[Minghui Net] A dozen practitioners from England, Wales, and Scotland participated in a three-day tour around Scotland to hongfa (promoting Falun Dafa) and collect signatures. The evening of April 17, we held a candle vigil at the Central Square of Dundee City to echo the worldwide candle vigil. After that, we shared experiences throughout the night.
1. Illuminated hearts- signature collection
As an effort to get support for the passing of the human rights bill in Geneva, we Falun Dafa practitioners reached out to collect signatures. Through this activity, we felt a blossoming of people's hearts and an awakening of conscious. We met people of all walks of life, and engaged with them at street corners, bars, cafes, restaurants, and libraries. After having signed our sheets, many people told us "I really appreciate what you are doing." Many even called their relatives and friends over to sign our sheets. Some stuck around afterwards to offer their help by collecting signatures for us. Owners of nearby stores offered assistance as well. There are many stories like this but we cannot write all of them; the following are a collection of some stories.
Our story begins with a practitioner who was scolded by a Chinese student when doing hongfa. The other day, he again ran into this student at a library. Despite this, the practitioner continued to collect signatures. After some time had passed, he mustered up some courage and approached the Chinese student. He said to the student "I only remember you, among so many Chinese students," "I hold my tears when I watch the videotape of Falun Dafa and the first thought I had was of you. I told myself I must ask you to watch this tape." The student was very surprised upon hearing that. His thinking changed from that of their previous meeting and he asked the truth about Falun Dafa. He also agreed to watch the tape, which he had previously criticized. It was amazing to see such a profound change in ones heart; as achieved by the power of Dafa.
In another instance, an old man with hemiplegia (partial body paralysis) used to tell the passersby that we were betraying our country and were American spies whenever he saw us promoting Dafa. When he learned the truth of Dafa, he said to us, "I am really sorry about that." Many people told us, "I watched the news. It is too brutal!" After having signed their names, many of them wished us good luck. We practitioners felt that hongfa was progressing well and gaining momentum in people's hearts. The truth is being learned by more people.
A practitioner who was collecting signatures in the restaurant where he works further noted the change in peoples' conscience. One of the three Chinese bosses asked him, "Will somebody cut my head off if I sign it?" The other said, "I don't think so." The third added, "I don't care if I'd be caught when I return to Beijing." Thus all of them wrote down their Chinese names on the sheet. An 18-year-old Chinese girl once watched the truth-clarifying videotape at one practitioner's home. From our experience, Chinese generally dare not sign the sheet. She, however, was not appeased and calmly signed her Chinese name. Once in a while we met with someone who declined to sign their name and defended Jiang Zemin and his followers. This usually incurred blame from their companies.
A practitioner went to a café to collect signatures. The boss, the customers, and the waiters and waitresses all offered to sign. The practitioner told three old ladies, who were leaving, "We have a practice site that is just next door to this café. You are welcome to visit us." The three old ladies thus came to our practice site. One of them practiced the wheel holding exercise with the practitioners for a while. They then told the practitioners that they are superintendents of a nursing home and agreed to come next time. They also wanted to take Dafa music back for the seniors to listen to. We felt that Teacher is so compassionate to all beings. There are still so many predestined people waiting for us. We ought to work harder to bring Dafa to more kind-hearted people.
2. Hongfa Tour
There are practice sites in Scotland's major cities, and last year we had toured those cities to hongfa. This time, we chose to tour small cities like Dundee, Perth and Stirling. During the past three days, with the peaceful sound of Dafa music, we performed the exercises again and again, and distributed Dafa materials. We were not perturbed at all by the characteristically unpredictable weather in Scotland.
Dundee is a medium-sized city with a population of about 200,000. We did the exercises in the busiest section in the downtown area. It was sunny. We unfolded banners with the words "Falun Gong" and "China, Stop Persecuting the Innocent Falun Gong Practitioners", and introduced the truth of Dafa to passersby. A Gypsy man told us he has experienced lots of tribulations and has been searching all his life in vain for the truth. Falun Gong is exactly what he has been looking for. A musician was also surprised to see us and pondered the meaning of his encountering us. He said: "I admire what you have done." To express his gratitude, he asked one of our practitioners to pass a small gift to the practitioner to whom he had talked. We also discovered two brothers who had been voluntarily singing songs and collecting signatures for human rights at street corners for the past four years. They supported us and hoped that we would do well. They even shared their signature-collecting experiences with us.
What made us happy was that some new practitioners grew mature very quickly. One western practitioner handed out only 4 copies of Dafa flyers in one hour when doing hongfa in Edinburg last time round. This time, he handed out lots of materials in an enthusiastic and proactive way. He also put forward his own ideas and suggestions. A female practitioner described vividly how she overcome her psychological barrier to clarify the truth in a polite manner, which greatly encouraged herself, as we were bringing a bright future to others. That day, we gave out more than 2000 copies of flyers. A boy took the last copy from the table. Many people gathered round asking questions and talking with us.
Perth is a small town. We hung banners beside a status located at the center of the only Business Street. It was a very cold day and it began to rain after a little while. We did the exercises and sitting meditation in the rain. People bustled around and watched us. Many people joined to sign their names. Some of them said that Jiang Zemin and his followers were so brutal. Some told us they had seen us on the TV news program. Others brought their friends over to sign their names for us. When we ran out of the signature sheets, they stood in the rain and waited. A couple waited for a long time and eventually signed their names. A lady blessed us. To not let her friend miss the chance, she took our practitioner to her friend's place to collect her signature. She also accompanied one practitioner to perform some tasks. At last, she asked to have a copy of Zhuan Falun. She expressed that she would like to attend the first class. As the rain grew heavier the manager of a Department Store offered us a space in the doorway to move our staff so as not to get wet. We found out later one of our practitioners went shopping in the store and introduced Dafa to the salesclerk. He was invited outdoors to watch us do the exercises. Later, he put a pile of newspapers on his newspaper rack for customers to take. Dafa materials were given out very quickly. In the light of the setting sun, we did the sitting meditation, with our hearts full of tranquility. Our cultivation merged with the rectification of the Fa, and the clarification of the truth.
In Stirling, a man approached us to learn the situation even before our display stands were set up. He told us that the local people were not rich. Many people therefore enjoyed exercises like Qigong, but the tuition was so expensive. He said, "your free teaching will surely attract many people to come and learn." He also told us good locations to demonstrate our exercises, and where to put our free advertisements and newspapers. Later, he stood beside the display stands to introduce Dafa to others and collect signatures. Many people offered one after another to sign their names after they had seen the banner, "Stopping the Persecution," and learned the facts of Dafa. Many people wanted to know if there were Falun Dafa classes nearby.
3. Experience Sharing All Night Long.
The evening of April 17, we held a candlelight vigil in the Central Square of Dundee City. We went back to the hotel and still felt energetic after two days of hongfa and the candlelight vigil. We felt the chance for us to get together was precious, as it gave us a chance to know each other and share experiences. When practitioners talked about the cultivation of xinxing, we discovered that many of our setbacks, faults and detours were the result of going to extremes. While we achieved some success we also found our shortcomings. We realized that with the deepening of our cultivation and experiences we should make better use of time and become more active in the process of hongfa, rectifying the Fa and clarifying the truth.
When the day broke, we prepared our breakfast and packed up our luggage, heading for the next destination to hongfa.
(Reported on April 24, 2001)