United Kingdom: Falun Gong practitioners Come Together to Celebrate World Falun Dafa Day

Falun Gong practitioners in the United Kingdom celebrated the “World Falun Dafa Day” in Trafalgar Square to mark the 16th anniversary of the introduction of Falun Dafa. Participants in the event were many new practitioners from various parts of the United Kingdom. A reporter interviewed four of them:

Mrs Mike from Hong Kong

Mrs. Mike from Hong Kong

Mei is Mr. Mike’s wife, a practitioner. The practitioners in the United Kingdom have known her for many years who became a fellow practitioner about two years ago. The reporter decided to interview Mei seeing her beating the drum among the Waist Drum Team with joy, pure smiles and graceful movements.

Mei told me about her experience of starting the cultivation of Falun Gong. Mei is a Chinese person from Hong Kong and she is working as an administrator in a company. Her husband Mike is a Chinese person from Singapore who is working in a university in London and has been practicing Falun Gong for over ten years. Mei said that, for many years, she had been an “observer”. She had supported Falun Gong and believed that the principles of Falun Gong were good. But it was not until September 2005 when she really entered the ranks of Falun Gong practitioners. Mei said, “that this year’s “World Falun Dafa Day” was the biggest celebration event she had ever experienced and she was very excited to be able to show the beauty of Falun Dafa to the great number of British people in Trafalgar Square.

Mei said she owed her joining Falun Gong to her husband Mike. Mike had a very bad temper, but when she saw that significant results that were achieved after Mike had kept practicing Falun Gong and elevated him by following the principles of “Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance”, which made her believe that Falun Gong was good. In September 2005, Mike established a group at home for practicing and learning Falun Gong encouraging the practitioners living nearby to practice and learn Falun Gong collectively. It was so natural that Mei joined them at this time starting to learn and practice Falun Gong in this collective cultivation environment that Mike had created and was very helpful to the new practitioners. The practice soon brought Mei a very clear message that her health was improving. Mei had once encountered a mental obstacle when reading Zhuan Falun at the beginning. Later after she had read it several times and had finally realised the profoundness of Falun Gong, she began to earnestly study the books. Her understanding was that “there is very profound connotation in Zhuan Falun and that the more one reads it, the more profound connotation one would understand.” “The connotation of Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance is very, very profound and every one in the world should be assimilated into Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance. In this way, the world will become a better place.”

Geli from Taiwan

Geli is a middle-aged woman from Taiwan. Her husband is working in the financial sector. With their two sons, the family of four live in the west end of London. Geli looked very quiet but she was simple and straightforward when talking to people. Encouraged by the reporter, she told about how her body and mind had benefited from her stepping into the road of practicing Falun Gong and about the happy changes made to her sons after their had practiced Falun Gong while studying in the middle school.

Geli fom Taiwan

Geli said that she had read the information about Falun Gong many years before. As there was a sharp contrast between Taiwan and the mainland China, the information about Falun Gong had been freely disseminated and very often there had been reports and other information in Taiwan. But she missed the chance because she was busy with work plus the fetters of busy family affairs at that time. At the end of July 2006, Geli went to Taiwan from the United Kingdom to visit her relatives. She saw her elder sister-in-law. Her sister-in-law had practiced Falun Gong for one year and half and gave her a book entitled Zhuan Falun. Having read Zhuan Falun, Geli attended a nine day training class in September when she truly embarked on the road of Falun Gong cultivation practice.

Geli spent her first 5 to 6 months in Taiwan after she started the cultivation practice. In the beginning, she practiced at her own home but very soon she went to attend the study of Falun Gong. Having learned from other practitioners that they would all prefer to participate in outdoor mass practice and study of Falun Gong, she went out to practice instead. “I participated in the outdoor mass practice almost every morning and attended the collective study on Sunday. As I had to go to work, I would study during my spare time every day.” After returning to the United Kingdom, Geli does not work. She takes care of her sons and her husband as a housewife at home. As unable to join the London practitioners in their routine collective study, she selects to read at home on her own. She goes to attend the mass practice in the Regent Park at weekends. She also tries to find time to attend the collective study during the day on Sundays.

When asked about the benefit and changes from practicing Falun Gong, Geli talked about the improvement of her temper. Geli said she had had a bad temper since childhood. Although she thought she had been kind and meant no harm, she had not been able to control her mood and temper and, as a result, had often used impolite language. Besides, as she was so busy and under great pressure when working in Taiwan, her temper became even worse under pressure. She knew about her bad temper and felt unable to control it. For the first three years after she came to the United Kingdom and because she did not work, Geli placed stress on her self-cultivation and tried to read books on this subject. She found that her efforts had made some improvements to her temper, but the improvements were not so great enough. “But after I practiced, I made significant improvements to my temper. I found it very surprised myself and also very proud of it.” Her husband was very pleased that Geli had become good tempered. “After I practiced Falun Gong our relationship has improved a great deal.” “We Chinese are very traditional and we enjoy much more harmonious relationship with our mother-in-law and the family members. My husband is surely very pleased about this.” Geli also told the reporter that she used to quarrel with her husband about family affairs but now they have no more quarrels.” Finally, Geli said with delight, “So he has neither objection to me studying Falun Gong nor objection to our children studying it either.”

UK practitioner

Her elder son was also distributing the leaflets with Geli in Trafalgar Square. Talking about her two sons, Geli had a delighted smile on her face. Upon returning to the United Kingdom from Taiwan, Geli thought that Falun Gong was good and wanted to get her two sons to study and practice Falun Gong with her. She was so impatient that her two sons both resented and resisted her recommendations. Such a state lasted for a period of time. Geli started to examine herself inwardly and realised that she should not have been too forceful and should make things develop naturally instead. Very soon, she found that her elder son started to read Zhuan Falun on his own accord. Later, Geli asked her son about the reason behind it. Her son told his mother, “He saw many people practice Falun Gong in parks in Taiwan when he was a small child. He was too young to remember other things, but he could remember “Falun Gong” very well. Having read Zhuan Falun, her elder son soon asked to practice Falun Gong with his mother. The child has changed quickly after studying and practicing Falun Gong with obvious improvements in his academic performance and on the maturity of personal character in particular. At the same time, he started to be willing to join the UK Falun Gong practitioners with his mother in their mass practice.

Geli thought, “The time had not come for her younger son to learn to practice Falun Gong like his elder brother, but very soon, her younger son started to read with me. After reading with him for a period of time, he started to study by himself by reading one paragraph at least every day.” Geli was very surprised by the changes brought to her son in his behavior through studying Falun Gong, “My younger son used to quarrel with me very often just as I often quarreled with my mother when I was a child. Perhaps I was getting what I deserved. Since he started to study Fa, he has no longer quarreled with me. On the contrary, when I raise my voice while talking, my son would remind me not to be angry.”

“It is said that there is often a rebellious period for teenagers, but I do not see this from my son who studies and practices Falun Gong.”

Newcomers practise the Falun Gong exercises

Geli also frankly answered the reporter’s questions explaining why, as Taiwanese person, she was participating in clarifying the truth and opposing the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners by the Chinese Communist Party. Geli said that she was born and brought up in Taiwan and could not imagine what had happened to the Falun Gong practitioners in the mainland of China. Like other Taiwanese people, the first information she knew about Falun Gong was the lies spread by the Chinese Communist Party. She did not know Falun Gong was so good until later when she read Zhuan Falun and other books written by Master. More people should be helped to rectify the erroneous information instilled in their mind. So she would strive to take part in clarifying the truth and spreading the truth.