Heaven and Earth Join Hands during International Night at the University of Missouri (Photos)

April 20^th was International Night at the University of Missouri in Columbia. This festive occasion is eagerly anticipated each year, not just by students from other countries, but by local residents as well. This year was no exception as students from such diverse places as India, Africa, Brazil, Puerto Rico, Haiti, Korea, and China presented a variety of performances, most of which consisted of traditional songs and dances from their home countries. Dressed in native costumes, young men and women stirred the crowd repeatedly with exhilarating, earthy dance routines, which created a strong feeling of excitement in the auditorium. It was in this highly charged atmosphere that Columbia practitioners took the stage to introduce the audience to Falun Dafa.

The curtain opened to a darkened stage, upon which nine Dafa practitioners wearing golden yellow suits sat in full lotus position in a semi-circle facing the audience. A spotlight then pierced the darkness and focused the crowd's attention to the right side of the stage, where an eighteen-year-old Taiwanese practitioner stood alone holding her violin. As she confidently started to play, very soon a new spirit of peace and tranquility filled the auditorium. The audience sat in rapt attention as the young practitioner's beautiful and moving rendition of PuDu transported them beyond their state of physical and emotional excitement to the "pure land" of Falun Dafa.

When her song was finished, carefully selected slides portraying many scenes from Dafa's spreading throughout the world over the past ten years were projected onto a giant screen behind the stage. A western practitioner gave a brief introduction of Falun Dafa, then joined her fellow practitioners on stage to do the hand movements of exercise five to round out the presentation.

In total, the performance lasted only about ten minutes, but because of the practitioners' careful planning and harmonious execution, the people of Columbia, Missouri (including many Chinese residents) and many international students were treated to a very dramatic and positive introduction to Dafa--and just in case any members of the audience failed to get the message, everyone was offered a flyer later that evening as they left the building.

After an elderly American coupleáhad accepted a flyer from a Chineseápractitioner,áthey approachedáa female western practitioneráand said, "Maybe you can explain for us. Your practice seems so wonderful, absolutely stupendous! We cannot understand how the Chinese government couldápersecute it." The practitioneráexplainedáthat when Jiang discovered how many people practiced Falun Gong he became fearful. The husband nodded and seemed to understand. The wife still seemed puzzled and said again, "ButáFalun Dafaáseems to be so good." The practitioner nodded and said, "It is truly good. Unfortunately, those who cannot understand true goodness may not immediately see it as good." The woman then said, "Oh, now I see. Thank you." Then the coupleáwavedágoodbye, while repeating their praises of Falun Dafa.á

There was much to be learned from this little encounter. This elderly couple had heard of the persecution, but were not deeply affected byáit until they experienced first hand the benevolent field of Dafa practitioners. So we were once again reminded that to fully clarify the truth, we must not only tell people about the persecution in China, we must also help them directly experience the goodness of Falun Gong through our efforts in cultivating Truth-Compassion-Forbearance.

 Yearly Archive   Printer Version