(Minghui.org) Nearly 2,000 practitioners attended the 2018 Asia Falun Dafa Experience Sharing Conference in Seoul on Sunday, October 14.
Mr. Li Hongzhi, the founder of Falun Dafa, wrote in his greetings to the conference,
“You are the hope of all lives.” (“To the 2018 Asia Fa Conference”)
Fifteen practitioners from South Korea, Indonesia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and other regions read their experience papers at the conference.
The topics of the papers focused on how these practitioners applied the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance at their workplaces, in their daily lives, and on their school campuses. During the process of cultivation, they described how they learned to let go of attachments, improve their xinxing and tell others about the spiritual practice.
The 2018 Asia Falun Dafa Experience Sharing Conference was held in Seoul on Sunday, October 14.
Solid Cultivation
Ms. Li Runjing from Busan, South Korea is a middle school teacher. She had gone to temples with her parents since she was a small child, and she later began to practice Buddhism. A friend recommended Falun Dafa to her in 2012, and she read Zhuan Falun, the main teachings of Falun Dafa.
“I was so shocked,” she recalled. “Many questions I had when studying Buddhism were all answered in this book. I was very excited because I did not know there would be a book like this that reveals so many heavenly secrets.”
During the first five years of her cultivation, Ms. Li practiced on her own and did not know much about sending forth righteous thoughts or telling others about the practice. She was visiting the Falun Dafa website one day when she saw a link for Minghui. This triggered her to get in touch with local practitioners, who told her about group Fa-study and experience sharing. In January 2018, she started joining them for group Fa-study and exercises.
Ms. Li gradually overcame the attachments of fear and losing face and began to tell other people about Falun Dafa. As a teacher, she had many good opportunities to teach the exercises to both students and other teachers. Through the Art of Zhen, Shan, Ren (Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance) International Exhibition and Shen Yun, she found many ways to talk with other teachers and students about the practice. The results were good, and she could feel that they had been waiting for this information.
Fifteen practitioners shared their cultivation experience papers during the conference.
Essence of Life
Mr. Lin Chengjun from Sejong said he had been searching for the purpose of life for many decades and was glad to have found Falun Dafa in the end.
“Since I was four, I had already begun to think about issues like, 'Who am I?' 'Where did I come from?' and, 'Why am I here?'” he explained. With these questions, he went to study Buddhism in a temple and became a monk at the age of 23. Over the next few years, however, his questions remained unresolved, which caused him to leave the temple. He returned to society as a lay Buddhist.
After coming across Falun Dafa in 2006, Mr. Lin was happy to find solutions to the confusion he had experienced earlier. Over the following two or more years, he and his wife followed the practice but were unable to let go their grudges and pursuits. As a result, they stopped practicing. This decision always causes him to feel regret.
In 2017, the couple resumed the practice together with their daughter. With gratitude for Master's compassion, Mr. Li was moved to tears. “The practice of Falun Gong has made our family harmonious and happy. Interestingly, after we put down the attachment to money, we found we actually gained much more,” he said.
As a village leader, Mr. Lin said the residents used to be divided and had a lot of conflicts. His practice of Falun Dafa also influenced others and brought positive changes. “We have now become more collaborative. The harvests are getting better, and disasters are becoming fewer,” he said, adding, “So, I hope more of the residents could learn Falun Dafa and benefit from it.”
Firm Belief in Falun Dafa
Aidiya from Indonesia began to practice during her high school years and worked for the government after graduating from college. Six months into her cultivation practice, she encountered the issue of practicing only one cultivation way.
“Everyone in my country needs to have a religion, especially in the village where I live. You have to attend all kinds of religious rituals. Otherwise you would be labeled an atheist. It was indeed challenging to tell my parents and other members of our extended family that I practice Falun Dafa and that I have to practice a single way.”
In the beginning, her parents understood that Falun Dafa is good, but they could not accept the issue of her practicing only one cultivation way. Because of that, after one religious ritual, her mother drove her out of their home.
“I was actually not surprised by that and thought that if that is the way it would go, let it be. After all, I was already a Falun Dafa practitioner at that time. I know if I cultivate genuinely, Master will give me the best and I will not miss anything.”
She was a college student at that time. So she left the laptop, car, and everything else from her parents behind and went to live with another practitioner. Because of her determination, her mother later called to express her regret for speaking to her in that way and asked her to return home. The other practitioner also talked with her parents and explained what she thought. Now Aidiya's parents no longer ask her to take part in religious rituals and the family is happy again, as if nothing had happened.
Seeing that Aidiya had graduated from college with good grades and found a decent job in the government, her parents are very proud. Aidiya says this was a blessing from Falun Dafa, and her parents agree.
Salvaging a Broken Family
Ms. Li Shanzhen, also from South Korea, talked about her family conflicts. As she treated them like a practitioner should, her husband became supportive and their relationship improved.
Ms. Li immigrated to South Korea nearly nine years ago. In the beginning, her husband, a native South Korean, had a good job, owned a house, and was wealthy. But these all disappeared, making him unwilling to face life or family responsibilities for the following six years. To escape reality, he played games and often hurled bad words at Ms. Li. “My mother-in-law had Alzheimer's disease, and my child could not speak at six. With all these pressures added together, it was difficult to endure,” she recalled.
To make a living, Ms. Li had to start a small business. When her mother-in-law gave her a hard time, she was able to handle it with a righteous mentality most of the time.
“I know that Falun Dafa is harmonized and indestructible. I also know that Master expects us to be good people no matter where we are.” Her actions moved her mother-in-law, who praised her in front of their relatives, “My daughter-in-law treats me very well.”
Her husband began to change, too. He was later hired by a firm as an accounting manager. After receiving the job offer, he talked with her and said he wanted to practice as well. “Before the interview, I kept reciting 'Falun Dafa is good' and 'Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance' as you told me,” he had told her.
“It is Master who saved my husband and rescued our family,” Ms. Li said thankfully. With her encouragement, her child has also begun to study the Falun Dafa teachings. She is now more willing to talk and has even become more beautiful.
Work Environment
Jasmine Cheung works for a clinic in Hong Kong that specializes in children with developmental and other disabilities. The children or their parents are sometimes uncooperative, which caused her to become frustrated and angry. The practice of Falun Dafa reminded her to handle these situations with patience and compassion. When she did that, she found that a cultivator's energy field can change the environment for the better.
“I truly experienced that when I embrace the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, the situation around me would change,” she summarized.
There were also other types of challenges at her workplace. Because she was trustworthy, her boss gave her many assignments, including some that others would avoid. As a result, Cheung often had to work overtime. “I sometimes noticed that when other people had already left for the day, I was the only one who stayed behind to finish the work. Plus, my salary is fixed, and there is no bonus to reward my hard work,” she explained. Nonetheless, she knew that as a practitioner, she needed to do well regardless. So the negative feelings and resentment faded away.
Such compassion was also seen when she went to tourist sites to tell Chinese tourists about Falun Dafa and its persecution by the communist regime in China. Some people gave her a thumbs-up, while some swore at her because they had been indoctrinated by the Communist Party's hate propaganda. As her heart and mind nature improved in her cultivation, she was able to handle these incidents with a peaceful mind.
Project Coordination
Ms. Huang Shunu, a former bookstore manager in Taiwan, talked about her personal cultivation while she coordinated a project. When she initially became the coordinator, she learned that differing opinions among the team members on certain techniques had resulted in barriers between practitioners.
Realizing she needed to address the issue instead of avoiding it, Ms. Huang started from a basis of intensive group Fa-study. As practitioners improved their xinxing, their technical skills were also enhanced. Ms. Huang then talked with certain team members with compassion, and they agreed to make changes.
“When talking with other members of the team, I learned to be compassionate,” she said. One of the team members has changed a lot and no longer points fingers at others as before.
During this process, Ms. Huang also found that she had low self-esteem. She often felt inferior to the previous coordinator, feeling that she was not as capable or eloquent. She also worried about making mistakes or having arguments with others.
The low self-esteem and fear reminded Ms. Huang of her selfishness. “Worrying about being hurt means I am protecting myself, while fearing criticism from others means I care too much about my reputation,” said Ms. Huang. She realized that all these things were attachments that she needed to let go.
Mainstream Society
Ms. Cao Huiling, a news media professional from Taipei, reviewed how she had interacted with people from mainstream society and told them about the persecution in China.
Ms. Cao did not enjoy socializing in the past. But realizing the importance of telling others about Falun Gong and the brutality in China, she let go of these notions and began to interact with others to expand her network.
On one occasion, an elderly man she talked with had misunderstandings about Falun Dafa and refused to listen. In fact, this man's parents had been persecuted by the Communist Party, but he had been treated well by communist officials in recent years because of his business and social influence. Ms. Cao did not give up on him and talked with him from different angles. In the end, the man accepted her opinions, saying it was like “waking up from a dream.”
“People see the efforts we have put in,” said Ms. Cao, “Sometimes I appear clumsy during social events. But once people see us keep trying, our persistence will win their respect and even admiration.”
The Choice of Police Officers
Ms. Chen Minglian from Indonesia said practitioners in her area had been to the Chinese Consulate to protest the persecution in China every week for a couple of years. But one day, both the police and the city government began to interfere with them and had tried to stop them from protesting there, using many excuses.
Ms. Chen said they had the right as citizens to hold such events and were protected by Indonesian laws. “We consulted a law firm and told them what happened,” she said, “The pressure was huge, but we were able to maintain righteous thoughts and act rationally.”
At the same time, Ms. Chen also communicated with police officers. She rid herself of her attachment of fear, and officials in various government branches learned the real story of Falun Dafa. “When our practitioners' xinxing improved as a whole, neither the police nor the city government bothered us anymore. Some police officers also became our friends,” she added.
A young police officer told his supervisor the information he had heard, and the supervisor invited practitioners for a talk in his office. After the meeting, the supervisor told his subordinates not to interfere with the peaceful protests of practitioners anymore. “We are all very happy for him for making the right decision,” Ms. Chen said.
The supervisor was promoted a short time later. “In less than a year, we heard that he had been promoted again. We knew he was blessed for what he did,” Ms. Chen said.
College Campus
Ally, a college student from mainland China who is studying in Seoul, said she grew up in a family of practitioners. “Falun Dafa has nurtured me and has become an indefensible part of who I am,” she said.
On campus, Ally applies what she has learned from the Falun Dafa teachings when she interacts with friends and classmates. She has also told professors and other students about the suppression in China.
She has found many different ways to tell people about the persecution in China, including through projects she has worked on and discussions in class related to human rights. In her history class, she reviewed the damage communist movements have caused, and in her art class, she introduced the authentic culture that Shen Yun portrays. When it is time to share personal stories, she often shares how she and her family were mistreated in China for their faith.
The conference concluded successfully at 5 o’clock in the evening. Many practitioners said they had learned a lot and were moved by the speakers’ sincere speeches.
It was the first time South Korean practitioner Mr. Koo had attended a large-scale Fa conference. He said he noticed a big gap between himself and other practitioners. “Especially the story of the Indonesian practitioner, who spent eight years encouraging her family to accept her belief. I can imagine there must have been lots of suffering in those years. This is an area where I can do better,” he said.
A former government employee, Mr. Ko said he found many areas where he could improve through comparing his cultivation with other practitioners.
Business owner Bruce Lee from Australia agreed. “I am especially touched by the kindness of practitioners,” he said, “For example, at a tourist site, a police officer swore at practitioners all the time. But because he came every day to watch the video of the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party, the practitioner kept telling the facts to the officer with patience and compassion. I was deeply touched by that—that is, that spirit of never giving up. It is something we really must learn from.”
