Falun Dafa Practitioners in Melbourne Hold a Parade and Rally to Celebrate World Falun Dafa Day

(Minghui.org) Falun Dafa practitioners held a grand parade and rally in Melbourne, Australia’s largest city, on May 10, 2025, to celebrate World Falun Dafa Day.

World Falun Dafa Day is celebrated each year on May 13, and this year marks the 33^rd anniversary of the day that Falun Dafa was introduced to the public, bringing Dafa’s universal values of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance to the world. At the events in Melbourne, practitioners also wished Falun Dafa’s founder, Mr. Li Hongzhi, a happy birthday, and expressed their utmost gratitude.

Practitioners had great weather for the parade. It was a sunny, cool autumn day. More than 100 practitioners were in the parade procession, which left from Queen Victoria Gardens and then passed by bustling commercial districts, including Chinatown. The parade attracted many residents and tourists who stopped to watch and take pictures and videos. When the parade procession reached the State Library of Victoria, a celebratory rally was held.

In their speeches at the rally, many guests complimented Falun Dafa’s promotion of the universal values of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, which have brought positive energy into society.

Falun Dafa practitioners hold a grand parade in Melbourne’s city center to celebrate World Falun Dafa Day, marking the 33^rd anniversary of the day that Falun Dafa was introduced to the world.

Falun Dafa practitioners gathered in front of the State Library of Victoria in Melbourne’s city center to celebrate World Falun Dafa Day and wish Master Li Hongzhi a happy birthday.

Federal Election Candidate: Falun Dafa Brought the Most Precious Thing to Australia

Australian federal election candidate Dr. Richard Peppard speaks at the rally.

Neurologist Dr. Richard Peppard is a candidate for federal election, and in his speech at the rally he mentioned that as a candidate for the House of Representatives, he has observed that Falun Dafa practitioners are also defending Australia’s values alongside him. “I am full of empathy and support for your movement, because your faith is being persecuted in China,” he said.

“The three main principles of Falun Dafa, Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance, are currently being spread all around the world. These principles are sufficient to form the core of any great religion or spiritual movement. This is also the most precious thing that you have brought to this country,” he said.

It happened to also be Dr. Peppard’s birthday. He said happily, “I am very honored to be able to celebrate this day together with all these kind people.”

Pro-Democracy Leader: I Wish to Walk Side By Side with Falun Dafa Practitioners

Mr. Gao Jian, Vice Chairman of the China Democratic League and the main person-in-charge of the Melbourne Democracy Movement Alliance (right), speaks at the rally.

“When I first met a friend who practices Falun Dafa, I felt a strong sense of closeness inside me,” Mr. Gao Jian said. “They have been persistent in their faith for the past decades in order to persist in their cultivation of the Buddha Fa.”

Mr. Gao Jian also said that Falun Dafa, which is based on the core values of Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance, has spread all over the world, gaining the welcome and respect of people of different countries. “Therefore, I all the more admire Falun Dafa practitioners’ courage and tenacity,” he said.

“I support Falun Dafa. I wish to become a friend of the Falun Dafa practitioners,” he said. “I hope that I can also walk with Falun Dafa practitioners side-by-side and be together with them on the path of cultivation.”

Former Company Owner: Thank You for Guiding Me to Overcome My Operational Difficulties

Pulla Subra, a Falun Dafa practitioner, wishes Master Li Hongzhi a happy birthday.

Pulla Subra, a former company owner from India, started cultivating in Falun Dafa in January 2007. He was fortunate to be able to obtain a copy of Zhuan Falun that had been translated into his native language, Telugu. Pulla shared that while he was managing his company in India, he met with serious financial difficulties twice. However, under the guidance of Master Li’s Fa principles, he successfully resolved the problems through improving his xinxing.

A graduate of agricultural studies, Pulla set up his own pesticide manufacturing business in 1993, and it kept expanding. However, in 2016, the first major manufacturing hiccup occurred, when his pesticides were contaminated and caused farmers’ crops to completely die, causing the farmers great financial losses.

At that time, Pulla, who had practiced Falun Dafa for nearly ten years, reminded himself to look within and abide by Master’s requirement to think of others before himself. “After rational reflection, I realized that as a true Falun Dafa practitioner, I must be a responsible person. I am very grateful to Dafa’s principles for giving me guidance during those critical moments. I understood why Master always asks us to study the Fa regularly. Dafa’s Fa principles help me maintain my sense of responsibility and integrity all the time,” he said.

“I understood that although I am able to get rid of this crisis using selfish means, that is not a righteous thing to do. I decided to compensate the farmers the full amount. After seeing what I did, a local main distributor fully agreed with my actions and gave our company strong support, helping us to successfully overcome this financial crisis.” Pulla said in gratitude, “Under Master’s guidance and protection, this matter further helped me to persist in maintaining the cultivation standards of Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance in my heart.”

When a similar incident happened again, Pulla went through many sleepless nights due to anxiety, as he kept thinking about how to earn the money that had been lost and what other business owners in the industry were going to think of him. He said, “However, all the hardship, including the dissatisfaction with my employees, etc., all disappeared after I improved my xinxing and my understanding of the Fa principles in Dafa.”

Finally, Pulla said, “Reading Zhuan Falun regularly helped me to keep finding answers to resolve all this pain and hardship that I was going through when these incidents occurred. Dafa’s Fa principles revealed the deep meaning of life. I forever thank Master for his guidance, helping me to improve my xinxing. I wish Master a happy birthday.”

Entrepreneur Couple: We Should All Abide by Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance

Steve Hampton and Tanya from Queensland

Steve Hampton and Tanya from Queensland happened to encounter the Falun Dafa parade and were surprised and delighted.

“This is so attractive,” Mr. Hampton said. “I am really surprised that we happened upon this parade. The colors are so beautiful. The wide array of colors drew us here and the music and ambiance are really great.”

After learning about Falun Dafa practitioners’ persistence in holding peaceful protests against the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s persecution for more than 20 years, Tanya expressed her utmost support. She was born in Bulgaria, so Tanya understands the nature of communism well. She said, “Everyone needs to have a religion. Without a faith, people will not be able to live and there will be no hope.”

Mr. Hampton was very appreciative that Falun Dafa practitioners convey the truth through parades. He said, “This is an effective way of conveying the truth to us. They [the CCP] have packaged it in a specific way. It is only until you interact with the people who have really experienced [persecution] that you will hear the truth about the story.”

With regards to the values of Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance that Falun Dafa advocates, Mr. Hampton said, “These are what we all should abide by. We should try hard to live in the correct way, to be full of empathy, and think more of others.”

Mr. Eternit, a resident who saw the Falun Dafa parade, exclaimed, “The parade is organized very well. It is really very grand and very peaceful.” He also said, “Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance are very good universal values. Many religions or faiths include these values and they are beneficial to the society.”

Mr. Eternit already had some understanding of Falun Dafa and had also signed a petition to show his support to end the persecution. “I think that stopping people from connecting with the divine is the display of its [the CCP’s] evil nature,” he said.

Mia said that she is very happy to watch the Falun Dafa celebration parade with her child.

Mia is a nurse who looks after elderly people. She watched the parade with her young son and kept explaining the meaning of the parade to her son. She said, “The parade is really good. Everyone is so exciting to watch. The wide array of colors are really sparkly!”

Mia also fully agrees with the values of Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance, and she complimented the Falun Dafa practitioners for their efforts to share these principles and to raise awareness of the persecution. “Through this parade, people are able to see these values, understand and immediately care about these issues, but at the same time, all this is being done in a peaceful way,” she said.