(Clearwisdom.net) Several thousand Falun Gong practitioners gathered in Washington D.C. on July 14 and July 15, 2011 to participate in a parade and rally to call for an end to the persecution. Falun Gong practitioners have peacefully protested the persecution in China for over a decade. Every practitioner has a different story, but they share a common belief that is the result of personal experience.

Falun Gong practitioners doing the exercises in front of Capitol Hill

A renowned university professor explained how Falun Gong changed his perspective on life. (The professor chose not to be identified in this article to avoid having CCP officials retaliate by persecuting his family in China) He said someone introduced him to the practice before 1996. His wife began practicing and prepared a set of books and tapes for him, but he was a sports enthusiast at the time and loved playing ping pong and basketball, so he did not read the Falun Gong books thoroughly at the time, but did watch the lecture videos. He finally sat down and read Zhuan Falun from beginning to end over the course of three days in 1996. He was quite moved by the experience and began to truly practice. He said, “I just felt this is so wonderful.”

“Prior to Falun Gong, I published lots of academic and research articles. I taught life science for more than 30 years, but had not found myself. Ever since I was a student I was instilled with Communist Party theories, and I taught the same things to my students. Our understanding of human history was based on Darwin’s theory of evolution. Everyone’s mentality and world view was based on the standard answers given in the textbooks, so I did not have my own thoughts.”

“Sometimes I felt what the Party said was not right, but it was a fleeting thought. I never went deeper and stuck with what the Party was saying and never thought of opposing it. I went through all the political purges and sometimes disagreed with the Party. When I discussed this with my co-workers, most of them also disagreed with Party propaganda and policies, but no one dared to publicly express any doubt about the Party.”

“I started thinking for myself after I learned Dafa. I learned that Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is the standard that judges what is good and bad. Before, I just believed whatever the Party said was correct.” He also said all the various theories the Party promoted at different times had political agendas and never aimed at people’s character or promoted good behavior.

Making a choice

The professor arrived in the United States on the day Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party was published. He had withdrawn from the Party himself some years before, back in 1999. He said, “After the Party began persecuting Falun Gong, my superior brought a central government document titled ‘Party members are forbidden to practice Falun Gong’ and tried to make me give up Falun Gong. I did some deep thinking. At first I could not understand why we were not allowed to practice something good. I had the book Zhuan Falun in one hand and the government decree in the other. I reflected on my life and realized the greatest benefit of practicing Falun Gong was finding myself.”

“Before, I had good relationships with my co-workers, so at each end-of-year meeting I was told I did not have a strong 'class struggle' mentality. Now that I was conducting myself according to Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, I decided to no longer serve as the Party’s tool for class struggle. So I submitted a written request to withdraw from the Party.”

“I don’t want to be a Party member. I want Falun Gong”

Ms. Jia, a senior engineer started practicing Falun Gong in January 1999 because of illnesses. She had bone spurs in her neck, Meniere’s disease, high blood pressure and dizzy spells, among others. She said, “One day, I was on my way to do exercises. I saw a group of people doing qigong, so I walked over and asked what it was. They told me 'It’s Falun Gong.' I asked, ‘Can you teach me?’ They said sure. So I practiced with them and felt very comfortable. I went back in the evening to do some more exercises, and they gave me three books, The Great Consummation Way of Falun Dafa¸ Zhuan Falun, and Essentials for Further Advancement. I went home that night and read Essentials for Further Advancement and felt the book was so wonderful, that this teacher knew so much, and I was determined to study it. The next day I threw away all the prescription drugs I had, worth several thousand yuan. Before I used to consume several bowls of Chinese medicine and Chinese drugs such as Gastrodia elata root extract and Western drugs and ginseng. In the following decade I never got sick again and never had any need for drugs.”

“Soon, the Party began persecuting Falun Gong. First, they forbade Party members from practicing Falun Gong in April 1999. I told other people, ‘Even if everyone else gives up, I’ll still practice. I don’t want to be a Party member. I want Falun Gong. There’s no benefit for being a Party member. I just keep paying fees, but Falun Gong has made me healthy. It has also changed my personality from being arrogant to down-to-earth, and I have more compassion.”

An elderly couple learns the truth and takes action

I met an elderly Chinese couple during the parade on July 15, 2011. They came from a small town six hours drive away from Washington D.C. They told me they were the only Falun Gong practitioners in town. They do not speak English and do not drive, and they always take the bus to participate in various Falun Gong activities.

They both have rosy complexions and look much younger than their actual age, which is in the 70s. They said, “We learned Falun Gong in the U.S. in 1999 when we were taking care of our second grandchild. Our daughter’s neighbor practiced Falun Gong who introduced us to the practice. We returned to China one year later and our son first tried to stop us from practicing Falun Gong, but later he changed his mind and said, ‘Your faces were glowing with health when you came back, so I eventually decided to be supportive.’”

“When we first came to the U.S. in 1994 to take care of our first grandchild, we were sickly looking when we went back to China. Now, when I tell people I’m in my 70s, they say I look 50.”

Mr. Lu from the UK was a student two years ago, and now he is working. He started practicing in 2007. Initially he just wanted to know more about the persecution of Falun Gong because he heard lots of fabricated derogatory propaganda in China, but after leaving China he realized the facts was otherwise. He also saw a video exposing the facts behind the staged Tiananmen Square 'Self-immolation' and learned how the Communist Party manufactured the whole event to smear Falun Gong. He wanted to know more about Falun Gong and proceeded to read the books. He discovered that Zhuan Falun was a truly unique book, and learned the principles of cultivation.

Mr. Lu at the Washington D.C. rally

He said, “It took some time for me to truly start practicing Falun Gong, because I grew up brainwashed with the Party's atheism, but now that I know divine beings really do exist. I thought it over and eventually decided to practice Falun Gong.”