(Minghui.org) Every weekend, Falun Dafa practitioners in Bucharest set up information booths in the Romanian capital to inform the public about their cultivation practice.
The booth was located at Pierre de Coubertin Boulevard 1, near Mega Mall on April 29, 2023, and at the entrance of Drumul Taberei Park on May 6, 2023. Both booths drew attention from Romanians of all ages and backgrounds, with many expressing support for the Falun Dafa practitioners in China who face persecution from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) regime.
People in Bucharest Are Curious
A practitioner talks with two boys at the information booth on Avenue Pierre de Coubertin on April 29, 2023.
Two boys, about six and 10 years old, were drawn to the booth, seeing the many Falun Dafa informational materials, including fliers and lotus flowers.
A practitioner offered the boys bookmarks and explained the principles of Falun Dafa: Truthfulness, Compassion, Tolerance—which he simplified to “truth, kindness, and patience” for the children.
The boys each asked for a lotus flower to take home, and the younger boy said he would give it to his father, who is blind.
Distributing fliers on Pierre de Coubertin Boulevard on April 29
The Falun Dafa booth on Pierre de Coubertin Boulevard was located close to a traffic light. When practitioners demonstrated the exercises at the booth, many of the people waiting for a green light walked over to see what it was all about.
One lady even stuck her head out the window to ask the practitioners what they were doing. A practitioner clarified the truth told her about Falun Dafa, and gifted her a flier and a lotus flower.
An older couple stopped by the booth to ask for directions and received a flier and a yellow lotus flower. The woman asked about Falun Dafa, and a practitioner told her about the benefits of the practice and the fact that the practice has been persecuted by the CCP for 24 years.
The lady also wanted to learn the symbolism behind the lotus flower she was given. The practitioner told her that it was a symbol of purity, and helps remind people of Falun Dafa’s principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance.
Once she learned this, the lady was pleasantly surprised. “I too have a lotus flower pendant around my neck!” she said. She expressed her agreement with the three principles.
Another woman approached the booth and asked for a lotus flower and a flier, and also where she could go to learn the exercises. A practitioner told her that the Bucharest practitioners meet at King Michael Park at 9 a.m. on weekends to do the exercises.
Dispelling Misunderstandings About Falun Dafa
Falun Dafa practitioners hand out informational materials and lotus flowers. They also demonstrated the Dafa exercises at the entrance to Drumul Taberei Park on May 6, 2023.
Shortly after setting up the Falun Dafa information booth in front of Drumul Taberet Park, a middle-aged woman approached the booth.
“You are forbidden. Why are you banned?” she asked.
A female practitioner responded to the woman, “We Falun Dafa practitioners are not banned, we practice these exercises freely in over 100 countries around the world, including here in Romania. What you know is that the practice of Falun Dafa is banned by the CCP only in China. Otherwise, we can practice it freely and peacefully anywhere.”
“That’s not what I read on the Internet,” said the woman. The practitioners then told her about the CCP’s propaganda initiative at the start of the persecution, where then-CCP leader Jiang Zemin instructed his agents to “destroy the reputation” of the Falun Dafa practitioners. This operation has resulted in false or intentionally misleading reports of Falun Dafa across the Internet and in media outlets, both inside and outside of China.
One of the practitioners asked the woman to visit the official Falun Dafa websites to find more information and evaluate the situation for herself. After the exchange, the woman turned to leave, but not before another practitioner remembered that she had in her bag a book about the history of the persecution of Falun Dafa and the CCP’s forced organ harvesting operations. She gave the book to the woman, who accepted it so she could learn more about Dafa.
A Little Girl and a Lotus Flower
Falun Dafa booth at the entrance of Drumul Taberei Park on May 6, 2023
Many people admired the beauty of the Falun Dafa exercises on display at the entrance to Drumul Taberei Park, as well as the harmony of the place where they were performed. They enjoyed listening to the peaceful music.
One older lady on a bicycle took some informational materials for herself and her neighbor, who is older than her and interested in spirituality. After taking materials for her neighbor, she returned to ask a practitioner for more details.
An older woman picks up Falun Dafa information materials for herself and her older neighbor.
A practitioner gives information about Falun Dafa to a group of young women.
Sara, an eight-year-old girl, approached the Falun Dafa booth with her mother. A practitioner asked if she wanted to pick a lotus flower in her favorite color.
“Is it very precious?” the young girl asked after receiving the flower.
The practitioner explained that they are precious because they represent the values of truth, kindness, and patience. She also explained the symbolism behind the lotus flower, that it grows out of the mud but comes up beautiful and pure, like those who, through self-control and kindness, manage to overcome the hardships of life and become stronger and selfless.
She then gave the little girl the children’s book A Lotus Story, which tells the story. Sara became very excited upon seeing the book.
“How beautiful it is! What a wonderful day! I knew why I drew angel eyes today!” she said.
“It’s no accident that she received this book today,” said Sara’s mother, who explained that her daughter’s drawings were often “a bit special.”
“It’s very good what you are doing!”
A Falun Dafa practitioner offers informational materials and lotus flowers at the entrance of Drumul Taberei Park on May 6, 2023.
A practitioner present at the event, Florin Milu, recounted his interaction with an older woman who stopped in front of the practitioners while they were performing the Falun Dafa exercises.
As a former gym trainer, she said she still had her own set of daily exercises that help her keep fit. She was curious about the practitioners’ exercises.
“How are these qigong exercises different from the exercises I do and how are they better than others?” the woman asked Milu.
He replied that he could not compare the exercises, but he told her about the benefits of qigong exercises. They improve health in a very short time, help open all energy channels quickly, purify the body, and lead to inner peace.
“We are very lucky to benefit from this practice, but practitioners in China are persecuted because they guide themselves in life according to teachings based on principles such as Truthfulness, Compassion, and Tolerance,” he told the woman.
Milu told the woman how for 24 years the CCP has tried unsuccessfully to destroy practitioners. The most despicable is the forced harvesting of organs while Falun Dafa practitioners are still alive.
The woman expressed her sympathy for the practitioners in China but told Milu that she thinks that they should take this informational activity to the outskirts of the city as well, to help the young people there understand the dangers of communism and the benefits of the practice.
“Now I understand. It’s very good what you’re doing, and let’s hope that communism doesn’t come back to us,” she said. “That's why it’s good that you inform [people] in this way, especially the young people, and I have a request to you: now, here, you are in a neighborhood where people are a little more educated. Please also go to the outlying neighborhoods and inform the young people there in particular, because they really need what you are doing.”
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