Reminiscing About the Days When the Founder of Falun Gong Taught in Harbin City, China

It has been eleven long years! But, in my mind I often recall those precious days when Teacher graced Harbin with his presence and taught us the Fa* and the Falun Gong exercises in person. *Law or Principles, the teachings in Falun Gong

On August 5th, 1994, Teacher held the first class for teaching the Fa in Feichibing Stadium in Harbin City of Heilongjiang Province in China. At the time, they were renovating the northern part of the stadium for the upcoming Asian Winter Sports Tournament. Therefore, they covered the construction site with canvas so that activities could go on in other parts of the stadium. They had to build a temporary stage for Teacher's class and brought in electric cables to supply electricity for the lights and microphones. Approximately 14,500 people from Harbin City and other places in China attended Teacher's Fa lectures. Every single seat in the stadium was taken. At the time, the Chinese Qigong* Association did not expect that there would be so many people attending this class, so it did not prepare the location as well as it should have. *'Qi' can be translated as 'energy' and 'gong' can be translated to 'cultivation practice'. Thus this term refers to practices that cultivate 'qi' or 'vital energy'

In order to have everyone hear the Fa lectures, Teacher talked to the stadium staff to assure that the acoustics were set up properly. I recall that before the lecture it was very noisy because everyone was talking, but as soon as Teacher spoke, everyone stopped talking and concentrated on what Teacher had to say. Teacher spoke through the microphone and asked the audience, testing all directions, "Hello. Hello. Can you hear me?" Almost everyone answered enthusiastically, "Yes. We can hear Teacher clearly."

The August weather in Harbin City was unusually hot. After having watched Teacher lecture on the Fa in the sweltering temperature for a few days, the staff adjusted the direction of some of the stage lights, because it was very hot under the lights. As a result, some of the audience now sat in the light. Some of them complained about the heat from the lights and about the light being in their eyes, and asked the staff to readjust the lights. For a moment the class became a little restless. In order to have everyone be able to focus on the Fa lectures, Teacher told the staff, "Readjust the lights towards me." The four hottest spotlights bathed Teacher in their light and intense heat. Teacher now was sitting in the very hot light in the middle of this sweltering August weather. Everyone in class saw Teacher's sacrifice and became absolutely quiet. Next, Teacher began to give the Fa lecture. Everyone heard the lecture very clearly.

One morning during class, we went to Taiyang Island in the Songhua River with Teacher. It was a sunny and pleasant day. We went to the Linyuan Hotel early in the morning and saw Teacher already waiting for us, with a smile on his face, in front of the hotel. While we were touring Taiyang Island, Teacher walked in front of us. We followed Teacher and during the trip we met many Falun Gong practitioners from all over China. Everyone wanted to take a photograph with Teacher and Teacher graciously granted everyone's wish.

I remember like it was yesterday that Teacher looked at the horizon and said, "Interest in Falun Gong will start to snowball. More and more people will practise Falun Gong in the future." Then Teacher turned and told us solemnly, "When Sakyamuni spread the Buddha Fa, he only offered salvation to a group of people. Today we are not offering salvation to just a group of people. We must also offer salvation to everyone." Teacher added, "Many prophets in history have predicted that something incredible would happen in this time of history." I had only a very shallow understanding of Teacher's words. I didn't understand at all their profoundness, meaning and connotations. On the last day of class, Teacher concluded by solemnly handing a Falun Gong banner to us on the stage. Falun Gong practitioners in Harbin have never forgotten Teacher's words. Since then, we have been promoting Falun Gong and establishing Falun Gong group practice sites unreservedly.

Although we have not seen Teacher since that time, we feel that Teacher is always with us. Teacher has done a lot of things for us and has endured a lot for us. Sometimes we fail to do well in certain things. Sometimes we trip and fall on our cultivation path. It has always been Teacher that pulled each of us up from the ground and pushes us forward on our cultivation path. No matter how much we try to repay Teacher, we can never repay Teacher for what Teacher has done for us.

The former leader an still highly active member of the Chinese Communist Party, Jiang Zemin and his gang, have been insulting Teacher and persecuting Falun Gong for six years, with the intent to destroy sentient beings. Nevertheless, Falun Gong practitioners inside and outside of prisons and forced labour camps in Heilongjiang Province have kept a steadfast belief in Teacher and Falun Gong. We have been working hard to let people know the truth and bring Teacher's salvation to them, so as to fulfil our historic pledge. After eleven years of cultivation practice, we have become more mature as Falun Gong practitioners in this special period, the Fa-rectification period.

Through these past six years of helping with Teacher's Fa-rectification, I finally have a better understanding of the true meaning and connotation of Teacher's words back on Taiyang Island in 1994.