose to go abroad; Helen was one of them.
Speaking of practicing Falun Gong, Helen said that, since she is a TCM doctor, she is very concerned about the human body. The Falun Dafa books elaborate on “human body, life and the universe” and tell people the way to a healthy life. She identified with this when she first read the Dafa books.
Helen told me about several Westerners who came to her for treatment.
"A patient suffering from a benign brain tumor with the optic nerve oppressed also had low thyroid function. Generally speaking, surgery is the only option in such cases. I used acupuncture and Chinese medicine. The patient returned in two weeks with lab results showing the brain tumor had not grown and the oppressed optic had also improved. Not only that, the thyroid function had returned to normal. This shows that the Western medicine treats the surface but not the root cause. TCM is different in that the problem is solved at its roots.
"One patient's face was paralyzed. He went to a Western doctor who told him to let his face heal by itself, that it would take three to six months or even longer. The patient could not wait such a long time and came to Helen's clinic for help. She used acupuncture and he recovered in less than a month.
"Another patient came from Peru. She had seafood allergies. According to Western medicine, she had to stay away from seafood, which complicated her life. She came to Helen for help. Helen suggested that she try practicing Falun Gong so as to open her energy channels completely. Two weeks later, she came and almost jumped for joy, “I can eat fish! I'm not allergic anymore!”
There are many similar examples. She often said, “TCM is one of the four pillars of the traditional Chinese culture, along with Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism.”
TCM is a treasure left behind by the ancestors and can really help people. As a TCM practitioner, one should first be a cultivator. Helen often suggests to people to practice Falun Gong. Falun Gong is the first practice in history to reveal the relationship between “human body, life and the universe.” If people can really understand this Fa and follow the principles to cultivate the body and mind, this person has attained the Tao and will be healthy.
Helen is not only a caring and successful TCM practitioner, but she is also a steadfast practitioner of Falun Gong. Falun Gong is being persecuted in China. She says this persecution is not only illegal but extremely evil: "The Great Law that benefits the nation and its people is not being promoted and protected by the country but repressed and banned." She feels this is unreasonable. Of course, the CCP has always twisted the truth. However, it failed outside of China.
In just a few years, Falun Gong has spread throughout the world, and there are Falun Gong practitioners in more than 100 countries. The truth cannot be hidden. No matter where she is, Helen tells people the true situation of Falun Gong and lets those with predestined relationships benefit from it. She also appeals to people from all walks of life to step forward and lend their voices to stop the persecution of Falun Gong.
The clinic is like a beacon, attracting people with predestined relationships. What kind of people are attracted to this Fa? People who are suffering, people who are lost, people who are searching for the truth. If you know about Falun Gong, you must have a predestined relationship with Dafa.
I know that Helen often travels between Taiwan and Europe to personally select her herbs. Helen said, “Medicine comes from herbs that come from the earth. When the earth is polluted, the herbs lose their spirituality and the medicine will not work.” Thus, the herbs that she selects are carefully evaluated, and she traces some of them to the factory to ensure their quality. By doing so, Helen is being responsible to her patients.
Helen said, “TCM medicines need a healthy earth to supply the herbs. Western society has begun to open the window to Chinese medicine. In the future, it will certainly open the door and embrace TCM with open arms.”
More amazing things are yet to come, and Westerners will embrace Falun Gong, which can truly benefit humankind. Why will Westerners embrace it? Because Falun Gong not only belongs to China—it belongs to the world.
