(Minghui.org) Falun Dafa practitioners in Toronto held a candlelight vigil in front of the Chinese Consulate-General to mark 22 years of persecution by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The vigil also commemorated fellow practitioners who lost their lives in the persecution in China.
The event started at 8 p.m. on July 15, 2021, and lasted for over two hours. Practitioners sat quietly in a solemn atmosphere despite the heavy rain.
A storm warning was issued by the Meteorological Service of Canada. From my perspective, the storm was tears from heaven after being touched by Falun Dafa practitioners’ persistence over these past 22 years of raising awareness of the persecution.
Sitting in the Rain Outside the Chinese Consulate-General
I sat with my fellow practitioners in the rain, and felt like I was being cleansed by Dafa. I was calm and full of gratitude. From time to time, tears rolled down my cheeks and mingled with the rain.
Interestingly, each time after I had finished sending forth righteous thoughts, when I opened my eyes, I could see a security guard’s vehicle parked in front of the Chinese Consulate-General, and a security guard standing beside the vehicle.
I thought, for an ordinary person to witness such a historic moment with so many Dafa practitioners for two hours, he must be very lucky. I was very happy for the security guard, and believe that he had a predestined relationship with Dafa.
I decided to clarify the truth to him, and was wondering when would be a good time to talk to him. If I waited until our event was over, it would be a little bit awkward as everyone was leaving, so I planned to go over about 15 minutes before we finished.
Approaching the Guard: Clarifying the Truth about Dafa
A practitioner had given me a Falun Dafa flier, and an “END CCP” flier. The man's job was to be a guard for the Chinese Consulate-General, and I asked myself if I should give him the fliers. I thought that I should at least ask him, and if he was willing to accept them, then I could give them to him. If not, that would be fine too.
I walked over and smiled at him. I stood about two meters away from him, and he responded with a smile, greeted me and asked, “How are you?” I replied that I was fine, and asked whether he worked here. He told me that he works the night shift there.
When I asked him whether he knew what we were doing here, he said he didn’t know. He had heard of Falun Dafa because he'd seen our clothes with the characters “Falun Dafa” on them before.
He said he had been a security guard for six months and witnessed many protest groups, but none were as peaceful as Falun Dafa. He told me that he'd searched online, and read articles about the CCP's forced organ harvesting of prisoners of conscience.
I spoke about the organ harvesting, including the report by David Kilgour and David Matas. I added, “Live organ harvesting is an unprecedented evil on this planet.” He agreed.
I continued to tell him that for thousands of years, Chinese people believed that doing good would be rewarded and doing bad things would be punished. He agreed, and said, “Yes. But things changed when the CCP took power in China.”
He was Indian and believed in Hinduism. He knew that the CCP didn’t believe in god, and didn’t allow others to believe in god.
I told him that Falun Dafa teaches people to be good, and follows the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, and that the number of people practicing Dafa in China reached 100 million. I also said that the previous CCP leader, Jiang Zemin, launched the persecution out of jealousy on July 20, 1999.
He asked, “Is it because they were afraid that you had so many practitioners and might grab power?” I replied, “We Falun Dafa practitioners are not interested in power. Because they [the CCP] are corrupt, they worry about losing their power so they want to suppress Falun Dafa, even though we are so peaceful.”
Accepting Dafa Fliers
I asked him, “I have fliers that I can give you if you want. Would you like to get more information?” He reached out his hand, and said, “Sure!”
I opened the Falun Dafa flier and showed him the END CCP flier. I explained, “I am proud of being Chinese, but the CCP can’t represent China.” I showed him the website where he could learn more about Falun Dafa online and where he could go to a Webinar to learn how to do the Dafa exercises. He immediately put the fliers in his car to avoid getting them wet.
I continued, “In order to justify the persecution, the CCP regime fabricated the Tiananmen Square Self-immolation incident.” He said that he knew the media outlets in the communist regime were controlled by the Party.
I said, “Today, in Canada, we can wear Falun Dafa T-shirts, give out fliers, and tell you how we have benefited from practicing Falun Dafa. However, in China, if I did this, I might be arrested and detained.”
“You see these elderly practitioners, they could stay at home, drink coffee, and play with their grandchildren, but they persist in coming here to let people know about Dafa. They are doing this for others, in the hopes that people won’t be poisoned by the CCP’s lies. Now you know why they do this.”
The security guard said he knew that people in China couldn’t use Google, or other Western social media platforms. He said that he only works here because he needs to support his family.
“I know!” I replied, “Chinese people in the Chinese Consulate-General are also simply here for the work. They have been working here for many years and know that Falun Dafa practitioners are good people. From our perspective, regardless of whether the CCP considers us as enemies of the state, we consider them as our brothers and sisters. From a Falun Dafa practitioner’s perspective, we don’t have enemies; even if others treat us badly, we still consider them as relatives.”
I added, “Even though our cultures and skin colors are different [between Indian and Chinese people], we are still brothers and sisters.” He agreed.
We exchanged names, and before parting, we both said that we were very happy to have met each other.
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