In China, thousands of Falun Gong practitioners are facing incarceration, torture, or even murder, from a regime led by Jiang Zemin. Deaths by torture are counted as suicides and ‘no measures are too excessive’. This has led to police shooting directly at practitioners; heavily pregnant women forced to have abortions; a 7-month-old baby tortured to death alongside his mother; the most horrific tortures and systematic persecution known to the world used to force practitioners to give up Falun Gong.

Now, a Falun Gong practitioner – Ms Lili Lin, aged 28 and 6 weeks pregnant, is facing the prospect of possible arrest, torture and death in the hands of Jiang’s criminal group. She is now detained at Manchester airport and waiting for deportation to China scheduled on 7 March 2003. A clerical mistake from the Home Office had caused the failure of her TWO appeals and Home Office refusal on her asylum application before the deadline. The refusal letter was sent to her previous address although Ms Lin had notified Home Office about the change of her address when she moved from Manchester to Liverpool in November 2001.

[..]

Lili is an active Falun Gong practitioner in the UK and helps her husband run a free Falun Gong exercise class in Liverpool. Her husband’s name appears on Falun Gong leaflets and on websites as the contact person in Liverpool. She frequently goes to the Chinese consulate in Manchester and the Chinese Embassy in London to appeal against the brutal persecution of Falun Gong in China. Lili’s life and that of her unborn child will be seriously endangered if she is deported to China.

It is certain that the Chinese Government knows about Lili and Jinfei’s involvement with Falun Gong and it is unbearable to think what might be waiting for Lili and her unborn child if she is deported back to the hands of the persecutors.

Recently, several Falun Gong practitioners from western countries have been arrested in China. Among them are Australian and American citizens. All these people are ordinary practitioners instead of so-called “leaders” [Please note, Falun Gong has no hierarchy or leaders.]. This indicates that any Falun Gong practitioner from overseas would face persecution if they return to China.

Would you be able to lend your help to prevent such tragedy?

For more information, please contact:
Mr Zek Halu/Mrs Misha Halu
Tel: +44-20-8699 2066
Fax: +44-20-8699 2333
E-mail: zekhalu@onetel.net.uk

Or Mr. Jinfei Zhang (husband of Lili Lin): +44-7789 914 701

Dear Sir,

DEPORTATION OF LILI LIN

I am writing on behalf of Lili Lin who is at this moment detained at Manchester airport for deportation to China. Her life will be in immediate danger the moment she steps on Chinese soil.

If we look back in history, during World War II, the UK would never have returned Jews to German occupied countries, regardless of whether more or fewer Jews had been killed in the area the refugee was from. Moreover, Lili is sixty days pregnant. It would be extremely dangerous for her and her unborn child to be sent back to a hostile environment where she could be detained and tortured at any living moment, especially as China is known to use late-term abortions to force female Falun Gong practitioners to renounce their beliefs.

Lili Lin, 28, applied for asylum in Manchester in October 2001 on grounds of being a practitioner of Falun Gong. Then she moved from Manchester to Liverpool to live with her husband, Jinfei Zhang, a PhD student at Liverpool University.

She informed the Home Office of her change of address and has been reporting to the Home Office in Liverpool regularly.

At 3pm, 26th February 2003, as usual, Lili reported at the Home Office in Liverpool. Without warning an immigration officer announced that she was to be deported immediately. She asked to see her husband, but was refused. Four policemen came up, pressed her down to the floor, and dragged her into a room, where she was locked until 8.30pm. She was not given any food or water when she was locked in there. They then sent her to a deportation centre in Manchester.

There must be a misunderstanding somewhere. Lili was is not a criminal. Neither is she attempting to hide herself from the immigration authorities.

We urge you to look into the matter immediately. Sending Lili back to China would a deadly mistake. The Chinese Government’s persecution of Falun Gong is well known. Hundreds of practitioners have been killed and thousands of practitioners are in ‘Re-education Camps’. There is no doubt that the Chinese Government knows this family’s involvement with Falun Gong. Failure to protect this family will result in a tragedy, which the British Government and public will be sure to regret.

The European Falun Dafa Association has verified details of 580 deaths (report / sources) since the persecution of Falun Gong in China began in 1999. Government officials inside China, however, report that the actual death toll is well over 1,600, while expert sources estimate that figure to be much higher. Hundreds of thousands have been detained, with more than 100,000 being sentenced to forced labour camps, typically without trial.

We look forward to receiving your urgent attention to this matter.

Yours sincerely,

Peter Jauhal
Chairman
European Falun Dafa Association

February 27, 2003
Via Fax: 0044 20 7273 3965
Right Honorable David Blunkett MP
Secretary of State for the Home Department

Re: Ms. Lin Lili

Home Office Reference No. L1053356

Dear Secretary Blunkett:

I am counsel to the World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong ("WOIPFG"). WOIPFG is dedicated to protecting the human rights of Falun Gong practitioners around the world, to investigate and expose violations of those rights, and to restore and uphold justice in society.

As has been reported, Ms. Lin Lili, a citizen of the People's Republic of China and Falun Gong practitioner, is being held at Owington Detention Centre awaiting deportation to China scheduled for 7 March 2003. As more fully detailed below, WOIPFG is asking for your assistance in (i) enjoining the deportation, and (ii) furthering Ms. Lin's application for political asylum. The relevant facts are as follows:

In October 2001, Ms. Lin applied for political asylum(1) to the Home Office in Manchester. In April 2002, after her marriage to Jinfei Zhang, a doctoral candidate at Liverpool University and also a Falun Gong practitioner, Ms. Lin moved from Manchester to Liverpool. There, she continued her spiritual practices and became a volunteer at a free exercise class. In compliance with regulations, she duly informed the Home Office of the change of address and reported in person on a regular basis.

The Home Office declined to proceed favorably with Ms. Lin's asylum application citing, among other things, a lack of hard evidence that the persecution of practitioners is severe in Fujian province--Lin's home town. WOIPFG respectfully disagrees with the finding, and asserts that there is ample evidence that establishes the severity of the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in Fujian. Two case studies are reprinted as follows:

Sun Ruijian was 29 years old and lived on Zhangwan Shang Street North #48, Ninde City, Fujian Province. He left home on 7 November 2000 to appeal for Falun Gong and arrived in Beijing the next day. At midnight, he was arrested by the Beijing police while on his way to the hotel, and disappeared without a trace. On December 1st, his family received notice from the Politics and Law Commission of the Ninde City, advising to go to the city of Nanping to bring him home. Local officials claimed that two Fujian police were sent to bring him back from Beijing, and that he died after jumping out of the train at 4 p.m., on 29 November someplace between the cities of Shunchang and Xiayang.

22 July 1999, Dai Xiangguang, the assistant of Falun Gong Futian City Assistance Center, was handcuffed by a county police officer. Later, his uncle went to see him but was not permitted by the Police Department. At one o'clock on the 23rd, his uncle went again to the detention room on the 7th floor and asked to see him but was again rejected. When he went down to the 6th floor, he heard a scream. Then the police told him that Dai had jumped from the building and had fallen on the third floor balcony. He ran to the third floor but did not see any trace of him. The police told him that he was sent to the hospital already. When he went to hospital, the police officer stopped him from entering and told him that Dai was undergoing emergency treatment. When Dai's family rushed to the hospital, the police only let them quickly glance at Dai's body before the body was sent to the crematorium.(2)

Although efforts are underway to secure legal representation for Ms. Lin, we implore you as a representative of Her Majesty's government, to delay deportation in the interest of justice and compassion. Once counsel presents Ms. Lin's case, I am confident that her application for asylum will be granted.

Thank you for your attention to this most important matter.

Very truly yours,

Stewart L. Weisman, Esq.

SLW/sw

cc: Distribution List

DISTRIBUTION LIST

1) Prime Minister Tony Blair
Fax: 011 44 20 7925 0918

2) Ms Beverley Hughes MP
Minister for Citizenship and Immigration
Fax: 0044 20 7273 2043

3) Ms Jane Kennedy MP
Liverpool, Wavertree
E-mail: kennedyj@parliament.uk

4) Sir Christopher Meyer, KCMG
HM Ambassador to the United States
Fax: (202) 588 7870 Chancery

5) Mr. George Fergusson
HM Consul-General British Consulate-General, Boston
Fax: (617) 621 0220

2. Additional summaries of confirmed deaths by Province can be viewed at: http://media.minghui.org/gb/d-stats/death_namelist_province.htm#Fujianm

Greetings to you. This is an overseas letter being faxed to every unit and family in Wuhan.

Ms. Lin Wenrong, 35, graduated from the Academy of Music in Wuhan and came to Germany to continue her further studies in 2002. During the Spring Festival she went back to Wuhan to visit her family and relatives. Originally she planned to come back to Germany, but up until now she has not returned. Based on information provided by people who know about her recent situation, the police arrested and detained her just before the Spring Festival, upon her arrival in Wuhan. Currently, no-one knows her whereabouts. The reason for her detention is that she is a Falun Gong practitioner.

Information received has reported that the Political-legal Committee of Wuhan City and the Public Security Bureau released an official document that ordered police to register the names of all Falun Gong practitioners in Wuhan City and have them write a “repentance letter.” If the practitioners refused to sign the letter, they would be sent to a forced brainwashing class. Lin Wenrong was detained because of this recent document.

As Lin’s friends in Germany, we have launched an emergency rescue effort and reported Lin’s detention to the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs and related international human rights organisations.

As far as we know, Lin’s arrest and the current persecution of Falun Gong in Wuhan City has so many victims involved and causes so much serious damage that the city government is suspected of committing genocide. Consequently, Falun Gong practitioners have submitted a lawsuit to the World Organisation to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong, calling on this organization to conduct an investigation into those involved in the crime and to seek a remedy in a court of law.

The World Organisation to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong was set up on January 20, 2003. This organisation will systematically investigate the persecution of Falun Gong as well as related organisations, groups and individuals. The World Organization will conduct an investigation into the following: Jiang Zemin, the 610 Office which was created by Jiang specifically to persecute Falun Gong practitioners, the National Security Bureau, the Ministry of State for Security, the courts, psychiatric hospitals, the media which slander Falun Gong, those directly or indirectly inflicting physical, mental or economic persecution on Falun Gong practitioners and their families. Based on concrete evidence, the World Organization will send the criminals to trial, punish the evildoers and alert the world to the ongoing holocaust.

Since its establishment, the World Organization started to investigate the overseas property holdings of the evildoers and their families. The outcome of the investigation will be announced. Besides, based on the customary international law that dealt with Nazi war criminals, the sources of their property will be investigated and the property will be frozen or even confiscated for reasons of compensation.

On October 18, 2002, all the persecuted practitioners and their relatives submitted a lawsuit to The United States District Court against Jiang Zemin who stands accused of committing genocide. The Plaintiffs’ attorney served Jiang Zemin with a summons on October 22 while he was in Chicago, during his visit to the U.S. On January 13, 2003, the plaintiffs’ attorney met the judge for the initial scheduling conference on Jiang’s default. The court has listed the second scheduling conference on March 13.

Falun Gong practitioners have also filed a lawsuit against another nine Chinese officials, including Zeng Qinghong, Luo Gan and Li Lanqing. Among them, Chao Chihfei, Hupei Provincial Police Department Supervisor, committed human rights abuses rising to the level of violations against International Law, like torture, and crimes against humanity. Chao Chihfei was charged with persecuting to death a Falun Gong practitioner in Hupei, Peng Min, also his mother. On December 21, 2001, the judge in The United States District Court found him guilty as charged on Chao’s default and Chao has to pay US $50,000,000. In July, 2001, during his visit to New York, Chao was prosecuted and served with a summons. The next day, Chao hurried back to China by airplane and had never entered America since then. The information on the prosecution against Jiang Zemin and some Chinese officials is being withheld from the Chinese population.

Since July of 1999, some of the Chinese authorities have subjected Falun Gong practitioners to brutal persecution out of jealousy and desire for personal fame and gain. In the past three years, over 1,000 people have been beaten to death, over 100,000 have been sent to prisons, labour camps and psychiatric hospitals, and hundreds of people have been deprived of the basic right to live a normal life.

Falun Gong has spread to over 60 countries around the world and earned over 800 awards.

The International Education Development Authority made the following official statement: “The Self-immolation in Tiananmen Square was staged by the Chinese (Jiang’s) government.” In the video deconstruction of the CCTV “coverage” of the event, it appears that Liu Chunling collapsed not from the flames but from being bludgeoned by a man in a military overcoat. The plastic bottle between the legs of the man setting himself ablaze appeared to have not melted. More amazingly, the 12-year-old Liu Siying, who was severely burned, was able sing a song in her interview after doctors performed a tracheotomy, but a pediatric surgeon said that, if that were true, the child wouldn’t be capable of speaking let alone singing. All of these exposures only serve to illustrate that the so-called “Self-immolation” was staged to discredit Falun Gong. The authorities have resorted to tried and tested Communist methods, such as slander, forgery, and deceitful.

We are calling on all kind people with a sense of justice to offer the World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong information related to suspected criminals, such as their names or photos. In this way, the information can be posted and checked on the web sites: http://www.upholdjustice.org/Chinese_index.htm,
jubao@upholdjustice.org, http://www.fawanghuihui.org)

Dear friends, please uphold justice, spread the truth and identify with “Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance” so as to bring yourselves a bright future. Please bear in mind that Falun Dafa is good.

Thanks for reading this fax from a far-off country.

Overseas Chinese.
Contact address: wudie@gmx.net

Chinese version available at
http://www.yuanming.net/articles/200302/17692.html

On the morning of February 25 2003, Dafa practitioners in Gothenburg and the surrounding cities went to the Chinese Consulate to appeal against Hong Kong’s Article 23 legislation, which is being pushed through regardless of the democracy and freedom promised to the Hong Kong people. Because the Chinese Consulate is situated in an industrial area, many cars and trucks passed us. On passing, the drivers kindly showed their support by giving the thumbs up sign, waving in a friendly manner and beeping their car horns.

Chinese version available at http://yuanming.net/articles/200302/17727.html

Chinese version available at http://www.yuanming.net/articles/200302/17770.html

Dear [name omitted],

Thank you for your letter regarding the case of Charles Li. The United States government shares your concern about the arrest of Charles Li in China. In October 2001, the Department of State designated China a country of particular concern under the International Religious Freedom Act for extremely severe violations of religious freedom, including its treatment of Falun Gong. [Falun Gong is not a religion. For more information on the nature of Falun Gong, please click here].

The Department of State, U.S. officials in Beijing, and the Consulates General in Chengdu, Guangzhou, Shanghai and Shenyang consistently urge the central and local authorities to respect the citizens’ rights to religious freedom. U,S, officials in Washington and Beijing have continued to protest individual cases of abuse. On many occasions, the Department of State protested government actions to curb freedom of religion, including the arrests of Falun Gong followers.

In the continuing effort to encourage religious freedom throughout China, the U.S. Embassy welcomes information about abuses of religious freedoms, such as the case of Charles Li. I will forward this information to the relevant officials in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labour in the Department of State in Washington D.C.

Sincerely,
Charles A. Heimbold, Jr.

The hearts of all Austrian Falun Dafa Practitioners are very close to their Romanian fellow practitioners. We are very pleased to know that you are overcoming all obstacles and we also thank our benevolent Master for this. The Austrian Falun Dafa Association wants to congratulate the founding of the Romanian Falun Dafa Association and we wish you all the best in further validating the Fa!

A lotus flower rises up in Romania!

Ms. Liu Jie, 37 years old, died mysteriously in police custody after being arrested for distributing Falun Gong flyers

LONDON (EFIC) – During the Chinese Spring Festival in 2003, Liu Jie, a 37-year-old woman practitioner was tortured to death for peacefully distributing greeting cards with the Chinese characters for "Truthfulness-Benevolence-Forbearance" on them.

Ms. Liu was an employee of the Shuangcheng City Beer Factory in Heilongjiang Province. On February 6, 2003, while distributing a New Year greeting card with the characters “Truthfulness-Benevolence-Forbearance” – the guiding principles of Falun Dafa – to people from their own mini-van, she and her husband were reported to the police, who then took away the couple and their van.

Ms. Liu was detained at the Second Detention Centre.

Ms. Liu’s husband does not practise Falun Gong, so he was released after being illegally detained for one day in the police department, and being illegally fined 1,000 Yuan.

On February 17, 2003, the police informed Ms. Liu's family of her death.

Eighty-three practitioners of Falun Dafa are known to have died from police torture and abuse in Heilongjiang Province. Ten of those deaths, including Ms. Liu, have occurred in Shuangcheng City.

Ms. Liu’s family members say she was probably tortured to death days before February 17.

Background

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa (about), is a practice of meditation and exercises with teachings based on the universal principle of “Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance.” It is a practice that was taught in private for thousands of years before being made public in 1992 by Mr. Li Hongzhi. Falun Gong has roots in traditional Chinese culture, but it is distinct and separate from other practices such as the religions of Buddhism and Taoism. Since its introduction in 1992, it quickly spread by word of mouth throughout China, and is now practised in over 50 countries.

With government estimates of as many as 100 million practising Falun Gong, China’s President Jiang Zemin outlawed the peaceful practice in July 1999 (report), fearful of anything touching the hearts and minds of more citizens than the Communist Party. Unable to crush the spirit of millions who had experienced improved health and positive life changes from Falun Gong, Jiang’s regime has intensified its propaganda campaign to turn public opinion against the practice while quietly imprisoning, torturing and even murdering those who practise it.

The European Falun Gong Information Centre has verified details of 581 deaths (report / sources) since the persecution of Falun Gong in China began in 1999. Government officials inside China, however, report that the actual death toll is well over 1,600, while expert sources estimate that figure to be much higher. Hundreds of thousands have been detained, with more than 100,000 being sentenced to forced labour camps, typically without trial.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT THE EUROPEAN FALUN GONG INFORMATION CENTRE
Peter Jauhal 44 (0) 7739 172 452.
More contacts. http://www.falungonginfo.net/europe.htm
Email: europe@falungonginfo.net

We Falun Dafa practitioners from Jilin City, Jilin Province, China, want to sue Jiang and his criminal regime. Below are the facts of what we have endured in this persecution, which are offered as proof of Jiang's guilt.
My name is Guo Yunqing. I was born on January 22, 1957, have a high school education, and am an employee of Jilin Provincial Metal Construction Company. I have been cultivating Falun Dafa since 1998. My wife Du Hongfang (now sadly serving a second term in a labour camp) and I went to Beijing to appeal peacefully, to exercise my Constitutional rights, although we were illegally checked many times en route.

I went to Beijing to appeal the second time in October 1999, and was abducted by the Beijing's Sanjianfang Police Station and the Jilin City Police. After conducting an illegal body search, they detained me in the Jilin Province Liaison Office in Beijing overnight. They sent me back to Jilin City the next day, together with more than 30 other practitioners who had also peacefully appealed. As soon as we reached the Jilin City Train Station, we were handcuffed and videotaped by hundreds of armed policemen, and treated like common criminals! The Jilin City TV Station and Jiangcheng Daily newspaper cooperated with police to slander our legal appeal activities in the local media. The Yanjiang Police Station of Changyi District, Jilin City accused me of "disturbing social order" and detained me for 15 days. Immediately after my release, I went back to Beijing to appeal. But because all routes were blocked to prevent any more practitioners from entering Beijing, we had to return to Jilin City. As soon as I returned home, I was arrested again and illegally detained in Jilin City's No.3 Detention Centre. In the middle of December 1999, I was arrested yet again by the Jilin City Police, who accused me of "damaging law enforcement effort." I was locked in Jilin's No.1 Detention Centre for 4 months and was released as "innocent" in March 2000.

I went to Beijing on September 26, 2000, for the fourth time to appeal peacefully. On the morning of October 1st, around 8 a.m., I unfurled a 5-meter-long banner that said, "Falun Dafa is Good!" Several dozen police began beating me, some with long iron bars hidden in their sleeves to strike my head repeatedly. My head and entire body were bleeding. My clothes were soaked with blood. I passed out on the spot and was carried by the police to Beijing's Qianmen Police Station. Shirking any responsibility for me, the police threw me in a quiet place while I was still unconscious and left me for the night.

On October 28, 2000, I was abducted by the Changyi District Police Station, Jilin City, while clarifying the truth to people. The Chief Officer of the Changyi District Police Station Political Security Section Du Xingze gave orders to torture me into submission. They cuffed my left hand to a heating pipe, and then several police held me up by my feet and swung my body back and forth for 20 minutes. It was so painful that I lost consciousness. Even now, the middle finger on my left had can barely bend. The police, who had no sense of humanity, also put burning hot mustard powder into my eyes and nose. After all these tortures, they sent me to the Detention Centre at midnight. Following 14 days of illegal detention in the No.3 Detention Centre, I was later sentenced to one year in the Jilin City Forced Labour Camp. I was forced to attend the Brainwashing program, where I was subjected to all sorts of tortures. Because I never gave up, I was transferred on March 27, 2000, to the Liaoyuan City Forced Labour Camp Brainwashing Class. I endured numerous tortures, but still firmly cultivated Dafa. I walked out of that labour camp on October 26, 2001, in a dignified manner.

Because I continued to cultivate Dafa after being released, Police Officer Zhang Shoubin and others from the Hadawan Police Station, Changyi District, Jilin City, tried many times to arrest me, but they were never again successful. They then began to illegally harass my brother-in-law and sister-in-law many times. They followed my 12-year-old son and harassed him. My son had to drop out of school and has now been forced to leave home to avoid further persecution. Since July 22, 1999 the Changyi District Political and Judiciary Committee and the Hadawan Police Station have extorted from my family more than 5000 Yuan [ten months' salary for an average urban worker].

My wife Du Hongfang was born in 1962, has a high school education, and also is an employee of Jilin Provincial Metal Construction Company. She has been cultivating Falun Dafa since April 25, 1999. She went to Beijing to appeal peacefully on July 22, 1999, although she was illegally checked on the way many times. She went to Beijing to appeal the second time on October 10, 1999, and was illegally detained for 15 days. She went back to Beijing to appeal immediately after her release, but because all routes were blocked to prevent any more practitioners from entering Beijing, she had to return to Jilin City. As soon as she returned home, she was arrested again and illegally sent to a brainwashing class. She was illegally detained in January 2000 for 10 days. She went to Beijing to peacefully appeal again in February 2000, but was arrested in Fushun Train Station. She was then illegally detained in Jilin City and sentenced to one year in Provincial Changchun City Heizuizi Female Forced Labour Camp. She was forced to submit to the brainwashing program and endured numerous tortures. Because she kept cultivating Dafa, her term was extended for 10 months before she was able to walk out of the labour camp in a dignified manner. She was arrested, beaten and tortured by the Changyi Police subdivision in May of 2002, before being illegally sentenced to 2 years in Heizuizi Women's Forced Labour Camp, where she remains today.

Based upon the above facts that attest to the brutal persecution by Jiang and his criminal regime, we sincerely ask the United States District Court to investigate our situation, and to convict Jiang and his criminal regime accordingly.

[address withheld to prevent further persecution from authorities to the authors of this letter]

http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2003/2/27/32644.html

The inhuman policemen tortured practitioners with many vicious methods, including beating and shocking practitioners with electrical batons; handcuffing practitioners hands behind their backs and hanging them in the air from a bed frame; inciting the common prisoners to beat practitioners; forcing practitioners to put on earphones to listen to the recordings of the slander and lies against Dafa and Teacher Li; depriving practitioners of sleep, and not allowing practitioners to use the toilet.
Dafa practitioner Chang Lan was forced to stand in a plastic bucket with a straight posture until she could not do it anymore.

Practitioner Cao Xianghui was sent to the "attack team" twice. The first time she was tortured severely, to the point where she could not move her lower body. Later she was once again sent to the "attack team" for staging a hunger strike in protest. They tortured her day and night, and her cries of pain could be heard from her cell constantly.

When Dafa practitioner Zhao Chunlan, 56, was sent to the "attack team," she had been on a hunger strike for 35 days. Her body was extremely weak. Both of her hands were handcuffed behind her back and she was suspended from a bed frame on the day that she arrived. She eventually lost consciousness from this torture. Because she protested with a hunger strike, the policemen force-fed her with water every five minutes and refused to allow her to use the toilet.

No matter what they did, they couldn't shake the firm determination of the steadfast Dafa practitioners.
Currently, the "attack team" is still committing crimes and harming Dafa practitioners.

http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2003/2/27/32649.html

Once fit and healthy, Ms. Xu had lost her memory and did not remember where she lived. She was in a sorry state. The police therefore looked up the interrogation notes and found her address. When they took her home, her husband wasn't there, so the police just left Ms. Xu in the care of her teenage daughter. When Ms. Xu's husband came back and found that his wife had been groundlessly persecuted to a state of mental collapse, he said angrily, "If I had known they had turned her into this, I would never have just let them walk away!"

Ms. Xu Lijuan and her husband are both laid-off workers, and are therefore in considerable financial difficulty. They have had to spend close to 10,000 Yuan to treat Ms. Xu, [500 Yuan is the average monthly income for an urban worker in China] who remains listless, and has lost part of her memory. She cannot take care of herself. Because Ms. Xu's husband has to take care of her and also their daughter, who is in school, he cannot go out to work to earn money. He is extremely distressed and exhausted. The family has to rely on the financial help of their relatives in order to survive.

Ms. Xu Lijuan believes in Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance. But just because she practised some peaceful exercises in a park, she has been abused to the point of mental collapse, bringing a catastrophe to her family. We hope that the international community, human rights organisations and all kindhearted people in the world will work together to end this evil drama of persecution that is so cruelly devastating innocent people.

http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2003/2/28/32684.html

Ms. Tian Shufang, a 69-year-old Dafa practitioner, can no longer walk because she was forced to sit on a board motionless for long periods of time in the prison cell. The authorities still conducted an illegal trial despite her terrible physical condition.

Demonic police in the detention centre also stapled Dafa practitioners' hands, stabbed their hands with toothpicks and then tore out the staples and toothpicks. They enjoyed torturing the practitioners and called it "acupuncture."

They also used a liquid containing nitric acid to rub onto the Dafa practitioners' philtrums. [The philtrum is the indentation directly below one's nose.] The practitioners' upper lips were burned badly. In addition, the nitric acid severely affected practitioners' respiratory tract after being inhaled.

The detention centre not only tortured Dafa practitioners' physically and mentally, but also tried to ruin them financially. They took away clothes and money sent from Dafa practitioners' families, even confiscating the practitioners' underpants that their families sent. One practitioner deposited 600 Yuan with the detention centre in December 2001. After being released, his family member went to the detention centre to get the money back, but the police altered the records and took possession of the money.

http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2003/2/28/32681.html

A few days later, Wu looked for me and asked, "Do you have any books that I may borrow to read?" I promptly delivered a copy of Zhuan Falun [The core text of Falun Gong] to him, and impressed upon him the importance of cherishing and protecting Falun Dafa books. I could see his joyous frame of mind when he received the book. After taking the book home, he continuously read Zhuan Falun seven times in a very short period of time, and was reading it deep into the night.

Several days later, when I went to collect the book from him, he asked, "I would like to read it a few more times. Can I return it to you in a couple of days?" I replied, "Let me give the book to you as a present." He firmly declined the offer, saying, "I have read countless books but none is as precious as this and I cannot accept it without paying for it." He said from the bottom of his heart, "I will keep this treasured book with the utmost care."

One day, when he came to my house wishing to learn the exercises, I played the videotape of Teacher demonstrating the exercises for him and at the same time taught him the exercises once. When he was leaving I gave him a copy of The Great Consummation Way of Falun Dafa. It was in this way that he began to look upon reputation and fame as trivial matters. He practises the exercises daily and can basically perform the five sets of exercises, and though he is 80 years old, he can perform the sitting meditation with both legs crossed.

There was another occasion when he told me: "Such good gong [Can be translated both as 'Cultivation energy' and a practise that cultivates such energy. Here is refers to the Falun Gong exercises], such good Fa [Law and principles, here referring to the content of the Falun Gong books]; it is not good for me to be practising it alone. The public should know about it. What must I do?" His righteous actions and thoughts really moved me. So I asked him to let his family, his friends and relatives, and as many people as possible know that "Falun Dafa is great, Falun Dafa is the true Fa," and help them understand the facts and benefits of Falun Dafa. Thereafter, he distributed more than one hundred copies of the truth-clarifying materials. Wu's cousin is a political party official of his town, and when he heard that Falun Dafa is good, he travelled over 20 miles to borrow Zhuan Falun to read at home. It was passed on to his good friends and relatives to read, and all agreed it was a most precious and rare book. They asked to purchase seven copies of Zhuan Falun, but if that was not possible, they would accept seven photocopied volumes and even hand-copied volumes would do. They managed to photocopy the seven volumes of Zhuan Falun after much deliberation.

When we are clarifying the facts about Falun Dafa, the important point is to let the other party understand what Falun Gong is, and likewise we must let our friends and relatives know the true facts.

I remember one night before the 2000 New Year's Day. It was a windy and extremely cold night. The prison looked especially gloomy and miserable in the winter night. A head prisoner snatched the warm clothes sent by my family. At night, I was hungry and cold. I had never felt this miserable in my entire life. At night, I was made to share a thin blanket with a violent criminal. The blanket was wet, dirty and smelled terrible. There was no bed and people slept on the concrete floor. Unable to sleep, I put on a shirt and went to a corner of the cell, sat in double lotus position and began the sitting meditation [one of the five Falun Gong exercises]. The head prisoner (a drug addict) saw this and he poured cold water on my head. I kept on sitting in lotus position and remained calm. I did not feel cold, nor was I bothered by his behaviour. I had a smile on my face, which greatly surprised the head prisoner.

During my detention, every time I stood by the window and looked out, I would feel the pain and loneliness of having no freedom. Many times the policemen forced us to write repentance letters and guarantee documents[1]. If the letter met their requirements, they would report it to their superior requesting for a release. A mere repentance letter would set people free. It was quite a temptation to anyone. For several nights I was thinking: Could my faith in Dafa be shaken by temptation? Should I believe the lies of the evil persecutors? Should I be practical and flexible? Should I manage to get out and then practise Falun Dafa again? I did a lot of deep thinking. One night, I had a dream. I was climbing a big mountain with all my energy. Every step was difficult and heavy (I realise now that I had strong attachments). The path got steeper as I climbed further, and it became harder and harder. I wanted to turn back but was reluctant to do so. At that moment, I heard a compassionate voice --- somebody was reciting a poem by Yang Wanli of the Song Dynasty:

I felt a huge relief when I woke up. I was determined that I should keep on climbing. No matter how difficult and dangerous every step was, as long as I had Teacher and Falun Dafa in mind, I feared nothing. At that moment, I was as if situated halfway across a high mountain ridge; I should not think that turning back would be easy and comfortable.

("Climbing Mountain Tai," Hongyin, draft translation)

Enlightened by the dream, I rejected my wrong thoughts of turning back while facing hardship. A firm righteous thought rose in my mind that I would overcome all difficulties and cultivate to the end.

Soon after that, I was released and returned to my family during the Chinese New Year.

The above is my personal understanding. Please kindly point out any mistakes.

Nov. 25, 2002

Note:

[1] Three statements (also called guarantee or repentance statements) are documents coerced under extreme pressure, torture and brainwashing, designed by Chinese authorities to ensure that detained Falun Gong practitioners be appropriately brainwashed. The statements consist of a letter of repentance, a guarantee to never again practise Falun Gong, and a list containing names and addresses of all family, friends and acquaintances of the detainee who practises Falun Gong. This system was concocted by the "610 Office."

A significant number of Chinese practitioners in our country are claiming asylum. Practitioners, either those claiming asylum or those who are not, have different ideas and attitudes about this issue. During this Fa-rectification period, I think we should discard all notions that we have developed in our personal cultivation, and think of this asylum issue from the perspective of Fa-rectification and saving sentient beings.

In that Minghui article I just mentioned, the author writes, “Political Asylum is a protection given according to international human rights covenants, which is not confined by national borders. It holds the respect for the value of man as a priority, manifests a spirit of international humanitarianism. Although it has the word ‘political’ in it, it is obvious that it is by no means equivalent to ‘politics’ by its usual meaning, and it is not a ‘luxury’ treatment at all. It is just a guarantee of the most modest right of existence. In other words, it is a right that man should have. ‘Special residency permit’ is also like this. This shows that Dafa practitioners are perfectly eligible for such rights, and we should enjoy the rights in an open and dignified manner. This is not politics, but rights that we deserve. When we ask for support from politicians in the international stage, and clarify the facts to them, we are not playing ‘politics’ or ‘liaise with foreign powers’. Claiming our rights is not anything ‘political’ either.”

Let’s also look at the definition of refugees in the “International Refugee Law”. The refugee is “any person who has a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion, and who is outside the country of his/her nationality”.

The persecution of Falun Gong by Jiang’s evil political gang is unprecedented. This fact alone indicates that all overseas practitioners holding Chinese passports have a legitimate right and qualification to claim asylum in a dignified manner in any country that is signatory to the international human rights covenants, so that they could avoid having to go home to suffer persecution.

On 16 January 2003, Minghui Net reported that 5 Falun Gong practitioners claiming asylum in Japan was told by the Immigration Bureau in Tokyo that their claim for asylum was not successful, but they were advised to apply for “residency status”. During their talk with relevant officials, they were told that Falun Gong practitoiners’ danger of being persecuted could not be proved and recognised, so their asylum claim could not be ratified. However, the Japanese authorities allowed them to change their visa status and apply for “residency status”. This was unprecedented in Japan, and showed that the Japanese government was willing to provide humanitarian support to Falun Gong practitioners who are suffering persecution. Japanese Falun Gong practitioners expressed thanks to the Japanese government for their effort, but also expressed regrets for their failure to fully realise the human rights violations by Jiang Zemin’s government of Falun Gong practitioners.

I think the Japanese government understands very well the persecution in China, but does not want to offend Jiang’s regime because of Falun Gong. Of course, Japanese practitioners need to continue clarifying the truth to the Japanese government. Because, if a foreign government grants refugee status to a Dafa practitioner, that means this country recognises the persecution in China as a very severe breach of human rights covenants, and it is a blow to Jiang’s regime, which has been boasting that “the Chinese people are enjoying the best human rights situation in history”. In other words, every successful asylum claim is a blow to the evil.

In our country, while rescuing practitioners already in prison is something every one of us is willing to do, helping fellow practitioners who are facing imminent danger seems to be something controversial in the community of practitioners. Some practitioners think that the motives of some of those who are claiming asylum are not entirely pure, and that they are doing so for selfishness, in order that they can stay in this country permanently, that they are trying to use Dafa to gain a wonderful life overseas for themselves, because “they are not yet in a situation where they have absolutely no way out”. There is a tendancy to think that those practitioners whose asylum claim have been refused or whose cases have been delayed for a long time must have suffered all these tribulations because their motives were not pure, that all their sufferings have been caused by their own attachments, and that their problems can be solved only when they themselves improve on the Fa, etc., etc.

It is true that many everyday people are claiming asylum on the fake grounds of being Falun Gong practitioners in order to achieve their own personal goals. Everyone will have to be responsible for what he or she does. I do not want to talk about everyday people here in this article.

We know our fellow practitioners best. They, like everybody else, are clarifying the facts and saving sentient beings overseas. Most of those practitioners who have applied for asylum here did so because they had no choice, and some others did so because of other reasons. These practitioners are in great hardship. Before their refugee status are granted, they are not allowed to work and have to rely on the meagre benefits from the government. Because of some new regulations put in place, some practitioners cannot apply for even this small amount of support. Also, before they get their refugee status, they are not allowed to go abroad, so are not able to go to other countries to do things for Dafa. Some of these practitioners have been shouldering a lot of costs for our Dafa work, but now their financial situation is in even greater difficulties. This is a serious interference to our Dafa work. We should realise that this is also persecution. We cannot refuse to help them just because they have this attachment or that. We should support them. Just as Master said, “The next person's things are your things, and your things are his things.” (Teaching the Fa at the Washington, D.C. Fa Conference) We are one body. The number of overseas practitioners is already quite small. Master once said, “overseas students should try not to go to Mainland China, because you are needed in exposing the evil” (Teaching the Fa at the Great Lakes Fa Conference in North America). And the above-mentioned practitioners are playing an extremely important in Dafa work in our country. Are we really waiting for them to be deported to China? Are we going to come to our senses only after they get arrested in China, and start a rescue project then? Also, why do practitioners have to become impoverished and without any way out to be recognised by other practitioners as having a justifiable reason to claim asylum? On the human level, even the United Nations is not that fastidious. Isn’t the above line of thinking complying with the principles of the old forces? As fellow practitioners, we should do our best to help them solve their status problems. They deserve to have a relatively good environment to do Dafa work. And what they ask for is only a legal status in this country.

In the everyday people’s society, Dafa disciples deserve to have beautiful and blissful lives, either in terms of moral qualities or living conditions. If they enjoy health, financial well-being, and harmonious family lives, they would be in a better situation to validate the Fa. However, the old forces don’t understand Fa-rectification cultivation, and do not understand what is happening in the cosmos. All that they know are principles of personal cultivation. Using “testing Dafa” as an excuse, they want to “destroy their [Falun Gong practitioners'] reputation, remove their sources of economic support, and annihilate their bodies”, in order to damage the image of Dafa, and prevent sentient beings from being saved. Their persecution is intended to make it hard for us to devote our whole heart and mind to the work of rectifying the Fa and saving sentient beings. They are wasting our precious time which could be otherwise well utilised to save sentient beings, and they are persecuting the beings who could otherwise have had opportunities of salvation.

Now let us look at this issue from another perspective. If those practitioners do have an intention to stay in this country permanently, and if they want to stay out of their personal attachments, they need to eliminate those attachments and cannot go to any extremes. However, if a Dafa disciple wants to stay somewhere, the understanding side of the sentient beings there are very happy, and they have been longing for Dafa disciples to bring the Fa to them, because that is an opportunity for them to be saved. For instance, why do we care so much about establishing Falun Dafa Associations in different countries? It is because setting up a legal organisation can provide local practitioners with a legally protected cultivation environment, and also it shows that Dafa has established a foothold in that country, which has profound meanings for the future of that country. In the same line of logic, if this country accepts Dafa practitioners, aren’t they establishing a good foundation for their own future? It is only that some of our practitioners haven’t really realised the heavy responsibilities on their shoulders. But we can always improve together through our group study and experience-sharing.

I think practitioners should not accuse other practitioners of trying to take advantage of Dafa. Aren’t these accusations made out of human thinking? The “attachments” of fellow practitioners are by no means their fundamental qualities, and even those practitioners themselves should not recognise them and should eliminate them throught cultivation or with righteous thoughts. We should not regard the attachments as part of our fellow practitioners themselves. Aren’t these “attachments”, whether yours or mine, being used as excuses by the evil to persecute Dafa and Dafa disciples and being used as tools by the old forces to do damage to our “whole body”? In fact, many Chinese practitioners do not want to be said to be trying to take advantage of Dafa, and have been doing everything they can to keep their legal status in ways other than claiming asylum, in so doing wasting a lot of time and efforts on this and enduring a lot of unnecessary hardships, which are very hard to understand for practitioners not in similar situations. Dafa disciples in Fa-rectification period are doing everything to safeguard Dafa. Even if some practitioners did have some impure motives when they applied for asylum, they have been constantly improving and have become real Fa-rectification disciples. Their attachments or impure thoughts can by no means regarded as justifiable reasons for the old forces to persecute them.

Some practitioners support those who are claiming asylum, but they haven’t understood this from the Fa. I heard a practitioner offering the following advice to another practitioner, “You need to think whether you will be able to sustain the sufferings of that magnitude. If you can’t, you could drop down into tribulations. If you think you have cultivated to that level where you can sustain it, then you can go back.” I think this is a seriously midguiding remark, especially for those whose understanding of the Fa is not yet deep. Because we do not recognise this persecution at all. Are we doing Fa-rectification cultivation just to sustain sufferings and tribulations? Master said, “When Dafa is persecuted, the first thing Dafa disciples should think of is saving sentient beings and how to validate Dafa.” (Touring North America to Teach the Fa) This is what is really required of us according to the Fa. We have not come to this human world to suffer and to eliminate our karma, and we have not come here to cultivate ourselves or to improve ourselves, either. Instead, we have come to the human world to help Master rectify the Fa and save sentient beings. In compliance with the principles of the old cosmos, the old forces want us to establish our mighty virtue through being persecuted. But Master requires us to establish our mighty virtue through breaking through the old forces’ arrangements and saving sentient beings. We definitely cannot think the old forces and the evil has any helpful role to play in the Fa-rectification and our improvement! If we think that way, our minds are still stagnating in the stage of personal cultivation, and we woud be as good as having acknowledged the arrangements made by the old forces.

I think we should look at this issue from a righteous perspective. Practitioners are not claiming asylum in order to hide away and escape persecution. Those evil forces which are persecuting us count as nothing and they don’t deserve to test Dafa and Dafa disciples. On the contrary, claiming asylum is resisting the evil, and plays a role of safeguarding Dafa in the period of Fa-rectification. When I saw that some practitioners in another country equated claiming asylum to writing the so-called “Guarantee Statement”, I found it ridiculous, because is simply absurd.

Some practitioners think that the people and public opinion in the country are hostile to asylum seekers, and that we should not become a “burden” and “trouble” for the government and the tax-payers, so as not to create a negative image for Falun Gong among the people. It is true that, in our country, there are almost daily discussions on radio, TV and in newspapers on the issue of asylum, and it has truly become a very sensitive issue. However, in those discussions, though people are very annoyed by the fact that many bogus asylum-seekers are entering the country every year, they almost always try to make it clear that they are happy to accept genuine ones who can prove that they would face real danger of persecution if they have to go back. Master told us that everything in this world has come for Dafa. Therefore, the government and the media should support us. So we should not be finding reasons for them to justify their failure to support us.

I think we, as Dafa disciples, should have such a righteous thought: Wherever Dafa goes, Dafa should be welcomed. We should put ourselves in a proactive position in Fa-rectification. “Who is really the gallant lead in this gigantic play? I made this trip just for the sake of sentient beings.” (Descending to the Earthly World) “Dafa disciples are now sentient beings' only, sole hope for salvation.” (Righteous Thoughts) Having come to today’s historic stage in the Fa-rectification, we should be clearly aware of our mission of playing the main roles in this great drama. Isn’t this a good way to clarify the facts to the government, the public and the media in our country? When we explain to them why Falun Gong practitioners need help so as to guarantee their personal safety, we are also telling them what has been happening in China.

This is also giving a good opportunity to the government of our countries to show their support for Dafa. If they can give help to practitioners in difficulties, they are creating a wonderful future for themselves. However, if they send a Dafa particle into the hands of evil, they would be doing the worst thing to Dafa, and it will be very difficult to make up the losses. Things that happened in Germany, Iceland, Cambodia and Burma have brought huge losses to Dafa. In democratic countries, the governments are elected by people and therefore represent the people. If a government cannot understand the benefits Dafa has brought to the human race, fails to stand up against Jiang Zemin’s persecution of Falun Gong and his deprivation of the basic human rights of practitioners, and even commits wrong-doings under threat from Jiang’s regime, this government has completely lost its righteousness and justice. People have elected them so that they can express their kind ideas and opinions on their behalf. But if they cannot represent their people in a righteous manner, where will they belong when this drama ends? And what about the people who elected them?

And, talking about how a nation or a country chooses to reposition themselves in Fa-rectification, doesn’t it depend on how we clarify the facts to them? Of course, we should be clear in mind that they should support Dafa in the first place. But if we encounter difficulties, that means we haven’t clarified the facts clearly and widely enough. So long as we clarify the truth clearly, they should support Dafa. So what remains for us to do is to clarify the facts about Dafa and the persecution to them.

If the government thinks what is happening in China is too far away for them to offer any material support, they are in a perfect position to offer help to practitioners who are currently living in the country.

Now, in our country, quite a few Chinese practitioners have had their asylum claims refused by the Immigration Bureau. If we fail to act promptly, they could be sent back to China at any time. In the recent Minghui article which Master commented upon, it is said that “whether Dafa practitioners participate or not, each individual practitioner's every thought is playing an important, decisive role.” “For projects that we cannot participate in, we should still look at them with righteous thoughts, so as to prevent the negating of our strength.”

Their cases were not handled properly, partly because they don’t speak the language and don’t understand the legal procedures in this country. They need help, especially from practitioners who are citizens of this country. Apart from sending forth righteous thoughts to support them, we could write letters to our Members of Parliament regarding these practitioners’ asylum claims, asking the MPs to write to the Immigration Bureau. We can explain to the immigration authorities why, as a citizen of this country, I think our government should grant these people refugee status and allow them to stay indefinitely in this country. We can also explain the situation in China and overseas, so that the government can truly realise how evil Jiang’s regime really is.

Almost all practitioners who had their applications refused by the immigration authorities found one sentence in the refusal letters: “you do not have a well-founded fear of being persecuted if you go back.” This indicates that we need to clarify the facts to the government in more depths. I think every practitioner can give good reasons why Chinese practitioners have a well-founded reason to believe that they could be persecuted should they be sent back to China. At the same time, we can write personal references for those practitioners to the minister or other people in charge of immigration issues.

We cannot regard this as merely practitioners’ personal issue any more, and we cannot continue to be callous about the hardship of those practitioners who have claimed asylum. We should care about the practitioners and their family who are in great difficulties. Whatever help we can offer, be it material or spiritual, even if it’s just a few words with care and warmth, could let them feel the boundless and compassionate power of Dafa, rid them of the terrible feeling of loneliness, and help them strengthen their righteous belief in the Fa. Because whatever we are offering them beams with compassion and the sense of “whole body”, which are results of our cultivation in this great Fa! Isn’t this also a proactive effort to break up the old forces’ arrangements?

Now let’s talk about this issue from the perspective of practitioners who are applying for asylum.

I think every practitioner claiming asylum should ask him or herself a question, “Why am I claiming asylum?” And we should understand this issue from the Fa.

I’ve talked with many practitioners who have applied for asylum, but most of them have never thought carefully about this issue. Some said they applied because other practitioners advised them to do so. Some feel that claiming asylum is not something glorious – who wants to become a refugee? What’s more, many other practitioners don’t understand the difficult situation they are in, and choose to imagine what attachments they have. And this makes them feel that they seem to be doing something that is not dignified. Some practitioners are wondering, once they have started the application, when they will be able to go back. They are in a situation in which going back doesn’t seem to be an option, and staying is not something desirable, either. They feel very bitter at heart, and feel that they have lost a lot. They cannot break up the obstacles in their hearts which have been caused by the attrition between human hearts. Some practitioners think they will just let it be and accept whatever happens – if the Immigration Bureau refuses my application, I’ll just go home, “What’s the big deal?” They have taken a passive role in this whole matter, and their passive attitude makes them unable to clarify the facts actively. Some other practitioners think that, as they are not good at the language and don’t understand the legal stuff involved, they don’t have to put in effort into this matter, because “There are fellow practitioners who have offered help.”

In view of all the above, we organised these practitioners to study the Fa together and share their understanding and experience in this matter.

A practitioner had her application refused, and then her appeal case was also turned down (a combination of unlikely circumstances occurred during this process, and also this practitioners doesn’t speak the language), which means that she can be deported by the immigration authorities at any time. She doesn’t know what to do, and her husband didn’t take it seriously, either, and didn’t even tell other practitioners, thinking that launching another appeal would be too troublesome, and that it is nothing to fear if he were to go back to China with his wife.

It’s true that, for Dafa disciples, going back to China isn’t anything to fear. But Fa-rectification cultivation shouldn’t be confined to the narrow scope of personal cultivation, in which letting go of life and death is the defining factor. Dafa disciples can let go of life and death, because they’ve seen through the human phenomenon of life and death, and they don’t care about the sufferings in such a brief moment in the long journey of life. However, the human bodies of Dafa disciples are used to validate the Fa, and, whatever we do, we must think of the sentient beings waiting to be saved.

Now that you have chosen to apply for asylum, you should deal with it with a sense of responsibility towards the sentient beings. Let’s think about this: When Dafa is being persecuted in the human world, we, as Dafa particles, ask for help from other countries. If this country does not care and does not offer any help, what will their future be like? This will bring us immense losses. We represent Dafa in the human world, and we are playing such magnificent roles. We want to save sentient beings, and whether or not we can do it successfully depends on whether we can really consider for them, use our hearts to tell sentient beings the goodness of Dafa, and let them support Dafa.

One practitioner once said that, after he began his asylum application, he felt that he had been connected with the destiny of that country, and felt a great sense of responsibility. Every Dafa disciple should understand his or her own role correctly.

Therefore, how can we take it lightly and give up those sentient beings just because we don’t want trouble? We should try our best to appeal, and regard this process as an opportunity to clarify the facts and do it whole-heartedly.

Talking about clarifying the facts, there is another phenomenon among the practitioners claiming asylum in our country, which is that some practitioners have not put their hearts into this effort, and have been relying on other practitioners. With other people’s help, a lot of materials have been collected and sent to the Immigration Bureau, but the person doesn’t even know what is written in those materials himself. Aren’t you supposed to be clarifying the facts to the government? Can it ever be right if you don’t know what you are going to talk about yourself?

When you apply for asylum, you need to go through an interview, in which the applicant is required to state his or her reasons for claiming asylum. If you can tell the Immigration Officers what Dafa is really about, and what the nature of Jiang’s regime is, aren’t you validating Dafa to them, and manifesting the spirit of Dafa through your action? Some practitioners cannot even name all five exercises during the interview, and some others cannot tell the whole story of why and how the 25th April incident happened. Some of them cannot even remember what they said themselves in their statement that they have submitted to the Immigration Bureau. These things make the Immigration Officers believe you are a fake Falun Gong practitioner. Can this be a responsible attitude? How can we save sentient beings with such an attitude?

One practitioner saw his asylum application as a good opportunity to clarify the facts to the government and to save sentient beings, and took it very seriously from the very beginning. He prepared every document carefully, and, during his interview, instead of following the Immigration Officer’s line of thinking, took complete control over the meeting, telling the officer what Dafa is, how Jiang Zemin has been persecuting Dafa, how his regime has been trying to extend the terror beyond the Chinese border, and why the persecution happened. He gave a lot of examples to explain how evil Jiang’s state terrorism has been, and how they have been committing genocide against a group people whose only agenda is to cultivate according to the principles of “Truthfulness, Compassion, Tolerance”. He told the officer that, if the Chinese dictators were to be appeased and allowed to get away with their systematic anti-human policies of genocide, then the whole world would suffer the consequences sooner or later. The Immigration Officer took a lot of interest in his testimony, and said Falun Gong people’s analyses were truly great. As a result, his refugee status was granted soon afterwards. Therefore, every asylum applicant needs to be responsible in clarifying the facts. I suggest that practitioners in other countries also organise all practitioners applying for asylum to study the Fa together and sharing their thinking about the asylum issue and how better to clarify the facts.

Another thing is that we must look within ourselves. When a state persists, we need to search our own hearts to see whether we have some loopholes in our xinxing that has been taken advantage of by the old forces. I know that some practitioners whose applications are not ratified for a long time complain about the government. This isn’t the right thing to do, because it’s looking externally for reasons, and it won’t have any real effects. I understand that, before the application is ratified, practitioners may suffer a very painful feeling of uncertainty, because we all have human attachments left within ourselves. However, I think, as we are Fa-rectification Dafa disciples, we should maintain our righteous thoughts. No matter how hard it is, we should not consider ourselves, and should keep in mind Dafa and the sentient beings.

Of course, we should not be attached to the results, and always think about whether or not the Immigration Bureau will grant us legal status. Master said in Zhuan Falun, “it is an attachment if you think too much about them. Aren’t you attached to a pursuit if you think too much about it?” Master also said, “Get rid of any attachment you have, and don’t think about anything. Just do everything a Dafa disciple should do, and everything will be covered.” (Teaching the Fa at the Washington, D.C. International Fa Conference, “Guiding the Voyage”)

At the same time, we need to calm down and study the Fa every day, because studying the Fa well is a guarantee for maintaining powerful righteous thoughts and doing Dafa work effectively and efficiently. Master said, “When you do well in the Fa-rectification, I can see that it's always because you are able to understand the Fa from the Fa; and when you do somewhat poorly, I can see that it's because you aren't making a priority of Fa-study and you aren't able to understand the Fa from the Fa.” (Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Boston)

Master said, “To do well is to not walk down the path arranged by the old forces”. (Teaching the Fa at the Washington, D.C. Fa Conference, 2002) On this sensitive issue of asylum application, we must do well and walk down a righteous path. Because “This Great Fa of the cosmos is to leave for sentient beings at different levels in different periods of history a reference for when problems occur in different periods at different levels, and is to leave for beings ways of handling all kinds of situations that occur at different times in history.” (Teaching the Fa at the 2001 Canada Fa Conference)

Because of my personal limitations, and the fact that what I know is confined to my own country, the above personal sharing is just for your kind reference, and I welcome anyone to point out anything in it that is not in compliance with the Fa principles. I hope we could use our wisdom, which has come from our cultivation in the Great Fa, to save more sentient beings.

Chinese version available at:
http://www.yuanmingeurope.net/articles/200302/17702.html

1. Conform to the pure moral standard of a good person among everyday people

Dafa cultivation requires Dafa practitioners to first become good people in society and then improve their xinxing [mind or heart nature, moral character] and realms based on their moral standard, until they complete the process of cultivation and reach Consummation. So what is the standard for everyday people on the issue of family and marriage? In other words, what are Gods' requirement for mankind on this issue?

Gods have moral requirements for people that are explicitly and straightforwardly stated in the western world. We can take a look at examples in The Bible. In the Ten Commandments, the seventh commandment is "Thou shalt not commit adultery."

Adultery happens when a married person becomes sexually involved with someone outside his/her marriage. Jehovah told people that they couldn't abandon their wives unless they were unfaithful. The Bible teaches that God created humans, and a man and a woman would become one flesh after they were united in marriage. [Dafa practitioners do not take the Bible as guidance, but understand it to be a holy book - it is used here for the purpose of reference] God made them husband and wife, and people must not separate themselves. A man who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery and has done wrong unto his wife; a wife who divorces her husband and marries another man also commits adultery. Promiscuity and sexual misbehaviour (including sexual relations between unmarried persons and between persons of the same sex) are also considered offensive to God.

Can people violate the seventh commandment if they suffer psychologically and do not like their spouse? The answer is no. The so-called psychological suffering was never one of the excuses for divorce given by Gods. A married person who fails to carry out his responsibilities in marriage by leaving his family or abusing his spouse would be seen as committing a crime against gods. Judging by ancient Eastern moral standards, unhappy marriages are seen as the result of karma or sins of the two persons involved. People should pay back their debts to their spouse through their suffering during marriage instead of escaping with excuses.
In modern society of both the East and the West, many people no longer have the opportunity to know about and even display open contempt for Gods' standard for being a human being. In the ancient world, people who failed to abide by standards for a human being would be severely punished or even executed; yet, in modern society, people no longer treat these crimes as a great shame and instead claim them to be trivial things in individual life. They follow the prevailing society in its degeneration. A school magazine published a survey in the 1990's that claimed 68% of today's boys and 55% of girls age 13-18 commit sexual act(s) before marriage. More than half of married people have extramarital affairs. Living together before marriage has become a popular practice in both the East and the West.

As Dafa practitioners, we absolutely cannot acknowledge these degenerate moral standards and behaviours, because Dafa requires us to first become good persons in human society, become pure people who abide by the moral requirements set by gods and then become better people, until we reach the standard of great enlightened beings. That is why we absolutely cannot agree with the corrupt moral standards of modern people and cannot follow in their footsteps. This is not merely an issue of emotion; it is an issue of indulging in desires and being dominated by demon nature.

2. Be prudent and clear-minded: be responsible to ourselves, to others and to Dafa

We must know that sexual indulgence is not only immoral--it is a violation of Gods' basic moral standards for human beings. It is blatant insult towards Gods and provides those who do not believe in Gods with the opportunity to attack Gods. In other words, this is harm done to others as well as to the person who does such a thing.

In the modern world, selfishness is very common. Many people are controlled by various desires, including their pursuit of emotions and their sexual desires. They are irresponsible and only think about their own likes, interests and desires, and they rarely or never think about others' needs. In fact, both rape and sexual indulgence will create tremendous pain for the other person's spouse, as well as for the person's own parents. What is even more serious is that he insults Gods. As Dafa practitioners, Dafa requires us to think of others at all times and become selfless and altruistic, great enlightened beings. We must therefore first prohibit these corrupt and degenerate behaviours. If we cannot reach the standard for even human beings, then how could we be worthy of being cultivators? How could a true practitioner be willing to destroy Dafa's reputation, insult Master and abuse Master's benevolence through his indulgence in desire? This is self-evident, as both heaven's principles and human sentiment do not allow this to exist.

As for having different predestined relationships during our numerous lives and owing debts to other people: we as Dafa practitioners should not think about such issues during Fa-rectification cultivation, not to mention try to solve them. In fact, Master Li has never told us what kind of relationship we are to have with whom, because it doesn't benefit our cultivation. Other than cultivation and Fa-rectification, Master Li would solve all things that need to be balanced and resolved through our long reincarnation process and through his own suffering and sacrifices.

For a long time, Master has been "Taking care of all human affairs, looking after heavenly suffering." ("Colder in Higher Places" from Hong Yin) In order to save us, Master has done so much in taking care of us, for us to improve in cultivation, and has given us all the best things. Although we are in the stage of Fa-rectification, every one of us has remaining emotional attachments, human notions and other attachments to a different extent, but these are reserved for us so we can validate the Fa and clarify the truth in this world, so that we can continue to improve ourselves and make breakthroughs to higher levels. What we should do is that, while we strictly conduct ourselves according to the requirements of Dafa with every one of our thoughts, we cultivate, validate the Fa and offer salvation to people. Otherwise we would be submitting to demons and magnifying our attachments, using the excuses of emotional attachment and notions. We would do corrupt things that even everyday people should not do. That not only destroys Dafa's reputation and abuses Master's benevolence, but also provides the old forces with an excuse for persecuting us. Therefore, we must make strict demands on ourselves on this issue, and we must be alert and clear-headed.

More references:

About relationships between men and women:

"I want to talk about one more thing. There are many young disciples among practitioners. You should mind your personal lives. On the subject of intimacy, you must not go along with the already declined behavior of ordinary human society. You can have your own wife or husband--that's normal. It isn't a problem for you to cultivate while conforming to ordinary human society to the maximum extent. There's no problem for you to live as husband and wife. If you aren't husband and wife and have sexual relations, you'll be engaging in the filthiest behavior. This is something that is absolutely disapproved of by gods. Not a single god will condone this. So you all have to pay attention to this. The cultivation process of a person is the history of a cultivator. Countless gods are watching every thought and every act of Dafa disciples. As cultivators who are determined to reach consummation, why can't you pass this test?" (Lecture at the US East Coast Conference)

Question: Quite a few disciples residing in North America cohabit with their partners without being married. Some even have children already. Is there any need to obtain a marriage certificate retroactively?

Teacher: Yes. I tell you to maximally conform to the way of ordinary human society for your cultivation. Let's talk about it in a different way. In the past, in China, when people got married, they needed the approval of both heaven and earth. That was why getting married was called "bowing to heaven and earth." They needed acceptance from parents--they had to bow to their parents. In Western societies, they needed it to be accepted by their Lord and God. So they went to church and pledged to the Lord. The Lord or God would have been your witness, testifying to your union. In today's Western societies, these norms have been broken. Without ceremonies, two people can just move in together. Without any restrictions, when they're happy, they're together--if not, one can just find another partner. This is unacceptable. As students of Dafa, you should at least understand this little bit of principle. Sexual freedom in the West has created a tremendous amount of karma. It appears to me that people coming from the East are even worse. You have to pay attention to these matters. Humans are said to have declined--isn't it a problem if cultivators do even worse than everyday people? Of course, you may think, "Even though we didn't go through the formalities, our attitude and conduct are the same as if we were married. We've had children together and it's no longer possible for us to separate." But you did not go through the proper procedures. If you feel that you can be responsible to each other, I would say this is quite good, but why don't you go through the procedures? At least allow ordinary human society consider you a legal husband and wife. Isn't this how it should be? In other words, you shouldn't be too casual when it comes to these subjects. I won't spend more time on this subject. Regardless of what you've done in the past, let bygones be bygones. Do it right progressing forward. (Lecture at the US East Coast Conference)

Chinese version available at: http://www.yuanming.net/articles/200302/17485.html

For the more than three years since July 1999, when Jiang's regime began to unreasonably suppress Falun Gong, the number of verified cases of practitioners being persecuted to death has reached more than 570. In China, there are currently thousands of Falun Gong practitioners still suffering brutal torture in detention centres, forced labour camps, prisons and mental hospitals. Some female practitioners have been sexually abused; several hundred practitioners have been illegally sentenced to prison or labour camp terms, and hundreds of thousands of practitioners have been forced into the brainwashing centres. Millions of practitioners' homes are under surveillance and many have been ransacked. Falun Gong publications, including audio and video materials, are routinely confiscated and burned.

Jiang's regime implemented the policy of "defame their reputation, destroy them economically, and eliminate them physically" to persecute Falun Gong practitioners. To accomplish these ends the regime has instituted the "610 Office" throughout China [the "610 Office" is an agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong, with absolute power over each level of administration in the Party and all other political and judiciary systems]. This body has undertaken all means to carry out a carefully organised, yet insane suppression of Falun Gong, through the implementation of a program that essentially amounts to state terrorism. Furthermore, in its attempts to eradicate Falun Gong, the Jiang regime seeks to provoke general hatred toward Falun Gong through a viciously negative propaganda campaign.

Not only are Falun Gong practitioners inside China under persecution, practitioners outside of China have also suffered all manner of human rights violations. Some Chinese nationals were deprived of the right to return to China to visit relatives, while practitioners of other nationalities were denied entry and some were forcibly detained and expelled; others were illegally arrested and detained for long periods of time. Other Chinese nationals' applications were refused when applying for passport extensions or renewals, thus causing many of these Falun Gong practitioners to become stateless. Some had to apply for asylum in the countries they were visiting. But even after they were recognised as legitimate refugees under United Nations laws, some were forcibly deported to China under pressure from the Chinese authorities and were immediately detained.

When Jiang was recently visiting foreign countries, because of a blacklist provided by his regime, many Falun Gong practitioners were denied entry to the countries Jiang was visiting and therefore couldn't take part in the peaceful protests against the persecution. Most recently, under pressure from the Chinese government, Hong Kong unreasonably prosecuted, sentenced and fined Falun Gong practitioners (including practitioners of foreign nationality). Further, they are also pushing to legislate Article 23 of Hong Kong's Basic Law, with the ulterior motive to lay the groundwork for a ban and persecution of Falun Gong in Hong Kong.

In their efforts to destroy Falun Gong's reputation overseas, Jiang's regime often uses strategic propaganda to defame Falun Gong. At the same time, it uses trade benefits to try to spread its despotic power in various countries overseas. Using money as a bribe, the regime pays lip service to the issue of human rights, and flaunts the legal banner while trampling international law. From all of the facts above, it is not difficult to see that the Jiang regime's brutal suppression of Falun Gong has not only violated the constitution of its own country, but it also violates the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (which China has signed), as well as the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

According to incomplete statistics, more than sixty Falun Gong practitioners in Japan have suffered different forms of persecution. These include the following cases: eleven practitioners had their passports cancelled; twenty-eight were denied entry to China and were forcibly expelled; twenty-eight were forcibly detained after entering China, and were later expelled; twenty were illegally arrested and detained; four were sentenced to heavy prison or forced-labour camp terms; seventeen had to apply for asylum overseas. The wife of a Japanese citizen is still in detention in China. The number of cases of direct persecution is over 170.

From the above instances, it is clear that Jiang's regime has created a blacklist of Falun Gong practitioners in Japan. The blacklist is used to deny entry of Falun Gong practitioners into China, so as to prevent them from coming to peacefully appeal on behalf of Falun Gong. At the same time, it has caused Chinese Falun Gong practitioners in Japan to become refugees; they have family in China but they cannot return home; they have a country but cannot go back. This is a devastating attack on an individual. These actions have severely violated the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Article II (b), "Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group" and (c), "Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part").

The persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in Japan provides ironclad evidence in support of the lawsuit against Jiang. In the meantime, we ask the World Organisation to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong to research all the related departments, organisations and individuals who have persecuted Falun Gong practitioners in Japan, and to fully expose the persecution against Falun Gong practitioners overseas.

Feb. 18, 2003

Mr. Dan Wright, representative of Amnesty International, delivered a report on the current situation of Human Rights in China.	Falun Gong practitioners Wang Yuzhi telling the persecution she suffered in Wanjia Women's Forced Labour Camp

Member of Friends of Falun Gong and Former director of British Columbia Human Rights Committee, Ms. Mary Woo showed a movie Terror in China to attendees. The movie disclosed how Jiang Zemin rose up the ranks to Party Secretary by controlling the media in Shanghai during the Chinese government's suppression of the student democracy movement in 1989. In 1999, Jiang used the same tactics to control media, flooding the country with fabrications and slander when he started the persecution of Falun Gong. The movie that was shown demonstrated the police brutality in beating and arresting Falun Gong practitioners peacefully appealing on Tiananmen Square. With graphical representation, the movie demonstrated all kinds of torture methods forced labour camps have been using on Falun Gong practitioners. Through comparison, the movie exposed the Jiang regime's brutal suppression.

Ms. Wu said that the Chinese government's propaganda against Falun Gong is not limited to China, but has already developed into an international propaganda campaign. It massively disseminates misinformation about Falun Gong around the world and attempts to mislead the public.

Falun Gong practitioners Wang Yuzhi, Zhang Tianxiao and Sophia Bronwen gave speeches at the forum on the persecution they or their family members have experienced. Wang Yuzhi said in her speech that the she had personally experienced torture when she was detained in a Chinese jail. The audience was astonished to hear the torture, including forced feeding, that Wang Yuzhi suffered in Wanjia Force labour Camp because she went on hunger strike to demand her unconditional release.

Human rights expert Mrs. Sadie Kuehn emphasised at the seminar that each individual has the right of freedom of belief. Her life has been appealing and fighting for human rights. She expressed her deep sympathy to Falun Gong practitioners suffering in the persecution She appealed to the people in attendance to write letters to the Canadian government, related government agencies and their MPs, appealing to them to take more action to help rescue Falun Gong practitioners in Chinese prisons. She also suggested that people send letters to the Chinese consulate demanding that the Chinese government immediately stop persecuting Falun Gong practitioners, to release Wang Yuzhi's younger brother, Zhang, Tian Xiao's younger sister and tens of thousands of detained Falun Gong practitioners, and to appeal to the United Nations and to the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) to stop financial aid to China until it stops the persecution.

The organisations and persons attending the forum had an open discussion on the brutal persecution of Falun Gong practitioners launched by the Jiang regime. After the forum, many attendees signed their names to join Friends of Falun Gong

(1) Law and principles.

N.B: Written for the people of the world, in memory of the hundreds of Falun Dafa practitioners who have lost their lives in China, tortured to death for peacefully upholding the principles of Truth-Compassion-Tolerance in the face of vicious persecution.

They upheld and validated these principles until the very end, in order for the people of the world to have the opportunity for a bright future, at a time when the chaotic world needs Truth-Compassion-Tolerance more than ever.

“The Preface of the Poetry Collection of the Teng Wang Pavilion” which Wang Bo wrote at the age of 27 is a famous piece of poetry. The poem that he wrote at the end of the Preface titled “Poetry of the Teng Wang Pavilion” is widely recognised as one of the finest Tang Dynasty poems. The style of this poem greatly influenced later generations of poets. His poem, titled “Seeing Du Shaofu off to His Post in Shu Zhou”, is widely recognised as one of “The” masterpieces of poetry of the Tang Dynasty. The line in this poem, “A bosom friend afar brings a distant land near,” has become a famous and frequently quoted phrase throughout the ages. It has touched the hearts of ancient and modern people.

Wang Bo was born of a family of scholars whose members had been civil court officials for generations. Wang Bo’s grandfather, Wang Tong, was an outstanding student of Xiu Cai of the Sui Dynasty. [Xiu Cai is the lowest degree conferred upon successful candidates under the former civil service examination system]. Wang Tong once worked as secretary of Shu County and tutor of the feudal lord of Shu County. On his retirement from the government he stayed at home, concentrating on teaching at Longmen School and writing books. His literary works include “The Classics of Yuan” (or “Yuan Jing”) and “Zhong Shuo.” Both received commendations from scholars of their time. Wang Bo’s father, Wang Fuzhi, had served in many important posts in the state government. In his later years, he became interested in a form of cultivation at the time.

Wang Bo was born as an extraordinarily bright and intelligent child with an outstanding enlightenment quality. In fact, he was a child prodigy. Wang Bo wrote excellent essays at six years of age, pointed out, at the age of nine, the mistakes in The Book of the Western Han (or Han Shu), and easily read through the Six Classics (or Liu Jing) in a month at the age of ten. Even his friend Yang Jiong, also a child prodigy, thought that Wang Bo was already born highly knowledgeable in classical Chinese literature. At the age of fourteen, Wang Bo was nominated as a candidate for the civil service examination because of his reputation as a child prodigy. He topped the civil service examination and was granted the official position of San Lang in the royal court. When he was sixteen, the feudal lord of Pei County recruited him for the position of court writer, and admired his talent very much. When Wang Bo was eighteen, cockfighting was popular, especially among the royalty. Wang Bo teasingly wrote an article, titled “A Cock that Charged a Crusade against the King Ying Wang.” The Emperor was so offended by the article that he ordered the feudal lord of Pei County to expel Wang Bo from the court without delay.

After he was expelled, Wang Bo travelled extensively within Sichuan Province. The beautiful natural landscapes helped nurture Wang Bo’s mind nature and gave him literary inspiration. From that point on, Wang Bo began to make rapid progress in poetry and essay writing. As if being helped by a divine power, Wang Bo’s writing improved daily. He impressed the nation immensely with each article he wrote during that period. “The Epigraph of the Confucius Temple in Yi County” was especially regarded as “the most magnificent and greatest treasure of all times.” Later on he was given a government post, but his decision to give the death sentence to an official’s servant almost cost him his own life, and resulted in his father’s demotion. Therefore, Wang Bo resigned his official post and stayed at home, concentrating on his writings. At the age of 27, he drowned when crossing a river to visit his father in Jiao Zhi.

Although Wang Bo lived a short life of only 27 years, it was a rich and colourful life. As a gifted child prodigy, Wang Bo was more mature in thought than people of his own age, and even scholarly adults so few people understood or accepted him. It would be easier to understand Wang Bo’s life if we imagined him as a person who lived for 81 years, but had compressed his life into a third of the time. Wang Bo’s amazing talents and accomplishments formed such a contrast with his extremely short life that for hundreds of years those who studied him pitied the briefness of his life. However, from the perspective of cultivation, Wang Bo’s life was as natural as it could be. There is no need to feel sorry for him, because a cultivator’s path of cultivation is always arranged perfectly. Many young cultivators who have reached consummation left this world in the form of so-called death [many cultivation system in the past took this form. An example is Buddhism, in which the person went through nirvana]. In his short and unpredictable life, Wang Bo led a rich and colourful life of cultivation.

Since childhood, Wang Bo was full of filial goodness. His father was a very affectionate man, and often taught him using quotes such as: “The ancient sages consider that a son without medical knowledge to be far from filial.” Wang Bo kept these words firmly in mind, and secretly searched for a good doctor to study medicine and fulfil his filial responsibility. In 661 or 660 AD Wang Bo was about eleven or twelve years old. He met an outstanding physician, Dr. Cao, from Chang An, the national capital at the time. Dr. Cao’s full name was Cao Yuan Daozhen. Like the famous doctor Bian Que, Dr. Cao could tell from afar a person’s health just by looking at the complexion, and had the ability to see the patient’s internal organs. He also performed open heart surgeries like another famous doctor Hua Tuo. After Dr. Cao took Wang Bo as an apprentice, he told Wang Tao about his family’s history of practising medicine. It turned out that he had learnt medicine from the Classics of Eight One Types of Diseases of the Yellow Emperor, a secret book of medical records, passed from Bo Qi to the Yellow Emperor, who then passed it down to his successors. The book had been passed down for 53 generations when it was handed to Dr. Cao. The 36th heir, Bian Que, was the first to understand the meanings of the content of the book. Hua Tuo, another famous physician, was the 46th heir of the book. Though Dr. Cao was an extraordinary medical doctor, he was very discreet. He kept his life very private, so very few people knew him. When he first met Wang Bo, he lightly patted Wang Bo on the shoulder and said, “I have no desire to take a disciple.” When Wang Bo bowed to Dr. Cao and sincerely begged to be his apprentice again and again, Dr. Cao finally agreed to take him in as a student. However, Wang Bo kept his medical education a secret from even his family. It took Dr. Cao fifteen months to teach Wang Bo Selected Chapters from the Book of Changes, Yellow Emperor’s Questions and Answers, The Classics of Complicated Diseases, and other famous medical texts such as San Cai Liu Jia and Ming Tang Yu Kui. When Wang Bo’s medical training was completed, Dr. Cao left and his last words to Wang Bo were, “The principles of Yin and Yang must not be mentioned casually to others. The art of acupuncture must not be casually passed to others. You must not be carried away by success and you must not show off. You should silently improve yourself.” Wang Bo abided by his teacher’s instructions and quietly studied for another five years on his own. Eventually Wang Bo developed the wish to cultivate and to attain enlightenment. He eventually felt that he was cleansed from all the filth within, and was purified.

Six years later, Wang Bo acquired the extraordinary ability to see the internal organs of a human body. Perhaps due to the vision granted by his super ordinary ability, Wang Bo began to feel that “the human world was filthy”, and everyday people were filthy. As a result, he began to distance himself from the human world. He admitted openly that he had grown weary of society, and sought to cultivate in a secluded environment. His desire of doing so was intensified by the mystical cultivation stories told by some of his fellow cultivators who would often visit him. Sometimes he even travelled with deities in his dreams. He wanted to leave the human world behind, and join gods and deities in the mist and clouds. Wang Bo heard that the Taoists believed that eating “marrow of stone” would help them fly, so he was very tempted to follow that practise.

Wang Bo also realised that there was a contradiction between his life and his ideology. At the age of 20, Wang Bo wrote “Preface to Touring the Temple at the Mountain”, which mentioned that he frequently studied the Deities’ Scriptures and Taoist books methodically and in detail. Yet, to take care of his parents and family, he had to earn a living. He was fully aware that if he worked as a government official, he would be earning fame and wealth, but risk ruining his true nature and his inborn enlightenment quality. All things considered, Wang Bo was a cultivator with a strong faith in the Tao [Tao is commonly known as "The Way"], and had faith that he would eventually meet the requirements of deities. He resolved to be pure and tranquil, and to uphold the Tao. He was determined to ignore gain and loss in the human world, and to follow the Tao until he was certain that he had returned to his original self and was completely within the Tao. It was the Tao that was truly precious and it has always been the Tao that he was searching for. He deeply felt that the Tao was so deep that it was beyond measurement.

In his early twenties, Wang Bo already stood out for his literary talents. It was a perfect time for him to seek Honour's and accomplishments. However, he had seen beyond wealth and fame. He valued cultivation in the Tao and dismissed pursuit of wealth and fame. Certainly, it would be more natural and less challenging for an elderly person, who had gone through the ups and downs of life, to embrace the Tao. But for a young scholar at the prime of his life who was assured wealth and fame to forgo such gain and accept the loss of benefits from the everyday people’s world and maintain a steadfast belief in the Tao was truly precious and inspiring.

Wang Bo said, “I first studied the Rites of the Zhou as a child. Although I also enjoyed reading books from the Confucian School, I found at times that the Tao School thoughts were closer to my nature.” His acclamation of Confucius in “The Epigraph of the Confucius Temple in Yi County” is indeed food for thought, “The teaching of the sages could transform one into a god or an evil being. One will gain all sorts of mystic power in cultivation.” In this epigraph he also quoted from The Book of Changes, “The sage (Confucius) taught the principles of gods of the Tao school, and all men should submit to them." (Note: Wang Bo tried to elevate Confucius to a Taoist master, but later generations, especially those after the Song Dynasty, tried to drag the teaching of Confucius down to a very low level, which became today’s Confucianism, while thinking that they were doing a great service to Confucius).

The first thing that Dr. Cao taught Wang Bo was Selected Chapters from the Book of Changes. As a result, Wang Bo mastered the art of the Changes, which included such skills as divination and calculating calendar of ten thousand years, which were very difficult for everyday people to comprehend. He even calculated a calendar of a thousand years, titled The Calendar of the Tang Dynasty of One Thousand Years for the Tang people to use for one thousand years. However, none of these skills allowed him to make faster progress in understanding the Tao, or advance faster in his cultivation.

Wang Bo developed a deeper understanding of the Tao only when he thought of applying principles in the Book of Changes just the opposite way than practised by everyday people. The story of this major breakthrough was as amazing as his encounter with Dr. Cao. One night, when he deeply studied the art of Changes, Wang Bo dreamt that Confucius told him, “Yi (Changes) has Tai Chi. That is your hint.” When he awoke, he contemplated upon those words over and over until he finally arrived at a better understanding. After that he wrote many articles with breakthroughs on the art of Changes, such as the five volumes of Deduction of the Art of Changes and Deduction of the Art of Changes, A Sequel. Unfortunately those works are now lost. Yet fortunately, one can still find traces of his understanding in some of his works that still exist today. Wang Bo wrote in the Eight Theories of Divination, “When you don’t have any human notions, and when you are not attached to anything, you are not far away from the realm of Tai Chi; Everything in your eyes comes from the Two Polars. When you become oblivious to everything, you have attained the realm of Tai Chi.” Everyone who has read the Book of Changes knows that “Tai Chi leads to the Two Polars; the Two Polars leads to the Four States.” However, ordinary students of the Book of Changes simply followed ”tree branches” laid out in the book and memorised all the “Gua” (or “Signs”) in order to apply the theory in the Book of Changes to daily life. In other words, they still focused on using and applying a theory only for their benefit. This is why Lao Zi said, “Simplicity is a cultivation.” Cultivators need to restore their original selves, and refrain from “using anything to their benefit.” Therefore, one must travel the branch “up” from the 64 “Gua's”, the Four States, the Two Polars, to Tai Chi. Tai Chi means “Existence”, “The One”, and “Simplicity”. This process happens to echo the “crazy words” of Zhang Sanfeng’s Taoism teaching, “Norm is ordinary. Against the norm is divine. The opposite of ordinary people is the Tao.” More than 1000 years before Zhang Sanfeng, Wang Bo, a man in his early 20’s, had such a deep understanding of the Tao, especially of the art of Changes. This ability would certainly embarrass many Taoists after Wang Bo’s time.

At this stage, it should be obvious that Wang Bo was truly a cultivator. He studied medicine, then Taoism, and raised his understanding through The Book of Changes. Guided or having received hints in a dream by people who had transcended the mortal world, Wang Bo saw through the secular world, gave up fame and wealth, and had a steadfast belief in Taoism. Without a doubt, he became a cultivator in the Tao School. Yet Wang Bo surprised everyone again when he then converted to the Buddha School and cultivated unreservedly in the Buddha Fa! [there are 2 orthodox school of cultivation, the Buddha school and the Tao school. A person can only succeed in cultivation by following one way]

Although we found more evidence of Wang Bo’s earlier lives studies and thoughts, very little was recorded about what made him decide to cultivate in the Buddha School. We could only find bits and pieces of it in the Collection of Wang Zian’s Works, published at the Year of Geng Chen, during the reign of the Emperor Chong Zhen in the Ming Dynasty. We are unable to determine the exact time when Wang Bo decided to cultivate in the Buddha Fa. According to the Collection of Wang Zian’s Works, we know that Wang Bo was not yet a student in the Buddha school at the age of 20. It is therefore logical that Wang Bo started cultivation in Buddha Fa between the age of 20 and 27. All the ten pieces of epigraphs he wrote were written for the Buddha temples, except the famous “The Epigraph of the Confucius Temple in Yi County.” The last two articles in the Collection of Wang Zian’s Works are the “Story of Sakyamuni’s Cultivation” and “Poem for Buddha Sakyamuni.” The “Story of Sakyamuni’s Cultivation” was a long poem, which described Sakyamuni’s determination to cultivate and his path to enlightenment. Due to the frequent use of the Buddha School terminology in the poem, it was very difficult for everyday people to understand the poem. The famous monk Hui Wu in Qiantang City wrote detailed notes for the book. The epigraph, including the notes, was twenty-six pages long. “Poem for Buddha Sakyamuni” was a short one that praised Buddha Sakyamuni. The last two sentences in this poem are: “I wish to attain to the level of Bodhisattva, and reach consummation at death.” These phrases described Wang Bo’s determination to cultivate in the Buddha Fa. In the notes for the “Story of Sakyamuni’s Cultivation”, the monk Hui Wu also mentioned two additional essays of Wang Bo regarding the Buddha Fa. They were titled “the Description of Sakyamuni’s Statue” and “the Epigraph for the Picture of Li Bai,” and were also very famous and popular at the time. It’s a pity that all of them are now lost. In addition, Wang Bo wrote a preface for The Biography of Xi Fen Lu Zon, a book that described Eight Righteous Principles of the Buddha School. The book had one hundred thousand words in total.

Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2003/1/25/20171.html