July 4th is Independence Day in the United States, as is Oct. 1st in China. The Hudson River in New York is full of large sailboats and military ships to celebrate "Opsail2000". There are thousands, even millions of tourists sightseeing along the river. Over twenty practitioners and I came to Fort Park located at the southernmost side of Manhattan. It is the departure place of all boats. A lot of people were passing through, so it was very crowded. We wanted to use this rare opportunity to spread the Fa and tell the truth of Falun Gong to the broad masses of the people.
It Comes Naturally as Long as You Do It
Tourists were everywhere, but they were all attracted by the boats. How could we catch their attention? When everybody was trying to find a way, an experienced practitioner, without saying a word, walked over to the ad board and began to perform the fifth exercise behind it. Another practitioner said: "Let's save our breath here. We could do the fifth exercise facing the tourists, and let two of us be in charge of handing out materials." To our surprise, the tourists came to us when we sat down for just a little while. Some asked for materials; some inquired about various information about Falun Dafa; some people even took out their cameras and video recorders to take a picture. All of a sudden the flashlight burst around us. After one hour, one box of materials in Chinese we brought was empty, so were three boxes of materials in English.
Everybody has the Heart for Cultivation
One teacher in a middle school found it unbelievable and was very impressed that we could sit in meditation so calmly and not be disturbed by the noisy environment. She asked us: Can middle-school students learn it? When getting a positive answer from us, she warmly invited us to teach the exercise in her school. An old black man told us that he was looking for an exercise that could relax his body and mind. He asked us a lot about Falun Dafa in detail. After learning from us for more than one hour, he knew how to do the exercise. He told us: this was what he had been looking for a long time and would contact the practitioners in his area tomorrow. There was a boy, no matter how his mother urged him to leave, ran over to learn from us several times until finally he knew how to do it and then left. Also, a boy who was of Spanish descend learned along with the old black man as we taught him. He could sit with double legs crossed immediately. Before he had to leave, he kept asking us about the practice site in central city.
Watching him fade away into the crowd, I felt touched: They are longing for cultivation at such a young age, while I obtained the Fa in my thirties by the persistent encouragement from our practitioners. Actually, everybody has the longing for cultivation in the bottom of his/her heart, but the wish has been worn out through the passage of time. We, the lucky ones, who have already obtained the Fa, should try our best to help them to realize what they might deserve.
It is an Imperative Duty
Through incidents occurring on "April 25 " and "July 20 ", many Westerners became aware of Falun Gong. Some of them also know what is happening in China. Noticing that we were handing out materials, they came over and inquired about the current condition of practitioners in China and why the Chinese government cracked down and persecuted Falun Gong. We answered their concerns one by one, and gave them the materials to explain and reveal all the truth about it. In this process, we found out that it would be critical to people's future to let more people know and understand what is happening concerning Falun Dafa in our human world. It has always been the most important thing in our spreading the Fa.
A western practitioner sent the materials about the facts of the Chinese government's vicious suppression, and severe human rights violations of Falun Gong to his relatives. His relatives were very shocked and concerned after reading them, and called him immediately: " This is really too bad, what can we do for you?" He realized a lot from this experience.
Widen the Scope
Our Master said in "Some of my statement": "We are calling for all governments, international organizations, and people of goodwill worldwide to extend their support and assistance to us in order to resolve the current crisis in China." In the past year, we kept on seeking their understanding and support, but the range is too limited. We haven't let everyone in this world know the truth of Falun Dafa. This is mostly because of having too much of a conservative attitude that we haven't gotten rid of, such as always thinking only practitioners could do things about Falun Dafa. We seldom consider that those people among the everyday human society should actually have their roles among it too. From the aspect of measurement, we also need to widen the scope of our mind. Because Dafa creates everything, including human society, all the measurements in the human society could be used to serve Dafa.
The Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea (Different People Using Their Best Skills)
Since we have come to realize the role that people in everyday society can fulfill, we made a new looking flyer so that more people, whether we could get in touch with them or not, can know the truth of Falun Gong, and have a chance to contribute their effort to Dafa.
One side of this new flyer is the introduction of Falun Gong; the other side contains the facts about the Chinese government's vicious suppression of Falun Gong and how readers could assist us:
1. Introduce our Dafa website, radio station and printed materials to all people you care about and trust.Above is the new flyer we used in Fort Park on that day. We believe the effort put into these aspects will open a new environment for spreading Dafa in human society.2. Help us make contact with local organizations in your community (Library, community center, organization, campus); help us hold various activities showing the truth of Falun Gong, such as the exercise demonstration, workshop, video and picture exposition; show the documentary videos "Falun Gong: The Real Story" (parts 1 and 2) and "Falun Dafa in Taiwan", etc.
3. By downloading or other methods, print and copy the materials of the truth of Dafa from us without charge; distribute them and explain the truth of Falun Gong to your local media, human rights organizations, etc.
4. Call for more local governments, communities, and organizations to understand, support and assist us.
5. Call or write letters to the relevant departments in China and the Chinese consulate to express your concern about the current situation of human rights in China, and call for their attention.
The Sound from a Crystal Heart
It was already late when a group of little girls came. The oldest was eight years old, and the youngest was only four years old. They were around us asking to learn the exercises. After learning the first four exercises, they crowded around us again and wanted to learn the fifth one. Their crystal heart even made me feel younger again. Their mothers urged them to get a good place for watching fireworks, but the children were sitting still with closed eyes regardless of what their mothers asked. Eventually, they reluctantly left us. I couldn't help thinking: We are the luckiest ones who have already obtained Fa. What can we do to support our Master more effectively to rectify the Fa in our world? Too many things have not been done yet. I just realize the importance of our Master's instruction that we should cultivate ourselves in the process of spreading and protecting Dafa. Cherishing life and benevolence to every human being requires us to put down all self-consciousness on a higher level.
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