Tuesday 5th March 2002
(Munich) He is tall, and seems so young in that deep blue suit. Yet he does not look extraordinary at all. The banner in light yellow “I support Falun Gong” shines right behind him. Otherwise how could one like him express the dedication to the Far East trip? This is a German Falun Gong practitioner who has been recently deported by Beijing. Only a few days after his arrival in the capital, young Bernhard was expelled out of the country. Without any of his luggage or shoes, but brought purely bitter memories of the Chinese policemen’s brutal behaviour with him, on his return to Frankfurt.
Bernhard was born in Hugo, a small town in Augsburg. In order to resist the persecution towards the (Falun Gong) meditation exercises by the communist government, together with other western practitioners Bernhard went to demonstrate in Beijing. There were few people who hardly had a chance to demonstrate. As soon as he was preparing to unfold the banner “Truth-Compassion-Forbearance” he was knocked onto the floor and then dragged away by the police.
In spite of it, this medical assistant said that “It was the most precious experience in my life”. His eyes were calm and he used delicate body language to express himself when speaking. “I must do something to help the imprisoned fellow practitioners in China”, though he had already realised that he would probably be subjected to brutal treatment by the police. Still he wanted to go to China to demonstrate. The 37 year old young man said that he had been deeply interested in oriental culture and had been studying the spirit of Karate with an oriental Master. Then he came across Falun Gong and obtained the Fa [the principles of Falun Gong]. So what on earth makes the Falun Gong exercise attract people the most? The unique theories enabled the exercise to attract over 100 million adherents around the world, only in a few years time. Bernhard believes “Dafa has improved people’s moral standards”. Apart from this, the exercise also relates closely and practically to people’s daily life.
Falun Gong was initially founded by Master Li Hongzhi (48 years old) who is now living in New York. His golden yellow book covers the Buddhism School, the Taoist School, as well as other traditional Chinese qigong practices.
[The] adherents in China had been subjected to persecution since the end of the 1990s. According to statistics, to date there have been 375 people tortured to death. The meditation exercise has been treated by the XX Party as enemy no.1 of the state. In 1999 the government labelled it as an “Illegal Organisation” and banned it. According to Beijing officials, Li Hongzhi asks absolute obedience from his adherents. Bernhard, who used to be a Roman Catholic, calmly but firmly, opposed these official statements from China: there is absolutely no pressure at all in Falun Gong nor does money play any role in it. He saw Dafa adherents undergoing unfair persecution. The situation in China now is very like the one once experienced by the persecuted Christians in the Roman Empire. The innocent people could not at all oppose the strong state apparatus used in the persecution. The Munich man hopes that the followers of Chairman Jiang would engage in a dialogue with Falun Gong. He also added that under the power of the XX Party Chinese culture has become brutal and uncivilized. Falun Dafa can raise people’s moral standards and bring new meaning to people’s lives. All these caused fear for the man in power.
In 1989 the protesting students were killed in bloody persecution in Tiananmen Square. Was young Bernhard not afraid of protesting in China at all? Bernhard admitted that at the beginning he was a bit fearful. He was even searched on the train from Hong Kong to Beijing. But he overcame the fear mentality. His belief is: “I would do nothing wrongful and therefore nothing bad should happen to me.” Many practitioners simply believe that all these are manifestations of predestined relationship.
In fact, he was indeed the lucky one. Although he was kicked by the police when being arrested, apart from bleeding he was not subjected to other injuries. His trip to Beijing was after all “worth it.” He feels that the Chinese state apparatus is waving in the wind. He hopes that “Good things will deserve recognition in the end.” For the sake of this, he could tolerate beatings from the police. If his visa is not refused in the future, his solid answer will be “I still want to go to China.”
http://www.yuanmingeurope.net./articles/5970.html
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