(Clearwisdom.net) Quite a while ago we had already realized the importance of group study and mutual experience sharing meetings. Since it is neither feasible financially or time-wise to always meet together, we came up with the idea to meet regularly with practitioners from other areas for the purpose of studying the Fa and exchanging our experiences.
Since last October's first meeting at Chiemsee, Bavaria, through group Fa-study and experience sharing, we have become more aware of the importance of the Fa-rectification and the practitioners' responsibilities during the Fa-rectification period. Because of this meeting we were able to deepen and clarify our understanding of our role as Dafa practitioners during this period of Fa-rectification. After we read the Lecture in Switzerland and viewed Teacher's lecture videos, we were able to immediately answer questions that came up. This spirit persisted throughout the whole time we were there, which validated the benefits of our meeting and confidence in holding future meetings.
Our second meeting took place in Erbach, Odenwald. Many practitioners came, even some from Austria and Poland. Two newcomers also joined the meeting. After introducing ourselves, we thoroughly discussed how to clarify the truth to the Chinese people in a better way.
The third meeting took place in January 2002 in Augsburg, Bavaria on our Falun Dafa Information Day. We had a sit-in and candlelight vigil at the Chinese Embassy in Munich on Saturday evening. The whole day passed harmoniously and many practitioners came unexpectedly. At the Munich event we managed, for the first time, to receive a permit to hold the candlelight vigil in a park directly across from the Consulate. Prior to that, we had to sit on a small pedestrian path, hidden behind parked cars. When we arrived for the event, a police officer beamed, greeted us and said, "Today you are allowed to use the square over there." He seemed to be genuinely pleased to have such good news for us. The weather also was unusually mild and there was no wind, although the rest of the day there had been stormy gusts. The candles remained lit the whole time.
We realized that if each practitioner is fully responsible to his or her duty to break through the arrangements of the old forces, then these forces can no longer separate us from each other like bees in a honeycomb, separated by walls on all sides. If we break through, then the evil can no longer exist, and all surroundings become harmonious and pure.
Some practitioners outside of Munich became aware of the importance of the Chinese Consulate to the whole region. We spent the night in Munich and began our Sunday by sending forth righteous thoughts and reading chapter three of Zhuan Falun. The atmosphere was warm and remained so throughout the ensuing discussions. We all respected each other, earnestly listened to each other and shared our experiences and understandings. A powerful, pure field surrounded us the whole time.
For our first meeting we had come to the following agreement: while watching the videos or reading from the book, as soon as someone has a new insight or wishes to ask a question, we would either write it down or remember it, and at the appropriate moment discuss it right away. This method was quite effective. We suggested using the same approach this time also. The question that came up during the readings was how to keep our thoughts concentrated on the Fa while reading the text. Many shared their thoughts and experiences about this.
The afternoon's topic centered on "activities." We touched on the upcoming spring festival, and then someone recapped the candlelight vigil from the previous evening and described his impressions. People had different thoughts about what should happen during the vigil. An open exchange of ideas regarding the different viewpoints deepened our understanding. We became more clear-headed and were even able to recognize our own attachments and deviations during truth-clarification efforts. We were thus able to send forth our most pure, righteous thoughts.
Two weeks ago we had our fourth experience sharing conference, again at Chiemsee. Twenty practitioners from seven different cities participated in this weekend event. People came from as far away as Austria and the German states of Baden, Weurttemberg and Hesse. Everyone studies the Fa, everyone reads the book Zhuan Falun but what we enlighten to differs from person to person. That is precisely the reason that makes this experience sharing so important. Each person only comprehends what is comprehensible from his or her own level. If we can add these understandings and make them a whole, it will enable us to elevate ourselves faster and will also do away with more of the degenerated things at microscopic levels.
During the evening we read the recent Fa-lecture from Florida and Teacher Li's new poems. Following that we voiced our experiences regarding truth-clarification and shared our understandings of the new poems. One of the participants had just returned from Beijing and spoke of his experiences. A woman practitioner, who has been in Germany only a short while, openly and without holding back related her gruesome persecution experiences in China. Her candor and courage made some people shed tears.
Another person gave an account of working with politicians. He said that he had noticed the resistance becoming less and that we must not relent but continue to take every good opportunity to breakthrough the old forces' arrangements.
That Sunday we made economics the focal point. It became evident that for many, any information about economic considerations in connection with the persecution is of prime importance. Many German citizens give great measure to their country's economic relationship with China. As practitioners we have better information about the impact of the persecution on the Chinese economy -- for instance that the Chinese government is using foreign investment money to finance the persecution -- therefore we can clear up many misunderstandings. This makes it easier for people to intervene to end the persecution. One of the practitioners has already collected a lot of data from various websites about that.
A joint meeting of veteran and new practitioners is another possibility to deepen our understanding. In the beginning we were lead by an erroneous assumption and did not really take these new students seriously. When we asked their opinions at the conclusion of our meeting, they surprised us by opening our eyes to a few things. The first was our lack of tolerance toward them, for instance during introductions or in our explanation of cultivation. One of their questions hit directly at a basic cultivation problem and also dealt with Fa-rectification. A new practitioner asked, "How much time do you devote to reading and how much time to the exercises?" We then realized that we spend too little time reading. Our commitment and sincerity were on the line. Because of the newcomers' understandings and our own experiences, we were clearly shown that we could easily get up at 4:00 a.m. and read for two hours, for a total of 3-4 hours per day. It is a challenge we shall meet.
We also became aware that sometimes we didn't consider the Fa as our top priority. Instead, with our limited comprehension, we had put ourselves in a primary position. This trend even showed in the way that we treated the Zhuan Falun books, which were strewn everywhere, sometimes even containing loose pages. It also pointed out another habit of spending too much time on discussions of minor points and neglecting the Fa-study itself.
At these group meetings, we realized what Dafa requires us to be and what the upright path we must take for Fa-rectification is. We refuse to accept all the arrangements of the old forces and resolve to overcome the limitations of communication difficulties, national borders, language barriers and other things. Let us become one body, and let us support each other in thwarting the evil.
(Original text in German)
