I am a practitioner of Falun Dafa and I would like to tell you about my trip to the New York conference.
One day I was reading the newspaper and came across an article about the coming United Nations Millenium Summit in New York. I thought to myself that the practitioners in America are going to use this occasion to promote Falun Dafa and to let the world know about the Chinese government's brutal crackdown on Falun Dafa.
About two months went by and the thought of going anywhere around the world was financially out of the question. Then one morning after watching a video of one of Master Li 's lectures with my fellow practitioners, someone mentioned a posting on the Internet about an experience sharing conference in New York. This conference would be an opportunity to tell the true story to the world about Falun Dafa. For everyone to try to make this event would be most important.
My girlfriend said that she was going. Later on my brother said that he was going as well. I thought I should stay home and look after the business.
The following day my girlfriend rang me and asked if I was going to New York. I said that I just couldn't afford it. My working life is very important and I would have to pay wages for the people that work for me for the week. Also I would have to take even more work off this year. It just didn't seem to make sense to go. She said, " You should at least try." That day and night I thought I did need to try but I did not put much effort into figuring out how I could actually make the trip .
The next day after watching one of the nine lectures the group talked more about the trip to New York. One of the practitioners said that if I needed to stay home for work, that's all right if is important that I do so. I could stay and help look after Hong Fa and practise sites while everyone was gone. Then she said if someone is just about to consummate but then thinks "what about work?" "What about money?" This will stop them from consummation. They will stay in the ordinary society with a mind that has not been able truly to let go of attachments. Every attachment has to be relinquished. I knew in my heart and mind that money and career are nothing worth staying for. The opportunity to protect the Fa and to express the truth about Falun Dafa is more important than anything in my life on earth. I said to everyone that I could only go if someone could lend me the money. Straight away the practitioners out of the goodness of their hearts said that they could lend me the money. I then said I would go.
Over one hundred practitioners from Australia had decided to go to New York. It felt like such a selfless act. It really was so great to know that these practitioners are going solely to protect the Fa and to assist Master Li with the rectification of the cosmos. It made me see how practitioners practice truth, compassion and forbearance and all because Master Li Hongzhi has given the cultivation system Falun Dafa to the people in this period of last Havoc.
Once we were on the plane, I thought a bit about my past. When I was 19 years old I was severely lost and truly must have had just a little de left. I was going to die an early life because of how I was harming my body with drugs and harming society with the bad things I did. I think my levels dropped daily. Then one day I got arrested for stealing. This made me look at my life and stop what I was doing. Even though I had been so bad, deep inside my being there was some thing still good. I think it is my predestined relationship with Falun Dafa. I also think that my family educated me toward virtue, even if my up bringing still deviated severely from truth, compassion and forbearance.
The last time I went to the United States was six years ago. At that time the U.S immigration officers asked me if I had done anything against the law. I lied and said "no" fearing that I would not be let into the country. Then I heard them say that we have someone here arrested for theft. They asked me once more if I had done anything against the law . This time I said "yes." An officer took me into a room for questioning to see if I should be permitted to enter the United States . After questioning me I started to cry and said I was sick of the past following me. The officer looked at me with a smile and could see I wasn't the same person. He said that what I had done had happened over 7 years ago. My entrance into the United States should be o.k. . So they let me in.
Now 13 years later I am an even better person - I am a cultivator of Falun Dafa. Since this was the second time, I thought that everything would be all right. We landed in L.A. There were 20 practitioners and a very long queue of a thousand people wanting to go through customs. When my girlfriend and I went through customs they put a piece of paper on my passport and just a stamp on her passport. I realized that I still needed to deal with my past. The officer asked me to go to the office on the left. My girlfriend was to go to the right with the rest of the other practitioners. I knew straightway that I was going to be asked questions about my past. I went into an office and I had to put my passport on a bench and waited to be questioned. My heart was beating but my mind was all right. I thought why is my heart beating so hard. I knew just to be calm. They asked me to come forward and said have you been convicted of crimes in Australia. I replied "Yes." Then they asked me to sit down again. As I sat down I tried reading Zhuan Falun. It was very difficult to read. I realized that I needed to enlighten to why this was happening to me.
My plane to New York was just about to leave. Because I was so involved in what was happening I didn't think to ring through to explain to the other practitioners not to worry about me, that I was all right. This was my selfish side, something I didn't realize until later. I was then asked to go to another room and explain what I had done against the law. Two Immigration officers then said that they wanted to search me and they treated me as if I was a criminal. I knew to stay calm and that to except what ever was given to me because of the bad things that I had done to other people.
A female officer then questioned me. She asked me to give a statement about what I had done against the law, and why I was coming to the United States. I sat with her and explained that I am not here on a holidaybut that I came here to attend a Falun Dafa conference. I told her that as Falun Dafa practitioners we practise five sets of exercises and that we follow the universal characteristics of Truth, Compassion and Forbearance. She said that she was very interested and that her family is in need of something like this. I then gave her some information about Falun Dafa.
I explained to her about the brutal crackdown of the practitioners in China and how they are being treated. I also told her how the United States had done a lot to raise awareness of this situation.
I really believe that everything I said was for Hongfa and had to be explained with the truth that came from the depths of my heart. She said do you have any fear of going back to your own country. I explained that I have no fear. I explained that I know that I did bad things in the past and I don't hold anyone else responsible. If I was to be sent back to Australia then it is a way of paying back for what I once did. She understood and said I think you will be sent home. I said the main thing is that I was able to tell her about Falun Dafa.
My trip to New York wasn't going to happen. I needed to apply for a visa before I entered the United States . The immigration police came to take me to a transit area before I was to be sent back to Australia. The policeman asked the immigration officer do we need to worry about him. The officer said no he is a good person. As he took me away he said don't take it personally but I have to handcuff you when we get to a public area. I just said it was o.k. . As we started walking through the public areas in the airport and outside he did not handcuff me and brought me to a van with handcuffed people inside it. I realized that he trusted me even though by law I [was meant to be] should have been handcuffed. When he drove to our new destination he said because there are so many people in the van I have to handcuff you. We were sent to a room full of other people who were in transit or being sent home as well.
The morning I came home I told my dad that America did not let me into the country. My father was unhappy for me but I knew that it was my own doing. In the past my father has been very upset with my brother and me because we practiced Falun Dafa. Sometimes he says bad things about Falun Dafa and Master Li, but he also knows that practitioners are good people. My father said if you still want to go to New York I would lend you some money for the ticket. I was really surprised, since my father knew exactly where I wanted to go and still was willing to give me the chance to protect the Fa. I don't know if he realized it, but he wished to do a good deed for the Fa. After about an hour went by I realized that I still needed to try to go to New York. I tried to get a visa but the American Embassy was on holiday. If I had to wait a couple of days I would be too late for the conference and Hong Fa. So I decided it would not be possible.
I feel that my going to America was to test me in my cultivation. One thing that I learned from this experience was that even though what I did will always be a part of my past. Still, as long as I keep a righteous mind, cultivate my xinxing, practice the exercises and read Zhuan Falun, I can truly rise above what I did. I also realized that if I wasn't moved by my past then I could tell anyone if asked. That my heart and mind was still affected meant that the cells in my body still resonated with the karma created in the past. Master Li was helping me to clean the karma in my body so that I could raise my level in cultivation. I know that as practitioners we are paying off our karma created in this lifetime and in previous lifetimes. I also realized that I had to talk about myself for people to understand my experience, but I wish that I could have talked less and expressed more about how to spread the law and assist Master Li in rectifying the cosmos. This is my level of understanding. I know as practitioners, to offer another person information about Falun Dafa is to help bring awareness to the practitioners in China. These practitioners are receiving the most brutal and inhumane treatment just because they practise truth, compassion and forbearance. As Falun Dafa practitioners we cherish the great law and principles that Master Li has left us in our minds and hearts. We can only be truly compassionate and forbear what ever is predestined to happen and assist Master Li in openly sharing with the world that Falun Dafa is an Orthodox Law. If we can truly raise our levels of awareness about what Falun Dafa is, then each time we try we can show to the world what is truly a good person.
An Australian Practitioner
28/09/00