(Clearwisdom.net) The annual "Hiroshima Flower Festival" was held in Heping Park and Heping Avenue in Hiroshima. The theme for this year was "Dance, Sing, Flower of Peace." It was reported that about 590,000 citizens watched the performances, 90,000 people more than last year. The most important performance and also the one that drew most of the audience members was the parade of 71 groups with 5600 participants on Heping Avenue. Japan Falun Dafa group received an invitation to join from the Hiroshima Flower Festival organizing committee quite early this year.
I. Making a Good First Impression
At 2:00 p.m. May 3, 2003, when Falun Dafa practitioners' procession composed of nearly 200 practitioners appeared on the avenue, they immediately won citizens' attention and welcome.
A young girl holding a sign reading "Falun Dafa" led the procession. Following her was a group of practitioners in ancient Chinese costumes, carrying flower baskets and colorful ribbons, performing dances.
A large float decorated with colorful blossoms followed. Three big Chinese characters for "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance" were situated at the front. Dafa practitioners in bright golden exercise suits performed the Falun Gong exercises to the music. Their movements were slow and smooth, graceful and elegant. Their sitting exercise was compassionate and peaceful, as if they were immersed in another world. Among them, two young practitioners in ancient Chinese costumes sat in handmade lotus flowers. Dafa practitioners displayed Falun Dafa's peacefulness and beauty to thousands of people along the road.
Behind the float was a lively Chinese Yangkou group. Dafa practitioners in bright Chinese Tang Dynasty costumes danced to the gong and drum, adding an upbeat note to the performance. A practitioner family of three played music for the Yangkou performance. Through their drumbeats they conveyed their good wishes to citizens.
Walking at the end of the Falun Dafa procession was a group of practitioners wearing T-shirts with the words, "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance," "Falun Dafa." They smiled and waved to citizens, expressing thanks to Hiroshima's people for their enthusiastic and friendly support.
Practitioners' demeanor gave a positive impression to the citizens lining the road, and inspired broadcasters. They gave objective and fair explanations and enabled citizens to gain a deeper understanding of the Jiang regime's brutal persecution in China. From the loudspeaker, people could often hear words like, "Look, Falun Gong! They smile, and they are so peaceful... The highest principle of Falun Gong is 'Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.' It is a qigong cultivation method bringing benefit to both people's physical and mental well being. They are displaying Falun Dafa to the world..."
II. Overall improvement in the process
During the participation in this flower festival, Dafa practitioners made it clear that our purpose is to display Dafa
's sacredness and beauty to the Japanese people and let them learn about the truth of Falun Dafa and expose the evil so as to offer salvation to people. At the same time, the process of preparation and participation is the process of Dafa practitioners' making improvement and finding where we fell short, and also the process of cultivation and self-examination.Hiroshima Dafa practitioners in charge had planned quite early on the overall design and plan and prepared all necessary things.
Most practitioners in Hiroshima participated in the preparation. They cooperated with each other and each contributed a bit to the preparation. It is worth mentioning that a practitioner who used to do little in Fa-rectification work stepped forward. His family members who are also practitioners previously worried about him. This time, the practitioner cleared away all interference, and wholeheartedly involved himself in the Fa-rectification work. He took the initiative to make props. He improved greatly during the entire process. Once, when he was doing the exercises, he saw heavenly people and flowers and trees in other dimensions were also doing the exercises. He was very grateful for Master's encouragement.
While making a flowered arch for the float, one practitioner had no idea how to do it at the beginning, but with her righteous thought, wisdom unexpectedly occurred and in the end she successfully made it beautifully.
In order to further clarify the truth and offer salvation to people, we distributed a lot of truth-clarifying newspapers beforehand, and collected signatures for the rescue of Yoko Kaneko after the parade concluded. Citizens who had learned the truth signed their names on the signature-collection cloth to express their good wishes for the early release of Yoko Kaneko.
Dafa practitioners made good use of time before and after the activity to study the Fa, and exchange ideas on how to improve as a whole in the Fa, and how to clear away the evil interference. At the same time, many practitioners discovered their attachments and shortcomings. All Dafa practitioners improved to different degrees through participating in the activity.
