February 22, 2001
MANASSAS - A chance encounter on the Metro made Lisa Fan's world blossom like a lotus flower.
Fan has been a practitioner of Falun Gong - a Chinese mind/body practice based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion and tolerance - for almost four years now. But back in May 1997 she had never heard of it.
One evening that May she left work as usual - she's a computer network engineer for the Department of Health in Washington, D.C. - and got on the Metro for her daily commute. She sat down next to a woman reading a book in Chinese.
Fan is from Luoyang near the Yellow River in central China. During the long commute, she glanced at the woman's book over her shoulder.
She was immediately captivated.
"I felt like it is very profound," she said. "I felt it stirred me."
What also amazed her was that the book - clearly spiritual in content - was written in mainland Chinese.
"China is an atheist country. I was really surprised. I thought, 'How can China have this kind of book?'"
When Fan asked the lady where she could buy the book, she offered to lend it to her. The two exchanged phone numbers and parted company: The whole encounter lasted about five minutes.
Fan finished the book within two nights.
"After I read the book, I did not waste a day," she said.
That weekend, she attended her first Falun Gong practice session and now gives regular workshops and classes throughout the region. She'll be giving one at the Central Library in Manassas on Sunday.
Falun Gong is rippling out into the Western world from China, where it was introduced just nine years ago by its founder, Li Hongzhi.
Around 100 million people in 40 countries now practice Falun Gong - sometimes referred to as Falun Dafa.
Based around five simple sequences of meditational movement, Falun Gong is a peaceful, spiritual practice that seeks to align people with the unchanging standards of the universe: truthfulness, compassion and tolerance.
Falun Gong is apolitical. It is not a religion. It is available to all people - old and young, east and west. There is no membership and there are no fees to join. Practice is provided by volunteers at no cost.
"After the practice it's very enlightening - it feels like a waking up," said Fan. "When you do it you feel this tremendous energy."
The five Falun Gong movements are similar to those of Yoga or Tai Chi. Four of them are done standing and one, seated. The purpose is to synchronize the body and mind with the energy of the universe.
"Every time I do it I benefit from it," said Fan.
Benign as its principles may be, Falun Gong has met with the disapproval of the Chinese government, which in 1999 began a crackdown against Falun Gong practitioners that is still in force.
Why?
"So many people waking up to the light and truth of the universe really scared the communist dictators," said Fan.
Although she's from an atheist country, Fan sought spirituality in China. She converted to Christianity after meeting a couple from Illinois. She was teaching electrical engineering at a college in China in 1989 at the time of the June 4 massacre at Tiananmen Square and joined in with the demonstrations with her students.
"It killed many people's dreams and hopes," she said. "It made me want to leave here and pursue my spiritual growth."
She moved to America in 1990 to do her master's degree in computers, met and married her husband, Robert Nappi, and stayed.
"I came to this country and I have to struggle to support myself," she said. "Although I was very spiritual, it got buried in this busy life. So when I met the lady on the Metro, it was like a waking up."
She has chosen to share her awakening with many others.
"I do this out of my heart just to introduce people," she said of her numerous free classes. "We get together, do the movements. Our energy is strong.
"Morals decline dramatically, but the standards of the universe do not change."
There will be a free Falun Gong workshop at the Central Library, 8601 Mathis Ave., Manassas from 2-4 p.m. Sunday.
Category: Falun Dafa in the Media
