Scotland: Promoting Falun Gong and Letting the People of Inverness Know about the Persecution

In Inverness, known as the capital of the Scottish highlands, on Sunday June 23rd, 2007, UK practitioners held various activities at a street market. At last year’s successful event, the organiser told practitioners, “You created a wonderful environment with our peaceful practice perhaps you’d like to come along next year”.

Wind and rain continued throughout the day and despite this people passing by were drawn to the practitioners, who wore traditional Chinese costumes, doing exercises to our peaceful music. As practitioners demonstrated the exercises, those who stopped to watch seemed to forget about the rain.

A woman came and listened about our practice and how in China the persecution takes place. She had a pained expression on her face, took a leaflet and left saying she wouldn't sign our petition but would read the leaflet. After a few hours she came back with purpose in her heart and signed the petition.

Two gentlemen walked by one took a leaflet and one refused saying persecution was happening all over the world not just in China. The practitioner pointed out that eighty million Chinese people were killed by the CCP in China during the last fifty six years of CCP control. Yet most in the west were not aware of this. In the rest of the world there are laws to protect people, in China laws are set aside to allow this persecution to take place. He then kindly took a leaflet.

Parents with school children took the Nine Commentaries DVD to pass to their teachers and were happy to do so.

The organiser came to see if things were alright and talked with a practitioner at the petition table. She said she saw the practitioner who organised the event and said “he looks really happy” as he did the exercises during the rain. That practitioner remarked “with my eyes closed, when I maintained a serine expression it felt like the sun was shining on me and I felt the warmth as if transported to a different place”.

After the event practitioners shared their experiences and saw how everyone did different things throughout the day but all towards the same aim. Despite the poor weather the event was a good cultivation environment, testing practitioner’s tolerance in not letting personal comfort be a barrier, having opened the hearts and minds of many in Inverness.