(Minghui.org) Hanau is located on the Main River in central Germany, about 25 kilometers (15 miles) east of Frankfurt. It is the birthplace of the two Grimm brothers, the famous authors of Grimm’s Fairy Tales, so it is also called the Brüder-Grimm-Stadt [Brothers Grimm City]. The annual Citizen’s Day is the largest festival in Hanau and surrounding cities. The festival is also a platform for local organizations to showcase themselves to citizens and guests.
This year, the festival on September 2 and 3 brought more than 50,000 visitors to the festivities. Falun Dafa practitioners participated in the festival, showed the preciousness of the cultivation practice, demonstrated the exercises, and taught visitors to fold origami lotus flowers, which had the nine-character mantras printed on them.
Falun Dafa’s booth at Citizen’s Day in Hanau Germany, set up from September 2 to 3, 2023.
“I want to find my true self”
Florian waited nearby while his wife and daughter were sitting at the Falun Dafa booth learning how to fold origami lotus flowers. He picked up a Falun Gong flier and read it. He told a Falun Dafa practitioner at the booth that he had always been interested in meditation. The banner showing a practitioner meditating and the words (Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance) in front of the booth caught his attention. He said, “Your information may be my ticket to learn meditation, allowing me to get what I want.”
A banner of a meditating Falun Dafa practitioner caught Florian’s attention.
Florian explained why he wanted to learn to meditate, “I want to find my true self. I have a lot of pressure at work, and also have a family and children. I am very tired and need to find a balance. I often feel that this is not myself, so I want to find my true self.”
Talking about the principles of Falun Dafa – Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance – he said that he worked in the leadership of a company. He could appreciate how important it is to practice the aforementioned principles when being in management.
“I will definitely go to the website to learn more”
Nicole’s two daughters love origami so they sat down to learn how to fold lotus flowers. Nicole patiently waited for them. A practitioner introduced the book Zhuan Falun, the main book of Falun Dafa, to Nicole, so she opened the book and browsed it.
Nicole wants to find out more about Falun Dafa.
Before leaving she said, “I really want to learn to meditate, but I haven’t been able to do so yet. Falun Dafa has exercises. I just read the description of karma in the book, and those are issues I am interested in. I also hope that I can become a calm person who does not lose her temper. So I will definitely go to the [Falun Dafa] website to learn more.”
Our Society Needs the Principles Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance
Seven Falun Dafa practitioners demonstrated the Falun Dafa exercises on the largest performance stage on Sunday afternoon. A practitioner also introduced the characteristics of the Falun Dafa exercises, and explained the movements of the five exercise sets.
Falun Dafa introduction and exercise demonstration on the stage
Frau Lange was watching the performance from the opposite small stage. When she heard Falun Dafa being introduced, she came over to watch. She said she had tried to learn about qigong when she was in college and working, hoping to calm herself down by doing the qigong exercises. As soon as she saw the Falun Dafa first and fourth sets of exercises, she felt that she wanted to learn them too. “The exercises are very calming. I think I can do the two sets of exercises demonstrated on stage,” she said.
Ms. Lange
She added, “This [Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance] is also the principle I hope to live by. Of course, I am still in the process of learning it [the cultivation system]. Sometimes I will be impulsive, but then I think again, no, I can’t lose my temper as it can’t solve any problem.” She believes that today’s society needs more Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance.
Friedrike Sommer
Friedrike Sommer had been introduced to Falun Dafa in the past while in Frankfurt. When she saw the Falun Dafa booth, she came over with her friend to learn about the latest situation in China, and to sign a petition to help stop the persecution by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). She believes that the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance are calming and important to be followed by human beings. She commented, “Without truth, it won’t work at all. We also need kindness, which is very important, and tolerance. These are very wise.”
She knew that the CCP’s persecution of Falun Gong (also known as Falun Dafa) in China is still continuing. “Of course it is bad. Here (in Germany) everyone has the freedom to have their own opinion,” she said.
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