(Clearwisdom.net)
Falun Gong teaches people to be kind, to be considerate of others, and to help others do well. But kindness does not mean to quietly accept bad conditions without principles, nor is it being afraid of challenging authority and being intimidated by evildoers who trample the truth.
In April 1999, a Chinese state-run media in Tianjin City published lies that slandered Falun Gong. In response, a group of local Falun Gong practitioners went to the media's editorial department to clarify the truth. Police were called in to arrest them and beat them. Police suggested that if they weren't happy, they should go to Beijing and appeal to the State Council Appeals Office.
Shocked, fellow Falun Gong practitioners from near and far rushed to Beijing to peacefully gather outside the Office of Appeals on Fuyou Street, near the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) central government compound, known as Zhongnanhai. They presented three requests to the authorities: the release of the practitioners wrongly arrested in Tianjin, the return of a safe and healthy environment in which they could freely practice their beliefs, and the cessation of all restrictions on the publication of Falun Gong books.
These practitioners firmly and calmly stepped out, defended the dignity of their belief, and defended their right to be good people according to Falun Gong's principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.
The appeal, which occurred some eleven years ago on April 25, 1999, displayed the peaceful demeanor of Falun Gong practitioners. Although the police in Tianjin unreasonably arrested and beat people, and Party scoundrels were causing propaganda stunts to defame Falun Gong all over the country, these practitioners, harboring no hatred in their hearts, peacefully defended their belief in Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance with dignity.
During the past eleven years, the CCP police and 610 Office have relentlessly persecuted Falun Gong practitioners and carried out brutal torture in attempts to force them to recant their beliefs. Yet not one incidence of violence on the part of practitioners has occurred. This itself is sufficient evidence to prove the kindness of the Falun Gong populace. In Taiwan, with similar Chinese culture, and in western countries that respect freedom of belief, practitioners interact with all communities well, and without problems. This indicates that the so-called "Falun Gong problem" in China is due to Jiang Zemin, the former head of the CCP, who targeted Falun Gong as a scapegoat to eliminate his own feelings of crisis.
The grace and dignity demonstrated in the April 25 appeal are significant to the Chinese. Chinese people have been living under the CCP's despotic power for a long time. Some people, under the control of fear, are afraid to even think of their own rights and dignity.
The dignity and the rationality displayed by practitioners in the process sweep away the ideas of hatred and struggle which the CCP has caused to permeate the nation. Practitioners use kindness to eliminate cruel violence, and they use truth to eliminate lies. Such words and actions help Chinese people to step out of the vicious circle of treating violence with violence, and treating evil with evil.
Such words and actions can help the Chinese people to lead themselves out of tyranny and oppression, and help them to find a new and better future.
