Poland: Experiences During Activities in Poland

By practitioners from Poland

Today is October 20th. It has been almost two months since I returned to Poland to clarify the truth and introduce Dafa to the Polish people. Although a lot has happened, I haven’t yet written down my experiences and shared them with my fellow cultivators. After some discussions with German practitioners, who came to support us in a Health, sport and personal development fair in Szczecin this past weekend, I realised I had been putting it off due to selfish notions, laziness and some interference. This had to change.

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As I got active again in Poland, I began to see how widespread the evil’s lies and slanderous poison is. Here, much of it has filtered in through the media, which has been irresponsibly repeated from Jiang’s propaganda. The propaganda has been copied almost verbatim. Although there has been some good work done by practitioners already and much has changed for the better, there is still a lot of work to be done. Many people unfortunately think of Falun Gong as a sect and are suspicious and resistant. It is thus of paramount importance to further the spread of Dafa here and clarify the facts deeply and thoroughly.

As we few Polish practitioners deepen our understanding of Fa [Truthfulness, Compassion,Forbearance], the entire picture becomes clearer, as does our responsibility to tell people the truth about Dafa and the persecution.

Here are some brief experiences from the past 2 months.

1. We have established two regular practice sites, one in Warsaw and one in Skierniewice, which we now maintain regularly. In Skierniewice, we met with some members of the city council as well as the president of the city himself, all of whom reacted positively when we told them the truth of the persecution.

We also approached the media. A major newspaper, Glos Skierniewic, ran a very positive article about Falun Gong, writing: “Despite the peaceful nature of Falun Dafa, the president of China forbade group practices, fearing losing power. At the same time, a campaign of brutal repression was initiated against sympathizers of Falun Dafa. No one else in the entire world forbids Falun Dafa, so many hundreds of thousands of people still freely practice this movement. Additionally, government officials in various countries have honored Falun Dafa with thousands of awards and proclamations for the benefits that come from this practice.”

After reading this article, a schoolteacher invited us to give a presentation in her grade 9 class.

We have also printed flyers and have been going out regularly to distribute them in various cities. We hope that through our efforts more people can come to know the true nature of Falun Gong and the true nature of the persecution. There are also several new students now coming regularly to practice Dafa in both Warsaw and Skierniewice.

Warsaw practice site, Park Lazienkowski

2. Polish practitioners went to Copenhagen for the ASEM summit. On the ferry we met some Polish people whom we clarified the truth to and who videotaped us doing the exercises on the ferry and took some pictures of us. We were reminded that everywhere there are people waiting to hear the truth!

In Copenhagen we took part in a parade and other truth-clarifying activities. At the end of the parade practitioners assembled in front of the Danish parliament and delivered a letter of appeal to the Danish government

3. Shortly after returning from Copenhagen, we took part in a 7-day, 24hr. sit in at the Chinese embassy in Warsaw. Practitioners from England, Canada and Sweden joined us for this special event.

Here are several experiences from that week:

Several alternating shifts of young policemen are always on round the clock duty at the embassy. They had a suspicious attitude towards us at first, each shift checking our identification documents. However, we simply used this as an opportunity to clarify the truth. Soon, many of them began to show understanding and sympathy for what we were doing and ended up talking to us often. A few even shook our hands and introduced themselves by first name. One even expressed interest in learning Falun Gong and several asked for “Falun Dafa is good” buttons to wear. They allowed us to put up our banner by tying it to city property (so that we didn’t have to hold it). They were quick to come over to investigate and “protect us” when anyone that appeared aggressive approached. When we were leaving, we shook hands with them warmly and bid one another farewell like old friends.

A reporter for Xinhua [Chinese State-run media] came out of the embassy to talk to us. We talked to him for a long time. He said that he supported freedom to practice Falun Gong, but had been misled by some of the propaganda in China. We explained the facts to him, gave him materials and a VCD, and did our best to move him with compassion and patience.

When he left, he promised a few times that he would not write anything bad about Falun Gong.

During the week, a woman who lives across the street came up to us and asked us what we were doing and what Falun Gong was. We explained. She was very excited and asked to borrow Zhuan Falun. She had practiced many systems in the past, found them unsatisfactory, and said she had asked the heavens for direction and a solution to her lifelong search. I looked over at a fellow practitioner. We both knew she had found her answer.

She is now studying Dafa and practicing the exercises.

Towards the end of the week we organized a media event, which members of the local chapter of Amnesty International attended. About 25 people were there. The media came as well, including a radio station which interviewed us twice. Gazeta Wyborcza (a very large newspaper) wrote a short and quite positive article in one and published the picture underneath.

In the picture, practitioners from Sweden and Poland are sending forth righteous thoughts, while members of Amnesty International and the chairperson for Students for a Free Tibet are lighting candles which spell “Zhen-Shan-Ren”.

3. Health fair in Szczecin.

Practitioners from Germany came to lend their support during a Health, sport and personal development fair in Szczecin (north-west corner of Poland), Our booth was one of the most popular and we did 4 or 5 demos on stage. Some people showed interest in learning Falun Gong and the publisher of a health magazine asked us to write an article for him about Falun Gong.

After the fair was over we went downtown. While some practitioners performed the exercises, others gave out flyers until we had none left.

We bid each other a warm farewell and each went our own way.