The Disparity Between Several Elderly Falun Gong Practitioners and Me

On a Sunday morning, I went to a tourist site in my area and talked about Falun Gong and the persecution with Chinese tourists. Afterwards, I suggested to fellow practitioners that we go practice the Falun Gong exercises in a nearby park. But the elderly practitioners that have been demonstrating the Falun Gong exercises on the sidewalk at this tourist site since the persecution against Falun Gong began said to me, "If we go practice the Falun Gong exercises in the nearby park, the Chinese people touring this place won't be able to see us. Why don't we practice the exercises here? They can see us if we practice here. They can see people practicing Falun Gong in Korea if we practice here." Their reply had an immediate impact on me.

Indeed, "They can see us if we practice here." This is the very purpose. In order to have the Chinese tourists see the Falun Gong exercises with their own eyes and understand the nature of Falun Gong, these elderly practitioners in their 60's and 70's gave up practicing the Falun Gong exercises in the quiet park and have been demonstrating the exercises on the noisy sidewalk day after day, rain or shine.

"They can see us if we practice here." It may seem like an ordinary statement, but it fully revealed the compassion of these fellow practitioners. Although these practitioners are not involved in projects that will give them high visibility or status, I see now that they think about showing Falun Gong's cultivation principles and sharing the truth about Falun Gong to the world's people at all times.

In comparison to these practitioners, I may be busier with certain activities to enable people to see what Falun Gong is and why the persecution is taking place. But I often succumb to the temptation of the higher visibility and status of these types of projects, and thus allow my addiction to work and accomplishment, as well as my attachments to showing off and zealotry, to breed and grow. I even thought matter-of-factly that these elderly practitioners are "supposed to" demonstrate the Falun Gong exercises on the streets or that they don't have any other choice for truth-clarification work because they lack the superior talents and skills required for certain projects. After hearing what they said today, I felt ashamed of myself. I asked myself, "Am I truly clarifying the truth about Falun Gong for compassionate reasons? Is each and every one of my thoughts truly from the Fa(1)?"

I saw the disparity between these elderly fellow practitioners and me.

Note:

Fa: Law and principles; the teachings of Falun Dafa.