(Clearwisdom.net) Greetings Master, greetings fellow practitioners.
Very recently we had an election in Canada. Just before the election campaign began, I got a knock at my door in the afternoon. I work late at night and sleep late into the day, so I was still in my housecoat and slippers. I answered the door and thought that it was a salesman, so I decided to joke around with him. The first words out of his mouth were, "Oh, I'm sorry, did you just wake up?" I replied with a big smile, "No, I always dress this way." He laughed and said, "Well I am the Member of Parliament for this riding and I hope I can count on your vote come election time."
My heart dropped into my stomach and my mind went blank. All I could do was shake his hand and smile. I wanted to say more and invite him in, but I had just made such a fool of myself. I turned around and walked into the house feeling like a failure and a very poor practitioner. Then my brother said to me in an obnoxious antagonizing voice, "No, I always dress this way," and my uncle started laughing at me.
I felt so stupid. But I knew I deserved it. I am always joking too much, and I never listen to anyone when they tell me I should be more serious and not joke all the time. Regardless of my mistake I had to make up for the lost opportunity. So I asked my mother, who is also a practitioner, to go to his campaign office and invite him over for tea or lunch. My mother insisted that he come to our home so that we could have our meeting without interruptions (due to the fact that what we needed to talk about was very important).
I was insistent upon getting him to sponsor a co-sign letter to expose the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in the Canadian government. The day before he was to come to our home I prepared many revealing facts about the CCP that were related to current events in the news, such as the Shanwei incident, Bird Flu cover ups, the rapes of the Falun Gong practitioners during the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture's visit to China, plus statistics and dates from industrial disasters, farmers rioting etc... I planned to give him all of these facts and then tell him that if he wanted my vote he would have to sponsor a co-sign letter.
While facing so many revealing facts, how could anyone in their right mind not want to oppose such evil? During the presentation in my dining room, he tried to come up with this or that excuse for his party's weak stance on China. In response, I would just go deeper in truth clarification. He started to become interested in Dafa, and started to ask about the practice after he heard our cultivation stories. In the end he was shocked by all the things he didn't know, and even complimented me on my presentation, but when asked point-blank for his support, he became very shaky and couldn't agree to sponsor a co-sign letter. Instead, he offered to help to create venues for similar presentations to his political party and the Canadian government's Human Rights Committee.
After he left, I didn't look inside. I was too busy being complacent with the compliment he gave me and looking down on him for not wanting to sponsor a co-sign letter. What I didn't realize until I was writing this speech, was that although I was clarifying the facts to him and trying to save him, my first thought was about accomplishing the task of getting his signature, and I even wished to force him by threatening not to vote for him. This is in fact quite similar to the CCP's tactics. It was attempting to convince someone by giving them no choice, and then threatening them with their personal interest.
I was not in the Fa trying to save him. I virtually ignored his other offers to do more truth clarification because I was so focused on getting this co-sign letter.
Since it was election time, many practitioners were visiting MP candidates. Others were writing letters and others where making phone calls. Each area of the nation hosted forums where the public could raise questions of the people who were running in that riding. Due to the political climate in Canada, we have had many elections during the Fa-rectification, and each time, making use of this format has always had a good impact. This year I went to three of these forums.
Some of the forums don't allow you to get up and ask questions. A moderator will ask everyone to write their question down, and then the moderator chooses questions to ask the panel. This always frustrated me a great deal, because I felt like this was a technique meant to avoid sensitive issues, or issues they didn't want to face. I was mumbling under my breath, "These are all the communist factors here in capitalism." I was getting myself more and more frustrated. I was sure that they would not choose my question, and sure enough they didn't. After passing out our media advisory and the Dafa Association statement, and meeting with some of them one on one, I left feeling frustrated and disappointed. I didn't look inside, and I accused them of becoming more and more communist.
That night I spoke to a fellow practitioner who took part in another forum, in another city on the same night. I asked him how it went, and he told me that they would not let him ask a question, and that he had to submit it in writing. I began to curse this process, and my fellow practitioner interrupted me, saying, "Actually it was not a problem. I sent a lot of righteous thoughts and the question was chosen. Many people gave good answers, and many people even came to thank me for posing such an important question."
I became rather embarrassed, and realized that I was acting like an ordinary person doing Dafa things, instead of as a practitioner rectifying the Fa. After being encouraged from that sharing with my fellow practitioner, I went to the next forum with a heart to save the beings there. When I walked in, I noticed they were already collecting questions on written slips of paper. I didn't get discouraged and happily submitted my question.
I chose a seat right beside the panel of moderators who would be selecting the questions. Then I began to send a lot of righteous thoughts filling the entire auditorium with my gong. I began cleaning the building and placed capabilities above and around the building to protect it. My lower abdomen became like a furnace, and my whole body got very hot. I sent righteous thoughts the entire evening.
I could feel a strong resistance slamming up against my gong, but it was being eliminated very fast. I did not let up sending my gong deeper and deeper into the microcosm. My body felt light, and I could feel my gong filling and cleaning everything. I was deeply touched by the benevolent power of Dafa. It was a very calm yet blissful feeling. There was a 10 minute break called, so I took this chance to meet directly with two of the MP candidates, letting them know about the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party and the CCP withdrawal movement, and gave them our literature.
The second half of the evening started and my question slip was still sitting on the table in front of the moderators. I began to speak in a very serious tone in my mind to their knowing sides. How long have you been waiting for this chance!? Endless lives upon lives. I have come here to help you fulfill your predestined relationship, and you still don't choose my question, even after I eliminated the evil beings for you. How dare you not choose the question of a Fa-rectification period Dafa disciple! My heavenly ear is open, so I could here other dimensions. The knowing side of one of the moderators spoke back in a frightened and shaky voice, "I am very sorry, we are trying everything we can. We need more help." I could really sense his anxiety, as well as his sincerity, and realized I should do more to help.
I waited for the right moment, and tapped one of the moderators on the shoulder, and said, "I hope you can ask my question." I pointed it out to him, and he began to read it and pass it to the other moderators. They read it and discussed it quietly. Sure enough, they read it. There was only one problem. There was some pinyin like Shanwei, Tiananmen, Falun Gong - and in this small town people were not too familiar with how to read those words. The audience did hear about the Nine Commentaries and the CCP withdrawals, but the question itself was broken up, and didn't make much sense. Yet that didn't seem to matter much at all.
One MP candidate began to talk about the persecution of Falun Gong, another began to talk about how the government needs to take a more principled stance against the CCP, and the other just started to praise Falun Gong and Falun Gong practitioners, complimenting them on their peaceful and persistent presence on Parliament Hill, in our nation's capital. It seems the knowing sides of the MP candidates also wanted to make use of this chance. Shortly after the moderator asked my question, the TV station crew that was filming the whole debate shouted over and over again when the show would be airing.
After the debate finished, people I had never met in my entire life began approaching me. Although there was no mention of my trip to China, they were saying, "Hey, so you've been to China. What was that like? Why did you go?" and "Hey, nice to see you again, hi remember me?"
I didn't know what to say. I was so shocked. Who are these people? Why are they treating me like some long lost friend? One of the candidates thanked me with a big smile for the question. The moderators were smiling and thanking me for the question, and other people were all smiling at me. The question the moderators tried to read didn't really make sense, but the candidates all said very good things to clarify the facts, and all the people ended up becoming very happy. On the surface none of it made any logical sense, but one thing was made very clear to me - how important practitioners' righteous thoughts and righteous actions are! They are the most fundamental thing here in this dimension. They are the most powerful and most influential. They can eliminate any evil and harmonize any situation.
At the next forum I walked in with even greater confidence, thinking to myself, this is going to be easy: I'll just submit my question and send righteous thoughts, and everyone will be saved. Then I saw a microphone stand. I walked straight towards the microphone to sit close to it so that when question period began I would be sure to be in the front of the line and have my question heard. Although I had done this before in the past, I was still very nervous. My stomach got tighter and tighter as the speeches went on. My mind started to become frantic with, "Should I read my prepared question, should I ask something else, will they stop me if I try to read, will I stutter, will I say the wrong thing, oh no - I hope I don't destroy this chance." Then I realized I needed to calm down and send righteous thoughts. This eased my anxiety a lot, and the knot in my stomach began to loosen.
Then came time for questions, and I was third in line. The whole time I was trying to prepare myself, but my mind became more and more blank. I asked Master to help me to say the right things. When I thought of Master I calmed down again, and once it was my time to speak, all the right things came to my mind. Before I even finished my question the crowd was already starting to make noise supporting me, and this put all of the candidates on the spot.
The first candidate got up and started by explaining that he had been visited by Falun Gong practitioners a few days ago, and he was shocked to hear about the torture Falun Gong practitioners were facing inside China. Then he shouted in a loud, almost angry voice, "the Chinese Communist Party has killed over 80 million of its own people during its rule and continues these atrocities today." Even I was shocked by his words. He continued to give a short speech saying that selling human lives for trade deals with China is selling our consciences. All of the MPs following him also spoke well and helped the audience learn more facts.
I sat there deeply touched, not because those beings were positioning themselves so well; not even because all those beings were being saved. I was touched because he said that he had been visited by Falun Gong practitioners a few days ago. If this were not the fact, he could not have made the best use of the opportunity I gave him. I was touched to be part of our one body working together in concert. For the most part, I was by myself going through these experiences, but I never felt alone because I was working with all of my fellow practitioners, and this was being done across the country. I deeply cherish my fellow practitioners, and witnessing the power of our coordination and cooperation was what really touched me on that night.
Ever since then I have begun to cherish my fellow practitioner more and more, cherishing them so much that it has even been surprising at times. To cherish our fellow practitioners is really magnificent, sacred and righteous. It makes my cultivation more and more wonderful every day. One practitioner was giving me some constructive criticism the other day and it was so wonderful. I really felt that talking with fellow practitioners and hearing their understanding was more refreshing than drinking fresh cool spring water. Master has told us to cherish our predestined relationship with each other. From my understanding of Dafa, I felt I understood that principle rather well. Yet I didn't know that cherishing my fellow practitioners more and more would be so wonderful. It is a joy far beyond happiness - filled with tranquility and compassion.
The more fellow practitioners disagree with me, the more I want to listen. To see things from another practitioner's point of view is like looking at the universe with a whole new set of eyes. It's so rare and precious because I am always looking through my eyes. In the future we won't be together, and we won't be able to find each other even if we want to, so the time left to hear another enlightened being's understanding is so limited. Less and less do I see the parts of my fellow practitioners' understandings which could be considered "outside of the Fa," and more and more do I see the valuable things they can offer from where they are. After all, they came here with me to be one of Masters Fa-rectification Dafa disciples, and to do the most sacred things, and they have made it this far. Whatever their shortcomings are, it's nothing in the face of this fact. And whatever their shortcoming is, it will never take away my respect for them, nor will it stop me from cherishing them! Do you see this, do you hear this, old force evil beings!? There is no gap to interfere with me and my fellow practitioners, none at all!
Thank you very much.
