The Meaning Behind Lotus Flowers (Photo)

The annual Spokane, Washington Valleyfest parade and festival took place on Saturday, September 20. This was the third year local Falun Dafa practitioners participated in Valleyfest. Valleyfest begins with a parade of over 100 entries. The parade route is a long 24 blocks, the longest march among all the parades in our area. We carried one 16-foot-long "Falun Dafa--Truthfulness, Compassion, Tolerance" banner in the past, since we had only three participants. But this year, having five people enabled our entry to have one person in a lotus flower float, along with the banner. An 11-year-old girl practitioner sat in the lotus flower and demonstrated the fifth exercise during the parade. In the past she had difficulty staying still while doing the exercises, but this time she displayed "diamond like tranquility," with Master's Fashen strengthening her. People were very impressed by our entry, especially young children, who may not have seen Falun Dafa meditation before.

Paper Lotus Flower

Following the parade was a festival in a nearby park. The annual Spokane Valleyfest is hosted by the YMCA in Spokane Valley; non-profit organizations can have a free table if they provide activities for the children to participate in. The Festival volunteers helped us hang up our banner that says "Falun Dafa, Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance" above our table. Our theme this year was to teach kids to fold paper lotus flowers, and to pass out truth-clarification flyers and demonstrate the exercises. Besides our symbolic Court of Conscience--"Bring Jiang to Justice for Genocide" poster board, and the five exercises illustration board, we made a poster display board with "How to Make Paper-Fold Lotus Flowers" instructions on it. We also put a lotus flower art piece on our display board. We taught the children, "This paper lotus flower is a moral discipline reminder for everyone, because lotus flowers grow in the mud, but keep themselves very clean and elegant. In Chinese culture, lotus flowers are symbols of highly virtuous individuals who maintain a high moral standard in a corrupted society." We pre-made some flower pedals and leaf pieces. The children had many choices of color to choose from for their flowers. Our table was very crowded all day long. People were attracted by our parade entry, Dafa music, and many were told by their friends and family, "Do not miss that table!" We made at least 150 flowers in 7 hours. When we were a little too tired, and forgot to tell the moral behind the lotus flowers, people reminded us, "Tell us the story, we want to hear it!" "That is so nice!" Many schoolteachers were so thrilled that they learned a complete lesson plan at our table. Some told us that their school is teaching Chinese culture to children now. Our lotus flower art is perfect for the kids to do. We were busy until after 5:30 p.m., while other tables left around 4:30 p.m.

Although we were exhausted after such a busy day, especially the three of us who learned the paper folding on the spot, we had a very productive day. We helped so many folks see the grace of Dafa, forming predestined relationships with Dafa through the art of lotus flowers. We regret that we didn't advertise our weekly "Pure Heart, Clear Mind" Falun Dafa TV program in this event more obviously. We were so busy and now realize that we need to prepare more next time, and focus more on Hongfa. Master's Fashen guided many predestined people to our table. Some told us that they have been reading Dafa books, and were more than happy to obtain further materials from us. Some told us that they still have the material we distributed in the past years. Many asked about the situation in China, and expressed hope that this persecution will end soon!