"You Only Appreciate Something When You Don’t Have It" (2003 Fa-conference, Geneva)

Greetings Master. Greetings Everyone.

There is a saying “you only appreciate something when you no longer have it.” This is so true especially in terms of my recent trip to HK. I experienced a minor fraction of what it might be like to be detained for no valid reason. To have no freedom, but this was for a limited time only. I would like to share my recent experiences that are valuable to my cultivation.

Since I have started cultivating Falun Dafa, I have experienced immense loss and gain. I felt that I was given so many opportunities to improve and upgrade previous deeply rooted attachments. All that is lost should only be bad things, rather than opportunities to upgrade. But sometimes I become deluded by this world, and I let my eyes and mind gravitate to this dimension only, like the forces of two magnets constantly being drawn together down and you have to separate it with great effort.

Not accepting the old forces’ arrangement was one thing I focused on this time to HK. The last time I attempted to go to a HK event, I did not have a 100% righteous mind, and hence the evil got what it wanted - I didn’t make it into HK. The most disappointing thing about myself was that I was not on the blacklist. I was not let into HK because I chose to stay with my husband who was blacklisted, than travel into HK separately. Obviously I lost a good opportunity to be part of the Fa Rectification process, I chose sentiment instead of staying on the righteous path of cultivation.

This time, I was determined to pass this tribulation in HK. However I must admit I was a little nervous. Similar to the story in Zhuan Falun regarding the Arhat Chapter 6 of Zhuan Falun who was so happy to reach consummation that he didn’t make it, but the second time he didn’t want to be happy, I felt like I had to be in a state of no pursuit (wu wei) and without attachment, as pure as possible.

So many people gave me advice before I went to HK. I really aimed to block all the advice, because I was 100% determined, my duty was to get into HK, to practise and be part of Fa Rectification in the last piece of land with freedom in China.

It was difficult to be 100% focused on Righteous Thoughts. When I arrived in HK, I walked passed the room I was detained in last time, I could see it was heavily guarded. My attachment to fear and doubt was present, and I felt like I was holding my breath all the time. There were so many people going through customs, it was a half hour wait. Waiting in line increased my anxiety. At one point, I saw a young woman being taken away with her little girl, the immigration officer had a huge pile of papers, which looked like a list... I summoned the different levels of Fa protectors (Fo Dao Shen) and sent righteous thoughts to let as many practitioners into HK as much as possible, to eliminate any black list, after all how can computers limit Dafa practitioners? I made it into HK.

Although what I just mentioned seemed like a few minutes, I felt the forces of good and evil at play, the energy was strong. As soon as I focused on what my human eyes could see, that distracted me immediately. One’s heart and stability (jian ding) was so important. I was tested constantly, no room for any gaps.

Recently, I performed a traditional ribbon dance for a Falun Dafa event, many people had doubts about this (including practitioners and non practitioners) and they were sceptical. I was not one with a reputation of being graceful so people were a bit nervous in case I didn’t do a good job. My dance routine is centred around my cultivation journey, based on the image of the sea. The sea can be tumultuous, and treacherous like tribulations if we are not firm, diligent and 100% aware that I am a cultivator. Otherwise like the sea we can get lost there or waves of attachments can overcome us, and righteous thoughts need to he present at all possible times, It is my aim to be part of Master’s Fa boat and not to be weighed down by attachments and black substance and miss the boat. Also as Teacher said ‘With a preoccupied human heart, crossing the ocean proves arduous… With attachments too strong, bearings are lost. Some flee for their lives, deserting capsized boats and torn sails,” (Quote from Knowing Heart, October 12, 1999, published May 22, 2000.

At the end of my performance, practitioners were astonished that I could do the routine within 2 weeks with very minimal practice. But it is not really the dance itself that is the focus, but the meaning and the heart behind the performance, the only reason I could dance was due to the beauty and power of Dafa. Although it was rewarding to impress my fellow practitioners, that was not the point (that would encourage my complacency but also make it sound ordinary). I really wanted to touch their hearts I found my words could not echo my heart. I sent out righteous thoughts and opened my heart to the audience, the only condition I had in my mind was to attempt to show the greatness of Falun Dafa and I was one particle of the Universal Law. The lesson I learnt here was to not only express compassion and remember Zhen Shan Ren at all times, but to touch people’s hearts, to remember the connection I have with them, and not only focus on the outside world.

When we discovered that Nancy Chan was detained in China, I of course wanted to find out more and help, but could not help I also judged this practitioner. I knew that Nancy had made mistakes, but haven’t we all and I did not always agree or get along with her so that type of notion had come up immediately. This is not a righteous thought. However I attempted to understand the situation through Zhen Shan Ren, protecting the Fa and each particle is important Being part of the media team, we began to brain storm and the media team began to start coming together to see what we could do.

One of the most important aspects of doing media work for Dafa is the facts, too often when we are caught up in emotion we panic and don’t think straight, many practitioners urged the media team to call the media immediately. But before we did that, we needed to understand from the Fa angle how we measure the situation. Instead of focusing on getting Nancy out, we focused on targeting the evil and eliminating it, but how? We needed to know what happened? Where did she disappear? Under what circumstance? We tried to make contact with the Australian Government first, our local consular officials in China were the first point in contact. Previously we would have just focused on Nancy, however we also have to remember that the person we speak to is another sentient being, and this is their opportunity to position themselves about Data. It is important that journalists we speak to and each government official understands what Falun Dafa is, in the best possible manner. What is the point of “saving Nancy” yet not rectifying the Fa in every way?

One core point about Nancy’s case, is that the situation was linked with the huge impact of the persecution of Dafa. In other words, this persecution is not only illegal in this world but it is unjustified. As Teacher mentions in the article “Look at things with Righteous Thoughts” regarding Chinese Dafa disciples in Mainland China using cable TV to clarify the truth, and “saving the sentient beings whose minds have been poisoned by the evil's deceit, and is a magnificent act of mercy.” I see this to be very applicable to the whole persecution, the Australian Government says that if we go into China we are breaking Chinese laws, but the law banning Falun Dafa is illegitimate, it breaks Chinese and international Laws, and most importantly there are millions of lives that are affected, whether they are practitioners or not. Where is the justice in that? The way that I understand “non-leakage” or “no gaps’ is that if we focus on an aspect that is based on “saving someone,’ it doesn’t take into account the whole scope of things. So the angle that we used to alert the media and touch the hearts of Australians is, “Nancy was in China visiting relatives, no one deserves to be arrested for that.” Although the wording appears to be targeting “saving someone” the implication is really that everyone needs to know about this situation.

In the last three years of talking to the media, they sometimes say that even when they want to do a story there is no news for them, that is, there is no new angle. In Australia, because we are far away from the rest of the world, including China, it makes it convenient for our Government officials and media to say this is not relevant to Australians. I think this is where practitioners’ righteous thoughts and wisdom are important. Each case and conversation we have has to not only address the persecution but also show how it is relevant to individuals. I think this applies in this world, but most importantly from the view of the universe.

Also, lately Master has reminded us to send righteous thoughts properly and profoundly. However I have noticed that it shouldn’t be abused or used as a tool.

For instance, when there is an urgent refugee situation practitioners easily fall into the ordinary interpretation of “sympathy” or using “sentiment” (Qing) where the big picture is not taken into account. In Australia we have asked ourselves, why all of a sudden all the refugee cases in the Western world are spreading. There must be some gap amongst ourselves. I understand Master said “But when you normally send righteous thoughts together on a daily basis you should chase down the evil on a larger scale. You shouldn’t target one or a few evil beings each day, each time.” Quote from “Righteous Thoughts” (October 13, 2002) Righteous thoughts needs to be used appropriately and to use each opportunity to concentrate on the three important things “...are clarifying the facts, sending righteous thoughts, and individually cultivating yourselves.” Quote from “Teaching the Fa during the 2003 Lantern Festival at the Western United State Pa Conference, 15 Feb 2003)

Working together would be a good start to solving the problem. From handing out lotus flowers to using another angle to show the beauty of Dafa and be able contrast this gesture with the tortures and persecution of China.

I would also like say is that once the Boston Lecture took place, even before Australian practitioners left the country, the seriousness of our environment was quite prevalent to me, and I was part of it. But there is progress, we have joined people in the TV team, Radio Team and all forms of media together, to be diligent and to improve together.

Thank you for listening. I hope we can all soon complete our destined cultivation journey, and set sail on Master’s Fa Boat. I truly appreciate this opportunity I have waited lifetimes for.