A German Practitioner's Experience of Going to Tiananmen

My name is Peter Recknagel. I'm 30 years old and I am very happy to have the opportunity to speak here today. I want to share some of my understandings and experiences regarding the November 20^th Tiananmen event. I have been practicing Falun Gong since 1997 and have understood Dafa more and more. I do not know how many times I have listened to "Dalian Jiang Fa," [Master's Lecture in Dalian City] but whenever I came to one particular point, I could not understand it. Master said in 1994 in Dalian City: "weile yuzhou de zhenli, keyi xisheng shengming." ["For the truth of the universe, one can sacrifice his life" -- unofficial translation] What should that mean to me, in my peaceful, German practice environment? How could I give my life, and when? Even after the persecution started in 1999, I just had some sense of the evil environment by reading reports and listening to victims, I always had the wish to help my fellow practitioners in China, but how? During Fa-studying, and also after the Washington, D.C. Conference where Master said: "not all have to go to Tiananmen," we were discussing -- not all? Does that mean that some should? Some people decided to go. A few people became more people. The people were from many different countries. We had an intensive and of course secret discussion about how to represent ourselves in a unique and special form. In the end all of this was not done, because "da dao wu xing," ["Great Tao is without form" - translator's translation]. Three characters were the most powerful and simple: "Zhen, Shan and Ren." Nothing else had to be said.

I was reading a lot of experience sharing exchanges from mainland practitioners preparing to go to Tiananmen. They were so pure, with righteous thoughts, cleaning up their thoughts days in advance. I really admired them, but I felt I could not do it the same way. Even up to the last minute before travelling to Beijing we had to study, to work, and do Hongfa and Fa-rectification activities in Europe. There was no time to totally calm down.

On the outside we had to demonstrate relaxed behaviour, but fully concentrate inside ourselves, to succeed with our event. One moment we were still the most average group of tourists. The next moment we sent out the most righteous thought we had ever sent. We had a 4-meter banner with "Zhen, Shan, Ren" written on it. Within one second 36 people had to be adjusted, and we did it. Whenever I see the picture of that day, tears almost come to my eyes. I wish to see more pictures like this in the future, a picture taken before crazy police officers appeared. A picture taken before policeman 013160 pressed me to a wall in the detention and asked me: "Do you know what dying means?" I stayed very calm at that moment. Maybe in that second I reached the status of "weile yuzhou de zhenli, keyi xisheng shengmin."

I think and wish that all the great practitioners who have been giving up their concern for life and death by doing Fa-rectification in all evil environments could be with us here today. When the police on Tiananmen Square forcefully pulled away my legs from the lotus position, my shoelace was damaged. I did not repair it, until today. Whenever I see it, the memory returns to my head about the center of the evil, where so many practitioners already lost their lives. The Fa-rectification goes on, we will do everything to "jielu" [expose] the evil and to eliminate it completely.

During the preparation, while in custody and then back home, one of Master's poems in Hongyin [poem collection] has never left my thoughts. It connects all of us, and I will say it for you one time:

Tonghua yuanman:

Qiankun mang mang, yi lun jin guang.
Juezhe xiashi, tian di tong xiang.
Yuzhou lang lang, tonghui fa guang.
Yuanman feisheng, tong hui tian tang.

Un-official translation:

Assimilation and Consummation

In the vastness of cosmos,
A wheel of golden light.
The enlightened one descends to the world,
Towards whom both heaven and earth face.
The universe is bright and clear,
Assimilating to the light of the Fa.
Fly and ascend upon Consummation,
Together returning to the heavenly paradise.

Thank you all.