Greeting the New Millennium with "Truthfulness-Benevolence-Forbearance"

On the first day of the New Millennium, over 500 practitioners from United States and Canada gathered in the Westin Copley Hotel in Boston and started the two-day Falun Dafa Boston Experience Sharing Conference.

From 7am to 9am, practitioners held a large group practice in the hotel. The conference started at 9:30am. More than 20 practitioners spoke about their personal experience of practicing cultivation. Some of them talked about how they had attained Falun Dafa; some talked about how they took lightly of fame, interest and emotions; some talked about how they went back to China to defend Falun Dafa; some talked about their experience in spreading Falun Dafa; some talked about the big change that Falun Dafa had brought to them. The speech ended at 8pm. Practitioners held free discussions afterwards.

On the next day, practitioners exchanged their experience in introducing Falun Dafa to the public. At 2pm, practitioners held a news conference. Many journalists were present including Boston Global, Boston Herald, Fox25 TV, Hong Kong Wen-hui Newspaper, and New China Agency etc.

Boston practitioner Connie read a statement. The statement gave a brief introduction to Falun Gong that teaches one to practice cultivation according to the principle of Truthfulness-Benevolence-Forbearance. It also stated the facts that Falun Gong had brought great benefits to people's mental and physical health and uplifted human moral standard; that Falun Gong is completely apolitical; that it does not have any formal organization, nor does it involve money, and people practice it out of their own will. The statement also urged the Chinese communist regime to respect the facts and stop its brutal persecutions against Falun Gong practitioners, to rescind the arrest warrant for the founder of Falun Gong, Mr. Li Hongzhi, and to release all Falun Gong practitioners in custody. The statement also appealed to the international community and all kind-hearted people to help open a dialogue between the Chinese government and Falun Gong to peacefully solve the crisis.

Four practitioners who had gone back to China recently told the journalists their experiences of being arrested, detained, and even tortured in China. After the news conference, the journalists also interviewed many other practitioners and had in-depth conversations with them.

At 3pm, more than 300 practitioners started a parade to introduce Falun Dafa to the public. The parade started from the Copley Square and proceeded along major streets of Boston and then back to the hotel. During the parade, practitioners held group practice of Falun Gong exercises for four times, and their practice attracted many passersby and tourists. A dozen of police officers guarded the parade. Practitioners were always in good order during the parade. After the activity, we gave every police officer on duty some materials on Falun Gong. They were very glad to accept our gifts.