Some Experiences from the Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance Art Exhibition in Sweden

Greetings to our Master! Greetings to fellow practitioners!

I am a practitioner from Sweden. I would like to share with you some of my and my fellow practitioner’s experiences from working with the “Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance - International Art Exhibition” in Sweden.

During the Falun Dafa Experience Sharing Conference held in Stockholm in June, we had an art exhibition for the first time in Sweden. I had taken 2 weeks of my vacation leave to stay in Stockholm during the conference and also so that I could work with the art exhibition.

Two experienced practitioners from Canada and the USA came to help us. During the opening ceremony the practitioner from Canada offered a guided tour to the audience. He needed a translator from English to Swedish, so I offered to do the translation. The guiding must have taken at least 1½ hours due to the need of translation, but amazingly almost all the audience stayed for the whole time. The practitioner who was guiding the paintings stayed in absolute focus with the audience; this way he helped me to also stay focused. I could see that everyone was listening very carefully and did not want to miss a single word.

The whole tour was a very special and unique experience. When the day was over my mind was so peaceful and serene. Our Master has given us a great gift. The guiding tour had purified my mind and soul and I felt this deep and soft happiness inside. Through my own experience I could now truly understand the power of the Fa¹ in the art exhibition and how the Buddha’s, Dao’s and God’s behind the paintings helped to awaken the viewers and in turn save their lives.

Practitioners had sent out a lot of invitations to the art exhibition, and a couple of days before the opening, a few of us went to personally invite some of the media. On the second day a man came who had seen the painting “Tragedy in China” in the newspaper and wanted to immediately buy the original painting.

A few hours before the opening ceremony, a journalist working for the Finnish radio in Stockholm came to make an interview. Even though I had only very little experience in guiding the paintings I had to take care of her because I was the only practitioner who could speak Finnish. She was very cynical, and believed we were doing some kind of propaganda. She had a lot of opinions about the paintings and I was surprised by her harsh attitude. I thought she was being interfered with. I did not go into any arguments with her; I just listened and answered her questions, explaining the paintings as best as I could, while looking into her eyes and sending forth righteous thoughts. She did not seem to believe in the persecution and that it was so severe, so I told how my friends had been persecuted in China and told her the story of the artist Zhang Cuiying, how she had been tortured in the prison in China. Then her attitude changed and she asked with a concerned voice how Ms. Zhang Cuiying was doing today and whether she had been traumatised by her experience. Before leaving the exhibition she went by herself to look at the painting “In Harmony” for a while. I hope that something did finally touch her heart so that she could see the truth of the persecution and find out what Falun Gong really is. I learnt from this experience that it is important when meeting media, or anyone, we keep our thoughts very righteous and take the leading role. People come with different notions and some people cannot take the paintings to their hearts. It is important not to be discouraged and moved by people’s different attitudes. We should just do our best to save as many as we can.

The next experience with another journalist was much better. Before he came I sent forth righteous thoughts and also asked a couple of fellow practitioners to help me. I was very sure about how to explain the paintings. He was sensitive for the art and quite touched. He wrote a good article about the painting “Come back daddy”, with the story of Fadu, a little girl whose father was killed during the persecution.

During the summer we held exhibitions in two places in Stockholm. The second lasted for about six weeks and was in the heart of the city in the Old Town. Many tourists as well as locals visited the exhibition. Every day we made sure to have at least one practitioner outside of the venue handing out flyers for the exhibition. One day a Chinese practitioner who doesn’t speak Swedish handed out lotus flowers to the people passing by. She was smiling kindly and invited them to come in. This very simple and kind act from her heart helped many people to come in and see the exhibition. After that we would sometimes hand out both flowers and flyers. It also turned out that some visitors wanted to learn how to fold lotus flowers; this gave us a valuable opportunity to tell the truth about Falun Dafa and the persecution at same time as teaching them to fold the flowers.

A lot of tourists from different countries visited us. Two businessmen from Holland came by one evening. They didn’t have much time and so they could only see a few paintings. One of them had done business in China. I could see the sadness in his eyes when I was explaining a painting depicting torture. Looking at the painting “In Harmony” he said this is very, interesting, and that he was also practising a form of meditation.

A person from Thailand now living in Stockholm visited the gallery with her friend. While I was explaining the painting “Coming for you” she told me that when she had called her friend to invite him to the exhibition, while talking over the phone he drew a picture. He said the drawing he had made was like that of the Buddha in the “Coming for you” painting. I knew his primordial spirit already knew he was going to be saved.

A person from Spain told us the paintings gave a lot hope and had good ideals. One Chinese visitor really liked the exhibition and took some materials to give to all his Chinese friends. Most people were very grateful, especially the ones who took the whole tour. Some even gave us big hugs with tears in their eyes and many wrote encouraging statements in the guestbook.

During the art exhibition we understood that the practitioners who are guiding must not have any notions or uncomfortable feelings about any painting. Our notions could prevent the people from understanding the paintings and taking them to their hearts. From our first exhibition we also learnt the importance of frequently sending righteous thoughts. Many obstacles and interference would then be removed. More visitors would also come. The practitioners sending righteous thoughts created a strong energy field and one could sense that the gallery was brighter and somewhat cleaner.

Many practitioners had been working very hard to make the exhibitions successful by sending invitations to hundreds of people in Stockholm, putting up signs and making flyers. Everybody was working very harmoniously together. However since our Falun Dafa work is about cultivation after all, some interference was created after some time, due to the practitioner’s misunderstandings and attachments. We knew this happened to improve our characters, but still it was difficult to resolve. Sometimes we felt confused and it was difficult to solve the situation. We held telephone conferences, talked things over and tried to understand what had caused the problems. We studied the Fa together before discussing and we became more compassionate toward each other. We realised some difficulties had to do with our attachments and some were interference that should just be eliminated with righteous thoughts.

Some interference with the owner of the galleria turned out well in the end. The gallery in the Old Town is quite famous in Stockholm. The owner was very positive in the beginning. Then later on two art critics had called and asked her if she was really going to host the exhibition in her gallery. Because of her concern for her reputation, some misunderstandings from our part and probably a missing part in our efforts to let her know the truth about the persecution some difficulties appeared, which also created financial losses.

I had never met her. When I learnt she was born in Finland just like me, I thought that this was no coincidence. One day I invited her so as to invite her to come and see the exhibition. The day she came, one of her friends, a famous artist had just done a guided tour. The artist was very enthusiastic and told her how good the exhibition was. After I had guided the owner of the galleria to see some paintings; she said we had arranged the paintings very well and it all looked very good. She was very friendly and apologised for having given us troubles. Before leaving she wrote her name in the petition letter. Later on she came back to meet other practitioners and had even joined the group practise on Sundays. She felt the Falun Gong exercises were very good.

We learnt from this lesson that when introducing the exhibition to gallery owners we should always be at least two practitioners and be sure to clarify the truth well. We also need to support the person who wants to help us, because they could be being pressured from outside influences.

The Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance International Art Exhibition have now been held in four cities in Sweden and has given us a new dimension of opening up peoples hearts to the truth and the terrible persecution of the kindest people, our fellow practitioners in China.

One exhibition was held recently in a small city called Mora in a church. The organising practitioner wrote to us telling that many people who during the last years had received materials about Falun Gong and the persecution, said, after seeing the paintings that finally they could really understand.

She also mentioned a local newspaper editor who had come to the exhibition. He had always been negative towards Falun Gong; however after seeing the art exhibition he changed completely and said the exhibition was fantastic.

One of the priests had said, when looking at the painting, “In Harmony”: “This painting is absolutely fantastic, the whole exhibition is incredible, the paintings and the techniques are wonderful and the message clear and obvious. I cannot understand how the persecution can go on.”

The work of guiding the paintings was an unforgettable experience. I learnt to forget about myself and turn all my focus on the person to be saved. Sometimes both the visitor and I would both have tears in our eyes. It was about meeting another human being heart to heart, and to give the visitor the best gift he or she could ever receive.

The Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance Art Exhibition is a precious gift our Master and the artists have given us. With the art we can reach those people we normally cannot reach so easily. I would also like to encourage all the practitioners to have a personal guided tour, and also learn how to talk about the paintings to visitors. I hope we can make the best use of the paintings, support each other and learn from our different experiences so as to become a strong single unity where we can help save more people while we still have time.

A fellow practitioner expressed this beautifully in his sharing about the art exhibition: “There are many kindhearted people out there; waiting to hear the truth and Master’s Law Body will lead them to us. All we need to do is to make a good guiding tour and let our Buddha-nature and compassion shine brightly.

I would like to conclude with Master’s words to the European Fa conference in June 2005:

To the European Fa Conference (June 12, 2005)

Greetings, Dafa disciples.

Everything in the world was established and created for the Fa-rectification, and Dafa disciples are the great figures of our time. Since ancient times the beings in all realms have waited in anticipation. Gather up and rescue the beings that you are to save!

Have righteous thoughts and righteous actions, dissolve all hindrances, and spread the facts widely. Divine beings are among men.

I wish the Fa conference success.

Thank you.

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Note:

1. Fa: Law or Principle, the teachings taught in Falun Gong.