Use Every Opportunity to Clarify the Truth: A Touching Dinner

Recently an old friend, who is now our neighbor, invited my husband and I over for dinner, to catch up. We wanted to go, but at the same time we were concerned that a long, leisurely dinner, might take too much time away from our Dafa projects. This is an ongoing challenge--how to balance social activities (which we see as conforming to the society) and Dafa projects, which we often do at home. We decided, though, that it is important to maintain our friendships and be a part of the society, not "out of the monastery monks," as Teacher puts it. In the backs of our minds, as always, was the thought that we might have an opportunity to inform people about Dafa through this. This in fact ended up being the case--the dinner turned out to be an excellent opportunity to clarify the truth and hongfa (introduce the Fa).

We had a long dinner, and spend the first hour or so talking about ordinary things--jobs, social activities, etc. Neither of us pushed the topic of Dafa, as we trusted that it would come up naturally, and if not, then it was not supposed to, or we were supposed to bring it up later. It naturally came up. We were eating with two women, one was our old friend, and the other was her housemate. The old friend brought up Dafa. We have been keeping her updated on events in China and local events, and had sent her some of the articles clarifying the true facts about the self-immolations. She asked about that, and since she had studied Dafa a little, she said she, too, didn't believe the events, as "killing is completely against the teachings of Dafa." This led us into a conversation about the self-immolations. We responded to their questions and informed them, beginning from the perspective of compassion for those who were driven to such desperation to set themselves on fire. When we showed compassion for these desperate and lost individuals, our hosts showed compassion for these people, too, and sadness for what a terrible state China is in. We then discussed more of the facts of the immolations, demonstrating the fact that it appears to have been a set up. They felt very sad again for the terrible situation.

After the specific discussion about the self-immolations, we talked more generally about what's happening in China. Again, they showed great sadness for the terrible situation the government has put practitioners in, and kept saying, "That's so sad..." We were touched. Then our old friend's friend, we'll call her Carrie, started talking about how much the current persecution of Dafa reminds her of the persecution of Jesus in his time (Carrie is a Christian). She talked about the difference between charismatic power and institutional power, and how Jesus' display of charismatic power made the government feel threatened; she mentioned how today, the institutional power of the Chinese government fears what they cannot controlthis charismatic power that Dafa has. Carrie also mentioned how groups of Jesus' followers turned against him because of pressure from the government (the institutional power). We discussed this further, and we told her that her comments were very insightful. We also mentioned some of the commonalties we had heard about the persecution and killing of Christians centuries ago and the persecution and killing of Dafa practitioners today. They became interested in reading the paper that was printed on ClearWisdom about that.

Then, to our surprise, Carrie said, "Why don't we have a few moments of silence in reverence for these practitioners. And for the Teacher." We told her we thought that was a very nice idea, and we bowed our heads and closed our eyes. We were so touched. I couldn't help the tears from falling as we sat there in silence. Her heart for Dafa was so moving and beautiful. And as a Christian, this is a way she shows her support. (Though we don't pray or engage in rituals in Dafa, we felt that because "The Great Law is Boundless," it was fine, and actually good, in this case to encourage this Christian to show support, sympathy, and reverence in her own way.) Carrie kept thanking us for sharing these stories with her, and for coming to have dinner. She said of our work for Dafa, "I'm so grateful for the work that you do." Then our old friend said with great sincerity, "I don't believe that something so good could be vanquished." We agreed with her. Then Carrie said sincerely "There's a light shining in the darkness, and the darkness cannot put out the light" (I'm quite sure that's a quote from the Bible). We were so moved at how sincerely these things were said, and at how righteous these people's feelings towards Dafa were. Incidentally, we had done a 9-Day seminar at a Christian retreat center where Carrie was staying a while ago, and many people attended at that time, but she didn't. Not everyone will attend Dafa workshops or take Dafa flyers--some people need to be reached in more ordinary ways, through casual, friendly interactions where everyone begins as equals, and no one is set up as an expert or a presenter. Many people feel more comfortable in such environments.

As we were leaving, when we opened the door to get our shoes from outside, we all remarked at how cold it was out there. My husband mentioned how chilly it was when we were out meditating that morning. Carrie asked where we meditate, and we told her. She said, "Wonderful! Maybe we could make it a big group. I'd love that!"

We hadn't even mentioned our practice site, and hadn't initiated the conversation about Dafa to begin with, but Teacher arranged it for these people to have a chance--and they had a chance because we stepped out of the comfort of our homes, our usual Dafa projects, and our close community of cultivators. Let's use every opportunity and every environment to clarify the truth and offer people salvation thereby giving people a chance to position themselves and letting more people learn about Dafa.

Submitted By A Western Practitioner