In my deepest inner being I knew that there had to be a way to affirm the depth of my belief from the bottom of my heart, that there had to be something that would explain to me why the world is the way it is. And yes, there is truly such a path, a system that leads me to know what is good and bad, how I can improve as a human being and why people are the way they are. I am speaking of Falun Gong.

So many theories and explanations abound in the world to explain our surroundings, but none of those ever made a deep impression on me and never seemed really believable. This person avows this, that person promotes another view, but how do I know what is real and what is sham? This coming summer, it will have been four years since I first began practicing Falun Gong. After I had practiced one year, a year during which I began to understand and comprehend more and more what Falun Gong actually represents, we were alerted to the news that practitioners in China were experiencing serious problems -- suddenly Falun Gong was officially banned. My time to merely study the Fa and perform the exercises had therefore come to a close, because I clearly realized that China was and still is groundlessly accusing Falun Gong. People whose only aim is to point out to their government the circumstances by which certain media had erroneously reported about Falun Gong were looked upon as counter-revolutionaries, and were suddenly considered to be in opposition to the government. More and more stringent efforts were made as government authorities engaged in hate campaigns, inciting the populace against Falun Gong. This propaganda is all encompassing and makes no exceptions.

It became clear to me that this persecution is more than mere transgressions against basic human rights, since Falun Gong is something than can only bring benefit to any society, has no disadvantages, and will only lead people to completely change themselves for the better. The virtues of Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance are the keys for peaceful co-existence and at the same time represent an illumination into all the characteristics of the universe. That is why the persecution not only attacks peaceful people who exercise and meditate, but also is directed against virtue and against morality.

For the past 2- years, Chinese rulers have incited hatred against Falun Gong. The Chinese people, deluded by this propaganda, are no longer able to discern between truth and fiction and have no clue what is happening in their own country. History seems to repeat itself. The student uprisings of 1989 on Tiananmen Square show what a government is capable of in order to preserve its powers. When I found out that there are still sources in China that believe the government ordered the shooting of those students because they were considered to be criminals, I could not believe it. And that is precisely what I don't want -- that human beings unknowingly commit bad deeds and rail against the most peaceful people in their nation, people who are not criminals. I want the world and China to know that "Falun Dafa is good."

Since most people in the free world for the most part are knowledgeable about the actual happenings in China, I want to go there, where people have lost their voice for justice. This way I can begin to expose and bring to light the Chinese government's lies that Falun Gong is not practiced freely everywhere else in the world. I further want to give courage to all those goodhearted people to stand up for justice. Stand up, so that the unjust deeds against Falun Gong practitioners will cease, and urge people to refrain from further participation in this persecution. Stand up, so that the practitioners and Falun Gong are once again restored to their rightful positions.

To bring the truth to light has nothing to do with politics and does not mean to position oneself against a government, but has everything to do with individuals who desire to protect their fellow human beings from evil.

(Original text in German)