Interviews with Falun Dafa Practitioners in Manhattan: "Then you had better distribute the handouts quickly! The more the better!"

[Editor's Note: Since August of 2004, Falun Dafa practitioners from all over the world congregated in Manhattan, the global centre for finance, culture and the arts. Their purpose for being there is to let the people of New York and tourists from various regions of the world know about the ongoing, abominable suppression of Falun Gong in China and to appeal to them to jointly help stop this outrage. The Falun Gong practitioners in Manhattan talk to people so as to inform them with the correct information about Falun Gong and factual printed persecution information or hold up placards and posters to introduce Falun Gong to the people of the world, and to let the people of the world know about the persecution of the Falun Gong practitioners in China. This series of articles publishes interviews with Falun Gong practitioners who have come to Manhattan from all over the world to clarify the facts, to record the process of the many aspects of their experiences, their realisations as well as the touching stories only they can tell.]

Canadian Falun Dafa Practitioners Holding an Activity to Introduce More People to Falun Dafa and the Persecution at 58th Street and Highway Six in New York

P: Canadian Falun Dafa practitioner P

Reporter: Could you please talk about your experience informing people with the facts about Falun Gong in Manhattan? For example, your more profound impressions of some people, incidents and what you have realised?

P: I had a certain feeling when I first arrived - that the people of Manhattan were very cold and indifferent. When I tried to hand them some materials, they would just look up-wards. After being here for three weeks, sending forth righteous thoughts, performing the Falun Dafa exercises, holding up banners, demonstrating the savage tortures, I changed. After that, when I distributed the leaflets to people I would approach them with a smile. The people do not seem as cold and indifferent to me right now as they were when I first arrived here, and they are willing to accept our handouts. Last week, I saw many police officers at a location where there were no Falun Dafa practitioners. I walked towards them to distribute the information. The police officers asked me many questions. One asked, "Why are you here? What is Falun Gong?" I told them my personal experience of recovering from illness. He said, "Oh! It’s that good!" I replied, "Now you know!" He said that he never knew about it and how he would going about learning the exercises. I told him, "I will teach you now!" He said, "Not now, I am very busy." I said, "It will help you to be calm." He said that he really needed it. I told him that I used to return to Taiwan three times a year to see my mother who was ill. It had been two years since I last went back since my mother is now well. Although she did not practise Falun Gong, but because she believed in Falun Gong, she became well. After listening to what I said, the policeman said, "Then you had better distribute those handouts quickly! The more the better!"

I feel that what we gain depends on how much we expend. During the three weeks I was out very early in the morning and came back late at night. I think that there are too few practitioners around. If there were more, then the desired accomplishment, covering the whole of Manhattan, could be achieved sooner.

Reporter: "You mentioned that your health improved after you started to practise Falun Dafa. Would you please elaborate on that?"

P: "Before I started to practise Falun Dafa, I was suffering from severe lupus erythematosus [an auto-immune disease that manifests much like arthritis and is potentially fatal]. Wherever the ailment arose in my body, that area would feel very uncomfortable; be it the joints, the muscles and so on. I needed to see a doctor for a blood test every three months. I had been treated by both Western doctors and Chinese traditional medicine doctors and had also practised other kinds of qigong (Chinese exercises for cultivating "qi" or "vital energy"), but to no avail. Subsequently, I read about Falun Dafa practitioners going to Zhongnanhai (a Chinese leadership compound) in Beijing to appeal. As I am from Taiwan, I knew nothing about Falun Gong before that incident. I did some research into Falun Gong and decided to have a go at practising the Falun Dafa exercises, as I could always stop practising if I wasn't satisfied with it. When I went to a park for the first time, practitioners taught me the exercises and even gave me a copy of the book Zhuan Falun (the core teachings in Falun Dafa) to read. When I read it, I found many of the things mentioned in the book had happened to me and I knew that the book and the teachings contained in it were very precious. Later, when I returned to Taiwan, I attended a nine day lecture session. When I returned to the United States a Falun Dafa practitioner noted, "You have changed!" I asked, "How have I changed?" She said, "You have many fewer wrinkles and the dark specks on your skin have disappeared." In just a few months the change has been that great. The more commendable thing was that I had improved my ethics and character. I used to be very ill tempered. After several incidents I discovered that I no longer lost my temper so quickly. Falun Dafa did not just relieve me of my illnesses; it has also tremendously improved my mindset and outlook on life.

(To be continued)