During the Falun Dafa parade in Chinatown in NYC this weekend (July 23), there were mostly Chinese practitioners in the parade, and mostly Chinese people watching the parade from the sides. There were a few westerners along the streets, mostly tourists. I was one of the few westerners participating in the parade, and I was dressed in a business suit and tie.
I noticed many times how the few westerners watching would stand there as the parade passed by with a glossy-eyed look on their faces, staring at all the Chinese practitioners as they handed out flyers or demonstrated the exercises. They looked that way until catching sight of one of the westerners participating in the parade: Then they would immediately perk up and take notice. I tried to walk over to those people and say hello. Some of the reactions were pretty funny: "You mean you don't have to be Chinese to do this?" ... "This is very interesting, I didn't know what it was." ... and one person even asked me, "Are you a senator?" Many of them asked a lot of questions once they found someone they could talk to, and they were all amazed to find local contact people in their home states and cities.
After the parade I was thinking about those people and their reactions. It made me realize the huge responsibility we western practitioners have in spreading the Fa in western countries. Many English-speakers simply do not consider learning about Falun Dafa, let alone practicing it, until they meet another westerner who does so. They see hundreds of well-intentioned, friendly Chinese practitioners, but they still consider it a foreign phenomenon, inaccessible to them. They don't realize that they would be welcome to get involved, learn the practice, and have their own experiences - without being Chinese.
We, as English-speaking westerners, are sometimes one of the only chances some people have to get introduced to the Fa. If you think back to how you obtained the Fa, some of us were fortunate enough to have a Chinese friend, or meet someone patient enough to help us get oriented. Others of us were just lucky, and happened upon a copy of Zhuan Falun or a Falun Dafa website, and could understand what we read right away. But, for many of us, other western practitioners have played key roles in our introduction to Dafa. Where would we be without them? How many people with predestined relationships have we missed because they didn't find anyone they could immediately relate to? I realized that I have not taken this responsibility of making Falun Dafa accessible to average Americans seriously enough.
Like probably many other Western practitioners, I want to assimilate to Dafa's teaching as much as possible. I used to feel inferior and blame my Western thinking for many shortcomings. However, that doesn't mean adopting the Chinese culture - I was born into a Western culture for a reason, and it is one of the best ways for me to fulfill my role of assisting our teacher in the human world to help other westerners be comfortable learning about Dafa. The Chinese practitioners are trying their best, but I think it's easy to see that there are some westerners out there who simply won't get involved unless there is another westerner to show them it's possible in the beginning. Let's take our responsibility seriously, fulfill our duty in spreading Dafa, and use what was given to us (our culture) to open the doors to Dafa widely for more western people.
A Western practitioner in New York City
July 24, 2000
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Category: Journeys of Cultivation
