(Clearwisdom.net) Mr. Liang Bo, a Falun Gong practitioner who has long lived abroad, recently reconnected with Ms. Zheng Mei, one of his middle school and high school classmates in China. Having been students in the same class for six years, they still remember each other very well. Ms. Zheng and her family now live in Montreal, Canada. She was previously hostile toward Falun Gong; hence, when Liang Bo clarified the facts about Falun Gong to her, she mocked him and refused to listen. However, as Mr. Bo persisted and continued to clarify the truth to her, she listened and thought about what he told her. Soon after, she read the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party and even quit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). She eventually read Zhuan Falun, too. This year she saw a Shen Yun performance and recommended it to her friends in New York City. All these changes took place in only a few months after her first phone call with Mr. Bo, whose perseverance conveyed to her the soberness, peacefulness, tolerance, compassion and broadmindedness of Falun Gong practitioners. Her attitude toward Falun Gong completely changed. Now let's go back several months ago when they spoke over the phone for the first time.
Hostility
Their first conversation over the phone was joyous. They talked about their work, study, families, and how her family had immigrated to Canada. However, when Mr. Bo told Ms. Zheng that he could not go back to China because the Chinese Embassy had suspended his passport for his practice, she found it hard to believe that Mr. Liang practiced Falun Gong. She said, “I do not like the Communist Party, but I think it is doing the right thing to crack down on Falun Gong. Knowing that you are still practicing it really makes me sick.” When Mr. Bo recalled that moment, he said, “When I heard that, I was stupefied. I have clarified the truth of Falun Gong to many Chinese, but I had never come across anyone who said Falun Gong should be persecuted.”
When Mr. Bo clarified the truth to her she impatiently interrupted him, saying, “I remember you as a diligent and top student. You were non-religious; you hads concrete goal for your life. You are in good health, so you do not have to practice this kind of thing. Anyway, we’re from the same village, and we went to the same middle school in our local area, and the same high school in the county. I do not understand why you have to participate in Falun Gong!”
Mr. Liang told her his personal experiences and understanding of Falun Gong—how he understood his life and the sufferings of his relatives who are Falun Gong practitioners residing in China, and why he stood up to say “no” to the persecution of Falun Gong.
He said, “I am also among those who stand outside the Chinese embassy and in Chinatown here in our local area. Think about it—as a senior engineer, I can make money easily working in my office. How much money would you have to pay me to stand outside, distributing informational materials on weekends for so many years? What good does it do you to hold such a hostile attitude toward us? You did not know any of those practitioners before. Their only goal was to bring the true stories of Falun Gong to you, but you were offended, although you never accepted any materials from them. As your former classmate, I really hope everything will be fine with you. I have been verbally abused when I distributed materials to people, but I was not disturbed. When they throw my handouts to the ground, I just pick them up. I only want to bring them the facts about the horrible persecution of Falun Gong in China. The practitioners who distribute materials in your Chinatown have the same intention.”
They talked for more than an hour. Before hanging up, Ms. Zheng sighed and said, “I would never have imagined that you practiced Falun Gong. I never heard you talk about it before. Is that your own opinion?”
Later that day, Liang gave her the link to the Minghui website (Chinese version of Clearwisdom). She said, “OK, I will check out the website and look for pictures from your area, to see if I can find you.”
Pondering
Two days later Ms. Zheng called Liang Bo and said, “My in-laws recently came over from China, and we’ve been talking about nothing but you and what you told me. My in-laws are quite sympathetic toward Falun Gong practitioners, even though they just came from China. We also went on the Minghui site and read the articles together. My husband and I have read all those articles about the Falun Gong activities in your city in the past few years. There was even an interview about you. I still don’t understand what made you change so much. When I first learned that you’d gone to America I was very confident that you would become very successful. However, I had not expected that you would have devoted yourself to Falun Gong. What do you want from it? ”
Pleasantly, Mr. Bo answered, “What kind of person have I changed into? I have my family and my kids, and I am leading a good life, both in terms of my job and my family. Spiritually, I have my belief and many Falun Gong friends. As you can see, I am enjoying a good life. Living outside of China, one can surf the Internet freely and express one's opinions freely. We are both from China, and we know that there is no freedom there. I use my professional skills to help Chinese learn the truth about Falun Gong. In my spare time, I help clarify the truth of Falun Gong to people. I think it is quite a meaningful life.”
She said thoughtfully, “I thought that you were out of your mind before, but now I think that is not true. I will tell my friends what you told me when I have a chance.”
Respect
In their later conversations Ms. Zheng brought up more detailed questions, such as, “How does your family communicate with each other now that your whole family practices Falun Gong? Do your children also practice Falun Gong? What do you think about the latest news in The Epoch Times newspaper?” Liang Bo answered her questions patiently. She said, “I never knew that you were so eloquent. I simply cannot help trusting you.” Apparently, her harsh attitude toward Falun Gong had been largely tempered.
One day she called Mr. Liang excitedly, “I held a party at my house yesterday, and some people said something bad about Falun Gong. I would have done the same before, but this time I told them, ‘Please, do not abuse them. They’ve never offended you. Everyone has the freedom to choose their own belief, and we should respect their rights.’ Surprisingly, that friend stopped immediately. Some people even agreed with me. Can that be counted as truth clarification? ” He said, “Of course it is. It is indeed truth clarification, and I thank you very much for doing that!”
More Knowledge about Falun Gong
Mr. Bo then began to tell Ms. Zheng about the teachings in Zhuan Falun. He told her to keep her mind at ease, as she would eventually get what was supposed to be hers. While listening Ms. Zheng said, “Well, you Falun Gong practitioners indeed have different ideas. I never knew anything about them. I have been so worried about my application for Canadian citizenship that I could not sleep well. Your words have given me quite a different perspective.”
Liang Bo said, “My Master has explained such issues comprehensively in Zhuan Falun. What I told you is only my personal understandings. If you like, you should read it all at once, because otherwise you may find it hard to pick it up again.” Ms. Zheng accepted his advice. After that she did not call him for quite a while, but she sometimes sent him emails telling him that she had read some lectures in the book.
When Ms. Zheng called Liang again she said, “I have finished reading the book. When I was reading the fourth lecture, something very unpleasant happened to me at work. I would have argued with them if it had happened before, but that day I suddenly remembered the words in Zhuan Falun, so I told myself, 'OK, let me try to calm down!' To my surprise, with that thought my anger disappeared right away, as if nothing had happened. It seems to me that I’m no longer worried whether or not I will get citizenship, and I can also sleep much better now. I will read the book again.” After that she read the book on her lunch break.
Ms. Zheng called him again on a Monday morning last winter. She told Liang Bo, “I saw a woman Falun Gong practitioner distributing materials in the street with only a light jacket on when I went shopping yesterday. Two hours later, after I finished shopping, she was still there. The winter in Montreal is very cold, but she stayed there distributing materials the whole time. I was moved to tears seeing her still smiling.”
Turns and twists
After Ms. Zheng read Zhuan Falun for the third time she told Liang, “Dafa is really good. How come I never knew this before? I really believed it was bad before I contacted you.” She continued, “What could the government have done otherwise, though? I know Falun Gong has been wronged, but in such a large country like China, someone has to be wronged, no matter who is in power. You should have tolerated the persecution. Why fight it?”
Liang Bo said, “This is exactly what the CCP has been trying to brainwash people into thinking for so many years. You have read the book and know that Dafa is good. You know many people become good persons because they practice Falun Gong. Even those who do not practice become good persons. Do you know any other society that fears good people? There are none. The CCP fears that no one will follow it anymore if all Chinese can choose their own belief. Now you tell me, who is really bad? I recommend that you read the Nine Commentaries. It describes the CCP in great depth. ”
But she countered him right away, “I am sympathetic to you already. You said you have no political interests, but now you have published the Nine Commentaries. Why do you bother to comment on the CCP now that you are cultivators? The CCP is bad, but they have been in power for such a long time. China would have fallen into turmoil had it not been for the CCP. ” She then ended the call angrily.
The road to offer a sentient being salvation is really full of twists and turns. A life who had just come to understand the virtues of Dafa still fell for the CCP, because the Party's propaganda had so deeply polluted her mind. Her family was persecuted during the Cultural Revolution, but at this critical moment, she still could not distinguish good from bad.
Liang Bo recalled, “Knowing that only the Nine Commentaries could save her from the CCP's brainwashing, I sent her the content of the ninth commentary from the Nine Commentaries via e-mail: “On the Unscrupulous Nature of the Chinese Communist Party.” I did not write a subject line into the email because I knew that she would not have read it if I did. The ninth commentary answers the question, ‘What would China do without the CCP?’ Ms. Zheng did not respond for several days. However, a few days after that she called me again.”
Support
Ms. Zheng said, “I read your email. I have thought about what you’ve written for the past several days. It was very well written. Did you write it yourself?” Liang said, “No, I did not write it. It is an excerpt from the Nine Commentaries. I am glad that you read it.” Ms. Zheng said, “I am sorry that I was not patient with you last time.” Then they began to chat as old friends again.
After reading only one commentary from the Nine Commentaries, Ms. Zheng was completely awakened and began her new life with compassion and justice. Mr. Liang told her about the importance of quitting the CCP and introduced her to the Shen Yun Performing Arts shows. After that, Ms. Zheng and her whole family quit the CCP and its affiliated organizations.
Later, when Liang's city hosted a Shen Yun Performing Arts show, he was very busy promoting the program. One day Ms. Zheng called him pleasantly, “Hi! Yesterday I helped you sell four Shen Yun tickets. Some of my husband's New York City friends came to visit us yesterday. When we had dinner, I recommended the show to them, and they agreed to go see it. They bought tickets today.”
Excitedly, he thanked Ms. Zheng who continued on the phone, “My friends even started to call me 'Falun Gong' now, and I like that name. Should I stop calling Falun Gong practitioners ‘you’ and change to 'we'”? They laughed joyously.
