Western Practitioner: Looking Inside During Hu's Visit to Ottawa

(Clearwisdom.net) By the time I decided to go to Ottawa to join the Dafa activities surrounding the visit of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Hu Jintao, the three buses that practitioners from my city had organized were already full. So I sent out a message to the local email list, and quickly some practitioners signed up to go by car. The following is a sharing of some of the important things I learned over these three days (June 23-25, 2010). My sharing isn't particularly deep, but I was able to correct some long-standing notions, so I decided to write out this process, and hope it is helpful for other practitioners.

Clarifying the Truth Ss the Master Key

When we arrived early Wednesday afternoon and drove past the area in front of the hotel where the CCP delegation was staying, we were disappointed--the CCP had managed to mix their blood-red welcoming banners with our Falun Dafa banners. It diluted the effect, and one person even asked if the CCP was now supporting Falun Gong. Apparently the night before there were few local practitioners available on duty, and a group of Chinese students came by to tear down our banners and put up theirs. The police didn't want to cause a major conflict and had a "First come, first serve" policy, so it looked like the banners would stay mixed. On top of that, 2-3 Chinese students monitored each banner, hanging around for 30-minute shifts, and using packing tape to try to secure their banners tightly.

Without having to say much, the practitioners knew what to do--we started chatting with the students, asking questions about them and finding common points, and clarifying the facts based on the obstacles in their minds. We kept clarifying the truth over the next few hours.

Then I saw a practitioner start removing the unattended CCP banners and replacing them with ours. I was a bit worried that we would cause a conflict with the police and talked with her, suggesting we make sure that all practitioners have the same understanding and that we clarify the truth more to the officers. She said, "It's a battle with the evil, I have to do this." I wasn't completely convinced that my concerns were justified. After all, the police made a bad choice in allowing the banners to be mixed. So I asked myself to suspend those notions and see what more could I do. I saw the occasional Chinese student start walking to CCP organizers to report that practitioners were starting to remove their banners, so I went to those students to talk to them and clarify the facts.

Amazingly, within 3-4 hours, the students had all left. Master said,

"If you want a being to clearly understand this point, you should go and clarify the truth to him. It is a master key, the key that can unlock that thing all beings have had sealed off for a long time and been awaiting for ages." ("Teaching the Fa at the 2003 Atlanta Fa Conference")

We could tell that some of them were conflicted when they heard about the persecution and that didn't want to interfere with our appeal. The others who were stubborn in their anti-Falun Gong views didn't want to be around us anymore. Soon the blood-red banners were gone, and the area was secured. One policeman seemed to be upset by what we did, but we sent righteous thoughts, and another policeman said, "Listen, we'll just tell them [the students] that if there is no one staying with their banner, we can't do anything about it." The first officer seemed satisfied with the answer and they left. By taking the initiative to do this and working together, we were actually helping the police by making their job easier in the short term and brightening their futures in the longer term.

The Righteousness of an Ordinary Person Assisting Dafa Disciples, the CCP Delegation Feels Surrounded

On Thursday morning we went to Rideau Hall, the residence of the Governor General (the Canadian representative of the Queen of England), where the CCP delegation was scheduled to have lunch. The number of CCP supporters was staggering. Out of the blue, a former Canadian MP and frequent supporter of ours showed up on his bicycle to thank the police officers stationed next to practitioners. "These are the good guys," he told them, pointing to us. He had already talked with a handful of practitioners about the possibility of the delegation going out the back entrance and suggested we head over. So about a dozen of us went around back.

When we arrived, there were two well-dressed Chinese waiting at the back gate. The former MP asked them if they were part of the delegation. The woman gave an ambiguous answer. Then he said, "No, what I asked was if you are with the Chinese Communist Party delegation." She did not answer. He walked up to her and looked at her ID--she was from the delegation. He spoke to her firmly, "You are lying! Can't you people tell the truth just for once?" He criticized her and the CCP for their behavior. The two Chinese were shocked. The woman called inside to the delegation to let them know we were there and they quickly left.

I was shocked, too. I had never seen an ordinary person so clear in dealing with a CCP member. I had always thought that, for a practitioner, being this stern towards a CCP member would not meet the standard of compassion for a Dafa disciple. I knew that I was being shown through this ordinary person that Dafa disciples need to have more conviction in dealing with the evil CCP. They are being controlled by the spectre's elements and they need to know that it's wrong. These people that they are supporting are criminals. It is completely unacceptable. We should have complete confidence in dealing with them.

As the former MP left, he reminded us to stand our ground if the police were to ask us to leave and that we had every right to be there holding banners on the grass across from the back entrance. Sure enough, the police came out and were under tremendous pressure. Apparently, at the front, the students had started throwing bottles at practitioners. The officer didn't want to take one of his men from there and place him at the back to protect us, and was stern in asking us to leave as a favor, pressuring us with the possibility of not receiving a favor at future appeal sites. Practitioners kept clarifying the facts--we knew this favor wasn't for us, or for the police, but for the CCP. Apparently there were cases in the past of practitioners being told by the police to leave an area, and the practitioners complied, not realizing that they had a legal right to be there. We weren't leaving.

And it poured. Dark clouds gathered over Rideau Hall and every 10 minutes or so the rain would increase in intensity. The delegation was supposed to leave at a certain time but they stayed inside as long as they could--we knew that they knew that they were surrounded, and that the evil was afraid. Thinking about it rationally, what normal person would go to such great lengths to avoid seeing a banner from a peaceful group? But the fact is, our surrounding the delegation was in itself eliminating the evil that was collecting overhead. After a few hours, the delegation hadn't come out the back yet, but the rain was letting up quickly. They must have left--and they had. They went out a third, rarely used exit. However, we had practitioners there, too. The CCP had nowhere to hide.

Looking Inside after I Made a Mistake

Even though I was wearing a rain jacket, I was completely soaked by the time we left Rideau Hall. Even my wallet was completely soaked through. I decided to go with some practitioners to change before heading to Hu's meeting with the Prime Minster at Parliament at 2:30. We planned to make it back for the end of the meeting at 3:30, but due to traffic, I didn't get there until 4:30. At this point I was exhausted, sweaty from running to Parliament, and dumbfounded as I saw the scene--half of the grounds were roaming with Chinese dressed in red, dancing, chanting, and singing songs about China and Canada's "good relationship." It looked and sounded like the videos of CCP rallies in Tiananmen Square during the Cultural Revolution. Falun Dafa practitioners were on the other half of the grounds, but we were clearly outnumbered. On top of that, there was a big black stage in the front being set up for Canada Day celebrations in a few days, so there was no way for the delegation to see any of us.

I asked a practitioner if the meeting was over and if Hu had left. She said she didn't know and then pointed to a string of black cars leaving Parliament and going out the side entrance. "Quick, let's get banners," she said, but the motorcade was quite far in the distance, so there wasn't much time. I knew I had a Falun Gong t-shirt under my yellow sweater and I figured that was enough. So I ran as quickly as I could to the intersection and when the cars passed by, yelled out "Stop the persecution of Falun Gong, Bring Jiang to Justice" a few times in Chinese. It all happened very quickly.

But something didn't seem right. Why weren't there other practitioners or CCP students at the intersection? Why wasn't there more police presence? And I recalled there weren't Chinese flags on the cars. I went to a police officer and asked if it was, in fact, Hu's delegation. "Oh, Hu left half an hour ago," said the officer. "That was the Prime Minster."

My heart sank. One of my biggest fears had just come true. I was aware of incidents of Falun Gong practitioners going to extremes in the past and how those incidents had had a bad effect. So I aimed to be even-keeled in my actions, especially dealing with ordinary people and during group activities. With this, I thought that I might have caused damage by making practitioners look bad, wiping out all the hard work others had done to clarify the truth to our government representatives. I wanted to crawl under a rock.

The officer mentioned that whoever was in the cars probably didn't hear me, because the cars are soundproof with three-inch thick windows. He said that the best way to get people's attention, whether it be the Chinese delegation or someone else, was to hold banners. So I started having all kinds of thoughts: Were the windows down? Did they even hear me? Since I didn't open my sweater, did they realize that I was a practitioner? Would they figure it out based on the fact that I was wearing a yellow sweater and yelling in Chinese? Even if they had heard, would they understand what I was saying? Did they laugh, thinking that maybe I thought they were the Chinese delegation? Or, were they upset at the fact that a Western practitioner was yelling at them? I had all sorts of human thinking and it was getting increasingly negative.

I shared with one practitioner right away, who mentioned what Master said,

"Of course, when you can't see what is at work you will say, 'the effect is bad.' But maybe those ordinary people really didn't see or hear a thing, and maybe they will even be confused about what's going on." ("Teaching the Fa in San Francisco, 2005")

I was still upset, though. A practitioner noticed the stone-like expression on my face and asked, "What's going on?" So I talked about the incident again, and he didn't seem to be bothered by the situation. He was more concerned with how I was dealing with it and how my human thinking, my "worrying," was controlling me. "You can't know what happened," he said. "Sure, it was a mistake, and in a normal situation you wouldn't do that. But your intent was good, and it's not like you did anything bad. Maybe the Prime Minister didn't do well at the meeting, and you were being used by higher beings to say that to him, and maybe it even cleared something in another dimension." I still was not reassured. I mentioned how in the past I had some conflicts with some people and I was concerned about their thoughts, and only when I talked to them and understood their perspective was I able to move on. What the practitioner said next jolted my thinking: "Then you haven't actually resolved this issue in your cultivation." I began to understand how my constant worrying about making mistakes and their effects had actually built up into a substance and led to this situation. Now was a great opportunity to let go of the attachment of needing external approval from others. "We only have a few hours of daylight left to clarify the truth to these students and send righteous thoughts around Hu. Don't let this human thinking waste this chance." Soon after, I went back to the hotel appeal site and all the practitioners were shouting the phrases in unison towards Hu and the delegation: "Falun Dafa is good, Stop the persecution, Bring Jiang to justice," etc. After doing this for 20 minutes straight, I experienced something. Back in 2005, when Hu visited Vancouver, practitioners were shouting the same phrases. I experienced a very strong sensation of energy pouring in and out of the top of my head, and I knew we were getting through. This time, in Ottawa, I experienced strong energy all over my face as we were shouting. All of a sudden I knew the situation had been resolved: There is nothing wrong with these phrases. What Dafa disciples are doing is the most righteous thing.

Master said, "As long as you can complete cultivation, Master will think of ways to perfectly resolve all of the mistakes you've made." ("Explaining the Fa During the 2003 Lantern Festival
at the U.S. West Fa Conference") Later that evening some practitioners discussed what had happened a bit more. I mentioned an article I had recently read about a practitioner's understanding that worrying actually means you are putting yourself above other practitioners. I didn't quite understand the relationship, but it was something I was struck with. She agreed with this understanding, saying, "It's not just concern about the self, it's arrogance." Again, I was struck. I had never considered myself an arrogant person. Stubborn in my notions, maybe, but not arrogant. I realized more than ever that I had to "change my conventional thinking," (Lunyu) and use my mistakes as indicators to cultivate solidly, rather than wallow in them.

After thinking about it more, I realized that the practitioner was right about my notions. My intent was indeed good, but the cultivation issue was my undue concern about how I was perceived and how I dealt with adversity. The whole event opened up my eyes to hidden attachments and was an opportunity to improve in many respects going forward. It just shows that everything that we do indeed has to do with and is a part of our cultivation.

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I share this in the hopes of encouraging others to come out and join the practitioners' field and send righteous thoughts when Hu or any other official goes overseas. It is hugely important, as these people rarely spend that much time outside of mainland China, and it is a great opportunity to eliminate the evil elements behind them.