Hungarian Dafa Practitioners Respectfully Wish Our Great Master a Happy Chinese New Year

On the 17th and 18th of January 2004, the European Choir of Falun Gong practitioners, called the “I come here for you" Choir, gave their first official public performance at the Manhattan Cultural Centre in New York. One of the performers singing on both nights to the 2500-strong audience was Mikko Mattila, a 25 year-old Falun Gong practitioner from Finland. Afterwards, a Clearharmony reporter interviewed Mikko about his experiences and thoughts of singing in the choir.

Over the past year, Dafa disciples in Switzerland have been promoting Falun Gong and clarifying the facts about the persecution in China to the public as much as possible. During the process, many touching stories have unfolded. These stories, although minor, encourage practitioners to continue with their efforts to help more people have the opportunity to know about Falun Gong and to learn the truth about the situation in China.

Since July 20, 1999, Wang Hongtian suffered inhumane persecution because he persisted in his belief of "Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance" and he was detained and sent to a labour camp. On the 14th of August 2001, two days after Wang Hongtian was sent back home from the labour camp, he passed away. He was only 41 years old. His parents, over 70 years old, were devastated when they got the news of their lost son.

Mr. Cheng Rulin, 41, is a resident of Luqiao Town. Since Jiang Zemin started persecuting Falun Gong in 1999, officials from the "610 Office" in Luqiao Town, constantly paid him visits and harassed him, day and night, for no reason. Even the neighbours were not able to rest well because of this. In the two years from July 1999 to 2000, Cheng Rulin and his wife were illegally detained many times and paid a total of more than ten thousand Yuan in fines.

In May 2000, I went back to China to visit my family. I heard that a fellow practitioner was sentenced to forced labour. I had used to mail some daily expense money to her, because her salary had been suspended. Later I came to know that she used the money I gave her to buy a printer to produce truth clarification materials. As a result, the authorities accused her of conspiring with international sources. When I heard this, I went to the police and tried to clarify the facts to them, but they detained me and then searched my parents' home.

I understand from the Fa that only when we cultivate till we are without omissions can we reach consummation. However, under the influence of human concepts, I found myself unconsciously dividing attachments into two - “bad" attachments and “not so bad" attachments. For the latter ones, I found myself not as determined, and intentionally making mistakes in eliminating attachments because of my weak main consciousness and the effect of thought-karma.

On January 20th Lead attorney in the lawsuit against former Chinese leader Jiang Zemin and the "610 Office" for persecuting Falun Gong, filed a brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals. At the same time, in front of the Chinese Consulate, several dozen local Falun Gong practitioners continued their peaceful appeals.

U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly dismissed the original case in September because foreign heads of state are protected from civil lawsuits in the United States. But because Jiang is no longer president, the case should be reconsidered by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit, said Falun Gong attorney, Terri Marsh. "Once they leave office, they're fair game," she said. "The status of a head of state is very different from that of a former head of state. ... Immunity is not impunity."

"We have a list of names that was given to us," said Deschenes, an RCMP media relations officer. "In the event that someone that is suspected of being part of crimes against humanity is in Canada, certainly the RCMP would be looking into it, and if a criminal investigation is warranted, we will do that."