May is the busy tourist season in Austria. During celebrations for World Falun Dafa Day, practitioners raised awareness about the 9-year persecution of Falun Gong, to local residents and tourists from all over the world. After learning the facts, many signed a petition to condemn the persecution. Some people also expressed an interest in learning the Falun Gong exercises.

When interviewed at the international conference entitled "Beijing Olympics 2008: Winning Press Freedom,” Guo Guoting, a renowned human rights lawyer who fled to Canada to escape the Chinese Communist regime’s persecution, talked about human right lawyers’ difficult situation in China under the Chinese regime’s atrocities. He mentioned that the Chinese human right lawyers who step forward to defend Falun Gong practitioners for their basic human rights would definitely be persecuted by the regime.

Mr. Yin Yucai is 76 years old. He started to practise Falun Gong after retirement and became very healthy, both physically and psychologically. After the persecution of Falun Gong started in July 1999, Mr. Yin was detained many times. He was put in a forced labour camp for three years. In 2005, he was sentenced to eight years of imprisonment and is currently in Yuzhang Prison in Jiangxi Province. Due to prolonged persecution, his health has deteriorated. Lately, he is suffering from severe oedema.

On March 18th, 2008, police officers dragged Ms. Yan Meifeng out of her home and forced her into the police vehicle without letting her put her shoes on. The officers handcuffed Ms. Yan to a metal chair, and twisted her arms behind the back of the chair. Electricity was applied to both of her ankles. A hat made out of paper was thrown over her head to block her view. The officers then started punching and kicking her. Many people beat her for a long time, and she could not tell how many people there were. She suffered severe head trauma from the noise during the beating. They also poked Ms. Yan in the ribs and stepped heavily on the handcuffs which cut into her wrists. A young man was especially vicious. He hit Ms. Yan's legs with several fully charged electric batons. The police station forced Ms. Yan's family to pay 3,750 yuan to release her.

On March 28th, 2008, the Huili County Procuratorate held a trial to sentence 68-year-old Mr. Gao Guangchong, a practitioner who has been detained for five months. This time, he was also tortured until his body swelled and he could not stand up by himself. Since the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began its persecution of Falun Gong in July 1999, Mr. Gao has been arrested 11 times. Each time he was brutally tortured. He has been detained several times in a forced labour camp and was forced to leave home twice to avoid further persecution. His home has been ransacked many times and his personal possessions confiscated.

With the excuse of "preparing for the Olympics," two Falun Gong practitioners in their 70s were taken to a brainwashing centre in March 2008 by police officers in Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province. Ms. Liu Jing, 75, was a doctor at Xidian University Hospital before retirement. On her way home on the afternoon of March 17th, 2008, she was arrested and taken to the Xi'an City Chang'an District Brainwashing Centre, where she was tortured.

I misunderstood the meaning of what Teacher defined as a "good person" and thought that I appropriately fought to protect the "truth." Subsequently, I was not tolerant, lacked good self-control, and demonstrated even less compassion. This issue has caused some problems concerning my relationships with others.

If we always choose the Fa first, then the use of the word "busy" becomes different. If we consider validating the teachings of Falun Dafa and saving sentient beings as more important than any other things, then our hearts are selfless. This attitude raises our xinxing (character) level, and it brings us into a process of giving up our human attachments.

On May 6th, 2008, Chinese President Hu Jintao visited Japan. Local practitioners held activities in front of the National Diet and Chinese Embassy to call for an end to the persecution of Falun Gong, and to bring its primary perpetrators, Jiang Zemin, Luo Gan, Liu Jing, and Zhou Yongkang, to justice.

May 13 is World Falun Dafa Day and May is Canadian Falun Dafa Month. This year, Prime Minister Harper and a number of elected officials wrote congratulatory letters to the Canadian Falun Dafa Association to recognise the practitioners' contribution to the society.

You are magnificent
Pure land is here
Save, and be saved
Think no other