PureInsight | January 2, 2006
[PureInsight.org] We often use the word "storm" (or "wind and rain" in Chinese) to describe the adverse environment that Falun Gong practitioners have been facing. Today I would like to share two real stories, one that took place on a windy day and another that took place on a rainy day.
A Falun in the Rain
Starting on Monday, October 10, 2005, Falun Gong practitioners in Washington, D.C. became more coordinated in their efforts to distribute "The Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party" (or "The Nine Commentaries" for short) and to persuade Chinese people to withdraw from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the Communist Youth League and the Youth Pioneer League seven days a week. At the beginning, those Falun Gong practitioners who were scheduled to work as volunteers at the Service Center to Withdraw from the CCP around the National Mall would check the weather forecast the night before. If the weather forecast said it would rain the next day, they would take the day off based on the argument that there would be no tourists at the National Mall on rainy days. But after a while, we discovered that weather forecasts were often unreliable when it came to bad weather. When the forecast said that it was going to rain, sometimes there was not a single raindrop the whole day, sometimes it rained only in Maryland but not in Washington, DC, sometimes it rained only in northern Virginia but not in Washington, DC, sometimes it rained everywhere in the Greater Washington, DC area except the area surrounding the National Air and Space Museum, and sometimes it rained everywhere except within two blocks radius of the Air and Space Museum. Those were truly miracles! [Note: The National Mall is located in Washington, DC. The Greater Washington, DC area generally refers to Washington DC, northern Virginia and southern Maryland.]
After a while, we realized that it was Teacher who had created the good weather conditions for the precious Chinese people to obtain a copy of "The Nine Commentaries" and encouraged us to remain diligent in our truth-clarification work. Gradually we forgot about checking weather forecasts. Even when we read weather forecasts saying there was a high chance of precipitation, we would go to the Service Center as usual.
However, the path of cultivation practice is not always smooth. Sometimes, whether the ride is smooth or not is determined by one thought, the very one thought to save sentient beings.
On Monday, November 21, we moved the Service Center temporarily from the Mall area in front of the National Air and Space Museum to the National History Museum. The weather channel had forecast a heavy shower that day, but two more practitioners suddenly appeared at the Service Center that morning. Around 1 PM that day, it began to rain heavily, so we had to put away "The Nine Commentaries" posters. No one complained. No one sought shelter. Instead, everyone was busy putting away our equipment and material. An elderly female practitioner in her 80s refused to take shelter under a tree. Instead, she walked into the heavy rain and worked with other practitioners to put away our banners. I asked her to go and stand under a large tree, but she insisted on helping to put away the banners. When our car came to pick up the equipment, a young Caucasian man whom we didn't know began to move our things into the car silently and left without saying anything after he finished helping us…
On that day, Practitioner A noticed that bus after bus of Chinese tourists had gone in the direction of the National Air and Space Museum. Apparently a lot of Chinese tourists had gone there instead of the National History Museum. She felt anxious because someone should be there to clarify the truth to those Chinese tourists. Since there were four elderly female practitioners at the Service Center that day and it took only three people to tend to "The Nine Commentaries" poster exhibit, practitioner A decided to go to the National Air and Space Museum to distribute "The Nine Commentaries."
After putting away all the material and equipment, practitioner B drove to the National Air and Space Museum to check on practitioner A and see if she needed more material or an umbrella. When she arrived, she saw that Practitioner A was passing "The Nine Commentaries" to a group of Chinese tourists who were just getting off a tourist van. A looked very peaceful and pleasant. She was carrying a bag of pocket-sized "The Nine Commentaries" on her left shoulder and holding an umbrella in her right hand to prevent "The Nine Commentaries" from getting damp. She looked completely impervious to the tiresome shower.
When she spotted practitioner B, A said cheerfully, "There are a lot of Chinese tourists here. Many of them took a copy of 'The Nine Commentaries.' How wonderful! I have almost run out of it. I was just thinking about returning to the National History Museum for more 'The Nine Commentaries' when you came and delivered more copies. You see? Teacher knows what we need and arranges everything perfectly! As long as our mind is on the Fa, Teacher will be able to help us in every way."
We learned one thing that day. The Air and Space Museum is an indoor museum and is a part of the regularly scheduled tour. Therefore, the tourist guides have to take their customers to that museum no matter how bad the weather is. On that day we also learned something important: In order to clarify the truth to the Chinese tourists, we should base our schedule on theirs, not on the schedule that works best for us or is the most convenient to us. We have to be there when sentient beings come. We cannot leave until sentient beings leave. Otherwise, there is no point coming there.
Teacher said, "With this determination, if you can indeed be firmly resolute at that point, you will naturally do well because your xinxing will have already improved." (From "Your Mind Must Be Right" in Lecture Six of Zhuan Falun.)
Practitioner A added, "You see? It is raining heavily today, but the Chinese tourists are brought here for an indoor tour as usual. Since the Chinese tourists have come, how can we not come and clarify the truth to them? What do you think? Our fellow Falun Gong practitioners acting as torture victims in the truth-clarification sites in Manhattan routinely stand in puddles of water for an entire day when it rains heavily. Besides, there are still so many Chinese tourists here despite the heavy rain. So we must persevere in our cause!"
Practitioner B left for a while and returned to take photographs of practitioner A clarifying the truth to the Chinese people. This will become a precious historic image. Practitioner A spotted B, and turned sideways with a smile. Practitioner B captured that moment. When the photograph came out, there was a bright Falun at Practitioner A's waist positioned exactly on top of a full bag of "The Nine Commentaries" that she was carrying with her left shoulder. (One can't see the bag clearly because A's body blocks it from full view).
Although practitioner B gave practitioner A a large bag of "The Nine Commentaries" around 1 PM, but practitioner A had only a few copies left by 4:30 PM. Many Chinese tourists from each tourist van took copies from her. The only group of Chinese tourists who had refused the book and exhibited rude and vicious attitude was from Los Angeles. Later we searched inward and decided that fellow practitioners in Los Angeles must have encountered Chinese tourists from Washington, DC area who had been severely deceived by the Chinese regime as well. There is such a large Chinese population in Los Angeles. Our fellow practitioners there already have a lot of work to do. Besides covering the tourist attractions in Washington, DC, we must extend our truth-clarification work to Chinese communities throughout the greater Washington, DC area. We must not increase the workload for fellow practitioners in Los Angeles by sending Chinese people who are still deceived by the Chinese regime from Washington DC to Los Angeles!
Practitioner A lives very far from the National Mall in Washington, DC. In the morning, she has to take a local bus, then transfer to a metro bus, and finally take the metro rail to get from her home to the Air and Space Museum. Not counting the transfer time, she has to ride the bus and the train for a total of at least 2 1/2 hours in the morning. In the evening, it takes her less time to return home, because she can take a special commuter bus that stops directly at the entrance of her community. But even then, the bus ride takes 1 ½ hours, not counting the time it takes for her to wait for the bus. Generally speaking, it takes her about five hours a day to make the round trip between her home and the Service Center in DC. Every day she has to spend $US11 on the bus fare alone, which is quite a lot of money for her. I often ask her not to come to the Service Center on rainy days, but she always insisted on coming because Chinese tourists come as usual.
A Light Windbreaker Repelled the Windy, 22°F Weather
Several elderly female practitioners in our area, including practitioner A, do not speak any English, and therefore can't check weather forecasts. They usually decide what to wear by feeling the temperature outside in the morning. It is not the best way to dress in the wintertime. Sometimes they do not dress warm enough, and one of those days was Friday, December 2, 2005.
The outside temperature that morning was about 40°F. In the afternoon, the chilly wind reduced the temperature to 34°F. Neither practitioner A nor C had dressed warmly enough for the weather, but neither of them called practitioner B, who was responsible for delivering and picking up truth-clarification materials, to deliver coats or scarves. There are two payphones right in front of the Air and Space Museum, but they didn't want to cause any inconvenience to B, so they endured the cold weather and bone-chilling wind.
Practitioner C had only signed up to volunteer in the morning. So she returned home around 3 PM. But practitioner A stayed until 4:30 PM. By the time practitioner B arrived at the Service Center at 4:30 PM to pick up the remaining truth-clarification material, the temperature had already dropped to 30°F. However, according to the weather forecast, the wind chill had dropped the apparent temperature further down and it felt like only 22°F. Practitioner B was astonished when she saw practitioner A. Practitioner A was wearing only a thin red windbreaker. It was a thin polyester jacket and might have been warm enough if the temperature stayed above 50°F. She must have been freezing to death!
Practitioner A had been trying to keep herself warm by wearing the attached hood. But her face had already turned purple because of the frighteningly cold weather. She wasn't wearing any gloves so her hands had turned purple, too. Yet she was grinning because a young Chinese tourist was accepting a copy of "The Nine Commentaries" from her.
When she saw practitioner B, the first thing she said was not "I am frozen!" Instead, she immediately said, "How wonderful! A lot of Chinese people took 'The Nine Commentaries' today. You see? I have almost run out of them."
Practitioner B put her face against A's and rubbed A's hands to make her feel warmer. B felt as though she was touching a block of ice. Suddenly B remembered an article published on Minghui.org/Clearwisdom.net yesterday about two female Falun Gong practitioners, 51-year-old Ms. Liu Jizhi and 42-year-old Ms. Han Yuzhi, who had both been raped by policeman He Xuejian on November 25, 2005. She remembered that practitioner B was also 51 years old. B is also a housewife and a mother like Ms. Liu Jizhi. They are both kindhearted, selfless Falun Gong practitioners. If any man has the heart to curse them, beat them up or even rape them, I cannot begin to describe what kind of person he is! When He Xuejian was raping Ms. Liu Jizhi, she even told him, "I am thinking of your own good! Do not do it! You are a policeman! Do not commit such a crime! You will be condemned by Heaven!" Apparently He Xuejian had been possessed by the "Communist Party nature" instilled by the Chinese Communist Party and had already lost all the humanity left in him. He not only raped related the elderly Ms. Liu once, he even attempted to rape her a second time that night! If one can't imagine the urgency of having the Chinese people read "The Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party" as a necessary means to save their souls, try to compare kindhearted Ms. Liu Jizhi and practitioner A with incorrigibly beastly Chinese policeman He Xuejian.
Meanwhile practitioner A repeatedly consoled practitioner B. She said, "I am fine! I don't feel cold at all! It is all because of Teacher's help. I really don't feel cold at all."
The fact is that practitioner A was as cold as a block of ice. Perhaps she really didn't feel cold, but the point is that while she was freezing, she thought of saving the Chinese people first! Then she thought of comforting practitioner B! She didn't think of herself at all!
Although practitioner B's car comes with seat heating device, practitioner A declined B's invitation for a ride to the nearest bus stop. She didn't offer any explanation, but practitioner B knew that it was because she didn't want B to hit the traffic jam because of her. Practitioner A has a cellular phone. It was easy for her to ring B and ask her to bring her a coat, but she didn't do that because she didn't want to trouble her…
Teacher said, "You should exhibit compassion and tolerance, and consider others more, and here among human beings it will become a habit for you." (From "Explaining the Fa During the 2003 Lantern Festival at the U.S. West Fa Conference")
Many practitioners are interested in learning better ways to promote "The Nine Commentaries" and to talk the Chinese people into withdrawing from the CCP. Actually, there is no secret tip. The secret, if there is any, is "kindness."
Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2005/12/4/34821.html
