By Dafa practitioners in Illinois, U.S.

(Clearwisdom.net)

The worldwide lawsuit against Jiang Zemin began in Chicago, making Chicago once again a major battleground between good and evil. The evil forces gathered their remaining forces to hinder the progress of this lawsuit at all costs. They, on one hand, pressured the United States government, which resulted in the Department of Justice's intervention in the lawsuit as a friend of the court, or amicus curiae, and on the other hand, the evil created an evil field around Chicago -- all in an attempt to affect the judge's decision. However, this provided a good opportunity for practitioners to better clarify the truth to all levels of the government. Illinois practitioners took advantage of the lawsuit and arranged activities to tell the facts of Falun Gong to state legislators, elected officials, and people from all walks of life.

Below are some experiences of truth clarification to state legislators.

Large-scale truth clarification to the state legislators first began in 2001 when practitioners initiated the "SOS! Urgent Rescue" global walk, from Chicago to Springfield. At the time, a dozen practitioners delivered truth-clarifying packages to every state legislator, and told the facts of the persecution of Falun Gong in China to their secretaries. For many of them it was the first time they had heard of Falun Gong and the persecution in China. After they had learned the situation, many were shocked. Later, we held a photo show on the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China, and successfully passed a resolution in both the House and State Senate condemning Jiang's regime for the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. We also held Zhang Cuiying's art exhibit, "Falun Dafa Peaceful Journey" photo exhibition inside the state capitol building. We took the opportunity of the new governor's inaugural ceremony to hold a Falun Dafa music concert in the Rotunda of the capitol building, displaying from another angle the wonder of Dafa to sentient beings. Practitioners used this opportunity to personally deliver truth-clarifying packages to the new governor, as well as many other newly elected officials. So just like this, Falun Dafa practitioners again and again displayed Dafa's magnificence in the capitol building. Falun Dafa music again and again echoed in the air of the rotunda, which effectively eliminated the evil in other dimensions, at the same time laying a solid foundation for further clarifying the truth, utilizing the lawsuit against Jiang.

In this human world, using human means to sue Jiang has made him stand trial in the human court, and the court of morality and people's conscience. This is a deadly blow to the evil, as well as a very important event in the progress of Fa rectification. Exposing the evil deeds has made them extremely frightened. They are trying to prevent the progress of this lawsuit at all costs, even attempting to involve a democratic government in wrongdoing. Just as Master Li said, "Master wants to save all sentient beings. But the evil forces are truly committing sins against Dafa by using all sentient beings, with the ultimate purpose of destroying them." ("Dafa is Indestructible"). However, "A Dafa disciple completely opposes everything arranged by the evil old forces" ("Dafa is Indestructible"). Master is in control of everything during the Fa-Rectification. No matter how evil it might appear, as a Dafa disciple, what we are trying to do is to "Clarify the truth thoroughly, eliminate the evil with righteous thoughts, save all beings."("Dafa is Indestructible").

In order to bring Jiang to justice, and clarify the truth to state legislators, we prepared two sets of truth-clarifying packages, including firsthand records of persecution of Illinois Falun Gong practitioners by the "610 Office" and Jiang, and the "Falun Gong Report". Practitioners from Champaign delivered the first package to 59 state senators, 118 state representatives, and 5 major state governmental offices. A few days later, we held a Falun Dafa photo exhibit and a music concert again in the capitol building. About 20 practitioners from Champaign, Chicago, and several neighboring states attended this activity, and delivered the second package to every legislator. Some of the practitioners tried to have face-to-face talks with as many representatives as possible. Other practitioners visited every office, to clarify the truth to the secretaries. There were other practitioners who performed Dafa music and other performances. The practitioners who clarified the truth went in groups of two; one practitioner would clarify the truth while the other sent forth righteous thoughts. After a day of work, talking face to face with the representatives yielded good results. A majority leader agreed to draft a "Dear Colleague Letter" to support the lawsuit, and also requested that the US government and Illinois Federal Delegation support the lawsuit. When we were clarifying the truth to the secretaries, many of them were very supportive and there were even some that expressed interest in practicing Falun Gong. That day was a session-day. There were many of people coming in and out of the building. A lot of tourists, senators, staff, and lobbyists had the chance to see Dafa's magnificence and also viewed the photos.

Afterwards, truth clarification was focused on the "Dear Colleague Letter", as well as to use this letter to clarify the truth to more representatives. On May 28^th, two practitioners with a draft of the "Dear Colleague Letter" once again visited the majority leader who agreed to initiate the letter, and another representative who was supportive of us. The two representatives quickly agreed to initiate a "Dear Colleague Letter" together. It was the busiest time of the year on the House floor, and only 2 days were left of that current session. The leadership representative said to us, "If I had a month, I'd have enough time to talk to my colleagues and convince them to sign this letter, but there's only two days left, and I'm very busy and cannot find time to talk to them. I'm not sure how many signatures you will get. Try your best."

The second day (May 29^th) at noon, practitioners received a formal "Dear Colleague Letter." The letter went, "We cannot allow any foreign government to presume to determine how Americans will exercise their constitutional rights. Such a presumption must be resisted most vigorously. To allow any foreign power such license is to make all of our rights hostage. The lawsuit by Falun Gong practitioners defends not only their rights in this country, but the secure possession by all Americans of their rights.

"Certain crimes in their enormity demand that all decent people speak out. The attempt by a brutal tyrant through brainwashing, torture, rape and murder to compel tens of millions of his own peaceful people to give up their beliefs is disgusting. Our own humanity demands that we condemn these crimes against humanity."

When the session only had one and a half days left, all of the representatives gathered in the conference room to discuss and vote on various resolutions and state bills. They were so busy that they did not have time to leave the conference room to eat. In order to find opportunities to talk to the representatives, several practitioners waited outside the conference room, with a brochure that had small pictures of all the representatives with their names, trying to match everybody that came out or went into the conference room to see if they were representatives. For Chinese practitioners who were unfamiliar with American names and faces, this wasn't easy to do. However, practitioners' pure hearts move the hearts of gods and sentient beings alike. Under Master's arrangement, two doormen helped us identify everybody who went through the door, motioning to us when a representative appeared in front of the door and told us his or her name. When the person was not a representative, they quietly hinted to us. So like this, practitioners were able to briefly introduce China's persecution of Falun Gong, as well as the importance of the lawsuit against Jiang, to every representative that passed by, and we were able to ask them if they were willing to cosign the "Dear Colleague Letter" to support us. A few representatives who had a strong sense of justice cosigned the letter immediately, and some wanted to read the letter over. Practitioners also used the only recess of the majority party that day to visit their offices. We spend a long time clarifying the truth to a few representatives who went back to rest in their offices, and the results were very good. By midnight, practitioners had collected 47 signatures.

The next day (May 30^th), about a dozen other practitioners joined the truth-clarification activity. They arrived in the representatives' offices early in the morning, to try to clarify the truth to them before they went to attend the session. Practitioners separated into groups of several people to find the representatives, each with sheets of paper that had pictures of the representatives. During the day, there were several practitioners who stayed outside the conference room to wait for the opportunity to clarify the truth to the representatives. For the representatives who didn't come out often, we passed business cards to them to ask to see them. Often, we had to wait several hours for a representative to come out. Just like this, we waited outside the conference room till 8 PM. Before the session was adjourned, we collected a total of 80 signatures, more than 2/3 of all the representatives.

Through this activity to clarify the truth with the state representatives, we have several experiences to share:

1. Cooperation and working as one body is the key

Before the Jiang came to visit Chicago, Chicago practitioners started a weekly regional group of Fa-study and experience sharing. Practitioners in nearby towns often attended the regional Fa-study. This formed a cultivation enviroment to cultivate and advance as one body in the entire state. The VIP team also regularly held meetings, or teleconferences to share cultivation experiences as well as arrange truth-clarifying projects. Since practitioners formed a common understanding of the Fa, practitioners cooperated with each other in Dafa projects and activities. The General Assembly is located in Springfield, which is rather far away from Chicago, and the nearest city with practitioners, Champaign, is over an hour's drive away, so every major truth-clarification effort to the General Assembly was the result of cooperation with practitioners in many different places. Nearby practitioners in Missouri, Indiana, Kentucky, and even a practitioner as far away as Hong Kong have participated in our effort.

2. Breaking the arrangement of the old-forces, clarifying the truth in person

In the past, when we did truth clarification to the government, the old forces hindered us and made it very difficult for us to meet the persons we wanted to meet. Often, the receptionist would stop us immediately; it was hard to see even his or her assistants. From the beginning of this project, we made it clear that besides clarifying the truth to their secretaries, we would clarify the truth to them in person. In western society, the elected legislators represent the sentient beings in their region. Their attitudes towards Dafa directly affect the future of those people. Because of this, the old forces try all they can to prevent us from telling the truth face to face. Even though we have paid numerous visits to their offices in the last few years, delivering truth-clarification packages and clarifying the truth to their secretaries, it's very difficult for us to meet the representatives in person. We rarely have chances to even make appointments. At this crucial moment of the fight between the good and evil, we came to realize that we needed to make a breakthrough. In a day and a half's time, out of 118 representatives, we clarified the truth, in person, to more than 110 representatives, and sat down to clarify the truth in detail with over 20 representatives. Clarifying the truth in person in great numbers like this has broken the old force's arrangements, allowing us to, on the two busiest days in the session, gain support from most of the state representatives on the lawsuit.

During the process of clarifying the truth in person, we have gained a better understanding of the importance of clarifying the truth in person to representatives. Some representatives, although they had voted and supported Falun Gong on previous resolutions, did not know too much about Falun Gong. One representative who had supported one of our previously resolutions surprisingly said that he doesn't know what Falun Gong is. Another representative said to practitioners, "The Falun Gong is a federal issue, it's not in my concern", and refused to sign. So our practitioners explained how Jiang's regime and the "610 Office" extended the persecution into the state of Illinois, and recorded cases of practitioners being beating, having their car firebombed, harassed, and blacklisted. After hearing us the representative was quite shocked, and said, "In the past I always thought Falun Gong was a global issue, so I didn't want to become involved in your local events, but from now on, I will support all of your activities". A few other representatives, after being told the truth, told us that they would write or call their federal representatives. These representatives did not sign, but after learning the truth they placed themselves in the right position.

Master told us, "I consider the process most important, because during the process you can have people see the truth, during the process you can save the world's people, and during the process you can reveal the truth. (Lecturing on and Explaining the Fa at the Metropolitan New York Fa Conference)". The lawsuit in Chicago against Jiang has provided us with the opportunity to clarify the truth. Many representatives now know the truth. At the same time, we have also learned which representatives support Dafa, and which ones still have misunderstandings. In the future we will further clarify the truth to those who are not yet supportive.

Two majority representatives initiated the "Dear Colleague Letter". Generally speaking, this made collecting signatures more difficult, as minority representatives were cautious about signing this letter. Not many minority representatives directly signed the letter. Some wanted to read it over and then consider. A few became unconcerned when they saw the names of the initiators. On the first day, out of 47 signatures, only around 10 were minority representatives. Some practitioners grew concerned. When they met majority representatives, they felt high hopes, but when they met minority representatives, they were not sure. Later, we realized that this was another notion that was impeding progress. When we got rid of this notion, we were back on track. On the second day, many minority representatives also signed in to support us.

During the process of meeting with the representatives, we felt that for many people their sides that are not deluded by the human world have been waiting to learn the truth. One representative paltered with us when we gave him the package. Afterwards, a practitioner ran into him in his office while he was eating. The practitioner used this time and continued to clarify the truth to him. At the beginning, the representative was impatient and uninterested. When the practitioner flipped to the page telling about the persecution of Lixuan Wang, and her 8-month-old infant, he was dumbstruck, took the material to read for a while, and replied, "I'll sign."

Just like this, when we use our pure hearts to clarify the truth without any human notions, Master will arrange everything for us. Everything will be very easy and very successful.

The lawsuit against Jiang is still ongoing, and the old forces are continuing to intervene. There is still much truth clarification to do. We must utilize our time every day to do the three things well, and be worthy of the title of Fa-Rectification period Dafa Disciple.

Posting date: 7/10/2003
Original article date: 7/9/2003
Category: Fa-Rectification Stories
Chinese version available at http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2003/6/26/52905.html

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