I recently caught a taxi from my work to the airport, about a 50 minute trip. Along the way, the taxi driver of Chinese origin and I had a lively conversation. Before long, my practice of Falun Dafa soon came up and the driver seemed to become more hesitant to talk with me.
I cleared my mind, as I didn’t want to speak to him with any intention, but I knew that he knew about Falun Dafa through the censored Chinese media here in Australia and didn’t really understand the situation of the persecution.
Some of the questions he asked, I really didn’t know how to respond, but after listening to him carefully, I opened my mouth to respond and the words just seemed to come out very naturally. I found that when I listened closely to what he said, even when I knew he was repeating propaganda from the Chinese state-run media, he then paid the same respect back to me by listening to what I calmly had to say.
Towards the end of our journey, he then told me that his wife used to practice Falun Dafa in Australia before the persecution began. He said that when that happened many practitioners began handing out flyers and materials to let people know what was happening, because the media only knew the propaganda from China and hadn’t had a chance to find out what Falun Dafa really is.
He said that she felt that she had to hand out flyers if she wanted to continue practicing so she decided to stop the practice.
I was touched that this man opened his heart to tell me this. I explained how Falun Dafa is a personal cultivation practice and is based upon one’s own moral improvement. One sets ones own standard, yet as each person improves, their standard for further improvement naturally becomes higher. What was done in the past may not look right now, but at the time it seemed right. As everyone improves, one can see ones own shortcomings and continue to set higher and higher standards for oneself. Again, this was only my current understanding of what is taught by the Teacher in Zhuan Falun.
I also told him that when the persecution began, like most others, I really had absolutely no idea of what to do. Something so good, that I have improved from for the past few years, is suddenly being persecuted, it didn’t make sense.
As we neared the airport, I told the driver about my trip to China to appeal, as a westerner, to China to end the persecution. I shared my understanding that so many people there are suffering so severely, not just practitioners. Even the police there who arrested me, so many of them, they didn’t understand why they had to persecute Falun Dafa, they are suffering too, along with the entire nation.
I told him that if I only did just a little bit, even just to help some of the Beijing police see something that they otherwise may not see within the censored living in China, then I was very glad to do it. He thanked me with tears in his eyes. We arrived at the airport. He helped me with my luggage and we said goodbye.
Posting date: 23/Aug/2003
Original article date: 23/Aug/2003
Category: Insights
