(Minghui.org) On May 12, 2024, practitioners in North Carolina celebrated World Falun Dafa Day and the 32nd anniversary of Falun Dafa’s public introduction by doing the exercises in Bond Park in Cary.
Practitioners celebrate the 32nd anniversary of Falun Dafa’s public introduction by doing the exercises in Bond Park.
May 12 was Mother’s Day, and the park was crowded. Tourists and locals paused in front of the Falun Dafa booth to read the materials practitioners were handing out. After learning about Falun Dafa, several people were so interested that they asked to learn the exercises.
People learn the Falun Dafa exercises.
A woman came to the Falun Dafa table and said, “I just came out of the church next door and was looking for a place in the park to write in my journal, when something told me I should head toward the boathouse.” She saw the colorful balloons that read “Celebrate World Falun Dafa Day.”
She walked over to the booth and spoke with practitioners. She said she saw Shen Yun in the neighboring city of Greensboro and bought a copy of Zhuan Falun, Falun Dafa’s main book. Before she left, she wrote down the contact phone number for the local practice site and said she wanted to learn how to practice.
Several practitioners, both new and veteran, talked about how they began to practice Falun Dafa and their cultivation experiences.
Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance Has Deeply Touched Me
Maureen
Maureen G. is a former vice president, project director, and business analysis manager at one of the top banks in the USA. She vividly remembers the moment she was introduced to Falun Dafa on November 13, 2001, at MIT, where she was a senior financial adviser to a number of companies.
“I wasn’t feeling too good about how people were peddling everything for money at the time, and they didn’t seem to have a real passion for what they were doing,” she said. “Then I saw the bright yellow Falun Dafa booth and I walked over to it. I immediately felt a connection with practitioners. I could feel their hearts.
“Some of them were not so eloquent, but I could feel their sincerity. I bought a Dafa book and began to read it. When I finished reading the book, I was convinced that it was probably the best book I ever read.”
Born into a Christian family with an excellent upbringing, Maureen grew up going to church every Sunday. She was convinced that God existed, but she was always searching. She said, “I wasn’t looking for anything magical or supernatural, I didn’t know anything about qigong, and I knew very little about Buddhism and Taoism.
“I wasn’t looking for religion, either, I was just looking for something more inner and deeper. Every time I thought I found one, after a month, I realized it wasn’t quite right, until in the end I finally found Falun Dafa.”
Maureen said, “The extremely simple and easy Fa principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance touched me deeply. In Western society these are not explained in depth. All my life questions were answered in Dafa with clarity and perfection.”
Through the practice of Falun Dafa, Maureen realized that, as she put it, “True Compassion is not just charity, it is true kindness that transcends emotion. There is also Truthfulness, and Forbearance.”
She added, “Since the day I started practicing Falun Dafa, it began to be integrated into my life every day. Unlike the formality of walking into a church for a service, it is in my thoughts and in my actions; everything of me is integrated into Dafa, and I felt this is what I always wanted from the bottom of my heart.”
After practicing Falun Dafa, Maureen was able to deal with her past emotions. She was a single mother for a while. She said, “After obtaining Falun Dafa, when I talked to my children about their father, and when I spent time with my grandchildren, I talked about karma with them.
“I told them that, as a human being, bad behaviors create karma, which can cause you to get sick or lose something. Good behaviors can be rewarded, even though you may not know you’re rewarded. I shared all of these understanding with my children and grandchildren. Being responsible for others, being a good person, and being kind, I believe these are the right things to do.”
Now 73, Maureen is still full of energy and works tirelessly at her full-time job, “I do the exercises and study the Fa every day. I can concentrate at work, I can work on the phone for six hours uninterruptedly without needing to take a break.”
Maureen participated in an event in Wake Forest on May 4, 2024.
Maureen participated in an event in Wake Forest on May 4, and said, “I want people to know how great Falun Dafa is, and I try to say as straightforwardly as I can that Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance are the most important and most fundamental principles for human beings.”
From 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Maureen stood in front of the booth and told passersby about Falun Dafa. Maureen said she was able to do this because she practices Falun Dafa.
She said, “Because I am a Dafa practitioner and can let go of all the things—it doesn’t matter whether they’re good or bad. I really don’t have to worry about ups and downs. I have everything I need, and I don’t need anything else.”
Falun Dafa Helped Me Understand the True Meaning of Life
Ying was born in China to a schoolteachers’ family. Her family retained some of the Chinese traditions of respecting Heaven and gods. Ying’s parents taught her to be kind and to believe that good deeds will be rewarded. Her father also told her stories about reincarnation and Buddhism.
When she was young, Ying often looked at the stars and wondered, “Who am I? Where do I come from? Where am I going?”
But with the passage of years and being educated in atheism and evolutionism in China, Ying forgot those fundamental questions about life. She gradually began to believe that one’s destiny is in one’s own hands—until tragedy hit her family.
A family member suddenly fell ill and passed away. In the midst of grief and sadness, Ying began to rethink the most fundamental questions of life, birth, old age, sickness and death, as well as the true purpose of being human.
Ying came to the U.S. to reunite with her family in the 1990s. In the fall of 1996, Master Li Hongzhi came to the U.S. and gave a lecture in Houston. A friend lent Ying a copy of Falun Gong and 14 cassette tapes of Master Li’s lectures given in Guangzhou, China.
“I spent an entire night reading the book, thrilled that Master answered all of my questions in the plainest language. From that moment on, I decided to follow Master Li and practice cultivation steadfastly.”
Based on her own experience, Ying realized that a cultivator who has understood the true meaning of life will gradually transcend human notions, and will treat his/her work and life with the mentality of a cultivator.
At work, Ying is a diligent employee and never argues with anyone over personal interests. Her boss and colleagues trust her.
Whenever she has the opportunity, Ying tells her colleagues and boss about Falun Dafa. At a company Christmas party one year, Ying’s project manager asked her what holiday was most important to her. Ying answered, “My most important holiday is World Falun Dafa Day.” The manager helped Ying apply for “holiday leave” with the company so Ying could take the day off on May 13 every year.
After one meeting with her boss to discuss her work progress, the boss told Ying that he had seen her meditating in the park that morning and that he had heard on the news that the head of the Chinese Communist Party, was in the US.
Ying had planned to ask for time off after the meeting so that she could drive to Iowa to participate in a protest against the persecution of Falun Dafa. She quickly asked, “Can I take a few hours off today to go to Iowa for a protest?”
The boss checked the itinerary and said, “If you leave now, it’s a four-hour drive and you’ll be just in time for the protest. I’ll give you one more day off so you don’t have to worry about coming back to work early in the morning; you can take a day of rest at home.” Ying thanked her boss. More importantly, she was very grateful for Master’s arrangement and encouragement.
On the occasion of Falun Dafa Day, Ying once again thanked Master Li for his compassion and said, “Falun Dafa has allowed me to truly understand that the purpose of life is cultivation, and allowed me to gradually transcend the secular human world. No language on Earth or in Heaven can express my infinite gratitude to Master.”
New Practitioner
Cliton, who holds a doctorate in engineering, is a retired university professor. He said, “I was interested in Chinese qigong, then I found an introduction to Falun Dafa on the Internet, as well as the practice site in our area. I contacted them and started practicing.”
Cliton
Cliton credits the experience sharing that is done after each Fa study for helping him. He used to try to be as kind as he could, and now he requires himself to follow Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. He said, “I feel a sense of relief when I am able to forgive others.”
Cliton said participating in the activities to celebrate World Falun Dafa Day was very special. He was also happy that he did the sitting meditation with the group for the first time.
On the the 32nd anniversary of Falun Dafa’s public introduction, Cliton expressed his gratitude to Master: “I am only just a beginner to Dafa and my understanding is still superficial, but I will keep on exploring Dafa, and I hope that one day I will be able to meet Master.”
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