Reflections on the Fifteen-year Journey of Falun Gong

Falun Gong has been here for fifteen years, from 1992 to today. Within these fifteen years, millions of people have experienced an elevation of moral standards and improved health. Non-practitioners have witnessed the journey of cultivators who live their lives according to the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, Tolerance. May the 13th is an occasion for deep reflection.

Among the millions of people who practise Falun Gong, it is very common for practitioners to experience improves in their health, many even recover from deadly diseases. Almost every practitioner could write a book about their experiences. Before I practised Falun Gong I got sick every few months. After practising, I haven't been sick for seven or eight years. The practitioners I know, whether they are old or young, are almost all like me and hardly even catch a cold or suffer from illness throughout the year.

In the history of China, we have had such outstanding medical scientists as Bian Que, Sun Simiao, Zhang Zhongjing and Hua Tuo. These scientists could effectively heal illnesses using supernormal abilities. The diseases they could cure and the number of people they could reach was relatively limited, but stories about them make the Chinese people very proud. Then how should we regard the founder of Falun Gong, Mr Li Hongzhi, for what he has done? Shouldn't our Chinese people be even more proud of him and treasure him? How much can we understand of the health principles and the celestial phenomena that Mr. Li Hongzhi has explained?

Those who have been in touch with many Falun Gong practitioners for a long time feel that the practitioners are very sincere and kind. They are a group of people with high moral values. A common Chinese saying goes: "A long journey shows the full potential of the horse, while time tests people's hearts." The severe persecution in China has lasted eight years. Falun Gong practitioners still bear huge pressures and struggle in their efforts to resist the persecution and clarify the truth, but they remain peaceful and kind. When people see them, they are deeply touched by their kindness and smiles.

This is a group of people who believe in heavenly principles. They know that those who have hatred towards Truthfulness, Compassion, Tolerance and towards kind Falun Gong practitioners will bring harm to themselves, so they keep on clarifying the truth to people. They also know that the perpetrators who slander Truthfulness, Compassion, Tolerance and who persecute innocent people will eventually by punished by Heaven. The crimes the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has committed have brought their regime to the brink of disaster. Therefore, practitioners stepped forward to stop the persecution and help people withdraw from the CCP.

"Good medicine tastes bitter but is effective in curing diseases; good advice may irritate but it is good to improve your actions," as an old Chinese saying goes. Some people may not understand the Falun Gong practitioner's way of doing things, but when practitioners go out to the street to give out materials explaining the truth about Falun Gong and the persecution or ask people to quit the CCP, they do it for the good of people. They know the message they give to people will eventually bring benefits to them, even if people don't realise it at the time. Others should consider what kind of force drives practitioners to continue appealing through to today, and what kind of belief lets them walk so righteously? The difficult circumstances practitioners endure show their extraordinariness. People should reflect: Does the public need to take some moral responsibility for attitudes and behaviours that may contribute to the suffering of Falun Gong practitioners? If some day we come to understand what they have done for all of us, won't those who ignored them feel full of regret?

The persecution of Falun Gong is still going on. The fifteen years that Falun Gong has been through demonstrates the glory of righteous belief and foretells the inevitable failure of the persecution. We need to think about whether we have passed the test during the whole process of the persecution, from the start to the end. If justice is the criterion to measure whether a person is good or bad, then do we deserve to be given a good future?