(Clearwisdom.net) For many of the people who viewed the "Journey of Falun Dafa" photo exhibit at the Jungman Library in Houston on July 5-8, it was difficult to believe that the kind and peaceful people in the pictures were jailed, sent to forced labor camps or killed to harvest their organs. But the persecution of Falun Gong is still taking place in China, a country of 5000 years of history and civilization, and it has lasted eight years.
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The Founder of Falun Dafa (Falun Gong) Mr. Li Hongzhi introduced this ancient cultivation practice to the public on May 13, 1992. Practitioners follow the principle of "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance" to cultivate their character. Five sets of exercises are easy to learn and have tremendous health-improving effects. But on July 20 1999, the Communist Party of China led by Jiang Zemin, started a nationwide persecution of Falun Gong. The regime staged the "Tiananmen Self-immolation" incident to frame Falun Gong and its millions of practitioners and to spread lies to the world. The CCP has used over a hundred torture methods on detained and jailed Falun Gong practitioners to force them to give up their beliefs. For eight years, Falun Gong practitioners of China and foreign countries have been clarifying the truth of the persecution to the world through banners, parades, rallies, candlelight vigils, anti-torture exhibitions, press conferences and performances of traditional Chinese culture. The photo exhibition recorded a small portion of the numerous moving stories.
"The Journey of Falun Dafa" photo exhibition illustrates the hard path that practitioners have walked in the eight years of resisting the persecution, years which bore witness to the practitioners' persistence in following "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance" and not yielding to the pressure and tortures. The exhibition has four parts. The first part shows how Falun Dafa spread to 80 countries in the world. It contains pictures of large scale group practices around the world before July 20, 1999. The second part exposes the torture and persecution of Falun Gong by the Chinese Communist Party. The third part records how Falun Gong practitioners clarify the truth to the world, and the fourth part is about how CCP leader Jiang Zemin was sued in court in many countries of the world.
On the afternoon of July 5 and 6, it was raining hard but there were still many people arriving at the photo exhibition. One middle-aged Indian man said, "I'm used to seeing photos of landscapes and life styles. Your exhibition is different. It seems to have a special meaning in it." A practitioner introduced to him the details about Falun Gong and how it spread to the world, as well as the persecution of Falun Gong in China. He listened attentively and said that freedom of belief should not be deprived. Before he left, he took a copy of Falun Gong Today.
A young lady entered the exhibition room and looked at the pictures curiously. She said her parents were from China and immigrated to Thailand. She likes Chinese culture very much and is learning the Chinese language. She read the Chinese and English descriptions on each photo. She pointed to one photo about the parade and recognized it was in Chinatown. In front of the picture "Coming For You," a practitioner told her the story how 36 western Falun Gong practitioners raised a banner of "Truthfulness Compassion Forbearance" on Tiananmen Square. The practitioner pointed to the three Chinese characters in the picture and explained the meaning to her: "Zhen: truth, telling the truth, doing right things, and being honest. Shan means compassion, being kind to others. Ren is forbearance, endurance, tolerance." She nodded her head to agree. The practitioner told her that she can benefit forever from remembering these three words.
She repeated the pronunciation of "Zhen-Shan-Ren" a few more time to remember them. Then the practitioner told her about the five sets of exercises. She immediately wanted to learn them. So the practitioner gave her a web address to download video programs, music and free books and materials. The lady wrote down the information and left happily.
About 15 minutes later, she returned with a friend. What happened? She talked to a friend about Falun Gong and her friend was very interested too. They both came back to ask where they could learn the exercises. A practitioner told them where to download materials and how to find the nearest practice site. They took more materials and left with big smiles.
Falun Gong has been spreading to the world. "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance" awakens people's conscience so they will see the beauty of Falun Dafa and thus have bright futures.
