A Practitioner from Germany

(Reprint from ClearHarmony.net)

1. Introduction of the book "Zhuan Falun" to my German class

Everything began in my 10^th school year. My German language teacher arrived at class and announced that each student must introduce a book of his/her choice at the end of the school year. I knew right away that this was no coincidence. I took advantage of this circumstance and decided to let my class know more of the Fa. I therefore introduced Zhuan Falun. This was no small hurdle for me, because up to that point I had never openly discussed Falun Gong with my classmates. But my wish to talk openly and righteously about the Fa was stronger than my hesitation. My speech lasted perhaps twenty minutes. After the formal introduction of the book I explained why I was introducing it and also touched on the persecution.

While I was talking about Zhuan Falun, I experienced the greatest feeling in my heart. I was able to speak freely and openly about the Fa, experiencing an inner strength at the same time.

What was the reaction from my classmates? I received questions about the third eye and what produces karma. An informal atmosphere prevailed. At the end I heard a classmate's cynical comment: "What do you call this practice again?" I used this opportunity to clarify the Chinese government's persecution to my classmates. I surprised myself, seeing how easy it had become for me to speak so openly and freely in front of the class, something that presented a problem to me before. I think it had to do with the fact that I introduced Zhuan Falun with my whole heart.

2. Fa-spreading in religion class

The new subject in my religion class was Buddhism, and my fellow students had learned some things about Buddhist ways of thinking. The first thing I did was to give my teacher a Falun Gong newspaper. At the next class session he asked me how I came into possession of this paper. I replied that I had already practiced Falun Gong for three years. To my amazement he asked me whether I would be willing to explain about Falun Gong during one of our class sessions. What an opportunity! But I found this more difficult than before to put it into reality, perhaps because we get together with another 10^th grade class for our religious studies and I did not know those students very well. I decided, however, to fight this thought. During the next class session we viewed " The Real Story, Vol 2" in German and after that I answered a few questions. We spent two class hours on the topic. Unfortunately the time was up before we could get deeper into the teachings. But I hope that in the future I can do more for the Fa, to tell more of the principles of the Fa.

3. Career Fair Week in a newspaper editor's office

It is customary for our 10^th grade students to spend one week researching a profession of our choice. I took this opportunity to "hang" around in a newspaper editor's office for a whole week. I spent a whole week in the editor's office of a newspaper that services the whole Rhine/Neckar region. I was "put to work" in various departments and finally also in the foreign correspondent's section. I had heard nothing good about this editor before. My father had already had a prior telephone conversation with him regarding the term "sect" in connection with Falun Gong. When I was a guest in his office that day, he seemed friendly after a while and open-minded. The day was April 25^th. I made use of this opportunity to write a report of my own about the Zhongnanhai incident from two years ago. After a while the foreign correspondent/journalist asked, "Can I help you?" He came over and helped revise my report into a genuine newspaper article. That way we ended up conversing about Falun Gong and the persecution in China. I am sure that he absorbed a lot that day and will now be able to report more neutrally about Falun Gong in his paper. I think it is very important that the journalists get to know us personally. It shows them that we are "normal," open-minded and friendly people. That way they will also understand us better. Of course my article did not get printed in their newspaper. But, to my great surprise, two weeks later, when everyone shared about their week of working under professionals in the business world, many announcements were posted at school. Among them was my newspaper article about the truth of April 25^th, 1999.

4. Lotus Blossom and Zhen, Shan, Ren

Our new assignment in art class was to learn how to carve a material into a rubber block for printing. We had to carve a motif to print the image onto a postcard or some other paper. We were allowed to choose our own designs. I decided on the lotus flower drawn by Master Li with the words "Zhen, Shan, Ren."

5. Display in the school building

My school has a display wall where various things are exhibited. At the beginning of the school year I had the thought that I should show something about Falun Gong and the inhuman persecution in China. But somehow I always hesitated to speak to the teacher in charge of these displays. Then I had an idea. I asked my favorite girl friend, a fellow student, whether she would be interested in doing a joint history display project with me. She found the idea good and so we talked it over with our history teacher. He was enthused about the idea, which permitted us to prepare the display. We made several copies of pictures at the copy shop and collaborated on a text. We worked until late into the night to ready the placards and posters.

In the morning we went to the school principal and got his permission to put out on a table signature petitions from the Internationale Gesellschaft fuer Menschenrechte (IGM) [International Association for Human Rights] and the Austrian branch of Amnesty International. In the beginning, I was not sure whether anyone would even be interested in this topic. But to my relief I saw students stopping again and again to look at our display. I was glad that I could turn my wish into reality to make Falun Gong known around my school. We could not have chosen a better time frame for our exhibit. We were celebrating "summer festival." Many people came to school that weekend: relatives, friends and former students. That could not have been a coincidence. That way more people became aware of Falun Gong. The display was up for a few weeks and to my surprise, over 100 people signed the petitions. A side benefit was my girl friend's intervention for the persecution. I can only guess what great things it will bring to her future.

This exhibition closed the school year. I hope that I will find many more occasions and use them in this coming school year, to keep up with the Fa-rectification. I hope that I will always be worthy to be a Dafa disciple.

Posting date: 9/16/2001
Original article date: 9/16/2001
Category: Falun Dafa Worldwide

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