Clarifying the truth to VIPs at the weekly practice site
Greetings revered Master and fellow practitioners,
The high number of federal, state and council elections in recent years has presented several opportunities for me to clarify the truth to political candidates about the ongoing persecution of Falun Dafa, and help them witness the beauty of Falun Dafa first-hand.
In the past I did not pay too much attention to elections because contacting all of the candidates seemed to be a lot of work. I also thought it would be easier to simply contact politicians after they had won the election, and clarify the truth to them then.
However, after trying this for more than 10 years by myself, I found this approach was very difficult to achieve good results since, by the time politicians had already set up their offices and hired staff to handle the enquiries, there were much fewer opportunities to speak with the MP or councillor directly and build a relationship that would open doors in the future.
I recall from Master’s 2007 lecture to Australian disciples, he discussed at great length the importance of not only visiting politicians when there is a problem. It is also important to visit politicians to clarify the truth. Having a background knowledge of the persecution and beauty of Falun Dafa, in my understanding, provides politicians with a much better understanding that helps them position themselves better if the CCP interferes with Falun Dafa activities in Australia.
This is why I enlightened to the importance of meeting with candidates before the election and making the most of the opportunity to clarify the truth to them, invite them to the local practice site to meet with other practitioners and even learn the Falun Dafa exercises while they are there. This involved a lot of work and made me much more diligent in my own fa study, exercise and cooperation with other practitioners.
In order to conform to everyday society, and remove any confusion that I might be trying to convert them, I invited several VIPs to a meet the candidates event at the weekly practice site on the Gold Coast. When they arrived practitioners taught each of them the five sets of Falun Dafa exercises and showed each candidate photos of group practice from before the persecution in China, Fa conferences, previous Falun Dafa events in the local area, proclamations and letters of support from other local politicians. The candidates were provided time at the end to deliver speeches, and meet with practitioners who live in their electorates individually.
Master states in Teaching the Fa at the 2004 Washington DC Fa Conference (https://en.minghui.org/html/articles/2004/8/1/50926.html) “During this period of time, there’s definitely not going to be millions of gods doing divine things in the human world, and Dafa disciples definitely won’t be using their godly sides to do large-scale divine things, with full-blown divine means, in front of the masses of people in the ordinary world. Dafa disciples are utilizing ordinary people’s means to validate the Fa. They haven’t gotten involved in ordinary people’s “politics.” There’s nothing wrong with utilizing some forms from ordinary people that are useful to validate the Fa.”
After learning the exercises, several candidates commented how peaceful and relaxing the atmosphere was. It was totally different to the kind of debates they experienced at other, meet the candidates events out in ordinary society. They commented there was no hostility at all, the audience was well behaved and every candidate had a chance to speak. I understood this was a reflection of the fundamental difference between ordinary people and cultivators.
Some of them also noticed the shorter standing and sitting meditation exercises were quite challenging to perform, and commented they really respected the diligence and perseverance of practitioners who could exercise for the full two hours.
Others expressed strong dissatisfaction with the CCP’s 21-year persecution against harmless practitioners who simply wanted to exercise in the park and behave truthfully, compassionately and tolerantly in their daily lives.
One of the political candidates won the council election and later visited the practice site to encourage everyone in her electorate to join the practice site and experience the many benefits of Falun Dafa for themselves. She shared a group photo of herself with practitioners and other photos showing different exercise sets to her official social media page, which thousands of residents follow. She also wrote a letter of support for World Falun Dafa Day that thanked practitioners for their tireless volunteer work, and even gave permission for practitioners to display the letter on the Falun Dafa information board for all passerbys to read.
Master said in Essentials for Further Advancement (https://falundafa.org/eng/eng/jjyz69.htm), “The good citizens and good deeds publicized by the media—such as radio, TV, newspapers, etc.—many have been done by our Dafa practitioners since they practice cultivation in Dafa and have improved their xinxing … cultivation practice is a great and magnificent thing. Why can’t you tell the interviewers in an open and dignified manner that you do those things because you practice Dafa cultivation? If the reporter does not want to mention Dafa, we should not cover up for any form that plagiarizes Dafa and fails to validate it. All of us are trying to be good people, and this is in the interest of society and mankind. Why can’t we have a just and legitimate environment? Disciples, you should bear in mind that Dafa is harmonizing you and you are also harmonizing Dafa.”
Another political candidate who won the state election recently returned the practice site, spoke with practitioners, and set up his official marquee right next to the practice site. One of his campaign organisers, who saw Shen Yun in Brisbane, has joined the practice site every week for the past three months. She commented how Falun Dafa helped her recharge and get ready for a busy weekend of campaigning.
Her regular attendance has helped me a lot in being more diligent in attending the local practice site. In the past I would sometimes be so extremely busy balancing three everyday jobs at once that I would often need to keep working very late into the night and finish in the early hours of the following morning. On the ordinary level, I was providing well for my spouse, quickly paying off my mortgage and leading an executive lifestyle. However, being extremely busy for almost five years had severely reduced my free time to focus on personal cultivation.
Some Saturday mornings, I felt so exhausted that I would simply not wake up even if I set the alarm to sound. I later understood this was actually caused by evil beings in other dimensions who tried to prevent me from hearing the alarm or make me feel so tired I went back to sleep.
Other times, I felt irritated and a bit annoyed about spending my hard-earnt leisure time attending the practice site. I eventually enlightened this was actually my thought karma manifesting and making me feel as though I did not want to cultivate and fool me into believing I might prefer spending my free time on renovating my home or pursuing leisure activities.
After I looked within and saw what working so hard was doing to me, I let go of my attachment to luxury living, stopped working so many jobs as soon as my debts were repaid, and changed to work part-time more than a year ago. In the past year, I have experienced a completely different state of mind. My former colleagues, fellow practitioners and ordinary friends have all commented how I seem to be much more relaxed nowadays. I understood this was the result of focusing more on my personal cultivation.
Since the State MP’s campaign organiser joined the local practice site a few months ago, I have not missed any group practices, and rarely arrive late. I have noticed my energy levels have returned to their former levels, and am no longer as tired, sleepy or irritable as I used to be.
My State MP has been very helpful in providing letters of support and spreading the word about Falun Dafa activities through his social media channels. He also recently helped achieve a breakthrough with the Federal MP whose office I have experienced major difficulties in getting a response from.
After phoning, emailing and visiting my Federal MP’s office several times for the past 10 years and only ever receiving an email and one printed letter, I was a little discouraged and even unsure about whether I should continue. During this time I had only ever received one face-to-face appointment to clarify the truth about the CCP’s organharvesting of Dafa practitioners. Although he forwarded my concerns to the Foreign Minister, the MP completely refused to attend a Hard to Believe documentary film screening in his own electorate. Another time I asked for an appointment, his staff turned down my meeting request and told me the MP had nothing further to discuss about organharvesting.
After being rejected, I recalled recent media reports about my MP accepting a luxury watch from a Chinese businessman, and allegations that he misused his ministerial position to promote a Chinese mining company that he owned shares in. I thought he had really become a corrupt politician and there was little hope for him to position himself well. I felt disappointed that the situation had become hopeless, and had almost given up on him.
However, after contacting my State MP’s office about the Media’s recent negative coverage of Falun Dafa, his office quickly helped organise a phone call from my Federal MP’s office to say they had already forwarded my concerns to the Communications Minister who also received similar concerns from many other Falun Dafa practitioners across Australia. The Federal MP’s staffer said the media should not stigmatise Falun Dafa practitioners, and he encouraged me to include the media’s poor response to my earlier complaint in the formal complaint. I thanked the Federal MP’s office for taking the time to respond and the State MP for helping to achieve the breakthrough.
I understood from this experience that I must continue to clarify the truth to all representatives and not feel discouraged if I do not always receive a response. The politicians might have already done a lot of work behind the scenes that I am not aware of like my federal MP had done so over the past decade.
I recall Master stated in the 2007 lecture to Australian disciples that sometimes if a practitioner’s idea is not perfect it can still achieve very good results, especially if practitioners cooperate well together. I understood this is because when practitioners work well together, divine beings will see this, lend a hand and miracles will happen.
Master also stated in the 2016 New York Fa Conference (https://en.minghui.org/html/articles/2016/6/1/157248.html), “As you know, divine beings are helping with it, effecting miracles in the Shen Yun performers’ skills and technique both on and off the stage. The sound that comes from the orchestra and the visual impact of what people see is strengthened by divine beings, and it’s something simply unmatched. What people see and hear transcend the human plane. At the same time, the better equipped a performer is in terms of skill, the better the effect, for sure.”
I separately understood that I should not be too attached to any particular candidate winning the election as an ordinary person might. Everything is arranged by the heavens, and divine beings have the final say in who will become an elected representative regardless of what ordinary society predicts.
Master stated in the 2019 New York Fa Conference (https://en.minghui.org/html/articles/2019/6/2/177872.html), “Degenerate things are common in this troubled world, and it’s hard to accomplish good things. That’s how things are in a troubled world. Many people didn’t expect Trump to be elected in the last U.S. election, but he was. Some people believe that things are supposed to go a certain way, but then they turn out otherwise. I have always said that divine beings are in control of human affairs, and that it is they who have the say. ”
This is just my cultivation sharing. Please kindly point out anything inappropriate.
Thank you Master.
Thank you fellow practitioners.
(Editor’s note: The author of this article is a young Australian Westerner practitioner.)
在煉功點向議員及候選人講真相
尊敬的師父好！
同修們好！
近年來，聯邦、州、地方政府的頻繁選舉給我提供了幾次機會，讓我向候選人講述法輪大法持續至今被迫害的真相，幫助他們親自見證法輪大法的美好。
過去，我並不太關注選舉，因為聯繫所有的候選人似乎很費勁。我認為在他們當選後再去聯繫、再向他們講清真相更容易些。
然而，我自己嘗試了十多年後，發現這種方法很難取得好的效果，因為，當議員已經設立了他們的辦公室，並聘請了工作人員來處理諮詢事務時，與他們直接交談並建立關係以便為將來打開大門的機會就少了很多。
我記得師父在《法輪大法–對澳洲學員講法》DVD中，用了很大的篇幅告訴我們一個問題：重要的是平時要拜訪政要講清真相，不要等到有問題了才去拜訪他們。據我的理解，他們了解了法輪大法遭受的迫害和大法的美好真相後，如果中共干涉法輪大法在澳洲的活動，他們就會有更好的認識，這有助於他們更好的擺放自己的位置。
所以我悟到，在選舉前與候選人見面很重要，要充分利用機會向他們講清真相，邀請他們到當地煉功點與其他同修見面，甚至在那裡學習法輪大法功法。這其中涉及到要做很多工作，也使我在自己的學法、煉功和與其他同修的配合中更加精進。
為了符合常人社會狀態，消除我可能要改變他們信仰的疑惑，我邀請了幾位參選人到黃金海岸每週的煉功點參加與選民見面的活動。當他們到達時，同修們向他們每人教了法輪大法五套功法，並向每位候選人展示了法輪功在中國被迫害前的集體煉功照片、法會照片、本地以前的法輪大法活動照片、以及本地以前其他政界人士對法輪功的支持宣言和支持信。最後安排了時間讓候選人演講，並讓他們有機會與屬於他們選區的同修單獨見面。
師父說：“在這段時間絕對不會有成萬上億的神在人間行神事，大法弟子也絕不會用神的一面在常人社會眾多的世人面前完全用神的方式大行神事，大法弟子是在利用常人的形式在證實法，沒有走入常人的什麼政治，利用了常人的一些有利的形式來證實法是沒錯的。”[1] 學完幾套功法後，幾位候選人都評價說，氣氛很祥和，很輕鬆。這與他們在常人社會中經歷的其他見面會完全不同。他們評價說，完全沒有負面想法，觀眾表現得很好，每個候選人都有發言的機會。我明白這反映了普通人與修煉者的根本區別。
有的候選人還注意到即使是把（常規的法輪功）抱輪站樁功法和靜功功法（的時間）縮短了，（對他們來說）還感覺具有相當挑戰性，並表示真的很敬佩大法弟子的勤奮和毅力，（大法弟子通常）能煉滿兩個小時。
還有候選人對中共二十一年來對無辜的大法修煉者的迫害表示強烈不滿，這些修煉者只是想在公園裡煉功鍛煉身體，在日常生活中按照“真、善、忍”去做。
其中一位候選人在地方政府選舉中勝出，隨後造訪了煉功點，鼓勵她選區的所有人加入煉功點，親身體驗法輪大法的美好。她將自己與大法弟子的合影和其他展示法輪大法功法的照片分享到她的官方社交媒體頁面上，有數千名居民關注。她還為“世界法輪大法日”寫了一封支持信，感謝大法修煉者孜孜不倦的（為當地）義務洪法，甚至允許大法修煉者將這封信展示在法輪大法宣傳欄上，供所有路人閱讀。
師父說：“目前在廣播、電視、報紙等宣傳工具中被宣傳的好人好事，很多都是我們大法學員由於修煉了大法，心性得到提高後所做的。可是報導中卻冠以該人是模範，是什麼骨干人物等原因所為的，完全抹煞了由於修煉大法而出現的行為。其主要原因是弟子們自己造成的。修煉是偉大而殊勝的事，為什麼不能堂堂正正的告訴採訪者你是因為脩大法而為呢？如果報導者不想提大法，那我們也不要為竊法而又不證實大法的任何形式抹粉。我們大家都是在做好人，對社會、對人類是有益的，為什麼就不應該有一個公正的合法環境呢？弟子們你們要記住，大法圓容著你們而你們也是在圓容著大法。”[2]
一位在州選舉中勝出的候選人最近回到煉功點，與同修交談，並在緊挨著煉功點的旁邊架起了他的官方帳篷。他的一位競選組織者，在布里斯班觀看過神韻，在過去的三個月裡，她每週都會來這個煉功點煉功。她告訴人們法輪大法功法是如何幫助她恢復活力，為繁忙的周末競選活動做好準備。
她定期參加集體煉功對我幫助很大，讓我更精進的參加本地煉功點的煉功。過去，我有時會因為同時做三個工作而極其忙碌，以至於我時常需要工作到深夜甚至第二天凌晨才能完成工作。在常人層面上看，我為支撐我的家做的很好，我們快速的償還著購房貸款，過著公司高管一樣的有品味的生活。然而，近五年以來如此極其忙碌，嚴重的減少了我能夠自由支配的時間來專注於個人修煉。
某些星期六的早晨，我會感到疲憊不堪，簡直就醒不了，即使設定的鬧鐘響了也無濟於事。後來我明白了這其實是由於另外空間的邪惡生命試圖阻礙我聽見鬧鐘的聲響或者讓我感到非常疲憊而又睡過去。
還有一些時候，我覺得把來之不易的閒暇時間花到煉功點上讓我有點惱火與生氣。我最終悟到這其實是我的思想業在作怪，讓我覺得我不想修煉，騙我相信我或許更願意把時間花到裝修房子上或享受休閒活動上。
經過向內找，我認識到那麼拼命的工作對我意味著什麼，我放下了追求奢華生活的執著，我在還完貸款之後就立即不再做那麼多的工作了，而且在一年多之前改成了做非全時制的工作。過去的一年，我經歷了心態的全然的轉變。我以前的同事、同修、常人朋友都說我如今顯得多麼的輕鬆。我明白這是我更注重自己的修煉所帶來的結果。
在我的州議員的競選助理幾個月前加入我們當地煉功點以來，我從未錯過一次集體煉功，也幾乎沒有遲到過。我注意到我的能量水平恢復到了以前的水平，再也不感到疲憊、瞌睡、易怒了。
我的州議員對我很有幫助，他寫了支持法輪功的信，並通過他的社交媒體渠道傳播法輪大法活動信息。最近他還幫助我一起在與我的聯邦議員的聯繫上取得了突破性進展。過去我在求得那位聯邦議員辦公室的答複方面遇到過很大困難。
過去十年，我多次通過電話、電子郵件、親身造訪等形式與我的聯邦議員聯繫，但只收到過他的一封電子郵件和一封信，我有點灰心，甚至不知道是否應該繼續下去。在這期間，我只獲得了一次面對面的約談機會，來講關於中共活摘大法修煉者器官的真相。儘管他把我的關注轉給了外交部長，他拒絕出席《難以置信》記錄片在他的選區裡的放映。還有一些時候，我請求面談，他的工作人員拒絕了我的請求，告訴我他對於活摘器官的話題沒有什麼再需要進一步討論的。
遭到拒絕後，我想起了最近媒體報導說他接受了一個中共商人送的一塊豪華手錶，指控他濫用部長職務為他擁有股份的一家中國礦業公司做推廣。我認為他已經變成了一個腐敗的政客，他幾乎沒有希望給自己正確擺放位置了。我覺得很失望，對這種處境感到沒有希望，對他幾乎要放棄了。
然而，在我就最近媒體對法輪大法的負面報導事件聯繫我的州議員辦公室後，其辦公室很快幫助我聯繫了我的聯邦議員辦公室，聯邦議員辦公室打來電話，說他們已經把我的關注轉給了通訊部長，通訊部長也收到了全澳許多其他法輪大法修煉者的類似關注。聯邦議員的工作人員說，媒體不應該污衊法輪大法修煉者，他還鼓勵我把媒體對我之前投訴的拙劣回應寫進我的正式投訴中。我感謝聯邦議員辦公室花時間回應，感謝我的州議員幫助我實現了與聯邦議員聯繫上的突破。
從這次經歷中我明白，我必須繼續向所有議員講清真相，即便不一定能得到回應，也不要感到氣餒。他們可能已經在幕後做了很多我不知道的工作，就像我的聯邦議員在過去十年來所做的那樣。
我記得師父在《法輪大法-對澳洲學員講法》DVD中開示：有時候如果大法弟子的想法不完美，還是可以取得很好的效果的，尤其是在大法弟子一起配合好的情況下。我理解這是因為當大法弟子配合得好的時候，神會看到這一點，伸出援手，奇蹟就會發生。
師父說：“大家知道，神在幫助做，神韻的演員技術技巧在台上、台下都會出現奇蹟的。樂團傳出去的聲音，人們看到的視覺效果，是經過神加持的，誰也比不了的。人們看到、聽到的是超越人類的。當然了，一個人技術條件越好效果就越好。” [3]
我個人理解，我不應該像常人一樣，過於執著於某位候選人的當選。一切都是上天的安排，不管常人社會如何預測，誰能成為當選議員，由神說了算。
師父說：“亂世就是亂象，人們想要得到什麼好的都很難。這就是亂世的表現。美國在大選的時候，很多人沒有想到川普能夠當選，他就當選了。有的人覺的什麼事情就應該是這樣，結果它沒這樣。我一直在講一個問題，我說人類是神在控制，神說了算。”[4]
以上是我的修煉心得交流。不當之處，請同修慈悲指正。
謝謝師父！
謝謝同修！
注：
[1] 李洪志師尊著作: 《二零零四年華盛頓DC法會講法》
[2] 李洪志師尊著作: 《精進要旨》<法正人心>
[3] 李洪志師尊著作: 《二零一六年紐約法會講法》
[4] 李洪志師尊著作: 《二零一九年紐約法會講法》
(編者按：本文作者是年輕的澳洲西人學員)