On September 5th, several practitioners wearing bright yellow Falun Gong T-shirts found an empty space near the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, where the leaders of many countries attending the United Nation Summit were staying. Some practitioners began to practice the Falun Gong exercises, while another practitioner and I stood on the side of the road and handed out flyers to the passersby.
Around noontime, while the practitioners were doing the fifth set of the exercises (the sitting meditation), a young African American man wearing a nice suit came by. He stared at the practitioners for the longest time, and then asked excitedly: "What is this?" We told him it was Falun Gong. We gave him a brief introduction and gave him a set of Falun Gong materials. He said he could tell that sitting in the double lotus position was the most effective way to relax one's body. He went back to watch the practitioners performing the sitting meditation for several more minutes. Then he came back and asked: "Can I learn this?" We replied: "Of course. If you want, we can teach you now." He said he needed to go back to work, but asked if he could learn it over the weekend. We gave him a list of all the practice sites in New York along with their practice schedules. He kept saying: "This is so great, this is so great. I am definitely going to come this weekend." He then asked how much it would cost and we told him everything is free. He was so surprised: "Really? Is it for real? Is it for real?" He again went back to watch the practitioners performing the exercises. From time to time, he would explain what Falun Gong was to the other passersby who had stopped to watch as well.
At one point, the practitioners began to perform the 3rd set of the exercises. Following the instructions given by Master Li in the exercise music, they were moving their arms up and down. The young man ran over and asked excitedly: "Sorry, I just have so many questions. They are all doing the exercises with their eyes closed. How do they know when to move their arms up and down at the same time?" Maybe he was watching the practitioners so intently that he didn't even hear the music. When we told him that the practitioners were simply following the music, he understood all of a sudden and began to laugh like a little boy. Watching the childlike laughter on his face, one could hardly believe this was a grown man wearing an expensive suit. He watched the exercises with such innocence and excitement in his eyes. It was almost as if he had suddenly found a priceless treasure. He must have waited to obtain the Dafa for the longest time. Now he had finally found it, so how could he contain his excitement?
He asked a lot of other questions. For example, how much practice is it going to take before one can sit in the double lotus position? How long does one need to practice every day? Why are you here today? We answered his questions one by one, and told him about the brutal persecution of Falun Gong in China. One practitioner, an American citizen, told him how she had been taken into police custody for simply walking in Tiananmen Square. We also told him that so many of us came to New York at our own expense for one simple reason we wanted to tell the Chinese leaders that Falun Gong is good and to ask them to please stop the persecution of Falun Gong in China. He said he could not understand the behavior of the Chinese government. How could it suppress something as good as this and hurt its own innocent citizens? He said that we were doing the right thing, and that he totally supported us. He then looked at his watch and said that he needed to go; otherwise he was going to be late for work. He left in such a hurry that we were surprised to see him return after a short while. It turned out that he had brought back a friend of his to watch the exercises. He then came to us again and asked if we could give him a yellow T-shirt with "China: Stop Persecuting Falun Gong" printed on the front. He said that he wanted more people around him to know about Falun Gong. We were deeply touched by his sincerity. We did not have any extra T-shirts, so one practitioner took off the one he was wearing and gave it to him. He asked us to give him a stack of Falun Gong materials, and he began to hand them out to the passersby, explaining to them what Falun Gong was. From time to time, he stopped and asked us whether he was saying the right thing. It wasn't very long before had given out all the Falun Gong materials he had in his hands.
In the end, he said that he really needed to go now, but asked us to give him several additional copies of Falun Gong materials so that he could give them to his coworkers. Before he left, he again went back to watch the practitioners performing the exercises. He then draped the yellow T-shirt across his back, thanked us repeatedly, and said: " Falun Gong is so great. I still haven't seen enough of it." As he slowly walked away, we were filled with so many emotions. It was so gratifying to see another person obtain the Dafa, but yet there are so many other people out there who are waiting to find the Dafa. We all need to fulfill our responsibilities as practitioners to the best of our ability, defend and protect the Dafa, tell the truth about Falun Gong to the people of the world, and "assist the teacher in the human world."
New York Police: "If everyone were like you guys, we'd be out of a job!"
On the evening of September 5th, after finding out that the motorcades of Jiang Zemin and other world leaders were going to be passing along Park Avenue on their way to the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, thousands of practitioners gathered across from the hotel to practice the Falun Gong exercises. To the right of the practitioners was a small group of Tibetan demonstrators. At the beginning, many policemen were standing in front of us. A while later, the Tibetans began to yell their protests at the top of their lungs, and their yelling grew louder and louder. Their booming voices sharply contrasted with the peaceful and quiet exercises of the Falun Gong practitioners. Soon afterwards, the vast majority of the police on the scene went over to the right side to stand in front of the Tibetans. Only two were left behind and they came over to chat with the practitioners who were standing outside handing out Falun Gong materials. As we were leaving, one policeman said: "I really like you guys. I have never seen a situation with so many people where everyone remains so gentle and peaceful. If everyone were like you guys, we'd all be out of a job!"
Washington D.C. Practitioners, September 2000.
Category: April 25 Events
