Shared at the 2002 Experience Sharing Conference in Melbourne
By an Australian Practitioner
Hello everyone,
I would like to share with you my experience of going to Tiananmen Square in March of this year. Put very simply, I knew I was meant to go to China. I did not hold any personal fear. This was not about me, but a divine nature within me. I have been given so much, in turn I can go and clarify the truth to the Chinese people who are being so cruelly persecuted and deceived. Self-limiting thoughts of not being good enough began crowding my mind, but I would not let them take root. I thought of all Teacher has given us, all that he has endured on our behalf, and my heart sang! And so I went along with nine other Western practitioners from Australia. The Chinese people need to know the truth.
Under constant surveillance, a group of four of us visited various tourist sites leading up to the day of our peaceful appeal in Tiananmen Square. One morning upon leaving our hotel we looked across to see a large crowd gathered across the road. Looking up to the roof of the 14-story building revealed a man poised ready to jump. We immediately did Fa Zheng Nian [rough translation - sent forth righteous thoughts. This can be understood as a kind of meditation.] and within a minute he had climbed back from the edge and allowed himself to be escorted down.
Throughout our stay and travels we maintained righteous thoughts and sang "Falun Dafa Hao" [Falun Dafa is Great] silently. From time to time one of us would break into song only to find the other was silently singing at exactly the same place. It seemed to me that wherever we travelled streams of light billowed out into the atmosphere and Falun [literal translation – Law Wheel. Here it refers to something helping the practitioners in purifying their surrounding environment and protecting them.] hovered close by.
During our travels, we visited a number of temples. There before our very eyes were scenes described by Teacher in Zhuan Falun [The main text of Falun Gong. Click here for to view Zhuan Falun]. The large statues of Buddhas, the moneyboxes with people filling them etc. Initially the atmosphere was very oppressive. No match for righteous thoughts however! Within minutes the atmosphere lifted, and we were on our way.
It was agreed by all of us that on the 6th day we would come together in front of one of the lion statues at the outer edge of Tiananmen Square to make our peaceful appeal. Four of us left our hotel and made our way to join the others as planned. Moments before we reached the spot, we saw a yellow banner go up into the air, and heard practitioners shouting "Falun Dafa Hao." One of us sprinted forward with a flag to join the group. In the next instant our path was blocked by police and soldiers. Police vans came screeching to the scene. It was difficult to see what was happening. At this, the remaining 3 of us decided to proceed to the centre of the square in front of the monument and between the flags. As we made our way there, more police and soldiers were moving swiftly onto the square. A police van began slowly circling the moment as we walked around beside it. Upon reaching he position between the flags, the van slowly drove away. Close by was a vendor's stand where tourists were purchasing film for cameras etc. There was an increased presence of plain clothes and uniformed police and soldiers. Another practitioner and I had made a bright yellow and red banner before we had left for Beijing. On it was written Zhen Shan Ren [Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance] in Chinese characters and English. This was concealed around my body. Suddenly the thought "perhaps I would not be able to get it out in time" crossed my mind. This immediately had me fumbling around -- the banner seemed stuck! In my mind I called out to Teacher.... The banner was free! I held it up high as I stood behind my two companions who, by this time were sitting in lotus position wearing truth clarifying T-shirts. We shouted "Falun Dafa Hao" loudly...
For me, time appeared to slow down. A soldier to the right of me looked at us in disbelief, then wrestled my banner from my grasp. By this time a police van had arrived and my companions were surrounded by police lifting them and carrying them away as they continued to loudly clarify the truth. Minutes had passed by. I turned around. I was standing by myself and in a semicircle a short distance away was a large crowd of people! There were smiling faces, video cameras and lights popping from other cameras. I stepped forward, it seemed as though I could have just walked away, but that was not why I had come. Pointing to an Australian Flag I was wearing, for the next 5 minutes I walked backwards and forwards. And although I could only speak in English, I told them the terrible truth of what was happening in their own country, of how good and righteous Falun Dafa is, and all the countries that people practice freely in. I asked them not to be deceived and not to harm practitioners.
This was all punctuated by "Falun Dafa Hao". I felt as if many people understood. Eventually a policeman came and tapped me on the shoulder. Others came and pushed me into a police van to join my companions. Also in the van was a young man whose camera had been confiscated. He was protesting in Chinese as the police ripped out the film. We were quick to say we did not know him. He, in turn said under his breath "Don't worry about me I'm all right," then went back to protesting loudly. Perhaps he already knew the truth?
We were re-united with the rest of our group and sat doing Fa Zheng Nian as we were surrounded by police, many of whom were smoking heavily. Our passports and possessions were confiscated along with my glasses. Soon we were escorted into vans. Making my way into the van I stumbled over a step I did not see. Immediately a policewoman escorting me took my arm. She squeezed my hand and patted my arm and whispered, "Don't worry, you will be all right -- there is nothing to fear." I looked into her eyes, kindness shone back at me. We smiled. I told her Falun Dafa was good. Although I personally was not afraid, I was touched by her kindness. I squeezed her hand back in friendship.
So many police, mainly young men and women were employed to guard and escort so few peaceful practitioners! They must be here for the Fa [referring to them beginning to practice Falun Gong] -- so with kind hearts we clarified the truth. Some were very much brainwashed by Jiang's propaganda. Never mind, maybe they will awaken at a later time. Just like I remembered, Teacher has not forgotten them, nor will I!
We were taken to our hotels to pick up our belongings, with a heavy police escort. It was an opportunity to clarify the truth to the astonished hotel staff. Everyone was then taken to a hotel near the International airport. We agreed not to be separated, and when it was indicated that we should leave one at a time, we explained that we would all come out together. (Already one of our group had a broken finger, and others had been punched and manhandled by the police.) This made the police very angry. They entered the bus and grabbed one practitioner, dragged him out of our grasp, at the same time kicking and punching him to the ground. A policeman came towards us with his fist ready to punch us. I looked at him and with a kind heart simply stated, "There is no need for that." (All the while holding righteous thoughts). His arm stopped in full flight, he looked confused and did not continue. The policeman who later interrogated me was very anxious that we would not report back in our country the cowardly bashing we had witnessed. He explained that it was "to teach us all a lesson."
He conducted the interview with restraint, although he was in denial of the truth of the persecution. We were later placed in a large room surrounded by numerous young policemen and women who kept changing shifts. They were most fortunate to see us practising the exercises and meditating. We spoke to them about how good Falun Dafa is and also even the truth of the persecution.
Altogether we were detained for 22 hours before being sent back home. Approximately 5 of these hours were spent in single interrogation with 3 to 4 police each. It was time to leave. I look forward to returning to China and holding up my banner saying Zhen-Shan-Ren, only this time it will be a great celebration of Heaven and Earth!! All beings are free.
http://clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2002/11/1/28269.html
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