(Minghui.org) Greetings, Master! Greetings, fellow practitioners!
Before I began to cultivate in Dafa in 2006, I was a Buddhist monk. I would like to share how I found Falun Gong and joined fellow practitioners in clarifying the facts to people. Please point out anything that is inappropriate in my understanding.
1. Becoming a Falun Gong Practitioner
I was a monk in a Buddhist monastery in Daegu, Korea. One day, I found a small pamphlet called The True Path to Health – Falun Gong. On the cover was a description of a Buddha school exercise, and it said that over a hundred million people in the world practiced the exercises. When I read the part that said that Falun Gong was a high level Buddha cultivation practice, a desire to cultivate in Falun Gong grew in my mind. It was the summer of 2006.
I ordered the books Falun Gong and Zhuan Falun. I read Falun Gong first and followed the picture demonstrations to learn the exercises. I could feel the strong energy. When I read Lunyu in Zhuan Falun, I was impressed and could tell that the book was extraordinary, and that the founder of Falun Gong was not an ordinary person.
This is how I became a Dafa disciple. I mainly read the books during the day and practiced the exercises in the evenings by myself. I could feel Master doing Guanding for me several times when a strong beam of energy went into my Baihui point, as if a fireball was circling over my head.
2. Joining Fellow Practitioners
I stayed in the monastery pursuing a four-year college degree in Buddhism, because I still had an interest in Buddhist scriptures although I knew that I had to stick to one cultivation way.
In my fourth year in college, I finally read what was known to be the “most colossal” book of Buddhist scriptures. After reading it, however, I no longer had any interest in Buddhist scriptures, and enlightened that Falun Dafa was the highest level of cultivation. I thus determined to cultivate in Dafa only.
I studied Master’s teachings and practiced the exercises by myself for three years. A fellow practitioner recommended that I join a group. I moved from one temple to another to be close to a group of fellow practitioners. Compared to practicing by myself, the energy of the group was much stronger. I could better understand Master’s teaching every time I studied the Fa with the group. I also learned to send forth righteous thoughts.
I stayed there for three months and read Master’s lectures that I had never read before. Through sharing with fellow practitioners, I had a deeper understanding of the Fa. I had the opportunity to join the group promoting the Shen Yun Performing Arts show in Busan that year.
3. The Importance of Clarifying the Truth
A fellow practitioner told me that many tourists from China visited Jeju, but there weren't enough practitioners to talk to the tourists. However, I went back to the temple and did not give it a second thought at that time.
A practitioner from Busan called and asked if I would like to share experiences with a monk who had learned Dafa in Jeju. I invited the monk to go with me to clarify the facts to tourists in Jeju for a week.
The first day in Jeju, we practiced the exercises from 4:00 to 6:00 a.m. Then we went to the airport with the practitioners who had been there clarifying the facts to Chinese visitors for a long time. From 6:00 to 10:00 a.m., thousands of Chinese tourists swarmed through the airport. The Epoch Times newspaper had just published the article about Wang Lijun, who had escaped to the U.S. Embassy to avoid being persecuted by his political rivals. Many Chinese read the paper attentively. It was very moving.
I had a dream that day that a train was pulling into the station, but the last car, the one that I was on, was disconnected. I tried to reconnect my car with the train but couldn't. Just as my car was about to derail, someone pulled it and connected it with the train, and soon after that, the train accelerated.
I returned to Jeju several times. During the day, we went to Dragon Head Rock, and at night, we went to the airport. We studied the Fa and sent forth righteous thoughts after we returned home in the evenings. To help save more people, I rented a house in Jeju and stayed there for a long time.
4. Improving Myself While Helping Others
Sometimes airport employees did not allow me to hand our newspapers. Some fellow practitioners shared that they also had experienced obstacles like that, and added that it was because our righteous thoughts were not strong enough and the old forces were taking advantage of my loopholes to prevent me from saving more people. We need to study more of Master’s Fa and strengthen our righteous thoughts.
I began sending forth righteous thoughts more frequently, and things changed a few days later. A young luggage carrier at the airport often waited at the gates where I was. He kept looking at me as if I bothered him. I smiled at him and said, “I’m sorry, I’ll leave soon.” In the meantime, I sent forth righteous thoughts to clear away the evil forces behind him. Soon his attitude changed. He told me one day, “Sir, you dropped a paper. Pick it up quickly or else they’ll get mad at you.” The power of compassion and righteous thoughts are magical. I thanked Master for His help. From then on, the young man and I often greeted each other and got along very well.
Tour guides’ attitudes have a major impact on the tourists, so if they told the tourists not to take our newspaper, most of the tourists wouldn't. Not knowing how to solve that problem, I even quarreled with some tour guides. After sharing with other practitioners, I searched inside myself and enlightened that our cultivation state affected our environment, and it was time for me to improve.
I adjusted myself and sent forth righteous thoughts to cleanse the old forces behind the tour guides: “Don’t stop me from saving sentient beings. Don’t accumulate karma.” Afterwards, the guides no longer stopped the tourists from accepting our papers.
5. Some Unforgettable Experiences
I learned some Chinese and could carry on a basic conversation in Chinese. The questions that I was often asked were, “What country are you from?” “Why does a Korean interfere with Chinese matters?” “How much do you get paid?” My answers to those questions are always, “I’m a Korean, and I cultivate in Falun Gong. Falun Dafa is good. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) persecutes Falun Gong practitioners who follow Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. That is why I’m here to explain the truth. I don’t get any money from anyone. I do this voluntarily.”
If they want to continue our conversation, I tell them more: “People from different countries around the world cultivate in Falun Gong. Take a look at this.” Then I show them videos on my phone about how Falun Gong is practiced around the world. Some have commented, “Falun Dafa is good” after watching the video. Some have given me the thumbs up. It makes me happy to see them learning the truth.
A Chinese man in his 70s told me that he wanted to quit the CCP. He told me he was a CCP member and his name was “Zhen Sheng" ("Genuine Life" in Chinese). I could understand the two words, but did not know how to write them. He wrote them down for me. That was the first time I ever helped anyone quit the CCP.
After I handed him a pamphlet, a young man asked me, “Do you practice?” I said I did. He motioned me to a quiet place and handed me a note with five people's names and their political affiliations – CCP, the Communist Youth League, or Young Pioneers – next to each name.
I have also met with tourists who were deeply poisoned by the CCP propaganda. They crumpled the flyers up and threw them in my face. They also shoved me and glared at me. I learned to ignore the hostile reactions from some Chinese, because I understand that their minds have been poisoned.
6. Our Team Collaborates to Tell More People the Facts about Falun Gong
One day a tourist asked why we didn't set up posters and bulletin boards in the areas where many Chinese tourists pass by. However, for some reason, we did not give that suggestion a second thought.
Not long afterward, a middle-aged woman and her daughter told us that practitioners in Hong Kong and Taiwan use posters and bulletin boards to display Falun Gong information. After I told them that we did not have many practitioners in Jeju, I felt bad. I finally realized that it must be what Teacher wanted, so He had other people tell us twice. We began making bulletin boards that day with the help of practitioners from Macau. Some practitioners from China also joined our group.
We obtained a permit to gather, and we use a variety of poster boards to clarify the truth in front of a duty-free store that is frequented by many Chinese tourists. Most of the tourists read our posters because they have to wait for their bus. Many people stop at the bulletin boards and read them carefully, and many have also taken pictures.
More and more fellow practitioners from throughout Korea – and from China – now come to Jeju to support the local practitioners.
I would like to conclude my article with Master’s poem:
“A Great Enlightened One fears no hardshipHaving forged an adamantine willFree of attachment to living or dyingHe walks the path of Fa-rectificationconfident and poised”(“Righteous Thoughts and Righteous Actions” in Hong Yin Vol. II)
