Falun Dafa Spreads Widely in Singapore

(Clearwisdom.net) A group of Falun Dafa practitioners living in Singapore - a country of 683 sq. km. - come from different social strata. Their belief connects them, forming a body of cultivators.

Falun Gong, also called Falun Dafa, was first introduced in Singapore in 1994. Every practitioner here has his own story to tell.

Ms. Yu is a company manager, "I started practicing Falun Gong in March 1995. I didn't know then what cultivation was. One day I picked up a copy of the book Zhuan Falun and knew what was said in the book was very good. It tells people to eliminate many bad thoughts and conduct themselves according to Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. Knowing Dafa was very good, I said to myself, 'I want to practice.' I told many of my colleagues and they also came to practice Dafa. We went to Beijing in 1996 and shared our experiences with practitioners there. All of us benefited much from exchanging our ideas."

Falun Gong practitioners in Singapore applied at the Registry of Trademarks & Patents in March 1996 to register the Falun Dafa Association. Falun Gong's founder Mr. Li Hongzhi visited Singapore on June 15, 1996 and stayed for a short time. He met with some practitioners, who told him they had already applied for registration as an official organization and were awaiting approval. Mr. Li wrote the inscription "Falun Buddha Society (Singapore)" in response to the practitioners' request.

Mr. Li visited Singapore again on July 28, 1996. He attended a conference to celebrate the founding of the Singapore Falun Dafa Association and presented a lecture. The lecture, "Teaching the Fa at the Conference in Singapore," was later published..

Falun Gong practitioners remembered Teacher's encouragement and instructions. Ms. Zhang said, "My husband and I both started practicing Falun Gong on May 1, 1995. The Falun Dafa Association was founded in 1996. One afternoon we learned Teacher had come here. We are so fortunate here in Singapore, to be blessed with the honor of Teacher's presence. We also saw Teacher at the conference in 1998."

During the following three years, practitioners held many Falun Gong classes at community activity centers, residents' committees and practitioners' homes. Each session attracted from a few dozen to one hundred people. The practitioners also introduced Dafa to their families, friends and colleagues, and Falun Gong thus spread rapidly in Singapore.

The Singapore Falun Dafa Association held a "Falun Dafa Experience Sharing Conference" at the Singapore World Trade Center on August 22-23, 1998. More than 2,000 practitioners from different countries attended the conference and shared their experiences. Mr. Li lectured and answered questions from the students. The lecture was published as a book entitled "Falun Buddha Fa - Teaching the Fa at the Conference in Singapore." The Chinese version of Zhuan Falun was officially published in Singapore in January 1999, and more people learned about Falun Gong by reading the book.

There are people in their eighties as well as toddlers practicing Falun Gong. Their roles in society are varied, and include workers, business owners, homemakers, teachers, professionals and students.

Mr. Huang, a retiree, said, "I have been practicing [Falun Gong] for more than seven years. I was freed from lots of pressure in life after I began to practice, and I have a great relationship with my family and friends. I eliminated many bad habits. I learned many Fa principles and life principles through Falun Gong practice. I eliminated many attachments and I feel very good."

Ms. Li, who is 72 years old, met Mr. Li Hongzhi for the first time in Chongqing City in Mainland China in 1993. She said, "Teacher went to Chongqing in September 1993. He held a small scale meeting that evening and held a class the next day. It was a tight schedule and he didn't waste any time. I started losing control of my hands and feet when I was in my 40s, and my memory had also deteriorated. I felt very light the evening when I met with Teacher in Chongqing, and felt like a completely different person. My hands and feet went back to normal after about six months. As a student of Dafa, I thank Teacher. I also want more people to know about Dafa and the truth about the brutal persecution, as the Chinese Communist Party is now persecuting Dafa."

Mr. Lin said, "I've been practicing for more than five years. I gambled often before practicing Dafa, but after I learned Dafa I understood the gods determine everything and people should not be greedy. I stopped betting in horse races. My life became much better."

Twenty-four year-old Zhong Ming recently graduated from a national university. He has been practicing for nearly five years. He told the reporter that Falun Gong helped him when he hit rock bottom. The book Zhuan Falun taught him the importance of improving xinxing and allowed him to face everything with an open mind. He often clarified the truth about Falun Gong to the teachers and students at his university and corrected some misunderstandings. Zhong Ming hopes more Singaporeans can benefit from Falun Gong.

Zhong Ming said, "I think Falun Dafa is a wonderful practice that can help people improve greatly, both physically and mentally. I know Singaporeans love self-help books, such as books that tell people how to work more efficiently, how to do a better job, etc. I used to like this type of book myself, but gradually I realized that only Zhuan Falun would truly guide me and affect the deepest level of my existence. Dafa is boundless. The meaning and power of Dafa can systematically instruct you in cultivation. Nowadays young people follow the latest trend, which from a certain perspective reflects a loss of direction. They don't know how to fill the gap. If they read Zhuan Falun, they would know that people could live a more meaningful life and not be so lost."

The Chinese Communist regime exported their propaganda after it began persecuting Falun Gong in July 1999. Singapore practitioners' activities were also affected. How did they stand up to the pressure?

On April 25, 1999, 10,000 Falun Gong practitioners peacefully appealed outside Zhongnanhai in Beijing. The next day, Singapore practitioners went to the offices of the Strait Times [English newspaper] and the Lianhe Zaobao [Chinese newspaper] to clarify the truth to the editors and reporters. The practitioners also went to the Chinese Embassy in Singapore and wrote letters to Communist Party leaders and embassy officials to explain why "Falun Dafa is good."

On July 20, 1999, the Communist regime publicly launched its persecution of Falun Gong. Because of the urgent nature of the persecution, Singapore practitioners held a press conference at a Westin Hotel the following day. Several Chinese and English news media attended the conference. The practitioners clarified the truth regarding Falun Gong and Mr. Li by exposing the lies broadcast by CCTV [China Central Television] in news reports that aired on July 22, 1999. The practitioners held a Falun Dafa Truth Clarification Photo Exhibit in November 1999, and also played a video called "Falun Gong: The Real Story."

A year later, on November 10, 2001, the Chinese Embassy held a picture exhibit to slander Falun Gong in Singapore. The practitioners held a press conference the same day and issued announcements to numerous media in Singapore, exposing the Communist regime's slander of Falun Gong. Many practitioners were present at the exhibit opening ceremony and refuted the Chinese ambassador's speech in front of Chinese consular officials and 100 people in the audience. They told people that Falun Dafa is good. The appearance of Falun Gong practitioners caught the Communist officials and the Singapore people off guard.

Practitioners in Singapore published advertisements introducing Falun Gong in newspapers printed in Chinese, English, Tamil and other languages. They also held more than twenty free classes to teach Falun Gong. They held numerous press conferences and film events and attended world book exhibits to introduce Zhuan Falun and other Dafa books. One can also see Falun Gong practitioners holding yellow banners and playing waist-drums in large-scale annual race-walks.

Falun Gong practitioners persisted in studying Dafa books, doing the exercises and also clarifying the truth to others. They explained Falun Gong to people in all social strata. They explained the benefit Falun Gong has brought to its practitioners and society, and the facts about the persecution of Falun Gong in China.

One practitioner said, "At first, we printed introductory fliers and told people how the Communist regime persecutes [Falun Gong] using lies, radio stations and police officers, among other tactics. We distributed fliers in the streets and clarified the truth to our friends and relatives. Each one of us has persisted. Truth clarification is different now. We sometimes make phone calls, send faxes and deliver Fa-related newspapers, and we clarify the truth to Chinese tourists in Merlion Park. We show them truth clarification informational handouts and ask them to quit the Communist Party and its affiliated organizations."

A young practitioner named Zhang said, "We did many things during the past several years. We sent letters and sometimes went directly to MP's to speak with them. We also spoke with local police. We went to a police department one night, and one Malay officer was on duty. I said, 'We live in your precinct and hope we can achieve a mutual understanding [on Falun Gong].' Another practitioner and I started to talk about the Communist Party harvesting organs from living Falun Gong practitioners. The officer said, 'It's so cruel, I can't believe it.' He picked up the phone and said, 'Wait here, I'll call my supervisor because I have to tell him about it, so he will also learn the truth.' He also gave us a website address and said, 'It's better if you publicize [organ harvesting] on this police website. We'll let more people know if we think there is a need to do so.'"

We use different methods to clarify the truth, depending on the situation. Some practitioners team up and knock on people's doors and hand them fliers. Some practitioners go to construction fields, subway stations and commercial streets to tell people, "Falun Dafa is good." They also clarify the truth to visitors from all over the world at tourist attraction sites. Some also fly to other countries and work with practitioners there. According to an incomplete estimate, Falun Gong practitioners in Singapore have mailed more than 300,000 copies of truth clarification materials and VCD/DVD's to mainland China, to clarify the truth to the Chinese people.

Practitioner Mr. Zhang often clarifies the truth door-to-door during holidays. He and other practitioners have persisted for more than three years [doing this kind of work]. Zhang said the Communist regime staged the Self-immolation Incident at Tiananmen Square in 2001, which created misunderstandings among Singapore people toward Falun Gong. The practitioners visited people at their homes to clarify the truth more deeply face-to-face.

Zhang said, "We hope to let people know by meeting with them that we are also members of society. We have families and jobs, and we contribute to this society. They gradually change their minds and know that the propaganda is untruthful."

Zhang said it is hard work to deliver truth clarification materials door to door. Some buildings do not have elevators. The practitioners climb up and down, carrying flier-filled backpacks . Zhang told us a story. Once he met a man who didn't understand Falun Gong. Zhang didn't give up and continued to explain the facts, and the situation changed, "We further explained to him that since 1999, the Communist Party had used different tortures on Falun Gong practitioners." He began to change and he said, "You should let more people know about this, because we Singaporeans really don't know much about it." On another occasion I clarified the truth to a couple, both Christians. They were very sympathetic, saying, "We understand your situation because Christians are also persecuted in China." In the end they also said, "We support you."

Ms. Zhang is a hair stylist who has participated in many overseas Dafa activities.

She said, "I went to Manhattan, New York in 2004 to clarify the truth. Many of us in Singapore went there. I feel no matter where we are, we should always support Dafa activities, regardless of the country where it is held. Dafa practitioners must do it."

Ms. Li leaves home each morning at 6:30 a.m. and takes a one-hour bus trip to a well-known tourist site. She does the Falun Gong exercises to spread knowledge of Dafa. She has persisted, rain or shine, for more than three years.

Ms. Li said, "We clarify the truth to the public, and especially Chinese tourists. We not only clarify the truth about Dafa but also give them copies of the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party. We hope they quit the Party because we want to rescue them, since the heavens are eliminating the Chinese Communist Party. Some people learn the truth and are willing to accept the materials and quit the Party, and a small portion of them quit the Party on the spot. Most people are afraid and say that they would think about it when they went home."

Hundreds of thousands of mainland Chinese people live in Singapore, and many of them are construction workers. During the past few years, Falun Gong practitioners visited several hundred construction zones and delivered truth clarification materials to Chinese workers. The Nine Commentaries became a new addition to the practitioners' package.

Ms. Yu and Mr. Lin frequently visit construction workers. Ms. Yu said, "We live outside China and enjoy free flow of information. Lots of Chinese people live here, and many of them are workers and students. We use our spare time in the evening to deliver truth clarifying newspapers and other materials to the workers. We feel that we need to let more Chinese people know what is happening in China right now."

Mr. Lin, "We should do it, because we have to rescue Chinese people. If we don't do it, most of the Chinese people don't know the truth and are deceived by the Chinese Communist Party. They have changed through our persistent efforts, and some even accepted truth clarification materials, including the Nine Commentaries and the The Epoch Times newspaper. Some who didn't believe the truth at first later quit the Party."

Singapore practitioners unfurled banners in front of the Chinese Embassy in Singapore on July 20, 2006, to condemn the Communist Party for harvesting organs from living Falun Gong practitioners. Ms. Wang said, "Today is July 20, 2006, [the seventh year of the onset of the Falun Gong persecution]. I am here today to expose the Communist regime's persecution of Falun Gong practitioners, support persecuted practitioners in China, voice our opinion and hope people will help rescue persecuted Falun Gong practitioners."

Singapore practitioners have always upheld their beliefs. Practitioners gathered together on May 13 and celebrated World Falun Dafa Day, to express their gratitude toward Teacher and their joy after practicing Falun Gong. They also call for people of the world to pay attention to the persecution of Falun Gong in mainland China. Their wishes and hopes are delivered through songs and drumbeats.