(Minghui.org) I am a Swedish practitioner. I came to Sweden from Beijing in 1991. In 1994, I took part in the 10-day workshop run by Master in Jinan City and I started my true life journey from that point on. I came to realize the true meaning of my coming to Sweden. Swedish people have a very close connection to Falun Dafa, also known as Falun Gong. In 1995, Master came to Sweden in person to spread Falun Dafa and run a workshop. Maybe because I had obtained the Fa at an earlier time, I became the contact person as well as a coordinator for Sweden. This became a very good cultivation experience for me.
Treating Fellow Cultivators with Compassion
I am very fond of doing things for Falun Dafa. However, when projects were piling up, I became anxious and my attitude deteriorated; I was very hard on others. In contrast, I could clearly remember when Master came to spread the Fa in Sweden, he was very patient when he gave lectures, taught the exercises and answered questions from Westerners.
One day, Master called me to one side and talked to me in a very serious way: They are all your fellow disciples of the same cultivation school. Some of them cultivate better than you. You must treat them very nicely. Otherwise you will regret it a hundred years later. I felt extremely ashamed after hearing Master’s words. I was merely busy doing tasks and completely ignored my attitude. This touched me in a big way. I really appreciated Master’s timely warning. Many years later, whenever I started becoming very impatient with fellow cultivators, I soon feel extremely regretful. Master’s voice echos in my heart very often.
Master said:
“Falun Dafa is for cultivation practice—it is not a job. All of our volunteer workers must first be genuine cultivators with high-level xinxing, as they are role models for xinxing cultivation. We do not need the types of leaders like those among everyday people.” (“It is not a Job, but Cultivation Practice” from Essentials For Further Advancement)
Quite often, I would make a list of things to do for Falun Dafa and hoped to do a bit more and a bit faster. Although these things are all for Falun Dafa, I often handled them with an ordinary person’s mentality and many ordinary people’s notions.
I recall at the very beginning of the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) persecution of Falun Gong, I did not know how to do things with Western fellow cultivators. One day, a Swedish cultivator asked me: “Why can’t you sit down and share with us for say six hours and then we can do things together? Can’t we achieve better results this way?” My first response was: “Six hours? Such a long time!” However, I thought about it afterwards and felt it was reasonable, so decided to give it a try.
I gradually came to understand: When I do things, I only emphasize the result but neglect the process. However, isn’t the process actually cultivation as well? During the process, I could see the preciousness of fellow cultivators and was able to witness my shortcomings. It took me a very long period of time before I formed the habit of sharing more with fellow Western cultivators as well as working and cultivating together and improving. Every now and then, I remembered Master’s words :
“Learn Fa, obtain FaCompare with one another in study, in cultivationExamine how each and every thing measures up —Achieving these is cultivation”(“Solid Cultivation” from Hong Yin English Translation Version C)
Saving People Is the Responsibility of Dafa Disciples
I have been responsible for communicating with the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs since July 30, 1999. We have been in touch with them for the last 18 years. The staff has changed many times during this period. One common question remained the same for newcomers: What is Falun Gong? Why does the CCP persecute Falun Gong? I remember during the early years, I remained in contact with a female diplomat. I talked to her about my personal experiences and what I had witnessed and heard. She listened to me very carefully and was moved to tears. However, after years of truth clarification, there was hardly any visible results for our efforts.
The Swedish Government still insisted on closed-door dialogue with the CCP when it came to the issue of human rights. I began to complain to them. One day she called me and said, “I am about to change my workplace to the embassy in another country. I feel so powerless regarding my ability to handle the human rights issues in China. Is there any news about professor Changxin Yu [a Dafa disciple from Beijing] yet?” I understood that she knew the truth about Falun Dafa very well, but she was not able to do much to help. I saw her feelings of guilt. I realized that I was wrong. I am a cultivator and I have the mission of saving people. How could I blame the people that we want to save? Things were not done well and it was my responsibility, not hers.
Master said:
“As Dafa disciples, you have no reason whatsoever not to fulfill your mission.” (“Fa Teaching at the 2016 New York Fa Conference”)
Master also said:
“How enormous is the responsibility you shoulder! You’ve never considered issues on such a basis as saving sentient beings, but always think with human notions! As soon as you come across specific issues your human attachments will come to the fore! As soon as you come across specific things your human attachments will resurface!” (“Fa Teaching at the 2016 New York Fa Conference”)
Saving sentient beings is the responsibility of Falun Dafa disciples. An ordinary person can only position him or herself. Our righteous minds can help them get rid of their various doubts as well as inspire their good thoughts and sense of justice so that they can step out bravely to speak up for Falun Gong.
In 2002, we invited the Deputy Prime Minister of Sweden to join our rally in front of Parliament. In the beginning, she only agreed to sign our petition. After she came to our rally, she took the initiative to pick up the microphone and speak. She supported us in a very positive way.
The annual book exhibition in Gothenburg is a good opportunity for us to clarify the truth to politicians. Each year, the Swedish Parliament would have an exhibition booth there. Every two or three hours, there would be a politician from a different region at the booth to meet and talk with the public. I have been their regular guest for the last 10 years. A lot of my connections with Members of Parliament were established there. Each time before I went there, I would check the schedule to find out who would be there for the day. I then read their CVs and decided who I should chat with.
When I arrived at the book exhibition one day, the first person I saw was the MP whom I wanted to talk with the most. He'd already learned the truth about Falun Gong and watched a documentary film on organ harvesting. He had also been involved in an early motion to amend legislation. However, I still felt he needed to learn more about Falun Gong. He arrived there an hour early that day. He was very happy to see me. He wanted to learn more about Falun Gong. He raised many questions and we talked non-stop for more than an hour. Later on, when he was interviewed by Swedish television regarding issues of forced organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners, he spoke really well. I was happy for him that he had positioned himself well.
Getting Rid of the Attachment to Fear
Under normal circumstances, I am not afraid of clarifying the truth to Members of Parliament. But there was once an important elderly MP with a very serious expression on his face. I had a bit of fear in my heart. I walked around there twice, but didn’t have the courage to approach him. I was just about to give up. Just at that moment, I came across a fellow cultivator and I asked her if she would go with me to clarify the truth to that MP. Normally I was the one to encourage her, but that day she agreed without any hesitation. In the end, we had very a good conversation with that MP. His serious face turned very happy and he thanked us a lot in the end.
I often prefer to approach people who I like to clarify the truth to and choose people that I think I can manage easily. However, this thought could block many that are supposed to be saved and make a lot of people lose their opportunity to be saved.
Master said:
“You’ll save those you like, and not save those you dislike—can you save sentient beings then?” (“Fa Teaching at the 2016 New York Fa Conference”)
Master also said:
“How could those human attachments and fear mobilize gong?” (“Fa Teaching at the 2016 New York Fa Conference”)
I truly thank Master for sending fellow cultivators to help me when I had fear.
Regaining Patience by Cultivation
Some of the MPs would step forward to support us quite quickly after they learned the truth. Some of the MPs know the truth very well after fellow cultivators and I have clarified the truth to them, yet for many years they have not stepped up to support us. I developed feelings of grievance towards them. Through Fa study, I realized that my heart needs to be clean and pure when clarifying the truth and saving people. We need to be genuinely good to others and should not pursue results.
Also, an ordinary person’s mind is not very stable and can be easily interfered with by various things. When our heart is not stable and our righteous thoughts are not strong, we could directly affect them. After sharing with fellow cultivators, we managed to adjust our minds and support the MPs with our righteous thoughts. Thereafter, when they stepped out, they appeared to be very righteous. Interference from the Chinese Embassy and Consulate made them even more determined to support us.
Using My Heart to Listen
In the early days of my truth clarification, my main focus was on what I was going to say and I didn’t pay much attention to listening to others. Sometimes I would even interrupt others when they were speaking. I was not focused on listening to what others had to say. The same situation existed when I was dealing with fellow cultivators. I spoke more than I listened and hardly used my heart to listen to others.
One day, my daughter texted me and asked the meaning of the Chinese word “listen聴.” I saw that the word “listen聴”was so similar to the word “virtue 德.” The traditional Chinese character for the word “listen” not only uses the character for “ear” but also uses the character for “heart” to function [for there is the character for “ear 耳”and character for “heart心”in the traditional Chinese character “listen 聴”]. It has a connection with virtue. The simplified Chinese character “listen 听”doesn’t need an ear or a heart. It requires only a mouth and has no virtue at all [this is the character for “mouth 口”in the simplified Chinese character for “listen 听”].
I came to understand how “being able to listen” requires cultivation and requires a person to let go of himself. I grew up in the environment of Party culture, which encourages people to always push their own opinion. I hadn’t learnt how to listen to others, let alone how to listen using my heart. If I want to save people, I must cultivate and relinquish all Party culture and my ego. I slowly noticed that it would be easier to find the shining part of a person if I used my heart to listen. It would be easier for me to find the right starting point for truth clarification. Only by doing things this way could I clarify the truth in the right direction as well as touch upon the correct points.
I have been doing truth clarification work with the government for more than 10 years. However, I didn’t put in all my effort and I had too many attachments to fear. Therefore, the truth clarification process has moved very slowly and is far from Master’s requirements. I feel that the biggest obstacle in cultivation is human thoughts. The truth clarification work with the government is a process of getting rid of various human attachments, including the attachment of fear, attachments to the final result and to not working wholeheartedly, etc. And it is also a process of making more effort to have a genuine, kind and pure heart.
Master has already laid the path. It is up to me to put my xinxing in the right place. Only by cultivating myself well will I be able to save more sentient beings.
Thank you Master! Thank you fellow practitioners!
(Presented at the 2017 European Fa Conference)
