Holland: Peaceful Exercises in the Serene Surroundings of the Park

We received an invitation from the Castle Horticulture Park to participate in the first Asian Festivals held between June 29 and July 7.

The Castle Horticulture Park is located in a small town, Arsen, near the border between Holland and Germany. It is the same size as around 40 football pitches. Due to its remote location, none of us knew anything about this beautiful park. One day in early June, a practitioner received a phone call from a stranger, saying that the Castle Horticulture Park was going to hold Asian Cultural Festivals. As the organizer of the festivals, he would like to invite us to participate in the Asian Festivals to demonstrate the five exercises of Falun Gong and to introduce Dafa. He also said he was very interested in oriental ways of cultivation. He found the information about Falun Gong from the Internet, and was deeply attracted by the profound teachings. The original plan of inviting other Qi Gong practices for a demonstration had been changed to an exclusive invitation for Falun Gong. At the same time, he also suggested us to use the entrance of the “Chinese Garden” as our practice site. He helped us set up two stands beside the road to display Hongfa (information on Falun Dafa) materials. If it rained, our Hongfa activities would be arranged inside the spacious indoor botanical garden. He hoped that we could guarantee to show up on the two Sundays. It was estimated that more than 4,000 visitors would be there on Sunday. For all the other days from Monday to Friday, we would have freedom to arrange our activities as he thought it would be very tough for us to go there everyday.

As soon as we received the notice from this remote town, four practitioners took one week holiday from their work. As it has been their long-time wish to Hongfa in the remote areas, they insisted on being there for all 9 days throughout the Asian Festivals. Belgian practitioners also came to support this event, while German practitioners brought with them a large quantity of materials because 50% of the visitors were from Germany.

Although the Castle Horticulture Park is not well known, its beautiful scenery makes it look just a man-made paradise. Several thousand visitors were attracted here in a time as short as a weekend by the rose garden full of variegated colours, a small forest of a unique style, a special collection of horticulture from many countries and many wild animals. On June 29 and 30 as well as July 6 and 7, practitioners from Germany, Belgium and Holland gathered in this beautiful place to demonstrate the five Falun Gong exercises. The standing exercises attracted every visitor that passed by. Particularly when the sitting meditation was demonstrated, all the pedestrians stopped to watch. The road was full of people. They all held their breath as though they had accompanied us to enter the state of tranquillity. The extraordinary meditation exercise merged with the serene surroundings into one entity. Many visitors asked: “Is this Falun Gong? Why have the Chinese government decided to persecute it?” Some of the practitioners were busy handing out Dafa material to the visitors, and clarifying the truth of the persecution to them.

One little girl wanted to learn the meditation exercise. After she did so, she continued for a long time and did very well. It rained between Monday and Thursday. The practitioners moved the demonstration indoors. There were many exotic flowers and plants there. Accompanied by running streams, the scenery became totally different. There was a cafeteria in the hall. Although fewer people showed up on the rainy days, we still did what we were there to do.