By a practitioner in the US

(Clearwisdom.net) The truth clarification in Manhattan has great significance in Fa rectification. All Fa rectification period Dafa disciples realize this. Practitioners from around the world have been clarifying the truth in Manhattan for quite a while, yet the people there are still indifferent to the truth of Falun Dafa. The number of people who really understand the truth is quite limited.

What might be the reasons for the not-so-effective results of our truth clarification efforts in Manhattan? Aside from the influence of evil interference, we should look for shortcomings in our cultivation. One of the basic principles of cultivation that Master taught us is to look inward whenever something happens. If we look back at the path we took in our truth-clarification efforts in Manhattan, we see that it is not the local people who refuse to listen to the truth. It's that we did not clarify the truth in depth. The evil is not powerful, but apparently we did not completely negate the old forces' arrangements. We did not arrange truth clarification activities considering the local peoples' situations and needs. Instead, we proceeded routinely according to our habits and our ways. Yet, the "habits" and "usual course of action" are mentalities the old forces arranged for mankind over the course of a long history.

In actuality, most truth clarification activities in Manhattan begin at about 10:00 a.m. or 11:00 a.m. and end on 5:00 p.m. or 6:00 p.m. Most of the people we encounter during this period are tourists from all over the world. The majority of the local people go to work between 6:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. and get off work between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. Many of them work intently in skyscrapers during the day. Many buildings have cafeterias and bars, so they don't need to leave the building for lunch. Some buildings even have direct basement access for connections to the subway, so these people don't use the street-level access to the building. It is those people who don't have access to our torture exhibits, and they cannot hear us clarifying the truth to them.

Manhattan is a small and densely populated area. It is the world's financial center with many office buildings. Most people live in surrounding cities and come to work via the subway, trains, buses and ferries. We operate basically on the same schedule as the local people, as we come out when they have gone into their offices, and we go home when they are also rushing home. Many ordinary people have a poker face and stern looks in their eyes. They don't have the time or intention to learn the truth, even if they meet us on the street. When we have large-scale weekend activities that cover a greater area, these people are in their homes and not in Manhattan, so they still cannot hear or see the truth. What we have done of course does not live up to the requirements of Dafa. If we don't do all things from the perspective of offering sentient beings salvation, if our every single thought is not based on the Fa, we then do not have righteous thoughts and we can not eliminate the old forces' arrangements.

Of course, we have had several significant attempts and some successful experiences from our Manhattan Fa rectification activities. A number of Dafa practitioners formed a volunteer group. For a little over a month they distributed newsletters at the main subway entrances and street intersections along Wall Street between 6:30 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. Each practitioner distributed between 600 and 800 newsletters per day. The whole group of practitioners was able to distribute thousands, even 10,000 newsletters in one morning. The practitioners were very happy to see droves of local people taking newsletters. During the three days around the Fa conference in New York, large-scale truth clarification activities were organized, and between 600 and 700 practitioners distributed flyers at 78 main subway entrances. They handed out over 100,000 each day, which is more than ten times the usual amount of flyers that are handed out. Unfortunately, this activity did not last long and a large part of the huge Manhattan population still remained uninformed.

Time flies. Now it's October. The weather will be too cold for outdoor activities after November, when people will be reluctant to reach out and take a flyer. What should we do? We should take immediate action and adjust our methods to clarify the truth more effectively and target specific populations in Manhattan.

Posting date: 10/19/2005
Original article date: 10/19/2005
Category: Practitioners' Insights
Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2005/10/15/112435.html

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