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They Found What They Were Looking For (Photos)

April 27, 2011 |   By a Clearwisdom correspondent in Europe

(Clearwisdom.net) Artjom and Natalia are from Russia, and Dana is from Bulgaria. Each person has a different experience. Under different circumstances, each one learned about Falun Gong in Germany and started practicing. After they started to practice, all had the same thought, “I have finally found it.”

Seeing Falun Gong in a park

Artjom is a young man. Before he came to Berlin, he had thought about becoming a monk. In Berlin, by chance he saw a group of Falun Gong practitioners meditating in a park. He joined them right away. Later, practitioners explained to him what Falun Gong is and about the persecution in China; then they gave him a copy of Zhuan Falun in Russian.

The idea of not seeking paybacks attracted Artjom

Besides reading Zhuan Falun, Artjom visited Falun Gong websites. He also read other books by the founder of Falun Gong, Mr. Li Hongzhi. He realized that one could cultivate without entering a temple or monastery. “This is very attractive to me. I feel that this is what I have wanted all along. Teacher has explained everything clearly. I understood from Teacher’s books that we can cultivate in this complicated environment. It is the best. Had I not learned about Falun Gong, I probably would be in some temple right now,” he said.

The righteousness of Falun Gong convinced Artjom to practice. “The righteousness of Falun Gong is very attractive to me. This practice does not want your money or any type of payback. Nowadays everything is about money, but Falun Gong does not require any payback, it only gives. Whether you accept it is up to you. I decided to accept it and I have benefited much from it,” he said.

After he started practicing Falun Gong, Artjom was able to let go of some bad habits. For example, he hadn’t been able to quit smoking before, and he still smoked when he started reading Zhuan Falun.

As he continued to read, he saw this sentence in Zhuan Falun,

“I advise everyone that if you truly want to practice cultivation you should quit smoking from now on, and it is guaranteed that you can quit.”

Artjom said: “One day there was suddenly a turning point. I understood and I felt that I became stronger, so I stopped smoking. My mother said that I became a changed person since I started cultivating.”

Finding what she was looking for

Natalia is also from Russia. Her health had never been good since she was a child. She had problems with her teeth and lungs. Over 10 years ago, she felt uncomfortable and worried that she was ill. She thought of one of her friends who practiced Chinese martial arts and asked this friend for help in learning some martial arts to improve her health.

Natalia and Dana both found answers about life in Falun Gong

“My friend told me that she had something even better, compared to all the things she had practiced before,” recalled Natalia. Her friend then told her about Falun Gong. “It was November 14, 2000. I met with my friend and got Zhuan Falun. I always remember that date as if it was burned into my mind. I started to read the book and also lectures from the website. My body completely changed. At that time, I was working different shifts, but no matter what shift I had to work, I always wished to finish quickly so that I could go back home and read more of Zhuan Falun, because that is what I had been looking for all my life,” she said.

Not only did Natalia become healthier, but she also found answers to questions she had since she was a child. “When I was little, I wondered why I lived, had to go to school and then die. Everything seemed very boring. After reading the Fa, I now know that I should cultivate and return to my true self and where my life first started,” she said.

Answering life's puzzles

Unlike Natalia, Dana was very healthy. She came from Bulgaria to Germany to take care of a very sick elderly person. The daughter and son-in-law of this person are Falun Gong practitioners. Dana only spent two weeks taking care of the elderly person before he passed away, but in her interaction with the family during this time, she felt, “Falun Gong practitioners are so sincere.”

The elderly person’s children explained to her what Falun Gong is and gave her some flyers in Bulgarian. They also told her that practitioners are being persecuted in China for practicing this peaceful practice.

Two weeks later, Dana went to another city to work, but she stayed in contact with this family. Over a month later, she was invited to spend Christmas with them. She told them that she wanted to read Falun Gong books.

After she read Zhuan Falun in Russian, Dana felt that many puzzles were solved. “I found many answers after I read it. I don’t have any physical issues, but I had many mental problems. I was very unfortunate in the past. I am a good person, but I did not understand why others treated me so unkindly. Now I know the answer, why I had experienced so much. It is because of karma; perhaps I did bad things in my past lives,” she said.

Dana no longer complains about life being unfair, nor does she complain about others. “I feel content. When conflicts arise in my daily life, I can explain it with what I've learned from Falun Gong. Sometimes when I have negative thoughts about someone, I tell myself that I cannot change others and I don’t need to have any negative thoughts about others. If we need to talk, I will speak my mind, but I don’t intentionally think that other people are bad. If I have negative thoughts about others, it could come back to me. It is not good for me either,” she said.

Wishing more people to know the truth and stop the persecution

When they first started practicing Falun Gong, they heard about the persecution in China. At first, Artjom was very angry and said, “When I started practicing in 2008, I heard about the persecution from other practitioners. I was very angry. Good people are being persecuted in China, how can that be happening? I spent some time trying to understand and digest these things. I truly wish this persecution would stop!”

In order to end the persecution, Artjom and other Falun Gong practitioners participate in many events to help more people know about Falun Gong and the persecution in China. “Because Falun Gong practitioners in China are being persecuted, I will participate in all kinds of events that try to stop the persecution, as long as the situation continues,” Artjom said.

Dana and Natalia also participate in many parades and other activities, and tell people about the persecution in China. They show people the exercises of Falun Gong, and many people respond kindly. Natalia stated that one time she was not able to distribute the Chinese newspaper, and later many readers told her that they had been waiting for her. She feels that many people are waiting to learn the truth.