Heaven and Earth Join Hands during International Night at the University of Missouri (Photos)
April 20th 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.
Chinese version available at
http://www.minghui.ca/mh/articles/2002/4/26/29102.html
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