Russian Experience Sharing Conference: Seeing the Situation In a New Light By Taking a Step Back

Honourable Teacher, dear practitioners,

My name is Marek Tatarko and I am from Slovakia. Today I would like to share my experiences with regards to letting go of my attachment to “being right” and “insisting on my view”.

As I see it, the cultivation process is very simple. What is difficult, however, is giving up attachments in the process. Even if it seems to us we don’t have an attachment, our Teacher uses every situation in our daily life to point them out to us. We shouldn’t think that if we participate in activities for Falun Gong such as exposing the persecution that we don’t have to cultivate our character.

As an example, here is my recent experience from our summer tour to introduce Falun Gong to the public and let more people learn about the persecution.

We planned our summer activity well ahead, so that we had some time to address the media, mayors, etc. in the cities we planned to visit. It is usually me who chooses the cities and plans the dates of events. I did it this time, and I had in my mind: “20th July is the anniversary of when the persecution against Falun Gong started in China, we must be in a big city so that we can attract the attention of the mainstream media”. With this in mind I planned the activities for that date and for the week after. Soon a wave of disagreement came from other practitioners, who thought: “We don’t have the time in the week after. It would be much better to start in the week of the anniversary.” This would mean that we wouldn’t be in a big city on the anniversary, but rather in a smaller less significant city.

At the beginning I thought: “I want it the best way possible and yet they still disagree? I have to persuade them somehow!” I even thought that I would do it my way, even if it meant that not all of the practitioners could attend. At that time, however, some words from our Teacher came to my mind:

“We say that when you take a step back in a conflict, you will find the seas and the skies boundless, and it will certainly be another situation. ( Zhuan Falun, Lecture 9) ”

It became clear to me that it would be wrong for me to insist on my idea and so I made a new plan, to visit the big city (Bratislava) in the week before the anniversary and tour the other cities in the week of the anniversary.

In order to get attention from the media, we planned to make an organ-harvesting exhibition in the main city, for which we needed some more practitioners than normal so as to act out the doctors and the patients. Soon after a new challenge arose. In the same day as our planned exhibition, there was a festival, the largest in the country. One of the practitioners asked if we could attend and we got approval, which was rather fortunate. This in turn generated a notion among some practitioners that it would be okay to do the organ harvesting exhibition some time later and instead just attend the festival.

I was very angry thinking: “If we hold the organ exhibition before the anniversary of the persecution there is a good chance to gain some coverage from the media and the people. I cant let this opportunity pass me by” The more I thought this way, the worse the situation looked at the surface – it seemed that at that time there would be too few of us, the festival was advertised in each and every way, everybody wanted to go there, etc. I soon realised I can’t think this way. I am a practitioner. Again, the same paragraph appeared in my mind:

“We say that when you take a step back in a conflict, you will find the seas and the skies boundless, and it will certainly be another situation. (Zhuan Falun, Lecture 9)”

I decided to take a step back. I told my fellow practitioners that I will support the other activity and I‘ll do my best to support both the festival and the organ-harvesting exhibition. Soon it became clear that there would be enough people for both activities. I was very happy and it proved to me again, that the broader our minds become, the more things are possible. The day before the exhibition I sent forth-righteous thoughts in front of the Chinese embassy, in order to clear the field for the next day. No thoughts were in my mind, I only wished the best for sentient beings.

It seemed like a miracle, our organ harvesting exhibition was attended by the reporter from the main TV station in Slovakia (STV), who was very interested about recent news on organ harvesting. After he listened to our story, he was rather convinced that the persecution was an illegal act against humanity, but he told us that he must also visit Chinese ambassador and ask him for his opinion. He thought this was necessary to be fair as a journalist.

We understood this was a kind of interference, because as he spoke his words the clear sky became cloudy and the wind started to blow. The best approach we could think of was to send forth-righteous thoughts. We started and just kept on. One hour, two hours, three hours... One policeman stopped by to ask for permission papers for our activity. I clarified the facts to him and explained why we were there and that we actually don’t need permission. I was very firm in my mind and I was sure not to allow the old forces to exploit the gaps. He soon left. The situation also slightly improved alongside the weather.

After the activity, we had a reading session and we exchanged experiences. When we had finished we turned on the TV to see the result of our activity and we very pleasantly surprised. They broadcasted a two minute section with some interviews. Many people watched this news channel, and as we toured the cities in the week after, they told us they already knew. I was very happy for them.

Later I learnt that a TV channel, although somewhat smaller, also visited the festival and made an interview. I was happy that in this way more people could learn the facts about the persecution and find out more about Falun Gong. I realised through these experiences that we must always keep the heart of practitioners in everything we do. We shouldn’t start using human thoughts to judge things, otherwise we may limit our abilities and the resulting in a poor outcome.

I also realised, that even if we focus on a particular approach the path may become difficult. But if we manage to keep an open mind, are able to let go and think of others first we will naturally come to a good conclusion.

This is only possible by following the path Teacher arranged for us diligently, being diligent in our study of the Falun Gong teachings and doing the three things well. We should maximally utilise the time our Teacher has saved us through his tremendous sacrifices.

Above is only my personal understanding, please kindly point out anything improper.

Thank you Teacher, thank you fellow practitioners.