(Minghui.org) Several Falun Dafa practitioners in Canada talked about their cultivation experiences and insights before the 26th anniversary of the April 25 appeal. They talked about the positive changes they experienced through the practice, and discussed their understanding of the peaceful appeal of April 25, 1999, when 10,000 Falun Dafa practitioners quietly petitioned the Chinese government to uphold their constitutional right to freedom of belief and practice.
Overcoming Family Trauma
Olivia said her life turned around after reading “How Humankind Came To Be.”
Olivia grew up in Mississauga and works in landscaping and gardening. Her childhood was traumatic because of frequent disputes between her parents, who vented their anger on each other. Olivia was a shy and obedient child, and suppressed her pain. However, the long-term accumulation of negative emotions eventually caused her to become depressed, anxious, and angry.
When she was a teenager, Olivia began drinking alcohol and doing drugs to release her frustration, but to no avail. “I felt like I had no purpose or meaning in life and I felt lost and empty inside,” she recalled.
Just like her parents, Olivia frequently quarreled with her husband. She said an email changed her.
Olivia received an email in December 2023, recommending Master Li Hongzhi’s article, “How Humankind Came To Be.” This article awakened her and showed her the meaning of life. She soon started practicing Falun Dafa.
Olivia said she took sleeping pills every night but got rid of this habit after she began practicing Falun Dafa. “When I tried to stop [taking the pills], I was able to right away. I couldn’t believe it because I always thought it was impossible for me, as I thought I always needed the pills to sleep. But now I sleep better than I ever could,” she said.
Later, she found out that her husband had secretly bought cryptocurrency and lost a lot of money. She was furious, but she immediately realized that a practitioner should not get angry.
In order to calm down, Olivia went to Minghui.org to read articles by other practitioners on resolving marital conflicts. She said, “Those articles helped me feel better about the situation, and I changed my approach. I became compassionate towards him instead of being angry about his decisions and being resentful.”
When Olivia became open-minded, her husband also changed. He also restrains himself and no longer loses his temper.
Olivia also let go of her resentment towards her parents, “I harbored a lot of resentment towards my parents. But through the teachings [of Falun Dafa], I was able to learn to let go of resentment, and understand that everyone is on their own path.” She said that the entire family saw the changes in her and they encourage her to keep practicing Falun Dafa.
Reflecting on the April 25 appeal, Olivia said, “Practitioners are truly peaceful and would never attack the government. That would conflict with what Master teaches, and the practice is completely separate from politics. It’s a peaceful spiritual practice with the principles of Truth, Compassion and Tolerance. Practitioners have never retaliated with violence to any persecution they experienced, because the practice teaches people to be good and sincere.”
Performing the Lion Dance for Twelve Years
Hugo often talks to people about the Chinese Communist Party’s persecution.
Hugo is a French Canadian who lives in a remote rural town and teaches in a French school. Hugo’s family is warm and harmonious, but he suffered from depression for no apparent reason when he was a student. Medicine only temporarily relieved the symptoms. He went through a lot of pain due to the depression.
In 2007, 33-year-old Hugo talked with his aunt at a family gathering. He said to her, “I know you meditate and I’m interested in learning how.” When his aunt heard that Hugo, who had been ill for many years, wanted to meditate, she was surprised.
His aunt did not have time to teach him the Falun Dafa exercises that weekend, but she gave him the book Zhuan Falun. She told him to read the entire book.
Hugo recalled, “It’s like big pieces would fall into place in my mind after I began reading Zhuan Falun. I understood the relationships of gain and loss, virtue and karma, as well as why it’s important to improve one’s xinxing. From that point on, I’ve always practiced [Falun Dafa]. Since I started practicing, I no longer suffer from depression and I stopped taking medication.”
Hugo said he didn’t have a good relationship with his parents-in-law. “I was 22 years old when I got married,” he recounted. “My in-laws thought that I was naive and my marriage wouldn’t last long. They rejected me. I was not invited when the rest of the family celebrated Christmas. I felt bad. They also meddled in my life. I was a very independent, strong-minded person, and I felt I would never forgive them.”
After he began practicing Falun Dafa, Hugo became considerate of his in-laws. He said, “I listened to them and started to accept them. I told them if their words made sense, I would adjust myself. Now I have a decent relationship with them.”
Once, Hugo participated in a Falun Dafa event and saw other practitioners doing the lion dance. When he helped them out that day, a practitioner asked him if he was interested in participating. Since then, Hugo has done the lion dance for 12 years and has performed in difference communities to deliver the message of Falun Dafa.
Hugo performs the lion dance.
“During these events, we use the lion dance to let people know about Falun Dafa and expose the CCP’s [Chinese Communist Party] persecution,” Hugo said. “Twenty-six years ago, the CCP harassed and arrested many practitioners in Tianjin, and 10,000 practitioners from all over the country went to Beijing to appeal. They were rational, calm, understanding and respectful, but the CCP distorted the facts and began a large-scale persecution of Falun Dafa three months later, claiming that practitioners ‘besieged’ the CCP headquarters.”
Hugo said, holding back tears, “Although the CCP committed crimes against humanity, the practitioners’ response in China and around the world has always been peaceful. Falun Dafa has shown the world that in the face of injustice, it’s reasonable to appeal and protest, while respecting others, public property and the authorities. Since the persecution began, they have persisted in demanding the basic rights of the Chinese people in the most outstanding and peaceful way, and they have not stopped.”
Empathy and Compassion While Treating Patients
Chantal, a doctor, feels that, as a practitioner, she can brings hope to desperate patients.
Chantal was born in Canada and is a chief physician who treats brain traumas at a Toronto hospital. She also owns a private clinic.
Twenty-five years ago, while at home during a break from medical school, Chantal’s mother told her about Falun Dafa. She said she learned about the practice at a health fair in Ottawa, and she and Chantal’s father had begun practicing. Chantal also started practicing.
When Chantal and her fiance were engaged, his family rejected her when they heard she practiced Falun Dafa and they cancelled the engagement ceremony. But her fiance chose to support her practice, and they later married.
Chantal’s oldest daughter was born with the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck. The baby had purple bruises and had no signs of life. Chantal panicked, but suddenly thought of Master Li and silently recited, “Falun Dafa is good” and asked Master to help. Afterward, her daughter cried weakly.
Chantal and her daughters
Some of Chantal’s patients have experienced traumas, including crimes, car accidents, and family violence—and as a result, some are full of hatred and pain. She said, “I advise them to overcome their upset mentality. I comfort them and help them calm down.”
She said it’s sometimes not easy to offer hope to patients. Medical students focus on treating patients and saving people’s lives. But after practicing medicine for many years and experiencing so many patients’ pain, and even deaths, some doctors’ empathy dwindles.
She said, “Several patients told me that I changed their lives and I was the first to listen to them. They said when they told me their stories they could feel my empathy and kindness.” She explains that she has empathy and compassion because she practices Falun Dafa.
Before Chantal started practicing Falun Dafa, the CCP initiated the brutal persecution of practitioners in China. She said she admired practitioners’ courage because many Westerners saw the aftermath of the June 4, 1989 Tiananmen massacre, when young students were brutally killed. On April 25, 1999, Falun Dafa practitioners held a peaceful appeal in Beijing and faced being arrested. They simply wished to have the freedom to practice their belief and not be harassed by the government. However, Jiang Zemin, the former head of the CCP who initiated the persecution, was afraid of the appeal and launched the persecution, now entering its 26th year. Chantal said she hopes that more people will come to know the true nature of the CCP.
Background
On April 23 & 24, 1999, police officials in Tianjin, a city near Beijing, assaulted and arrested dozens of Falun Gong practitioners who had gathered outside a magazine office to discuss errors in a recently-published article attacking Falun Gong. As word spread of the arrests and more Falun Gong practitioners inquired with officials, they were told they had to take their appeals to Beijing. The following day, April 25, some 10,000 Falun Gong practitioners spontaneously gathered at the central appeals office in Beijing, as they had been instructed by Tianjin officials. The gathering was peaceful and orderly. Several Falun Gong representatives were called in to meet with Chinese Premier, Zhu Rongji, and members of his staff. That evening, the concerns of Falun Gong practitioners were met, the arrested practitioners in Tianjin were released and everyone went home.
According to several sources within the Chinese government, in the months following the April 25th gathering, a fierce political struggle ensued within the top levels of the CCP brass. Then-CCP head Jiang Zemin called upon the government to “crush” Falun Gong, while other members of the Politburo saw no threat in the practice. CNN's senior analyst Willy Lam quoted senior officials saying the suppression of Falun Gong became very “personal” for Jiang Zemin. In July, Jiang formally ordered the suppression of Falun Gong. The April 25th gathering was quickly re-characterized not as the peaceful appeal it was, and one that, in fact, was coordinated by Tianjin and Beijing officials themselves who told practitioners to go to the Beijing appeals office, but rather as a “laying siege” to the central government compound and clear “evidence” as to how Falun Gong is a threat.
Articles in which cultivators share their understandings typically reflect an individual's perception at a point in time based on their cultivation state, and they are offered in the spirit of enabling mutual elevation.
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Category: Cultivation Insights
