(Minghui.org) Greetings, Master! Greetings, fellow practitioners!
I am 69 and I have practiced Falun Dafa for 18 years. Every year I have learned a lot from experience-sharing Fa conferences. Here I would like to share how I have improved my mind and body in my cultivation. I’d like to report how we have persevered in clarifying the facts to the public in the past 10 plus years in the city of Darwin.
A Better Person
I am from Turkey and learned about Falun Dafa in Melbourne in 2002.
At that time, I heard a group was persecuted in China. If it was suppressed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), it must be good then, I thought. I began to search and found an advertisement in the newspaper about a free group exercise site in downtown Melbourne. I went there and told a practitioner who helped teach Falun Dafa exercises that I would like to learn.
“You know, the principles of Falun Dafa are Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance,” he explained.
“That is great!” I replied. Looking back, I am grateful to Master that as soon as I wanted to learn it, Master helped me understand that it is a high-level cultivation system.
I then began to learn the exercises. During the process, my fingers had a tingling sensation. By then, I had learned many kinds of meditation methods for years. But this feeling was unique and wonderful. So I decided to continue with Falun Dafa, nothing else.
I joined the group exercise every week. Another practitioner from Turkey gave me a copy of Zhuan Falun and Falun Gong. After reading Zhuan Falun, I found it very profound, so I continued reading it over 20 times. Starting from that time, I distributed flyers about Dafa and attended all kinds of events introducing the practice to people. I also began to read other lectures from Master one by one.
Before that I had a bad temper and was easily agitated. Even trivial matters could set me off, resulting in me arguing or fighting with others. I was often in the turmoil of conflicts. Influenced by negative thoughts, I often complained about others and indulged myself in bars and dance clubs. Because of these pursuits, I saved hardly any money.
I changed a lot after I began to practice Falun Dafa. Master helped me to fundamentally eliminate thought karma. I became more forgiving and could control my thoughts. Whenever bad thoughts emerged, I would send forth righteous thoughts immediately to get rid of them. I had no interest in fighting with others anymore.
Dafa gave me a new outlook on this world, one different from that of an everyday person. I often check if my understandings are based on the Fa and whether my words and actions align with the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, not my selfish human notions.
Dafa has taught me that when something goes in the wrong direction, we should first look within to see if there is anything that we could do better. More specifically, are there any attachments, bad thoughts, or notions of ours that contributed to the issue? Once I identify the underlying problems, I would eradicate them as soon as possible.
The constant Fa study also strengthened my righteous thoughts. If there are illnesses or tribulations, I know they may happen due to karmic debts in the past. Nothing is accidental. If the interference is from the old forces, I would immediately eliminate them by sending forth righteous thoughts.
Holding Events in Darwin
I moved to Darwin in 2005 and I was the only practitioner in the city for many years. A lot of tribulations and interference happened, but with Master’s strengthening, I am able to continue clarifying the facts to this day. To me, the most important factor is consistent Fa study every day. My job gives me lots of free time for Fa study. I read all of the lectures and articles of Master one by one, from old to new, and then read them again and again. I could recite some paragraphs as well. I found this very helpful. This also gave me energy and strength.
I have two vertical banners that are placed at the entrance of Darwin Shopping Center 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This is the busiest place in this city. One banner has an introduction of Falun Dafa, and another has the Falun emblem along with illustrations of the five Falun Dafa exercises. Across the streets are government office buildings and hotels, where many people could see the banners. Through my truth-clarification, staff members in the shopping center are all very supportive of me. I have managed this information booth and exercise site all by myself for over 10 years. Another practitioner also joined me recently.
I also have a three-meter long banner outside the balcony of my apartment on the second floor. Before traveling overseas in 2018, I thought about taking it down temporarily. In the end, I just let it stay there. When coming back from vacation, I found this banner, along with the two at the shopping center, were all fine. I am very thankful to Master for his help.
To me, exercise demonstration is one of the best ways of introducing Dafa to people. As long as time permits, I would do the sitting meditation by the banners. Very often I do it around noontime, the busiest time of the day so that more people could see it.
Every day, after working as a security officer for the entire night, I would feel tired, sleepy, and sometimes hungry. Occasionally, I thought of going home directly. But every time I forced myself to go and do the sitting meditation at the shopping mall entrance. “There is no time to slack off or enjoy a comfortable life right now,” I said to myself. Miraculously, every time after the meditation, I would feel good and energized, with no tiredness or sleepiness at all. I am so grateful to Master for his support.
As I did the sitting meditation, some passersby also sat next to me, mimicking my movements, before going to work. Sometimes they asked me to teach them the movements. I would also explain to them what Falun Dafa is and how to practice it by reading Master’s books and doing the five sets of exercises. In the end, I would give them some materials to read.
Many shoppers took pictures of the Falun emblem and the illustration of the exercises. They asked about the meaning of the emblem and its relation to Hitler's symbol. Some asked what Falun Dafa was. I usually focused on the Fa principles and benefits of Falun Dafa. I also recommended that they read the teachings and watch instruction videos online to learn the exercises. I often reminded myself not to talk about things at too high a level, as that might scare people away.
Occasionally, I set up an information booth at market places distributing flyers to passersby and collecting signatures to oppose the persecution. This would help pedestrians to know about Dafa, as well as the persecution in China such as forced organ harvesting. Every week I also go to the beach and set up a booth there. As the biggest marketplace in Darwin, it draws lots of tourists.
There is a college in town. I understand that the college campus is also important. Every semester, I would put up posters on bulletin boards explaining Dafa and the persecution in China, with sufficient flyers for people to take. I also distribute flyers on campus and collect signatures. In addition, I place copies of Minghui Weekly and flyers at various places on campus.
The hospital is another good place to connect with the community since there are a lot of people there. I distribute flyers there and put up posters on the bulletin boards. Once every few months, I would restock with materials so that doctors, nurses, and other staff at the hospital have materials regarding the persecution of Falun Dafa.
Eliminating Interference
A certain religious group often attempted to harass the Dafa information booth. As I was sitting there doing meditation, they sometimes removed all of my flyers and even the table. They also damaged my posters and discarded them in a dumpster. This happened a lot of times. Every time, I would get the posters back from the dumpster, clean them, and put them back.
These people also tried to steal or damage the vertical banners. Once they even drove a small crane trying to crush the banners. I warned them sternly that I’d sue them should they continue their bad deeds.
I also sent forth righteous thought more to eradicate the vicious elements behind them. When they came again to harass me, I asked one of them why they did this. Then I talked with him calmly, explaining my freedom of expression and basic human rights. I also told them that I did this voluntarily, just hoping others could benefit from Falun Dafa as well. After that they no longer came to harass me.
Knowing it was Master who stopped them, I learned that we must maintain righteous thoughts and remain diligent. This is because Fa-rectification has been forging forward quickly.
I also went to a nearby Chinese organization distributing information and placed a magazine at each table. Many people were watching me doing this. Some picked up materials to read and a person in charge also accepted a flyer.
Then I received quite a few anonymous phone calls. I said, “hello,” but the other side was silent. Thinking the CCP officials were trying to threaten me, I contacted the phone company and retrieved the numbers of the callers. I called back and said, “You called me but did not say anything. Is there anything I can help you with? I can answer all your questions.”
“No, nothing,” they replied.
Since then there were no more harassing or threatening phone calls.
There are also many aboriginal Australians in this area. They also came to harass me in the beginning. After a while, they became respectful of Dafa and me. Occasionally, some of them would sit next to me mimicking my movements of meditation.
Compassionate Help from Master
Every year I attend the Australian experience-sharing Fa conference. But I only attended an overseas conference once. That was the international Fa conference in Washington D.C. in 2018. I saw Master in that conference and listened to his lecture. I know Master is taking care of us all the time.
One time I had a runny nose and it was very serious. I was hesitant, not sure how I could do the sitting meditation like this. Then I made up my mind: Let it be, it is not my problem anyway. Taking lots of tissues with me, I arrived at the shopping center entrance. Interestingly, my runny nose immediately stopped and it never came back. I came to understand that the old forces were trying to interfere with me. But they failed and later gave up.
One midnight, my knee was suddenly swelled up. I could not bend it. Apparently this was interference from the old forces. Therefore I spent more time sending forth righteous thoughts to eliminate the interference. Usually I walked 30 minutes from home to work. On that day, I could not walk and had to take a taxi. Two days passed and my supervisor insisted on sending me to a hospital. He also approved several days of sick leave for me. But I refused.
I began to send forth righteous thoughts. Because of the acute pain, I could not cross my legs, even in a half-lotus position. Then I thought: “Maybe I should try the full lotus position.” While enduring the pain, I moved up the other leg and sent forth strong righteous thoughts. After a while, the pain lessened and stopped. Surprisingly, I also found the inflammation had diminished, with all the interference gone. When coworkers saw me going on normally, they were all amazed.
Master said,
“Then what sorts of things are doing that now? Things like worms, bugs, bacteria, and all kinds of foul things like that. Sending righteous thoughts is extremely effective in these cases! They are annihilated in large batches. But there are a lot of them, given how big this cosmos is; and the cosmos consists of many layers. So after you have wiped these things out, shortly after, before long, they might infiltrate again, and you need to eliminate them again. So you need to keep sending righteous thoughts like this, and persist with it for some time, before you will see obvious results. Don’t lose confidence just because, after feeling good following a while of sending righteous thoughts, things don’t seem to go well again. I can tell you that they are using this approach to wear you down—to whittle away at your strong sense of conviction. So you need to be alert to these things.” (“Fa Teaching at the 2015 West Coast Fa Conference”)
From these tribulations of sickness karma, I realized the importance of maintaining and sending forth righteous thoughts.
Now I would like to share an experience of Master’s help during truth-clarification. Once I took a bus to a town far away to distribute flyers. I spent the entire day and evening and finished distributing all the materials. It was late and there was no bus to Darwin in the small town, but there was one bus at a nearby transfer station an hour later. I decided to walk to the station. After a while, I realized I wouldn't make it on time, so I began to run. Just as I got to the transfer center, I saw the driver of the last bus chatting with a security officer. The bus was already several minutes late.
I waved to the officer, who saw me running to catch the bus. He signaled to the driver that a passenger was coming, but the bus just left. The officer said he had notified the driver, so he did not understand why the driver would leave like that.
Although I was panting for breath, I was very calm and not angry. I thought the driver had left because I had been late. As I was asking if there was other public transportation, another bus suddenly stopped in front of me.
“Hurry!” called the driver, “the bus to Darwin is waiting for you at the next stop.”
Sure enough, a bus to Darwin was waiting for me and I returned home safely. I could feel that Master had set up several tests for me during this experience.
Spreading the Fa in Turkey
I returned to my home country of Turkey a few times telling people about Falun Dafa in both the third-largest city in the country as well as several smaller cities with about half a million people each. This was the first time for them to hear about the practice and my experience was also miraculous.
The first time I introduced Falun Dafa to people in Turkey was in 2013, when I spent my vacation there. At that time, no practitioners had been to the third-largest city in Turkey to spread the Fa. I was disappointed and worried. During my four months’ stay there, I distributed about 40,000 flyers. On Sundays, I would do the exercises by a popular seaside park in front of a coffee shop. When people were interested, I would teach them the exercises. Some people were drawn into it and read Zhuan Falun. I also put up posters in bulletin boards and set up booths in marketplaces. People in general accepted it and were friendly to me.
In 2018, I spent three and a half months in Turkey introducing Dafa in several cities. I distributed about 16,000 flyers this time, plus doing exercise demonstrations. Most people accepted the materials, some were against it and some refused the flyer. There were also people who debated with me about religious theories or threatened me. When this happened, I always treated them with compassion and emphasized the health benefits of Dafa, without mentioning religious content. The issues were always resolved peacefully. I also sent forth strong righteous thoughts to eliminate interference.
During that time, I also visited stores one by one giving out flyers to store owners. Once an owner insisted on giving me a delicious dessert and seeing me accept it. He said he wished all practitioners well.
Introducing Falun Dafa for the first time in those places was an exciting and happy experience for me. Some of the cities have permanent exercise sites now.
The above are my experiences and understanding of cultivation over these years. Please let me know if there is anything inappropriate.
Thank you, Master! Thank you, fellow practitioners!
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