A Practitioner in Malaysia: My Experiences of Talking about Falun Gong to the Local Chinese People

By a Malaysian practitioner

(Clearwisdom.net)

I started practicing Dafa in July 2003. I would like to share my experiences of clarifying the truth to the local Chinese people.

There is a uniqueness about the tourist sites in our area. There are many local people, especially Chinese, who are over 40 years old, that come to these areas to take a walk or chat. They initially had serious misunderstandings about Falun Gong, as all the local newspapers only copied the official Chinese Communist Party (CCP) news. They were led to believe that Falun Gong was political, although some of them were sympathetic to practitioners under persecution. They are very patriotic and strongly nationalistic, but do not quite understand what a society under the Communist regime is really like, as they have never lived in China. This mentality made our job of distributing copies of the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party and putting up displays exposing the facts of the persecution much more difficult. Many of them would look at our displays but refuse to take any informational materials. When I first started doing this form of truth clarification, we met with some obstacles. We would discuss them amongst ourselves after each event, and we looked inward to see what we might have done wrong. We would strive to get rid of interference, and encouraged each other to do better in the future.

We need to think about how we can save sentient beings more effectively, whether it be local people of Malaysia or people from China. The design of our posters displayed at the tourist sites focused on the CCP's crimes of organ harvesting. They also talked about things such as the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party and quitting the CCP, but not in depth. We would explain things in more depth to the local people by talking with them face-to-face, beginning with the CCP's persecution of Falun Gong and gradually leading to the Nine Commentaries. Many people would ask for the truth-clarification DVDs, since the local Chinese people do not usually do a lot of reading, and the DVDs were the best way to tell them the facts. So far, most of the people who were hostile towards us at first have changed, and their overall attitude is much better. Some of them have asked us for materials. The interference we experienced earlier is now gone, and the field has been rectified. We thank practitioners all over the world who used all sorts of means to tell the Chinese people the facts about Falun Gong. More Chinese people are wanting materials from us. At the tourist sites, we have separate materials for locals and for the Chinese people.

At the night market, the results of telling the facts to the local people have been reasonably good and the field there is righteous. Those who declined to take the materials did not show any strong negative reaction. Compared to three years ago, more people now come up to us to ask for materials, and people's attitudes in general are much better. As for people of other races (not Chinese), things are much simpler and we can directly ask them for their signatures on our petitions and for their support.

The content of the truth-clarification materials has to be appropriate in order for the Chinese people to accept them, otherwise, we may push them to the other side. It is also a test for those of us who are making materials. One practitioner who is good at writing makes all the materials and posters. I only help in selecting articles based on content. We have different opinions sometimes, but we are able to maintain harmony and cooperate with each other so that we can be more effective in saving sentient beings. Unlike ordinary people, we never hold grudges against one another nor do we have a strong attachment to our own opinion.

I do my best to be as kind as I can when expressing my opinion if it is different than that of another practitioner. I don't feel that he has to agree with me. Teacher said in "Teaching the Fa at the 2004 International Fa Conference in New York:"

"It is a question of whether you are validating the Fa or validating yourself. If you are validating the Fa, no matter what another person says about you, you won't be affected inside."

I am not affected inside, and neither is the other practitioner. Afterwards we study the Fa together and we discuss it again, and the conflicts are resolved very naturally. Just as Teacher said in "Drive Out Interference" in Essentials for Further Advancement II: "The Fa can break all attachments."

When I was telling people the facts at the tourist sites, I found that Chinese people had been badly poisoned by the lies of the CCP and did not have information about quitting the CCP. In August 2005, I read an experience sharing article by a Taiwanese practitioner who was telling people the facts by text messaging on a cell phone. I discussed this matter with the local coordinator and we decided to develop this idea in Malaysia so that more local people could learn the truth.

I personally feel that each phase of the Fa-rectification is testing practitioners' endurance and steadfastness. Sending text messages is especially so, because you don't usually get a response. Teacher said in "Teaching the Fa at the 2003 Midwest-U.S. Fa Conference:"

"Your every word, every flier, every keystroke, every telephone call, and every letter is having a huge impact."

Once when I sent out the information about quitting the CCP, I got a positive response back a month later. This encouraged me to keep going. One practitioner did not get any positive response for a year and I shared experiences with him often. Recently he received a response saying, "I agree to quit the CCP," which reinforced his righteous thoughts.

My own understanding is that practitioners in each area should evaluate their local situation and find the best way to wisely tell people the facts. No matter what the activity, the coordinator and the practitioners should think that saving sentient beings is the most critical thing, and then the activities will go smoothly. In the past three years, my understanding of the Fa principles has improved considerably through my clarifying the truth, studying the Fa, and sending forth righteous thoughts. I am gradually maturing and I am grateful to Teacher.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2007/11/6/166060.html

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