My Trip to the Western U.S. Falun Dafa Experience Sharing Conference (Part 1)

On February the 25th, 2005, I flew to San Francisco in order to attend the Western U.S. Falun Dafa Cultivation Experience Sharing Conference.

After finishing my daily volunteer work of editing articles and writing two reports in two hours late at night, I started to pack my luggage with excitement. What made me feel gratified was that I would soon meet fellow practitioners from around the world and once again bathe myself in the dignified and pure atmosphere at the Falun Dafa Conference. Though at daybreak, I didn’t feel tired whatsoever. I packed my clothes for attending the Falun Dafa Conference and the parade as well as other personal belongs into my mid-sized trunk one after another. More importantly, I put my passport, tickets, U.S. banknotes, the pocket-sized “Zhuan Falun,” my MP3 player and some Falun Dafa flyers in my handbag. In the meantime, I spotted the English version of the “Nine Commentaries” published by the Epoch Times, so I naturally put some copies into my handbag as well. I also brought along some coloured paper and rubber bands, so that I was able to fold some paper lotus flowers during the flight, since I wanted to distribute paper lotus flowers to the passersby during the parade.

After the stopover at a London airport, I boarded another plane bound for San Francisco. As I passed through the first class cabin, I saw a big westerner smiling at me in a seat not far from where I was standing. Since I just awakened from a nearly two-hour sleep on my previous flight, and had not sobered up, I only responded with a smile and then turned my head to the other side. Suddenly, it came to mind that I had some English “Nine Commentaries” in my backpack. I thus took them out and said to him, “This is the ‘Nine Commentaries’ on the Chinese Communist Party. Since it contains some valuable information, I often recommended it to others. Would you like to take a look at it? I believe it can be of some help to your understanding of today’s China and the Chinese market.” Before I finished my words, he was pleased to take the newspaper. Overhearing what I was mentioning and seeing that there were some copies of the “Nine Commentaries” in my hands, other passengers around asked me for the newspaper one after another. Within a minute, I ran out of all the newspapers with me. It was a pity that I had only eight copies altogether with me this time.

I sat in an aisle seat and the one next to me was not occupied. After the plane took off, I took out the coloured paper and placed it on the adjacent seat. I then started to fold paper lotus flowers. I was so engrossed in folding the lotus flowers that at first I did not notice a flight attendant standing behind me, appreciating the beautiful lotus flowers I was folding. While I raised my head to look at the attendant, I found that the passengers across the aisle and the one before him were staring at me folding the paper lotus flowers.

I presented each of them with a paper-folded lotus flower, and told them that in Chinese people’s eyes, lotus flowers are symbolic of a pure and noble nature because they grow out of the dirty mud, without being polluted. By talking about lotus flowers, our topics were extended to self cultivation, Falun Gong, and the physical and spiritual well-being I have benefited from practising Falun Gong. In response to a query raised by one of them, I explain the facts about the persecution to them benevolently, and they listened to me attentively while nodding their heads from time to time.

Sitting on my front left was an English man who is a member of a football club. After he and his companions received a paper lotus flower from me, I overheard that he relayed what I was talking about to his friends.

After finishing folding all the paper lotus flowers several hours later, I raised my head to look around. I found some passengers falling asleep while others were viewing the video. Then, I opened “Zhuan Falun”, the teachings that will be leading me to a magnificent future.

(To be continued)

Note:

Zhuan Falun is a book containing the principles and teachings of Falun Dafa practice.