A Conversation with a Person Interested in Falun Gong By Da Qiu
(Clearwisdom.net) Several days ago, a gentleman talked to me about Falun
Gong. Below is part of the conversation (edited) that I want to share with
fellow practitioners and friends.
Q: Christianity and Buddhism revere deceased people, but you revere a man who
is still alive.
A: When we believe in a theory or principle, we mainly look at whether the
theory or principle itself is good; if it is worthy of people's faith, it is not
necessary for people to wait for its creator to pass away to believe in it. The
Buddha and Jesus had large groups of followers when they were still alive, and
after they passed away, their followers spread their Fa and principles. If no
one believed them when they were alive, then their words would not have been
passed down.
Q: Falun Gong claims that it doesn't have an organization, yet you register
for associations. For example, there is a Falun Gong Association in Japan. After
you successfully register, practitioners and associations in many countries send
congratulatory statements. Obviously, you care very much about whether you are
registered.
A: If a government approves Falun Gong's application for registration, it
shows the government's attitude towards Falun Gong. Practitioners all over the
world practice the same Falun Gong, and all countries welcome and acknowledge
Falun Gong. Only the dictator in China persecutes Falun Gong, which also says
something. However, registration and cultivation are two different things. Even
if we are registered, the administration is loose, and there are no orders and
no name lists. This is a fundamental rule for cultivation. For a cultivator,
orders are meaningless.
Q: I think Falun Gong is not Buddhism, Taoism or qigong.
A: You are right, Falun Gong is just Falun Gong. This form of cultivation
cannot be described by any name we have right now. When people have some
knowledge and some living experiences, they tend to judge things they encounter
with this knowledge. However, for Falun Gong, this kind of knowledge is not
applicable. Nowadays, people encounter too many bad things on a daily basis.
They take these things for granted and have a low moral standard, so they tend
to think of things they do not understand with a negative perspective. For
instance, once I told a lady that we voluntarily distribute Falun Gong
newspapers and do not get paid for doing it. She swore that she would not
believe it no matter how I tried to explain. Why? This was due to her own level
and choice, and her decision has nothing to do with Falun Gong.
Q: You always expose the dark side.
A: Those bad things are not supposed to exist. In order to get rid of bad
things, we must first recognize them and face them head-on. What we are doing is
exposing the evil and directing people toward goodness.
Q: Several decades from now, how many of your Dafa practitioners will enter
the local mainstream society and become successful?
A: I think we should discuss this issue from two sides. Right now, many of
our fellow practitioners are already successful people in society. Furthermore,
how can you say who is more successful, you or a Taoist monk? People have
different beliefs and pursuits, so the standard of judgment should also be
different.
Q: Reincarnation does not exist.
A: In fact there have been many scientific studies regarding reincarnation.
In the U.S., many books on this subject have been published in the past two
decades. Some children's memories of their previous lives and many cases of
people looking back at their previous lives in deep meditation have convincingly
proven the existence of reincarnation. Many participants of these experiments
did not believe in reincarnation at all beforehand, but after they were able to
look at their previous lives in a meditative state with the doctor's
instruction, they became firm believers.
Q: You say that Gods and Buddhas exist-- have you seen them?
A: I can't say this to you because you don't believe in it. You will take it
as a joke and that's a very bad thing. I can tell you that Falun Gong
practitioners in China still firmly believe in Falun Gong in such a difficult
environment, and practitioners abroad persist in spreading Falun Gong and
calling for an end to the persecution by overcoming numerous difficulties
despite their comfortable living conditions. If they had not witnessed the truth
of Falun Gong, it would be very hard to do what they do. Modern science has not
yet proven reincarnation, but it cannot refute the existence of reincarnation
and higher dimensions. Recently, the Superstring Theory [a new theory in
Physics that postulates the existence of more than three dimensions] has
pointed out the necessity of other dimensions' existence.
Q: You mix with anti-Chinese government groups.
A: We are not against the government, nor are we against any country or
party, but we firmly oppose this persecution against Falun Gong. We have
suffered from tremendous slander and illegal persecution, and there should be
some place where we can express our opinions. The virtues of Falun Gong and the
persecution it has suffered in China are ironclad facts, and we welcome any
kind-hearted person who wants to stand up and speak a just word. If a politician
or some other person stands up and condemns this persecution in China, we will
welcome his opinion on this issue. If all people oppose and help end this
persecution, we will welcome it even more. However, practitioners never take
part in politics, so we will never have any political dealings with anyone. We
are walking our own path.
Our standpoint has always been clear: we are not against the Chinese
government; we oppose Jiang's persecution against tens of millions of Falun Gong
practitioners in China. Jiang persecuted Falun Gong practitioners out of
jealousy; he harmed so many innocent Chinese people and is creating conflict for
the Chinese society. If he realizes his mistake and corrects it himself, that
would be best; but since he persists on walking down the wrong path, we must
point out the facts and principles so that people can make the right decision.
This is also a form of promoting goodness. We advise everyone in the world to
remember Truthfulness, Compassion, Tolerance. That will benefit mankind
tremendously and bring no harm at all.
Q: Some of the people who support Falun Gong have personal goals.
A: That would be their personal decisions. We cannot force other people to give up
their motives and we do not give prerequisites to people who support Falun Gong.
We thank them for their act of justice. Their actions out of conscience and a sense
of justice have enabled them to build a bright future for themselves.
Q: What is the issue of sending forth righteous thoughts?
A: Sending forth righteous thoughts is eliminating evil in other dimensions.
Think about it, why would a police officer beat to death an unarmed elderly
woman? Isn't he possessed? Why would he do such an inhuman thing? Our
practitioners know that there are evil elements in other dimensions that are
manipulating him, and that is why he acts so bestially. In order to stop him, we
must eliminate the evil in other dimensions that is manipulating him, so that he
will awaken and control himself. This is also saving him - people have to pay
back for whatever bad things they do, and that suffering will be tremendous. If
one creates too much karma and cannot repay it, he will be annihilated.
Q: Why does the Chinese government treat Falun Gong more and more harshly
although you send forth righteous thoughts?
A: Different regions have different situations. The persecution as a whole is
very evil; based on this, the persecution in many areas has actually weakened to
a certain extent. Since the evil was eliminated in large amounts, they cannot
take care of as large an area as before. The evil is still trying its best to
protect some special places such as some very wicked labor camps. We have
eliminated large amounts of evil, and the evil will use reserves to uphold the
situation. So we will continue to send forth righteous thoughts until all evil
is completely eliminated. Sometimes, the change is not obvious from the surface,
but that doesn't mean that there is no substantial change. The evil will keep
decreasing and one day in the future, the evil will be completely eliminated.
That's when the Truth will be known.
Q: Will I live to see that day?
A: Please allow me to be frank. If you don't persecute Falun Gong but treat
Falun Gong with kindness, you will see that day.
Q: What if I can't see that day?
A: Indeed, not everyone will be able to witness history, but history cannot
be stopped by anyone.
In the end, I advised him to read Dafa books and not suppose that he could
learn about Falun Gong from propaganda materials made by the Jiang regime.
Furthermore, I told him that many of my answers were based on my personal
understandings and cannot represent Falun Gong.
Above are my personal understandings. I welcome fellow practitioners to
benevolently point out anything improper.
Posting date: 11/5/2002 |