(Clearwisdom.net) I would like to share my experience of clarifying the truth to one of my Arabic friends who does not practice Falun Dafa.

Although we had known each other for half a year, I had never mentioned Falun Dafa to him. One of the main reasons is that I did not cultivate myself well and did not know how to introduce the topic. I thought it would be too difficult for him to understand me because he grew up in a very religious family. Actually, this kind of worry is also an attachment of fear. After studying the Fa and being more diligent, I gradually eliminated this type of worry. I started to clarify the truth to him many times. Each time, his understanding became deeper. Now he understands Dafa very well.

Whenever I study the Fa on my notebook computer, he would always ask me what I was reading. The first time we talked about Dafa was after he insisted on opening the picture of Teacher I had stored in the computer. He asked me who Teacher was. He also saw pictures of the evil persecution of practitioners in China. I felt that it was time. I told him that I have a belief, but it is not a religion. The Chinese government does not allow us to hold this belief, so it detains and persecutes us. He did not ask any more questions.

After a couple of days, he suddenly asked me, "What is that yellow thing of yours (because Teacher wears a yellow outfit in the picture). Isn't it a religion?" I replied that it was not a religion, and that it just teaches one to be a better person. He then asked, "Then do you have gods to believe in?" I said, "Yes." He got very angry and said it was impossible as there was only one god, their god. I said, "No, there are many gods. How could you know if there is only one universe and only one god?" He became angrier and kept arguing with me. He even claimed that he would argue with me about the one-god theory until I believed him.

After I calmed down, I felt that it was not right. I wanted to clarify the truth to him, yet we ended up arguing about the one-god issue. He insisted that we are a religion. I continued to study Teacher's Fa.

Teacher said in "Teaching the Fa in the City of Los Angeles":

"Also, in Western countries the concept of politics is: any public activity that is not religious or that doesn't affect only the individual is considered a part of politics. That's why when it comes to Western society's take on whether Falun Gong is religious, their conclusion is: 'Since the public activities you have aren't political activities, you are a religion... And you have spiritual beliefs.' So they consider it a religion.

Let me mention something while we're on this topic. In the future, if someone asks whether we are a religion, don't offer an explanation, don't try to explain that anymore to the average person. Whatever the person thinks we are is up to him. You're clear on this, right? In China, with that kind of society, there is a clear notion of what counts as 'a religion': A religion has a temple, worship, religious rituals that one needs to be part of, taking of vows, baptism, and so on--all of which quite clearly mark someone, or the activities he does, as religious. Without these it doesn't count as a religion. This is completely different from the concept they have in the West. So in Western society, if the average person comments on whether you are a religion, you needn't reply, and you don't need to take it that seriously. If a government, social organization, administrative department, congressional representative, etc. says that you're a religion, you no longer need to tell them that we're not. If legal issues are involved, you can handle things as a religion and go by the related legal provisions. So under these circumstances you can say it is a religion, especially when it involves legal matters. "

Teacher also mentioned in "Dafa Will Forever be Pure Like Diamond" from Essentials for Further Advancement: "Falun Dafa is not a religion, but future generations will regard it as one."

After studying the Fa, I told my friend, "If you think we are a religion, then it is a religion; but we are being persecuted."

One night I talked with him about Dafa for about three hours, starting from the evil persecution by the Chinese Communist regime, to who we are and what we cultivate. When talking about certain topics, I sometimes felt that I did not explain myself very clearly and was worried that he might have a misunderstanding of Dafa. I told him that I would show him the Clearwisdom website so that he could read for himself. He said, "No. I want to hear it from you." So I tried my best to clarify the truth to him. I also taught him the correct pronunciations of "Falun Dafa" and "Falun Dafa is good."

At the beginning, he always called us "the yellow thing of yours." I finally told him, "You should respect us. You do not want other people to call your religion by some other name." He understood, and also reminded me multiple times that even though I was no longer in China, I should pay attention to the issue of safety. I enlightened that I cannot depend on others and that I cannot neglect the responsibility of clarifying the truth to people. Otherwise, why should practitioners clarify the truth, when we could just ask people to read the Dafa websites?

However, he still wrote down the Clearwisdom website, and said that he would definitely check it out. I also told him, "Never go to the website run by the evil CCP. They are super liars. Other than the date, their daily news is all lies."

At that moment, I thought I was done clarifying the truth to him. Early the next morning, however, he called me and said he had spent the whole night reading news about us. He found both positive and negative news because he also went to the CCP's website. He had many questions to ask me. Before he could finish what he wanted to say, I shouted into the phone, "Didn't I tell you not to visit the CCP website? Why didn't you listen? They are lying from the beginning to the end. How could you do that! When you visit their website, you are actually supporting them." He got angry after I said this and told me, "I have the freedom to visit any website I choose. I just want to understand you completely. I cannot just listen to you. Now I have doubts about you." I became even angrier and hung up the phone. I thought to myself, "Go ahead and have doubts. You do not listen to just me. I clearly told you not to do something and you still want to do it."

A few minutes later, I calmed down and realized that I had made a huge mistake. He, too, is a life that should be saved and if he loses the opportunity because of my irrational behavior, then how big is my sin? He had many questions, so wasn't this my opportunity to clarify the truth? Ordinarily, I did not even know how to broach the topic. After realizing this, I regretted it very much. Because I was not calm, not rational, and not responsible to truth clarification, I made such a big mistake. I immediately called him back and apologized for my behaviorr, but he did not want to listen to me anymore and hung up. He said that he did not want to listen anymore about Dafa from me.

A few days later, he did something to purposefully hurt me. Out of regret, he apologized and said, "Please tell me more about your Falun Dafa. I want to listen." I knew that being hurt by him was a test of sentimentality for me to pass. I felt it was a good opportunity: I could go through the test as well as clarify the truth. He asked me many, many questions and I answered them one-by-one. Finally he was able to completely accept the truth. He also said, "I believe you because your actions and words show me that you are truly tolerance. I did a very bad thing, but you forgave me. I felt very small in front of you, like a stone facing a big mountain. I know that the principles of your practice really improve one's morality."

After this incident, I enlightened that we should pay attention to our words and actions. Not every ordinary person who wants to get to know us will read Zhuan Falun. However, they will look at our behavior and if we do not do well, they will say, "Is this also taught by your Falun Dafa?"

Since then, my friend indeed has accepted the truth. Once he called me while I was sending forth righteous thoughts. I did not pick up the phone and told him afterwards that I was busy during these times and could not answer the phone. He said, "No, it was mentioned in your book that there are no set times for [doing] the exercises." I was very surprised and asked him, "How did you know this?" He said, "Actually, I downloaded the Arabic version of your book a long time ago. It was the night when you first told me about it. I spent the whole night reading on-line about the practice and found the book." Before this, I had always wanted to introduce him to the Arabic version of the book, but I could not find it. Yet he found it. I explained to him, "This is something different. When it comes to doing the exercises, there is no set time. This hourly observance is called 'Sending Forth Righteous Thoughts,' and it targets the evil." So far, he accepts everything about Dafa. However, he still cannot understand the issue of believing in many gods.

Here, I would like to share two pieces of information from him.

First, he said that in all Arab countries, they report the Chinese Communist regime's false versions of the news. Before now, he also believed in the evil Chinese Communist regime. Second, he said that in some religious scripts, it mentions that God will come to the world to save people in the future. They all believe in this, and they are waiting for the coming of this God. They must believe that God will come to the world.

In the article "A Brief Explanation of Shan," Teacher said,

"The Dafa I teach today is not only taught to Eastern people, but also to Westerners at the same time. Their kind people should also be saved. All nationalities that should enter the next, new historical era will obtain the Fa and improve as a whole. It is not just a matter of one nationality. Mankind's moral standard will also return to that of original human nature."

(Essentials for Further Advancement)

The process of clarifying the truth to my Arab friend was also the process of my improvement. If I do not do well, it will directly affect whether or not others can accept it. I also clarify the truth to my Indian friends. I realized that they are very easy to talk to and are very receptive. Some of them told me even before I started to talk, "I know Falun Dafa. It is very good. Your government persecutes you without reason. It is the CCP that persecutes you." Then I had the chance to clarify the truth in more depth.

These are my limited understandings. If there is something inappropriate, fellow practitioners, please correct me.

December 14, 2006,