A Practice Site in Seoul Korea

A Korean practitioner in the US

I am a Korean practitioner living in the U.S. I went to Korea to help my mother setup her practice site and start a Fa study group in her city. While I was there, I heard about this particular practice site and I was quite curious about it. So, I went to Seoul to see what it was like, and this is my report.

This practice site was set up for the purpose of Hongfa [introducing Falun Dafa] last year, in October of 2000. Around 2:00 to 3:30 in the afternoon is the peak time for people to gather at this park. At this hour you can see about 2,000-3,000 people sitting around enjoying their leisure time. A few hundred pieces of Dafa literature are handed out per day, and on average and about 8,000 pieces of Dafa literature are given out per month.

The park is located in the middle of Seoul and it is a small space with trees and some benches. Because it is small, people are crowded together and it is very easy to attract the attention of the people who come to the park. At the same time, people use this park just to pass through. So the moving traffic is said to be about 4,000-5,000 around 2 o'clock in the afternoon. That is why practitioners chose this place and at that time to do Hongfa. Everyday, a few practitioners take turns to teach the exercises and hand out flyers.

It was a very hot day, around 90 degrees when I went there. As soon as I entered the park, I saw a lot of people, mostly senior citizens sitting around and talking, playing Korean chess and so on. I have never seen a park occupied so densely that there was no more free space to sit down on.

They were holding hand fans with a big Falun emblem on it. As I heard that day, practitioners gave out about 500 paper hand fans to these people and they were all holding it with happy smiles. It was certainly nice to see so many people holding hand fans with the Falun emblem.

The sun was high up and the day was hot. Out of all that shaded area, I saw a few practitioners standing in the middle of a square under the hot sun doing the Falun standing stance. Around them were about 8-9 grandfathers practicing the exercises.

A practitioner's face was as red as a tomato as he faced the sun to demonstrate the exercise, but he just stood there holding the wheel along with the other elderly people. Later I asked this practitioner where he lives. He said he gets off work from the Army and it takes 2 hours to get to this site by train and another 2 hours going back home. And he does this every weekend.

A female practitioner who is in charge of this site said, "I leave home around 11 in the morning and go around to 3-4 practice sites and get home at around 12 midnight everyday." She is a housewife with children and a husband. I complimented her on her diligence. But she said, "I must have lots of Karma. And my Xinxing is not good enough, and that is why I have to do this. I hope my Xinxing improves thorough this. Although I made some progress, I still have far to go." She was very humble as were other practitioners.

The practitioners said that they have been going to this practice site since October last year, rain or shine, snow or windy day, and they never skipped a day. The reason is because this site is so good for Hongfa. They just want to keep this site for a long time so that many people with predestined relationship with Dafa can attain the Fa.

However they are faced with difficulty as the summer is coming up. Summer in Seoul is very hot and humid. Especially being in the middle of Seoul with so many cars and being there around 2:00PM is a deadly combination. To solve this problem, they have been looking for a shadier area and made few attempts to go under the shade. But the park manager chased them out saying, "This part is reserved for the people." It seems that it might go on like that the entire summer. So practitioners said, "we might just have to do it here for a while." I suggested that they wear a big hat to cover their face, but they refused by saying, "we are showing them the exercise and instructors should be able to see them clearly and besides that is not a good manner." They are very determined and keep up a good attitude!

This February, Korean media were very competitive about reporting on Falun Gong. Many media people came to this site to interview and take videos of the practice site. So it has been used well for its purpose.

The day I was there, most of the practitioners were elderly and retired. They stayed for all of exercises. Afterward, they asked the assistant to hold a "9 days seminar" at the park for them. So the practitioners told them they will do it on the following day. Wouldn't it be wonderful to show Master's lecture video in the park where 4,000-5,000 people passing by?! That will be really nice.

The result of Hongfa has been good. There is a 90 year-old man doing the complete exercise with us under the hot sun with his full Korean traditional clothing on. It had about 3 layers and yet he did not show any sign of discomfort. He looked serene and very solemn.

Mr. Lee (a 90 year-old man) said, "I attained Falun Dafa a month ago." I asked the assistant if Mr. Lee read the book yet. "He read it once and going around twice now. In fact, he is the one who is pressing us to hold the 9 days lecture now."

Mr. Lee explains how he found Dafa. "I have been looking for the Law all of my life and checked into quite a few other Ways, but I was not satisfied. One day, I came to this park and I heard the music. That is how I attained Dafa."

Mr. Lee comes to the site every day, from far away, without missing a single day. He said, "It seems that I have lived to be this old to attain Dafa. Now that I have finally met Dafa, I will cultivate diligently and reach Yuanman." Although he can't hear very well, he can hear the instruction and can follow the movements without much difficulty. Because of his strong resolve in cultivation, fellow senior practitioners also get inspired and encouraged to practice more diligently. I hope they make it through the summer with courage!

2,000-3,000 elderly people in the park also kept looking at us while reading the material we gave out as we were practicing the exercises. I hope these elderly people have the good fortune to try out Falun Dafa since they have lived to be that old to see the day that Dafa is spread far and wide.

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