(Minghui.org) Every Chinese New Year, Falun Dafa practitioners send their most sincere greetings to Master Li Hongzhi. This tradition started in 2001 and has lasted for 24 years.
For the 2024 Chinese New Year, Minghui.org received 33% more greetings compared to 2023, marking a three-year high, despite the attempted efforts by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to censor the internet.
In addition to greetings from China, practitioners in 57 countries and regions also extended their warmest wishes to Master Li, including those from the United States, Canada, France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Finland, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, Norway, Poland, Spain, Austria, Ireland, Italy, Greece, Australia, New Zealand, Belarus, Romania, Russia, Cyprus, the United Arab Emirates, Serbia, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, the Philippines, Croatia, Vietnam, Brazil, Thailand, Turkey, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Hungary, India, Malaysia, Iran, Israel, Afghanistan, Denmark, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Belgium, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Kazakhstan, Portugal, Ukraine, Mongolia, Ecuador, Palau, and Crimea.
Practitioners from the Netherlands wish Master Li a Happy New Year.
Practitioners in France thank Master Li for his compassion and contributed a poem:
With great compassion Master turns Falun,saving sentient beings and bringing the world a new spring;Heaven and earth are renewed through cleansing,we are grateful to Master Li for his salvation and protection.
Heartfelt Gratitude
New Zealand, located in the southwest Pacific and just to the west of the International Date Line, welcomes the sunrise earlier than most countries in the world. On February 6, 2023, Minghui.org published the greetings from practitioners in New Zealand and Australia.
Mary Hayes
Mary Hayes of Brisbane learned about Falun Dafa from a friend in 2005. The words “Falun Dafa” left a deep impression in her mind. While sitting in front of the computer one day, she suddenly had a thought to learn more about Falun Dafa. She said, “I was drawn to the Falun Dafa website. I decided to practice and called the local Falun Dafa coordinator.”
Mary recalled that when she first read Zhuan Falun, the main text of Falun Dafa, she was so excited that she couldn’t control her tears. She had the feeling of returning home. “I am fortunate to encounter Falun Dafa. I benefited a lot from abiding by the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance in my daily life. I have more tolerance, compassion and sympathy towards my family members. I am blessed to have the honor to practice Falun Dafa in this lifetime.” she said.
Craig English
Craig English, 38, works for the West Australian Country Health Service (WACHS). He said that he practiced various forms of Tai Chi and qigong for many years but none satisfied his spiritual aspirations. After it was recommended by his former Tai Chi teacher, he began practicing Falun Dafa and felt that it “changed my entire life.”
“Zhuan Falun answered every single question I ever had related to spirituality and truly gave my life meaning. I used to be very lonely but now I no longer am. I was dangerously underweight, but within six months of practicing I gained almost 20 kilograms (~44 pounds). I was a very promiscuous person with no regard for personal health and safety. I was also very combative with others and had a high degree of intellectual vanity, not to mention having been deceived by modern ways of thinking. All of these deviant mindsets and behaviors culminated in a deep hatred of self and I was truly lost.” Craig said.
Craig continued, “I was saved by Master’s boundless mercy and compassion and I began to notice the changes almost immediately. My eyes brightened for the first time since I was a child, and they were no longer sunken and withdrawn. I learned to be much calmer and also less critical of others and myself; my deeply rooted notions of self-judgement began to dissolve. Master has shown me the virtuous way to live and has been gradually revealing all my attachments to me. I know I can always do better, though, and I am eternally grateful for Master being so exceedingly patient with me.”
Well-wishers from China
In China, where Falun Dafa is still persecuted by the CCP, the greetings from practitioners there are even more precious.
Greeting from a practitioner in Chongqing
A 94-year-old practitioner in Guiyang City, Guizhou Province who never attended school talked about the miracle that she learned to read all of the Falun Dafa books and recite some articles in the past three decades. “When going out shopping, I often tell others that my good health and positive attitude are given by Dafa. Thank you, Master Li, for everything!”
A retiree from the taxation department in Zhaoyuan City, Shandong Province said that he started practicing Falun Dafa 26 years ago. “I am 89 now, but I am able to walk well. Because I look young, with fair skin, people often think I am only 70,” he wrote. “Dafa taught me to look within and improve myself instead of criticizing others. My entire family is now harmonious and my wife also began practicing Falun Dafa. We often talk about our experiences with others, helping them to know more about Dafa, so they can also receive blessings.”
A medical professional from Chengdu City, Sichuan Province said he used to have numerous illnesses. Neither Chinese medicine nor Western medicine could help. Seeing no other choice, he began to practice Falun Dafa and all of his diseases were gone within six months. “I want to thank compassionate Master Li for saving my life. I will study the Dafa teachings well, improve myself, and work with other practitioners to help save more people,” he wrote in his greeting.
In a greeting from a group of practitioners in Xingtai City, Hebei Province, they thanked Master Li for protecting them in the past ten plus years. Although they sometimes had conflicts with each other, they turned them into opportunities to identify their shortcomings and improve their character. “There were conflicts, encouragement, sadness and joy. Every improvement we made was because of Master’s guidance and care. We will remain diligent in our cultivation and we look forward to the day when Master returns to China!”
Despite the persecution, new practitioners took up the practice one after another. Many of them feel fortunate to have found Falun Dafa.
A new practitioner in Beijing wrote, “Dear Master, I’ve been listening to your lectures every day. I also shared it with my family. You helped us take on a new view about life and our value system is also changed.”
A practitioner from Qiqihar City, Heilongjiang Province, said, “It has only been four months since I began to practice Dafa, but I’ve benefited so much from it. Master purified my body. My severe insomnia is gone and I have a sound sleep every night. Master also taught me to look within and get rid of my attachments. Thank you, Master, for your saving grace!”
Another new practitioner in Bei’an City, Heilongjiang Province wrote, “Only three days after I took up Dafa, the tremors in my hands, which had bothered me for decades, were gone. No words can express my appreciation for Master.”
A greeting from a Falun Dafa supporter in China
Another group of well-wishers are supporters of Falun Dafa. Although they do not practice Dafa themselves, they have understood from their own experiences how precious Falun Dafa and the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance are.
One family from Loudi City, Hunan Province, said they had read many Falun Dafa brochures and other information. “We really treasure the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, and our family has benefited from Dafa many times.”
A Hengshui City, Hebei Province woman said she knows the real story of Dafa and has been very supportive of practitioners. “Sometimes when I saw people discard Dafa information, I felt very bad. One time I recommended to a friend that she read the leaflets she’d received and she agreed,” she wrote. When chatting with friends or at a party, she often remarked on how the CCP mistreated innocent Dafa practitioners, including harvesting their organs by force. “We know Falun Dafa is our hope and the notorious CCP will end soon. Thank you, Master Li, and happy Chinese New Year!”
Greetings Bearing Witness to Perseverance and Faith
Since the establishment of Minghui.org in June 1999, its daily reporting bears witness to the unprecedented persecution of Falun Dafa practitioners by the CCP, and more importantly, the practitioners’ perseverance in upholding their faith.
Jiang Zemin, the former head of the CCP who ordered the persecution of Falun Dafa in July 1999, boasted to eradicate the practice in three months, but he underestimated the power of true faith. Instead of yielding to the brutality and killing, Falun Dafa practitioners faced the persecution with courage and persistence. They fought for their faith with their lives and continued to spread kindness to people around them. At the special occasion of the Chinese New Year, the tens of thousands of simple, sincere greetings is testimony of their diamond-like faith and grand virtue of Falun Dafa.
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Category: Greetings
