2004 European Conference: Continuously Giving Up Attachments in the Fa-Rectification

Respectful Master, fellow practitioners,

Hello, everyone. I am Wu Wenxin from Germany. I would like to share with everyone my experience of upgrading my Xinxing [Heart/mind nature; moral character] level in the course of two lawsuits. During the visit to Germany by the evil head in April 2002, the German police, unaware of the truth about Falun Gong, were misled by the evil propaganda and took some illegal, radical actions against Falun Gong practitioners. When a fellow practitioner told me that day that Falun Gong practitioners were unjustifiably forced out of their hotel, I immediately said that it was illegal and that if the police did not admit their wrongdoing, we would sue them in court. Then we started a series of preparatory actions.

After a few months, I started to hear, directly or indirectly, disquiet from fellow practitioners. Some practitioners said that cultivators should not have a competitive mentality and thus should not seek the solution through a lawsuit. Through sharing understandings of the Fa together, practitioners reached a common understanding: this unjustifiable treatment of Falun Gong practitioners is not just an injustice between ordinary people, but is the evil’s deliberate action against Dafa and Dafa practitioners. Our lawsuit is not against anyone, but we hope that through this lawsuit more people can learn the truth thereby see through the evil’s lies. This is good for them. Behind the legal action, we demonstrate the compassion of Dafa practitioners. However we decided not to file the lawsuit immediately.

Then, even stronger disquiet appeared, saying that the coordinators had attachments of fear and didn’t pay attention or didn’t want to have a lawsuit. I told myself then, “This is really not fair. I was the first one who wanted to seek the solution through the lawsuit. It’s really not fair.” I felt very uneasy. I didn’t say anything unfriendly. But my heart was filled with grievance. Looking back now, I think I didn’t act like a true cultivator because although I didn’t say anything bad to fellow practitioners, I felt unfairness in my heart. Cultivators need to cultivate their speech. More importantly we should cultivate our hearts.

Aside from the busy Fa-rectification work, I encountered many difficulties in my work. To protect himself, my superior also blamed me for his failure. After a period of self-restraint, I started to feel grievance towards him. At that time I also needed to move house, and the pressure was enormous. Fellow practitioners also criticised me. I then thought of a few sentences in Master’s collection of poems Hongyin: “Physical work is not hard, cultivation of the heart is the most difficult to pass” and “a hundred hardships fall at the same time, to see how he goes through” [unofficial translation].

Slowly I calmed down. I realised that even though the criticism may not be right, I didn’t do a good job - fellow practitioners criticised me out of their good will and it must be that I didn’t do my work very well or did it too slowly. I didn’t coordinate the work well and thus did not fully utilise the strength of fellow practitioners. In the workplace, even though the boss treated me unfairly, having grievance does not fit the standard of a cultivator. We have to be compassionate to sentient beings. As soon as my compassion came out, the situation changed immediately. In less than two months, my superior was replaced. The new superior not only takes me seriously in my job, but is also very supportive to my Fa-rectification work. When he heard that I needed to take days off to attend the Geneva human rights conference, he said continuously: “Very good, very good!”

Fellow practitioners also coordinated better and better. They all wanted to do well together in the work Dafa practitioners should do. Many practitioners contributed selflessly and took the initiative to clarify the truth to the police and officials in the Department of Domestic Affairs at all levels. We also used the opportunity of finding lawyers to widely clarify the truths to the legal community. After the Department of Domestic Affairs from two states wrote to Falun Gong practitioners apologising for the illegal, radical actions of the police, the lawsuit against the Federal Department of Domestic Affairs was also settled through peaceful negotiations in the administration court in April this year. That day, we three representatives sat in the courtroom while over ten fellow practitioners calmly waited outside, studying Fa and sending righteous thoughts. The righteous field filled the whole courtroom.

From the judge’s fair mediation, the German Federal Department of Domestic Affairs clearly acknowledged in the settlement paper that the behaviour of the police was illegal and that Falun Gong has always been peaceful. It was also agreed that the settlement paper could be made public. The German Federal Department of Domestic Affairs also promised that during the future visits of Chinese leaders, the German police will actively keep close communication with Falun Gong practitioners in order to guarantee that the rights of Falun Gong practitioners are not violated.

Everyone is happy with this outcome, not because we won the lawsuit, but because the German Government made the right choice after learning the truth. We enlightened that misled by the evil in 2002, the German Government committed serious violations against Dafa; today after two years, their apology partially made up their wrongdoing, which should have long-term significance for Germany’s future.

Another lawsuit concerned the Falun emblem. After the Second World War, the German people became very sensitive towards the symbol of the Swastika or similar symbols. The German law also prohibits the display of such symbols. In May 2003, I suddenly received a notice of indictment from the German Public Prosecutor. As the chairman of the German Falun Dafa Association, I was being sued for showing the “illegal” symbol on our website. Fellow practitioners and I were very calm then. After discussion, we concluded that this was the arrangement and interference of the old forces and we should totally deny it.

At the same time we should take the case very seriously on the human level. A few practitioners acted immediately, collecting various historical materials about the Swastika symbol and truth-clarifying materials of the persecution against Falun Gong. We also consulted the German experts on China and contacted with a lawyer to decide our strategy. Through our lawyer we submitted a long letter to the judge in the District Court explaining the truth. Our lawyer was a bit nervous. After contacting the court, the lawyer informed us that the case would soon come to trial. After delivery of our letter to the District Court, we didn’t think too much: we did what we should do and concentrated on other work. A few months went by, the lawyer informed us that having read our letter, the judge decided that the matter needed to be investigated further and that the decision of the trial may take a long time.

In November 2003, after careful investigation by judges, the court reached its verdict without trial. The court verdict sent to me said: “The Falun emblem is legal.” The court verdict continued: “the Falun symbol and the illegal symbol are entirely different from each other and their meaning is also completely opposite. The Falun symbol represents peace and harmony in the mind.” The judge also wrote: “Tens of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners are being brutally persecuted in its country of origin, China.” We were really pleased with his wise judgement.

My personal experience is that how well practitioner’s work together is closely related to their state of mind. If there is a little bit of grievance towards fellow practitioners, a little bit of competitive mentality, or a little bit of showing-off, then the coordination will have gaps and the Fa-rectification work will not achieve the best effect. I also want to take this opportunity to say sorry to fellow practitioners to whom I showed grievance. Thank you for your help and support. Let’s strive harder to do even better in Fa-rectification work. Thank you.