Experiences of Practitioners from Toronto at The Great Lakes Experience Sharing Conference

Approximately, one hundred Toronto practitioners attended The Great Lakes Experience Sharing Conference in Michigan. During this conference, like practitioners from all other areas, we felt extremely honored to see our most respected Teacher and to directly hear his compassionate teaching. For most practitioners, that was the first time they had seen our Teacher since the Chicago Experience Sharing Conference last June. During the past turbulent one and a half years, we have followed Teacher and managed to come through this time. When looking back along the path we have come through, everyone was filled with all kinds of feelings.

Together, practitioners from central USA and practitioners from western Ontario, Canada prepared and held this conference.

On the evening of Dec. 9th, the eve of the conference, practitioners from all over the world had small group discussions. Practitioners from DC, Chicago, Windsor, and Toronto had a warm discussion. Some practitioners felt that: Teacher said that practitioners inside China and outside China are one body. Teacher also explicated the meaning of why we obtained the Law outside China. Now, everyone is clear that the suffering and pressure practitioners in China have been enduring are so heavy. If we overseas practitioners can do more and better in the free environment, we can better support and relieve the pressure that practitioners in China encounter. This is also the requirement for practitioners today in the process of Fa-rectification. Both inside of China and outside of China, we practitioners all have to bring our capabilities into full play as particles of the Great Law.

One practitioner who just came from China told us: when she saw Teacher, she had expressed the wishes on behalf of tens of thousands of practitioners from the hometown of Teacher. She also told us the hardships she had experienced when stepping forward to validate Dafa. When she and fellow practitioners from her hometown went to Beijing to validate Dafa, in Tiananmen Square, she witnessed one mother and a 2.5-year-old child, whom they went together with, climb up onto the Tiananmen gate tower and unfurl a banner reading "Falun Dafa is Good". At that moment, she could not express how stunningly remarkable that scene was. After that, the mother and the child were beaten by police officers, who rushed over and crowded around them. They were detained for a long time. This practitioner who told us about this story was an elderly lady of 70 years old. She herself was also detained for one and a half months. She explained that constantly during the days and nights while they were detained, they thought only about how to nobly strive for the right to practice and to study Dafa. At that time their hearts were so pure and clear. Nothing could disturb them. Hearing what practitioners in China had experienced in their cultivation practice, our eyes became filled with tears.

Another Canadian practitioner shared her experiences in calling China. In her call to Qinghua University, she told the person who answered the phone that, Higher Education is the cradle for human intellectuals. However, it is unthinkable that a university like Qinghua, which enjoys a very good reputation of its academic achievements both in China and abroad, has played an evil role in persecuting Falun Gong. As an overseas Chinese, I felt so sorry. The intellectuals should be the representatives of a country's conscience and justice. I know that not all universities are like Qinghua University in China to persecute Falun Gong practitioners. For example, some universities had put up bail themselves in order to have Falun Gong practitioners released from detention. During the conversation, the person told her that he had studied in the US and now is a professor. This practitioner immediately told him that: Falun Dafa had spread to over 40 countries worldwide. The well-known universities, like Harvard, Yale, Princeton, MIT, etc. in the United States all have Falun Dafa practitioners. If an academic organization, a place to study science has no freedom of thought and belief, it is impossible for it to achieve any real achievements.

That night, practitioners had a very warm experience sharing. Through sharing experiences, practitioners from all areas gained a much clearer understanding about how to play one's own role as a particle of Dafa and how to do better in the last step. We will shine with pure radiance no matter what environment we are in.