(Minghui.org) Six years ago, we planned to move to New York, but it did not work out. My husband returned to the company he had worked for. When we filed our tax return this April, my husband suddenly realized that due to being busy with Shen Yun he hadn't completed all the forms when he returned to his company. The most important thing was that he did not resume paying into the company's pension plan. As a result, he lost the company’s pension subsidy for five years and overpaid the tax; the total financial loss was tens of thousands of dollars. When he told me what happened I was shocked. Even though I immediately remembered Master’s teaching, "If something is yours, you will not lose it." Zhuan Falun, it was still hard for me to let it go.
I had many disturbing and negative thoughts, but through continuously studying the Fa, I gradually understood what Master said in Zhuan Falun,
"Therefore, from now on when you come across a conflict you should not consider it a coincidence. This is because when a conflict occurs, it will take place unexpectedly. But that is not a coincidence—it is for improving your xinxing. As long as you treat yourself as a practitioner, you can handle it properly."
Master also said,
"You will be made to abandon all those attachments that cannot be given up among everyday people. As long as you have them, all of those attachments must be removed in different environments. You will be made to stumble, whereby you will become enlightened to the Tao. This is how one goes through cultivation practice."
After looking inward, I found that I did not take good care of chores or other issues at home. I also found that I was very attached to personal interests. My husband and I had a frank discussion and pointed out each others' attachments. We decided that we needed to pay attention to the things that should be dealt with in our daily lives. After I kept looking inward, I found that I also had many other attachments, such as: being self-righteous, looking down on others, not thinking of others first, jealousy, showing off, and not cultivating my speech.
Now, when I study the Fa, it is easier to focus on the deeper meanings behind the words, and I feel that my cultivation has improved. A few days ago when I did the exercises with other practitioners, I suddenly felt that the music was so wonderful, sacred, and how fortunate I was to be enveloped in Master’s mercy. I deeply realized that every practitioner is precious.
Stopping the Subtle Persecution Overseas
Master said,
"Of course, practitioners will all speak out against the wicked CCP’s persecution as they work against it and try to put a stop to it and expose it. That is our responsibility. But your main objective is to save people, isn’t it? You are to save the people local to your area." (“Fa Teaching Given at the 2015 New York Fa Conference”)
By playing tricks in foreign trade, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has made huge profits. The Party spends huge sums of money to export its ideology to the West, and through this, to spread the persecution of Falun Dafa overseas. This causes many people to lose their opportunity to be saved. One of its most expensive projects is establishing the Confucius Institute (CI) in many overseas universities. The Chinese Communist Party’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs funds the Confucius Institute in Western university campuses by using a contract between a Chinese university and a Western university. Then the CCP sends teachers and free textbooks in order to brainwash Westerners.
By 2014, 476 Confucius Institutes had been established. The CCP’s goal is to establish 1,000 Confucius Institutes by 2020. Fortunately, more and more people have learned the real reason for establishing the Confucius Institutes, and 8 of them have been closed.
This April, I sent e-mails to several officials at a local university which had a Confucius Institute. I attached a few articles and reports. I wanted to let them know the true nature of the CCP so they could make the right decision for the university and for themselves. A few days later, I received a reply from the vice chancellor. The wording was very strong. The vice chancellor said that the Confucius Institute was not controlled by the CCP. He said that it was in line with the university’s school regulations. He said that the CI’s director is a professor of Chinese nationality. He stated that the CI was co-founded with a famous university in China, and so on. He listed a total of ten items.
After reading this email, I realized that the university’s leadership did not know the truth and had been poisoned by the CCP. However, he listed many items and included the Chinese professor in the e-mail. I had to be very cautious in my reply. I was not sure how to draft the reply, so I forwarded the email to several fellow practitioners and a friend, Mike [alias]. I asked their advice on how to respond to this email. I received several suggestions, and I was moved by one practitioner's response: Don't worry, we are here to support you.
Mike is a retired professor who has been doing a lot of research on CI. He spent a weekend drafting a four-page reply, refuting the vice chancellor’s points, one by one. He listed many facts, raised many rhetorical questions, and the tone of his reply was very strong. I carefully went through it and made a five-page response, which I sent to several practitioners. One practitioner’s feedback was that the email was too long to be read, and it should be shortened. I thought it made sense.
After I discussed what to do with my husband, I wrote a one and a half page response. It was all based on facts, and the tone was peaceful and humble. I pointed out the affiliation between the Confucius Institute and the CCP, the CCP’s history of deception and violence, and its relentless destruction of China's traditional culture, its systematic brainwashing of Chinese people, and the persecution of Falun Dafa, and I included the live organ harvesting. I suggested that the vice chancellor read the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party in order to understand the true essence of the CCP.
It took me one week to finish composing my response. While I wrote, Master's Fa often appeared in my mind,
"Brilliant are the articles your sharp pens craftPowerful are their words, rich their sentences …The evil Party is stripped bare of all its garbs(“Reading My Students’ Articles” from Hong Yin Vol. II)
I hesitated to send my email since I was worried that Mike might not accept that his writing was heavily altered. In the end, I only used two paragraphs from his response. Finally, I decided to tell him. I sent him my version of his response, and then I called him. I sincerely thanked him for his help. I said that I hoped he could understand why I had modified his original text. I also told him that Falun Dafa teaches us to be compassionate and tolerant. I explained that I didn't want to fight with the vice chancellor.
After we talked and he read my email, Mike thanked me for sharing the letter with him. He said that he hoped he could also become more compassionate. I was moved and realized that only when we act according to the Fa's principles, will the power of Dafa be revealed. Finally, I sent my response to the vice chancellor and the Chinese professor. At Mike's suggestion, I also included the president of the university and several officials in my state's education department.
A few days later, I received a reply from the vice chancellor. He still insisted on his points, and also included the school leader who had brought the Confucius Institute to the university. At first, I didn't plan to reply to this email. I thought that I had already told him the truth. Then Mike said, “He brought new people to listen to you. If you don't tell them, how can they know the truth?” I realized that this was from Master. I couldn't stop halfway, and I needed to continue telling the truth, so I replied to them.
Recently, Mike was invited to give a speech about Confucius Institutes at the retired professor club at another university. He invited me to speak. During the hour-long talk, more than 20 people learned the CCP's real goal for establishing the Confucius Institute in the West. I also talked about my personal experience of how the CCP is systematically brainwashing Chinese students in school. And now, this brainwashing system, like a tumor, is invading the United States under the guise of the Confucius Institute.
After the meeting, a retired professor took a CD of the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party and said that she would share it with all her friends in another organization. The event organizer is also considering to have us give a speech on, "Why is Falun Gong Persecuted in China?"
I will remember Master's teachings, cultivate myself well, tell more people about the persecution and save more beings!
Thank you, Master! Thank you fellow practitioners!
(Presented at the 2018 Mid-US Fa Conference)
