Several Falun Gong practitioners went to a dinner in Brisbane organized by the Australia-China Friendship Society. The dinner was co-sponsored by a local travel agency to promote China. Several practitioners performed a dance in traditional Chinese costumes.
There were four of us who went to the dinner, and immediately we were seated at different tables. I looked around and saw a familiar face and realized it had been a long time since I last saw her. Towards the last course of the dinner, I went over to greet her. There was a Westerner with her who pointed to the emblem on my dress and asked me what the symbol meant. I told him that this was the Falun Gong symbol. He didn't say anything, but my friend asked me how long I had been practicing Falun Gong. I told her for four years, and how much I had benefited from it. I could sense that they were not feeling very comfortable, so I took out some leaflets and gave them to her and her friend, and sincerely asked them to read them so they would have the chance to understand the facts. I then left and went back to my table.
The next minute, I was told the president of the organization who was hosting this function wanted to see me. I went to speak with him, (it was the same man who had asked me about the emblem), and he replied angrily to me that no politics were allowed there. I calmly asked him how he possibly saw this as a political issue. I was merely socializing with a friend whom I hadn't seen in a long time, and gave her some information of what I had been doing. He told me that person happened to be his wife. I said, "Please ask your wife whether what I was sharing with her was political," and he told me that he didn't want to see any of these flyers around here anymore. I shook his hand and told him it was never my intention to cause any trouble.
After I went back to my table, I was really sad to realize how much this Westerner had been poisoned by the propaganda, and it reminded me of the Chinese in China. So I went to his table and apologized for making him so upset. I told him that I didn't have any political agenda, never had and never will. I continued to explain to him what Falun Gong is and why it is important to clarify the truth - because a lot of people have been misled by the propaganda without truly knowing what is really going on. Tonight, the minute I opened my mouth, I was being labeled political. Was that being fair? He told me that his Christian friend in China told him that our Teacher claimed he was the reincarnation of Jesus Christ. For this reason he was very resentful of us. I asked him whether he had read Zhuan Falun and he answered that he hadn't. I proceeded to tell him that this is one of the many vicious lies told by the Jiang regime. His propaganda to the Buddhists is that our Teacher claims he is the reincarnation of Sakyamuni. I continued to tell him that the entire purpose of the propaganda is to create fear, conflict, mistrust, and hatred towards Falun Gong in order to justify the unjustifiable persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. After he heard all these facts, he was quiet, less hostile and he acted more friendly. We continued to talk for almost an hour. Afterwards, he gave me his business card and said that if I was ever in Brisbane to come and see him.
