(Clearwisdom.net) It is an honor to share my experience of clarifying the truth at Canada's Parliament Hill over the last six months.
For a long time, my fellow practitioners and I had a wish: To have the opportunity to clarify the truth face to face with Chinese people in front of Canada's Parliament buildings and the Chinese Embassy every day. However, because I had a job, I didn't have much time to go to the tourist sites or the Chinese Embassy. There are not many practitioners in Ottawa, and I felt very anxious when I saw my fellow practitioners were going to the Embassy and to Parliament Hill regardless of extremely hot or cold weather. These practitioners included many aunties in their sixties and seventies. I really wanted to clarify the truth and send out righteous thoughts along with them. Master Li said at the 2001 Fa Conference:
"Clarifying the truth isn't a simple matter--it's not only a matter of exposing the evil. When we clarify the truth we are saving sentient beings, and at the same time it involves the matter of your own improvement and your elimination of attachments during your cultivation, and the matter of Dafa disciples being responsible to the Fa in their cultivation, as well as issues like how you fill and enrich that paradise of yours in your final Consummation."
Last September, the company I worked for started downsizing and I lost my job. At that time, my first thought was that there are many tourists from all over the world going to Parliament Hill all year round, including Chinese delegations and tourists. However, because of the limited number of practitioners, no one was going to Parliament Hill from Monday through Friday. Once I lost my job I was happy to take responsibility for going to Parliament Hill to clarify the truth every weekday morning.
Because of the Chinese government's outrageous propaganda, the people from China kept their distance from us. Sometimes, they not only refused to take our materials, but also avoided walking near where we were standing. Master Li also said at the 2001 DC Fa Conference: "In order to spread the Fa in China, and to not let average persons hear the Fa, many, many Kings of different paradises and beings from very high levels--many of whom I've been looking after throughout history--were gathered to reincarnate in the land of China." "There's even more reason for us to save the people there." I was constantly wondering how I could bridge the gap and tell the facts to the precious Chinese people. Clarifying the truth looks easy but actually it's not. To do it well, we have to pay attention and use all of our wisdom and compassion. Master Li told us that no matter what we do, we should think of others first. This is very true for clarifying the truth. With the heart of considering other people, I could do many things for the people visiting from China. One day, a Chinese delegation came very early and I had not set up the display boards yet. I found that the people in the group were very glad to talk to me when I greeted them. For sure, they were very happy to meet Chinese people when they were outside of China. After a short greeting and chatting, they were quickly put at ease and not only accepted my truth-clarifying materials but also asked questions. Their questions were about just the things I wanted to clarify to them. Therefore, in order to clarify the truth better to the people from China, whenever I saw some approaching, I would put the materials on the ground, keep a distance from my display boards, and give the tourists some time to read the boards without any pressure. After a little while, I would warmly greet them and pick up the truth-clarifying materials to offer them. At this time, their suspicions were mostly gone and they would at least ask some questions even if they wouldn't take the booklets or VCDs.
Clarifying the truth at Parliament Hill is also part of my cultivation process. I always politely introduce Dafa and clarify the truth to the tourists with a smile. At the beginning, I was very clear in my heart that no matter how bad their attitudes were, I could not blame them because they had been deceived. However, I had the attachment of pursuit. That is, I wanted them to take my materials. But the more I went to the Hill, the more I found the heart of compassion for the precious Chinese people. At Parliament Hill, we have permission to stay right beside the "flame in a fountain" that represents the unity of the provinces of Canada. The tourists must pass by this location when they visit the Parliament buildings and they often take pictures there. For most tourists, I have two chances to contact them--when they arrive and when they leave. In a short period of time, and after some simple communication, many Chinese tourists almost feel like they are my friends by the time they leave. When they arrive, I always warmly greet them and ask them some simple questions like where do they come from? How do they feel about the weather here? And at the same time, I offer them truth-clarifying materials and answer their questions. When they come back from the tour, I wave to them from a distance. Most of them wave back and the atmosphere is very friendly. Last year, the weather in Ottawa started getting colder in early November, and many Chinese tourists asked me if I felt cold. I answered: " Do you feel cold? Our bodies are all made of flesh, how could I do not feel cold? However, being human beings, our lives are not only for eating, drinking, and having fun, but also for pursuing righteousness. Falun Gong was framed and persecuted, being a practitioner that has benefited physically and mentally from practicing, it is my duty to clarify the truth here." In this way, even if some people could not change their thinking right away, their attitudes would change a lot. Many people initially say that they do not accept Dafa, but by the time they are leaving, when I warmly say goodbye, many people would reply in a friendly way and tell me to take care. I really felt that the misunderstanding about Dafa melted away with our actions and words of compassion to each other.
After more contact with the Chinese tourists, I felt my heart was together with them, and that I had an undeniable duty to clarify the truth, thoroughly clarify the truth, and clear away their notions acquired from the propaganda. Every time I saw them, I felt they were my relatives and friends and that many had predestined relationship with me in previous lives. With this heart, what came next was the opening of wisdom. Gradually I realized that many of these people had been indoctrinated before going abroad and that many delegations have a team leader that supervises the group. If the leader at the front of the group refused to take my materials, other people likewise would not dare to take them. So sometimes I purposely let the leader pass and started to distribute the materials in the middle of the delegation and clarified the truth to them. Once, I caught up to a delegation and distributed truth-clarifying materials to the people at the end of the group. While I was chatting with them, many people took my booklets and CDs. The team leader at the front suddenly turned back and shouted: "Give those back to her, the Chinese customs agents will check these materials." People gave me back the material they just took. I did not say anything, but still walked with them and kept smiling. Meanwhile, one person said to me: "Give it to me." I gave the truth-clarifying materials back to him and said: "I respect your courage." He said that is nothing and all other people started to take back their material. I said goodbye to them and was very touched in my heart.
People, especially Chinese people who have been deceived by the propaganda, are waiting to know the truth. However, the evil forces are tightly controlling them, even when they go abroad. They are still restricted. I suddenly realized that we have a duty and the ability to help them. As Master Li said, we are the only hope for saving the sentient beings. Is there any reason why we should not to do it well? Shortly after the New Year, there were few tourists from other countries; but there were always Chinese tourists on Parliament Hill. It was very difficult to distribute truth-clarifying materials at that time. Sometimes although some Chinese people took my materials, they would hastily throw them away when the leader shouted at them. Seeing this I was very worried, I had to break through it. One day I suddenly realized that Master Li taught us to send righteous thoughts and said that an everyday person is very weak. They may not have the ability to break through the obstacles that the old forces put in place to block them from knowing the truth; but we have the ability to break through this blockage. Since then, I paid more attention to sending out righteous thoughts to eliminate the evil that controls them.
During the process of clarifying the truth, some of the people we met showed they had strong anti-Falun Gong opinions and wanted to argue with us; but I felt that they were giving us a good opportunity to clarify the truth. One day, the practitioner that has the shift after mine arrived early. A whole busload of delegates seemed to want to talk to us. Some of the delegates wanted to argue with us. We continuously answered their questions until we saw the last one get on the bus. After they left, the other practitioner and I shared our experiences of clarifying the truth and discussed how could we do better next time. We agreed that finding our attachments and identifying the obstacles for the visitors from China during the short conversations, and being able to clarify the truth powerfully was really a test of how well we understand the Fa. Actually, the hardest situation is not encountering people who want to argue with us, it's encountering people that don't want to talk with us at all. Sometimes the whole group of tourists refused to talk with us; I really didn't want to see them leave without their hearing at least some of the truth. I had to break through to them. With this thought, wisdom came right after. Whenever I met this kind of situation again, I would say to them politely: "I have not gone back to China for years, can I ask you a question?" Mostly they would reply: "Sure, what is the question?" I would ask: "Since the Chinese Government was trying all means to frame and persecute Falun Gong, I would like to know what regular Chinese people thought about this?" Most of them would say keeping fit and curing illnesses are good things but..., then they would repeat some of the propaganda from the Chinese government TV broadcasts, which showed that they needed to know the truth about the persecution. All these were just what I wanted to talk to them about! I opened a booklet and showed pictures of the staged self-immolation incident, explained that the event was full of holes and then answered their questions. This kind of communication was excellent! One day, a delegation of ten people arrived and all of them refused to talk to me at first. I was able to talk to them by the means of asking questions. Once the conversation started, almost all of them had some questions to ask. I stood among them, answered the questions, and tried to make my answers incisive so that I could clear out their misunderstandings. All their questions were just the truth that I would like to clarify. I felt like I was making a speech, and my audience was responding actively and occasionally asking questions. One of them asked if I was paid to be there. I told them not only was I not paid but also that we paid for the materials we edited ourselves, the money had come from practitioners' own pockets. I also asked back how much money would you have to be paid to be willing to be in front of the parliament buildings in such cold weather? Meanwhile, the only lady from this delegation asked me: You believe in "Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance, right? I do not have enough money to pay for my trip back home, how about you give me $1,000 dollars?" I told her and the other people, "If this lady had $1,000 dollars, she might use it to buy beautiful clothes, but our Falun Gong practitioners would use it to make truth-clarifying materials. One day you may know that the information that I offer you is much more precious than $1,000."
Many touching stories occurred at Parliament Hill every day. Within several weeks of going to Parliament Hill, I had given two copies of Zhuan Falun to the tourists who asked for it. One day, I clarified the truth to a person from Tianjin, China. He listened quietly. I could see he was touched by Falun Gong practitioner's realm of great compassion and forbearance. He thought for a little while without saying anything and then he asked me, "Do you have Zhuan Falun?" I took out my copy of Zhuan Falun and gave it to him. I told him: "The book is not expensive but is very precious, I hope you can treasure it." I saw the gratitude in his eyes. I was so happy for him. Another time, most of the people in a Chinese tourist group took the booklets, when they took pictures together, none of them was looking at the camera --all were looking down and reading the booklet I gave them until the person with the camera called out to them several times. On Remembrance Day many people gather on Parliament Hill, including people from China. That day was raining, I didn't have a raincoat or umbrella with me, so I put the truth-clarifying materials inside my jacket and kept on distributing them. The only thing that did not get wet that day was the truth-clarifying materials. I noticed that a Chinese delegation of about 30 people had gone to the information centre across the street to take shelter from the rain. So I also went there. As the delegates were wandering in the hall, I politely offered the truth-clarifying materials to them. The leader of the delegation came up to me and tried to drive me away. I didn't say anything; I just stood by the stairs and smiled at them. The delegates started to go upstairs, and many of them just took the truth-clarifying materials from me as they passed by. I looked them with a smile and passed the materials to them until all of them had gone up the stairs. I waved to them through the glass beside the stairs and saw most of them wave back with a smile. At that moment, my heart was touched deeply. I really felt that it is my honour and privilege to have a chance to do this.
Each morning at Parliament Hill is the most pleasurable time of the day for me. Canada's Parliament Hill is a very beautiful place. It is located on a hill beside the Ottawa River and surrounded by classical European style buildings. Every morning when I pull a small cart loaded with display boards and truth-clarifying materials up the Hill, my heart is full of happiness and pride. Before setting up the display boards, the first thing I do is to send righteous thoughts, and then I do the exercises and clarify the truth, and I am busy and happy. Regardless of whether it was cold and snowy or clear and sunny, I felt the same peace and happiness in my heart. No matter how bad the weather was, there were always tourists arriving. Ottawa winters are very harsh. However, when it was minus 25 degrees or snowing heavily, there were always predestined Chinese people arriving, and so my fellow practitioners and I did not leave.
Another thing worth mentioning is the encouragement between practitioners. Master Li Mentioned in Lecture in the Eastern United States:
"Our cultivation environment, our Fa study environment, the things practitioners discuss together, words practitioners say are noble, they are all a rare pure environment."
When I first started going to Parliament Hill, I asked the practitioner responsible for making display boards to make several of them for me. When this practitioner knew that I was going to Parliament Hill every day, she told me she would make a whole set of new boards. Several days later, this practitioner called me and told me calmly, "Xiaoyang, the boards are ready, you can come and pick them up." When I picked up the board I learned that she had not slept for several days in order to make over 30 display boards in both English and Chinese. She was leaving for Taiwan the next morning, but she had not even packed her luggage yet. Looking at her face filled with fatigue and her messy home, I was so touched I didn't know what to say. At Parliament Hill, people usually asked me where the display boards came from. I told them they were made by a practitioner. I also told them this touching story. One day a Chinese aunty I met at the Hill said Falun Gong just has a kind of spirit that is very respectful. There was another time, my fellow practitioner and I returned from the Philadelphia Fa Conference at 5 a.m. I was wondering if I should still go to Parliament Hill that day. By chance, I drove one relatively new practitioner home, and she told me that it was the day she went to the Chinese Embassy. Because she had to take a bus to get to the Embassy, she said she would not sleep at all. She would put everything in order and go directly to the Chinese Embassy. Hearing this, I was very touched and knew that I would go to Parliament Hill right away. Yes, my fellow practitioners and I were just encouraging each other and moving forward together on the path of Fa rectification.
We are one body. This is very true for clarifying the truth. Many times, tourists and delegates told me that they had already read our materials while in Toronto or Vancouver. There was a time, when none of the people in a delegation would take our materials. Their tourist guide said to me, "Give them to me, I will help you to distribute." I was surprised and asked him about the details. He turned out to be a tourist guide from Toronto. I was thinking, our Toronto practitioners did so well! After that, I paid more attention to clarifying the truth to the tourist guides, because they stay with the Chinese tourists for a long time and the Chinese tourists believe what they say. Many times they didn't go inside the Parliament buildings with the tourists but waited outside instead. This became the best time for me to clarify the truth to them. Later on, some tourist guides became friends with me, and as they arrived they would wave to me from far away and would mention our display boards to their groups.
During the six months that I went to Parliament Hill to clarify the truth, I also met with interference from different aspects including misunderstandings with a policeman, physical interference from sickness karma, and misunderstandings from my family. However, I treated all of these as part of my cultivation and got through them with the guidance of the Fa. Master Li said in Fa-Rectification and Cultivation: "Yet we are still cultivating and still have some last ordinary human attachments. When a problem arises, we have to examine ourselves first to see whether things are right or wrong on our part." "As for the interference by evil in other dimensions, we must seriously eradicate it with righteous thoughts." Once we do well, everyday people will respect us. By clarifying the truth, the policeman who had misunderstood me did not think that way any more. There were many other police officers that usually chatted with me and told me to wear warmer clothing. My family also changed its attitude of worrying about me and not understanding. When the weather began to get cold, my husband was worried about me, he secretly said to my mother, "She endures the cold during the day time and stays up at night, maybe someday her health will suddenly crash." I used very simple principles to explain to them why I went to Parliament Hill and also tried my best to arrange things for my family well. Gradually, their misunderstandings changed to respect.
I really feel it is my honor to go Parliament Hill to clarify the truth and I am so lucky to cultivate in the Fa. After listening to Master Li's latest lecture in New York City, I felt I should give up all my attachments and do better on the last path of my cultivation.
Finally, let me encourage you all with Master Li's poem Hurry Up And Tell Them:
As Dafa disciples tell people the facts,
It's like sharp swords shooting out together from their mouths,
Shredding apart the rotten demons' lies.
Lose no time and save them, hurry up and tell them.
