(Clearwisdom.net) On November 20, 2001, thirty-six Western Falun Gong practitioners from around the world brought the mighty dignity of Falun Gong to Tiananmen Square. I was there to secretly video-tape the event.
1. Going to Beijing to Validate Dafa
I traveled to China on November 17, 2001. As I landed in Beijing and walked past the customs agent it felt as if I was invisible to all evil. I walked through the dark streets of Beijing and found a hotel right down the street from Tiananmen Square.
The next morning I met Zenon from Toronto at Mutianyu, a place at the Great Wall of China. As we walked on the Great Wall, passing all the tourists and vendors selling film and trinkets, we found and stopped at a secluded, beautiful spot and sat down and sent forth righteous thoughts for a long time. I felt like a great god and as if the Great Wall didn't exist at all. It was all an illusion, a speck of dust in this dimension. Only the Fa existed. My whole world felt as in a dream. And in this dream my only purpose was to fulfill my vow I made thousands of years ago. My mind was razor-sharp, so strong and focused. I felt the dignity and strength of a Fa rectification disciple, helping Master here, in this realm. After we finished sending forth righteous thoughts, for hours we read the Fa and shared experiences. We took pictures of each other as we held banners that read, "Falun Dafa Hao [Falun Dafa is great]!" Then, on the successful completion of our mini Fahui [Fa conference] we hung our Falun Dafa banner on the Great Wall of China and left.
Back in Beijing I walked along the streets. I locked eyes with and greeted every guard and policeman I saw. I smiled and cut through and eliminated all evil behind them. Most policemen smiled. Other more evil, hard-faced police had to turn away.
I entered China as a powerful Dafa Disciple. I felt the immense power of Master's protection as I used my own cultivated wisdom, rationality and benevolence to succeed in my mission.
On November 20, I secretly video-taped my fellow practitioners gathering in Tiananmen Square. Everyone smiled and looked calm. The atmosphere was serene and happy. Above it all I could feel powerful, righteous thoughts blanketing the entire area. As I walked into the square I felt as if every single Dafa Disciple in the world was there with me. As a Dafa particle I felt the extreme power of one being in body, a mighty Dafa disciple. My mission was selfless and compassionate. My thoughts were righteous and razor-sharp.
I felt so proud as I witnessed the beautiful eight-foot golden Falun Dafa banner shining like a diamond out from behind my fellow practitioners. Within 15 seconds the evil swarmed in and circled the practitioners. Plain-clothed and uniformed police scanned the area, looking for cameras. The strength and dignity of the practitioners beamed as they held the banner up tightly and didn't give in to the evil forces. Every single Chinese person in the square that day felt the impact of western Falun Gong practitioners' protection of the mighty virtue of Dafa. Judging from their open mouths and shocked facial expressions, the only words spoken by the crowd were, "Look, foreigners and Falun Gong!"
Minutes later Zenon burst through from the circle of vans, and ran into the square and shouted, "Falun Dafa Hao!" His powerful voice and his righteous heart shook the evil forces all over China. The police arrested Zenon and the others. As the vans pulled away, Zenon's eyes met mine from within the van. No words were spoken. From this one glance we knew our hearts shouted, "Falun Dafa Shi Jung Fa, Fo Guan Bu Jou."[Falun Dafa is the righteous Fa, The Buddha lights illuminates everywhere.]
I walked out of the square and found a taxi. I took my film and made arrangements to get it out of the country immediately. I called the Canadian embassy and told them about Zenon. I then called my media team in Toronto. I told them, "My plane leaves in 2 hours. I will call you from the airplane. If you don't hear from me in 3 hours then something happened to me." I looked out the window of my cab in a daze. I felt so proud and excited. I played the scene over and over in my mind. I wanted so much to be there with my fellow practitioners.
We arrived at the airport. I got out, walked around the cab, paid my driver and walked away. I felt I had to say something. I walked back to his window, patted him on the shoulder and asked, ""Do you know Falun Dafa?"
He looked at me and paused. "Falun Dafa? Oh yes, yes, Falun Dafa!"
I looked him in the eye and said right from my heart, "Falun Dafa Hao."
He smiled and put his thumb in the air and said, "Yes, Falun Dafa Hao!"
We then shook hands. In that split second our hearts bonded and melted away all the evil in the entire area.
2. Interviewed by the Media
I boarded the plane without problems. Ten hours later I landed in Vancouver. I phoned my media team right away. When I landed in Toronto and came down the airport escalator I burst into tears and cried hard as I saw hundreds of my Dafa brothers' and sisters' kind hearts and faces come to greet me.
I cried hard for the courage of my fellow practitioners back in China. I cried as I felt the power and beauty of being of one body with all practitioners around the world.
And I cried for all my Chinese practitioners in China who risk everything to protect the Fa and for our compassionate and benevolent Master who continues to give everything to us so we can return home. There were no words; only tears of understanding and respect.
The media blitz started the next day. I had over 17 media interviews across Canada. We told the media representatives many things: that the president of China attacks his own citizens with disgusting propaganda. In order to justify his vicious campaign, he poisons Chinese citizens' minds into thinking that Falun Gong is evil and that it is persecuted around the world. [On the other hand], they [Falun Gong practitioners] have not only learned the principle of Falun Gong, "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance," They also have the courage to peacefully protect it as they really live and demonstrate Falun Dafa in their daily lives, even in the face of such brutal, unjust evil actions. We also let them know that the Western practitioners went to Tiananmen Square to stop unaware Chinese people from being deluded so they wouldn't be deceived into aiding in the arrest, defamation, torture, and murder of other innocent people.
I told my story at a news conference. Reporters filled the room. Everyone was glued to my words and listened as I talked from my heart. I did not use a script or notes. One reporter started to ask some negative questions why we went. We thanked the reporter for his question and used it to clarify the truth even more. The reporter nodded his head in agreement. Every article that was published from interviews at this news conference showed the goodness of Dafa.
Zenon came home the next day. For the following month we continued to contact the media and set up interviews. All of Canada heard our story.
3. Being responsible to Dafa as a Dafa Disciple
I also started to look back on what I did. One month before I left for Tiananmen Square I had decided not to go because I felt my motivation for going was based on overcoming fear and the feeling of doing something great for the Fa. Master says in 'Eliminate your last attachments,' "If a cultivator can let go of life and death under any circumstances, the evil is bound to be afraid of him." Master also says, "This is not to be self-imposed but is achieved by calmly and truly letting go of it." In Washington D.C. (paragraph 5) Master says, "Clarifying the truth isn't a simple matter, it's not only a matter of exposing the evil..." Master continues and says, "[it involves] the matter of Dafa disciples being responsible to the Fa in their cultivation."
Recently a fellow practitioner shared a great understanding in his article posted on Clearwisdom.net called "Choosing the right work." He states, "If some people measure the significance of Dafa work with the criteria of how much to lose, they are actually seeking for the loss and may end up with real loss. Then, after they have lost all their material interests including physical freedom that should have been used for Fa rectification, they will realize that they had not been used for Fa rectification at all."
As I studied the Fa more, my heart and mind began to calm down. I started to realize what it meant to be responsible as a Fa-rectification period disciple. I realized that I must make sure I am being responsible to society with all my actions, speech and thought. I must make sure I am being responsible to Dafa. I must act responsibly.
Before I left for Tiananmen Square I felt that my sole purpose for going was my responsibility to clarify the truth to the unaware Chinese people who are being deceived. My responsibility was to make sure I didn't burden any of my fellow practitioners with the work I left behind or sway anyone from their own path of cultivation; and that it is also my solid responsibility to rectify the Fa with wisdom, rationality and benevolence.
Master says in "Fa- rectification period Dafa disciples," (paragraph 2.) "If you are still unclear about what Fa- rectification disciples are you won't be able to step forward in the current tribulation..." In my understanding, to step forward doesn't mean the pursuit of doing dangerous missions or spectacular things for Dafa. In 'Dafa Cannot be Exploited' Master says, "Whether or not you can be saved depends on the transcendence of your own heart. If change does not occur there one will not be able to improve and nothing can be achieved."
Last month I watched an older woman Dafa disciple help to fold paper birds for a Falun Dafa festival. I could see that her heart was totally assimilated to the Fa as she folded that little pieces of paper.
4. Facing the Evil in Toronto
A month had passed since Tiananmen Square when the Party Secretary and top official from Liaoning Province where the notorious Masanjia Forced Labor Camp is located, visited Toronto to speak at a World Trade Organization function. The individual's name is Wen Shizhen. This person is responsible for the torture of hundreds of Falun Gong practitioners and the murder of over thirty-six.
I made my way downtown to the function. I carried flyers to give out to the people calling Wen Shizhen a murderer, getting there early and walking into the building alone. I felt too scared to step forward. My heart did beat so fast and my stomach tied up in a knot. I tried to eliminate the demon of fear. I couldn't. It grabbed me and shook me like a rag doll. I went downstairs to the conference area. There I was told it cost Can.$ 450.00 to get in. Asking if I could look at the booths first, they agreed. As I walked through the hallway I looked at all the Chinese delegates at their booths. The area was busy. I didn't know where to begin. I then saw a closed room. I opened the door and found a huge auditorium filled with tables and chairs. It was for the delegation speakers. I entered the room, shut the door and started to put a flyer on every chair. My heart pounded and the fear tried to stop me but I did it anyway. Then I left.
While leaving I knew I had let this fear damage my opportunity to do a better job in clarifying the truth and realized I could have done much more. In China it was so easy for me to eliminate the evil and step forward. My thoughts were so powerful and so pure, right in the face of the evil. Why did I feel so scared to step forward in my own country, in my own city, surrounded by my own people?
At teaching the Fa at the Great Lakes Conference Master says, (paragraph 10) "You should just do well over here with what you are supposed to do. Whether you are in China or outside of China, how you perform is the same: there is just the same difference in whether you step forward or aren't able to step forward, and how much effort you give to this matter of Fa rectification."
I realized that going to Tiananmen Square was so easy for me because I was away from my everyday environment and all my responsibilities. As I stood in my own country I realized that "my" Tiananmen Square is right here. In Canada I must balance well all my responsibilities to my friends, my family, my business and to my Dafa work. I saw how easy it was to let my Fa-study slip away. It is right here in my own environment where the demons of fear, insecurity, laziness, doubt and desire for comfort slip into omissions in my mind and these demons try to damage my righteous thoughts. It is here that I must cultivate my heart and step forward to eliminate the evil. I realized anew that my responsibilities to the Fa start right here.
As I continue on my path I continue to look to all my Dafa work, to see if my heart is within the Fa. I have realized that if there is some sort of urgency or excitement or jealousy or fear in my mind, then something is wrong with my cultivation state and I know my Fa study has slipped. I feel the compassion and kindness of our Master who continues to tirelessly remind us to read the book more, read the book more! At the conference and Fa-teaching in D.C. in 2001, (last paragraph) Master says, "No matter how busy you are with your work you can't stray from your Fa study, as this is what fundamentally ensures that you'll continue to improve and reach Consummation. You can't do Dafa work without studying the Fa." Master continues, "Right now your Consummation is first and foremost. Of course your being responsible to Dafa and saving sentient beings is part of your consummation."
As I wrote this article I tried my best to be responsible to other listeners, to the Fa and to myself. Please correct any of my understandings if I made an error. I cherish your wisdom.
