Paul Darin – Finding Strength in Falun Dafa (Falun Gong)

Since I was very little, I've always been deeply interested in the mysteries of the universe, matters of spirituality. My name is Paul, Paul Darin. I've been living in the Chicagoland area my whole life. I've been a practitioner since May of 2001. I was introduced to the practice through my brother. I was naturally drawn in to the strong spiritual component of the practice. Truthfulness, compassion, forbearance resonated in me very deeply and I felt the need to pursue that. Falun Gong, also called Falun Dafa, is an ancient spiritual practice in the Buddhist tradition. Falun Gong combines meditation and gentle exercises, similar to yoga or Tai Chi, with a moral philosophy centered on the tenets of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance, or in Chinese, Zhen Shan Ren. Falun Gong practitioners aspire to live by these principles in their daily lives. In traditional Chinese culture, the process of perfecting and refining the mind and body is called cultivation. Our modern language uses the word Qigong to describe this. What differentiates Falun Gong from other forms of Qigong is its emphasis on one's morality, character, and the cultivation of virtue. So you have to work hard on your own mind. There's five sets of exercises. The exercises are relatively easy to learn and to do every day, but when you go into a problem, the mind can play with you, can sway you one way or the other. Tensions between other people can get very intense. Keeping the mind under control is paramount, but Falun Dafa can help guide your moral improvement and help you prepare for these things in a positive way. And so that's definitely something that's really helped me. I work in the public sector. When I started working at said organization in about 2013, were very intense. The first year went very well, but there was an administrative change about a year in, and the dynamic completely changed. One part of our organization was unionized. Legal teams from both sides were brought in. It was a very chaotic environment. Things were very intense. It looked like my job was going to be one of those jobs that was going to be eliminated. I had to go to the state of Illinois building and defend my position in front of a state arbiter. It was very, very intense. I think a lot of people in this would just be like, fine, I'll find another job. I'm going to walk away. But this was also after the recession, and I was confident in myself and my abilities too. I felt no need to walk away from the job and pursue other employment, so I decided to stick with it. Things were very intense for a long time between the administrative levels, the management team, and us basically on the entry level or ground floor of the organization. Hostilities were on both sides, and as years developed, I committed my mind to going into work every day and said, okay, no matter what, I'm going to do the best job I possibly can at work. So I committed myself to doing that. I wish it did change overnight, but it didn't. It took months and years. But I felt as though that the tone, the kind of atmosphere had changed. When I changed my own mind, the atmosphere changed too. People seemed to react calmer, and there was more ease in the air. And to this day, me and the administrative level of this organization have a fantastic relationship now. We talk on a regular basis. We talk on a very friendly matter. And although there's still union matters and things that we have to deal with to make sure that everyone's protected across the board, we're able to handle these things well. We're able to take on tasks and work together very positively. I don't think this would have been very easy without the FAS or DAFA as guiding my way. I want the world to know Falun Dafa is good, that there's a terrible persecution going on in China, and it's seeped into the rest of the world in nefarious ways, and it needs to stop. But media here won't cover it as readily or really at all. So it's good that we speak up and out about these sorts of things and bring awareness to what's going on so that it can finally end. The CCP has long engaged in transnational repression targeting Falun Gong and a global censorship campaign to silence Shen Yun Performing Arts, an American classical Chinese dance company founded by Falun Gong practitioners. However, the aggressiveness, frequency, and violent nature of incidents has increased dramatically over the past year, especially in the United States. This shift is not accidental. In June 2024, internal party sources leaked details and instructions from Xi Jinping and other top CCP officials that outlined tactics that the regime plans to deploy. These are now manifesting in real world events. Be skeptical of the negative things you hear about Falun Dafa from any sources in or without the United States. Many of these things seem to be emanating from the CCP directly. And I would say if you want to know the truth, the materials are all free online. The exercises are free. The exercise sites are free. Go for yourself. See for yourself. Although Congress has adopted multiple resolutions condemning these abuses, the Falun Gong Protection Act S817, if enacted, will mark the first binding US legislation to hold perpetrators accountable. This bill requires the president to impose visa and property blocking sanctions on foreign persons that have knowingly and directly engaged in or facilitated the involuntary harvesting of organs in China. Call your local representative and offer your support for the bill. The bill helps protect Falun Dafa practitioners in the practice. So it's a good thing to support.