(Clearwisdom.net)

May 13, 2002 is the World Falun Dafa Day and also the tenth anniversary of the introduction of Falun Dafa to the public by Mr. Li Hongzhi. Such a seemingly ordinary date has not only been quietly marked in history, but will also become a significant, brilliant and everlasting day of celebration in the future mankind's culture.

In the endless flow of history, human lives are as ephemeral as a flower's bloom. In the boundless firmament of the universe, human wisdom is as insignificant as a tiny mustard seed. How many wise sages have searched arduously, with the hope of finding the everlasting, true meaning of life?

1. Falun Dafa is Introduced to the World

Ten years ago on May 13, 1992, during the height of the Qigong's nationwide popularity in China, Mr. Li Hongzhi held the first series of lectures on Falun Gong in the city of Changchun. At this time he formally introduced to the public a set of beautiful and gentle exercises - Falun Gong - whose purpose is to bring people to the highest level of cultivation. In his lectures, Mr. Li Hongzhi for the first time spelled out clearly that in order to attain Gong [cultivation energy], practitioners must cultivate their mind and heart nature and upgrade their moral standard by following the principle of "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance." Because of its clear principles, easy-to-learn exercises, and the fact that it is good for both young and old, Falun Gong spread quickly and became enjoyed by many Qigong lovers who had been searching for the truth of Qigong. China's Qigong Science and Research Institute at that time fully acknowledged the principles, the practice and the positive effect of Falun Gong, and thus named it as one of the Qigong schools directly affiliated with the Institute. It also offered much help and support to promote the spreading and teaching of Falun Gong. Since then, more and more people have come to understand the meaning of life and have found the true purpose of living through studying and practicing Falun Gong.

From May 1992 to December 1994, invited by the local branches of the Qigong Science and Research Institutes all around China, Mr. Li Hongzhi held 54 classes, (9-day seminars) lecturing on the Fa [great Law and principles]. Tens of thousands of students attended the lectures. In January 1995, the main book of Falun Gong, Zhuan Falun, was published and issued by the China Broadcasting and TV Publishing House. That same year, on January 4, in the auditorium of Beijing Public Security University, a ceremony was held honoring the initial publication of the book Zhuan Falun. In this ceremony, Mr. Li Hongzhi announced that the time for teaching the Fa in China in the format of the popular 9-day seminars had come to an end. Since it was published, the demand for the book Zhuan Falun continually exceeded the supply. In 1996, it was listed by Beijing Youth Daily as one of the ten most popular books in Beijing. In March and May 1995, Mr. Li Hongzhi was invited to go to France and Sweden respectively to lecture on the Fa, and so began the Fa's spread overseas. He also caused the people of the world to admire China's brilliant wisdom and civilization even more, and so won great international prestige for China. In the seven years from May 1992 to July 1999, Falun Gong, just by word of mouth, had spread throughout China and to 30 countries overseas, and has been enjoyed by one hundred million people.

2. The Persecution

However, because of his extreme jealousy and hunger for power and dictatorship, Jiang acted willfully and forcefully. On July 21, 1998, the First Bureau of the Public Security Department issued regulations in violation of the Constitution. Document No. 555 [1998] "On the Notice to Investigate Falun Gong" was issued by the Public Security Department to "find Falun Gong guilty first and then make the investigation." On June 10, 1999, the Central Government "610 Office" was set up to specialize in coordinating and implementing the persecution of Falun Gong. July 20 of the same year saw the nationwide systematic, large-scale arrest of Falun Gong practitioners. In the afternoon of July 22, CCTV broadcast the decision made by the Civil Administration Department to ban the Falun Dafa Research Society. Further, the Public Security Department announced the "Six Prohibitions," and China Central Party Committee (CCPC) released the announcement that Party members were not allowed to practice Falun Dafa. Since that time, the brutal nationwide persecution began, with the goal "to defame (Falun Gong) in reputation, to cut them off economically and to eradicate them physically."

According to incomplete statistics, within the past three years beginning on July 20, 1999, more than 410 practitioners have been verified as being tortured to death in over 30 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities. However, according to the government's official internal statistics, the actual number of practitioners who died after being arrested had reached 1,600 by the end of 2001. In addition, there are at least 6,000 Falun Gong practitioners who have been illegally sentenced to prison. Over 100,000 practitioners have been sentenced to forced labor camps. Thousands of practitioners have been forcefully sent to psychiatric hospitals to be tortured with injections that are damaging to the central nervous system. Large groups of Falun Gong practitioners have been forcefully sent to local brainwashing classes, where they have been subjected to both physical and mental torture. Many more practitioners have been severely beaten and had large sums of money extorted from them. When large numbers of Falun Gong practitioners are beaten to death, injured, and their families are broken up, when they have to leave home and go from place to place because of the persecution, millions of Falun Gong practitioners' families, relatives, good friends and colleagues are also implicated and brainwashed to varying degrees.

3. Peaceful Protest

Just as the Falun Gong practitioners solemnly announced at the beginning of the persecution: this wicked persecution was destined to fail. During the last three years of brutal persecution, instead of being suppressed and destroyed, Falun Gong has instead spread further, faster and gained more support around the world with its consistent peacefulness and rationality. In the midst of tribulations, "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance" is shining ever more brilliantly.

Please look at the facts below:

1. Before the persecution began in 1999, around 100 million people were practicing Falun Gong in nearly 30 countries around the world, with most of the practitioners in China. Today, in 2002, Falun Gong is not only persistently surviving in China, but also spreading widely to close to 60 countries and regions, with almost 100,000 practitioners in Taiwan alone. Genuine practitioners praise the tremendous contributions Falun Gong has made to people's health and moral improvement, as well as praising Falun Dafa's profound principles.
2. Before 1999, Falun Gong was spread mainly by word of mouth. People who didn't practice Falun Gong were not aware of it, even if they were right next to it. Today in 2002, Falun Gong not only has not disappeared; on the contrary - the world's mainstream media know about it, and people all over the world are gradually becoming more and more aware of what Falun Dafa is. Falun Dafa has also gained widespread sympathy and support from governments and people around the world.
3. Before 1999, Falun Gong was praised by China's Public Security Department and awarded the certificate of a "Courageous Actions Foundation." At that time it even received several proclamations from local governments in the state of Texas in the United States. As of today in 2002, Falun Gong has been awarded almost 800 proclamations or supporting resolutions outside China. "Falun Dafa Festival" has been established in Canada, and practitioners all around the world have proclaimed [May 13^th] "World Falun Dafa Day."
4. In Mainland China, ever since the persecution began until now, practitioners have gone to Tiananmen Square almost daily to protest the persecution and to tell people "Falun Dafa is good." In the past, almost all Falun Gong practitioners who appealed at Tiananmen Square were arrested and beaten, whereas in the last year or so, more and more reports have verified that with the power of righteous thoughts and belief, many practitioners can come and go at will even right in front of military police and plainclothes police's heavy surveillance. Beginning in November last year, Western practitioners started to go to Beijing in two's or three's, to protest against the persecution and to clarify the truth to people in Beijing. One of them unfurled a Chinese banner at Tiananmen Square and shouted in Chinese, "Falun Dafa is good." This Caucasian young man wrote in an open letter to the Chinese people, "Falun Dafa comes from the land of China; it comes from the Chinese people's profound and beautiful culture. Without Falun Dafa, I would not be who I am today. With the utmost respect, I stepped onto your soil. I support the truth because of you. I hope my foreign face and pure heart can arouse the kindness remaining in your hearts. Please don't follow Jiang and his criminal group in their persecution of Falun Gong. That will truly be bad for you."
5. Back in 1999, when Jiang gave the order to persecute Falun Gong, he boasted full of confidence, "I just don't believe that the Party can't beat Falun Gong!" Several weeks ago in April 2002 in Germany, Jiang was so scared of Falun Gong that he became neurotic. He was not only closely followed by an ambulance wherever he went, he was also afraid of yellow and blue, which are colors most often worn by Falun Gong practitioners. He was even afraid of seeing people of Asian descent. That shows how Jiang is at his wits' end and how he is powerful outside but weak inside.

The freedom to speak and obtain information freely outside of China enables people to easily see the true nature of this persecution and the truth about Falun Gong without [having to experience] any mental pressure. Regarding the staged "Tiananmen Self-immolation" incident during the Chinese New Year, Amnesty International pointed out in a brief article published in August 2001, "The fact that the government approves of the use of violence against Falun Gong practitioners was also reported in detail by an article in the Washington Post in August 2001." "According to the article, after local government officials unwillingly and unsteadily carried out a 18-month long anti-Falun Gong campaign, but to little effect, the CCPC plotted a new policy, which was aimed at rooting out this organization...[they] instigated hatred in the public and the media for Falun Gong. The propaganda used an incident of self-immolation at Tiananmen Square on January 23 by five people who claimed to be Falun Gong practitioners, including a 12-year-old girl. After the incident, the government repeatedly played the grisly video of the girl's burnt body on state-controlled media in addition to reporting materials slandering Falun Gong, all in an attempt to change the public's opinion of Falun Gong."

From March 20-22, 2002, with group exercises and other peaceful activities, Falun Gong practitioners and supporters from more than 40 countries held a peaceful protest during the 58th Human Rights Commission meeting in Geneva. Shocked by the grievous injustice and the persecution in China, a deeply concerned Swiss senator wrote, "Why does China reject the ancient principles of Truth, Compassion, Tolerance, which are crucial for the whole of humanity? This form of qigong cultivation can improve the cultivator's physical and mental health, and at the same time it shows a most complete respect for a person. Why would something like this make the Chinese government scared?"

4. Break Through the Information Blockade, Clarify the Truth and Advance Towards Maturity

Even more notable is the fact that Jiang thought he could eliminate Falun Gong in three months, but after three years of tempering, Falun Gong practitioners have even firmer belief in "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance," and more and more practitioners have stepped forward from their homes into society. Falun Gong practitioners worldwide are becoming increasingly more steadfast and maturing through peaceful appeals while clarifying and safeguarding the truth.

1) Step out of the limitation of individual cultivation and break through the information blockade

Before 1999, most practitioners in China and abroad just studied the Fa and practiced quietly, and introduced their personal experiences and the benefits they gained after practicing Falun Gong to their family members and friends. After July 20, 1999, in order to clarify the truth that was distorted by the Party's propaganda, despite the risk to their lives, Falun Gong practitioners in China stepped out of the limitation of individual cultivation and used all kinds of methods to clarify the truth to general public, such as appealing, protesting in Tiananmen Square, handing out flyers, truth-clarifying articles and VCDs, and face-to-face truth clarification. They have used every possible channel to change the people's uninformed views of Falun Gong. The overseas practitioners also made every effort to support the practitioners in China. During these three years, starting from learning how to send emails, practitioner in China and abroad volunteered their time to set up content-rich Falun Gong websites one after another. Starting from learning how to compile single page flyers, practitioners now have made all kinds of flyers in different languages and for different occasions, and created many truth-clarifying brochures, magazines and several Chinese newspapers with refined and rich content intended for the general public. Starting from understanding the meaning of words, "Congress", "human rights organizations" and other terms, little by little, practitioners touched people's hearts with their words, deeds and the truth, and gained the sympathy and support from legislatures, human rights organizations, non-government organizations and the general public worldwide.

After three years hardships, with practitioners' righteous thoughts, rationality and wisdom, through individual funding, practitioners outside China have established websites, newspapers, radio stations and TV stations targeting the general public, and obtained a certain capacity to broadcast to China. During the past three years, practitioners in and out of China have become firm and mature from the perspective of the Fa, and many practitioners in China have been able to break through the information blockade.

• At around 8:00 p.m. on March 5, 2002, when several hundred thousand Changchun households were watching TV, suddenly eight channels including movie, news and finance channels were switched to Falun Gong truth-clarifying programs. Practitioners in Changchun broadcasted the programs "Falun Dafa Spreads Around the World" and "Self-Immolation or Staged Event" to people in China in spite of the strict information blockade. The uninterrupted broadcast lasted for 40-50 minutes. The incident had a great impact in China. According to international media reports, before Changchun, there were similar incidents taking place in Sichuan and Liaoning cable television networks. The Changchun incident was widely reported by mainstream international media and brought attention and reactions from many non-government organizations, international human rights organizations and even the United Nations.

• According to international media reports on April 4, 2002, Guangzhou Daily, the official publication of the Guangzhou City Party Committee, published two poems "The Catastrophe" and "The Cleansing" by Falun Gong founder Li Hongzhi on page A23 on March 30. This caused a great upheaval inside the Party's propaganda system. Many major international media gave extensive coverage to this incident.

• On April 20, 2002, more truth-clarifying television programs were broadcasted during prime time in the evening in several subdivisions in two major cities including Harbin in Heilongjiang Province. The broadcast lasted for as long as 75 minutes. The programs included "Falun Dafa Spreads Around the World", "Self-Immolation or Staged Event", "Facts of Human Rights Violations in China", "The Real Story of the Murder Case in Beijing" and "The Real Story About the Ten-Thousand People Appeal on April 24." The Associated Press reported this event on May 9. The AP report said that Falun Gong practitioners in China had again successfully switched cable TV signals and broadcasted the TV programs in another major city, Harbin, condemning persecution against Falun Gong by Jiang's regime.

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• According to the latest news from audiences inside China, when CCTV showed program slandering Falun Gong on May 12, 2002, the "Every Village Connected Satellite Broadcast Network" in ten provinces were interrupted for three minutes until the anti-Falun Gong program was over. Those provinces included Inner Mongolia, Yunnan, Sichuan, Guizhou, Chongqing, Henan, Hunan, Qinghai, Shaanxi and Gansu. The "Every Village Connected Satellite Broadcast Network" is a high priority project backed by the Chinese National Broadcasting Bureau, with the express purpose of carrying the Party's one-sided propaganda to the countryside via satellite. This incident was believed to be another successful attempt by Falun Gong practitioners in China to break the information blockade.

2) Making Falun Dafa Day an Important Day for More People

On May 13, 2002, the day that marked the ten-year anniversary of the public introduction of Falun Dafa, six cities in the Canadian province of British Columbia proclaimed May 2002 to be "Falun Dafa Month." These six cities included Armstrong, Belacara, Parksville, Cranbrook, Cumberland, and Duncan. The mayors of these six cities issued proclamations praising the traditional cultivation ways of Falun Gong, bringing benefits in both body and mind for people all over the world, recognizing Falun Gong's contribution to promoting the healthy development of society, and expressing admiration to Falun Gong practitioners for their great compassion and forbearance in the most severe environment.

In order to celebrate the 10^th anniversary of the public introduction of Falun Gong and May 13, Falun Dafa Day, Falun Gong practitioners all over the world held all kinds of celebrations, entering a climax on May 13. Dafa is spreading in the world, and we celebrate for all the beings in heaven and earth. In defiance of the evil, we should sing and dance with joy.

Epilogue

During the past few decades of harsh dictatorship, isn't it true that the Party can take away lives and property alike with impunity? Isn't it true that whoever is targeted by the Party has been destined to suffer in silence while waiting for their innocence to be reinstated? However, violence and deception, the two fortes of Jiang's regime, are being rendered powerless in the face of the peaceful Falun Gong practitioners. After learning the truth, people cannot help but praise Falun Gong practitioners, "Truly honorable! Falun Gong!" "Righteousness will eventually defeat evil!" "Final victory will be yours!"

Indeed, based upon the principles of "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance," Falun Gong will continue to greatly benefit people's mind and body until the end of time. Millions of Falun Gong disciples, who will maintain righteous faith and righteous thoughts, will for certain have a wonderful future beyond comparison. As the truth about Falun Gong is being clarified throughout the world, Jiang's regime will for certain end up with the most severe punishment. Those people who have a good attitude towards Falun Gong will be fortunate enough to see that magnificent day, and they will be shaken to the core and never forget that day.

After discovering the true meaning of life, millions of people with similar lives and professions like you and I have emerged from this selfish, superficial and illusory society. They have become the pioneers of the new morality and culture, and they practice it through their actions. With the power of belief, Falun Gong practitioners have led people around the world to find out the truth about Falun Gong. They succeeded in spite of the slander and the brutal persecution backed by an entire country's financial, military and propaganda resources. Within three short years, they have stepped out of the darkness of being persecuted and into the state of "The Buddha light illuminates everywhere." In the past ten years, the true principle of "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance" has been so powerful that it has not only fundamentally purified and elevated millions of practitioners' minds and bodies, but also enabled them to clarify the truth without complaint or regret during the relentless persecution, in spite of indifference, misunderstanding, attacks and curses. They have awakened countless kind hearts and created a wonderful future for so many lives that were close to ending.

So many things have passed by like wisps of smoke, and the genuine gold will reveal itself after the mud and sand are washed away. In an era and society when people routinely forget the true meaning of "morality" and seek materialism and pleasure instead of the true meaning of life, it may be hard to immediately realize the special historic role of these last ten years. However, in the near future, all those who are fortunate enough will be amazed by the extraordinary experiences and selfless sacrifices of Falun Gong disciples all over the world in the past ten years. At that time, people will clearly see that it is during these ten short years that millions of Falun Gong practitioners have re-established the pure meaning of morality through their own practice. They awakened the human nature of valuing kindness and truly saved human beings who were on the edge of being eliminated. Moreover, these ten years not only made a path for modern people to return to their origin, but also left a historic reference for future generations. Although seemingly plain and modest, it is indeed magnificent and truly remarkable, an unprecedented historic event. Everyone will clearly understand this and consider May 13, the date that Falun Dafa was introduced to the public, as a most significant historic date to thank the Lord of Buddhas for compassionate salvation as well as marking the beginning of a new era for human beings.

These ten years, 1992 to 2002, have been truly magnificent due to Falun Dafa's spread throughout the world. What Falun Dafa has experienced in this world is unforgettable and will be recorded in history forever!