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Western Practitioner: Using a Graduation Thesis to Validate the Fa By a Western Falun Dafa practitioner in Austria (Clearwisdom.net) An important period of my cultivation was to
complete my graduation thesis at the University of Music and Performing Arts in
Vienna. When I decided to choose a topic somewhat related to Dafa, a path
suddenly appeared in front of me: I could introduce Falun Dafa and the
persecution in China from the perspective of music. Because of the topic of my thesis, I faced some resistance the first time I
talked with my professor. But I succeeded because the professor found my idea
good and interesting. I wrote an outline of the thesis. Once my professor
modified it slightly, I was very clear about my path. After deciding on the contents of my thesis, I did not encounter any further
obstacles. My professor gave me an excellent review. I finished the basics of my
thesis. I used one song as a foundation, and studied all the relevant
information, including the writer's motivation, the effect of the song in the
society, media reactions, fellow practitioners' involvements, and my detailed
explanation of the music and lyrics. After some time, the department head formally agreed on my thesis topic.
About one year later, I completed the thesis. In the first chapter, I introduced
Falun Dafa. I chronologically listed the spread of Falun Gong in China to the
beginning of the persecution. In the next chapter, I described some aspects of
the persecution, such as the motivations behind the persecution, the
brainwashing, torture, genocide, and the bad effect of the media propaganda. The music portion was divided into different genres and categories, including
Western, Eastern, traditional, modern, anti-persecution, praising Falun Dafa,
instrumentals and songs. This is to illustrate that regardless the style of
music, because Falun Dafa practitioners always follows the principles of
Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance in their daily life, their music is
always extraordinary. It is the same for everyone. Therefore, their music
encompasses their understandings of the principles of Falun Dafa, and the music
has something special and pure inside. In the subsequent chapters, I analyzed the different types of music described
earlier. There is one chapter especially about a Lotus CD from Germany. The last
chapter is about the Falun Dafa Choir in Europe. Overall, I wrote about the life of Falun Dafa practitioners, emphasizing the
musicians among them and the life of Falun Dafa practitioners described in their
songs. This allowed me to clarify the truth to the society on a broader
level. When I was writing, I often thought of one sentence in Zhuan
Falun, "Due to the influence of traditional conventions, no one
today has systematically compiled such findings." (Zhuan Falun,
Lecture One, "Qigong is Prehistoric Culture," 2000 translation) Of course, this sentence is taken out of context, but I have always felt that
I was the person with an opportunity to compile things systematically. No one
outside China had summarized practitioners' music in such a way, especially in
the form of a university thesis. I realized that this is a high honor, as well
as a big and important task. Especially when my professor told me that this
thesis is unusual because it will remain in the university's references relating
to China, I clearly realized the importance and seriousness of the matter. It is
not a trivial matter. To a certain extent, people after me will refer to my
thesis. My professor also told me that because the university has maintained
good relations with China, my thesis is considered to be opposite China's view
and thus able to serve as reference. In addition, I was able to use my thesis in
a report for another subject. In early March, I had my graduation oral test on my thesis. Right before the
test, my professor once again explained to the director of the department the
importance of the subject in a simple and clear fashion. That is because no one
had written a thesis on this subject before and there was no reference. So I
felt the pressure that I could not make any mistakes. I tried to send forth
righteous thoughts with anxiety. At the same time, I also knew that there
wouldn't be any problem if I was within the Fa. During the examination, I could
mostly speak fluently. I could always remember what the next sentence should be.
During the process, the committee asked some questions, and I was able to answer
with ease. Overall everything went very smoothly. I was even praised, although I knew
that I could have done better. Our every moment will last forever in other
dimensions even if it is not perfect. There was some time during the completion
of the thesis when I was not very diligent, which resulted in some losses. There are not any unimportant events during Fa-rectification. There are not
many opportunities like this that allow one to treat validating the Fa as a
primary job in society for several months. I am grateful for the honor and enlightenment bestowed on me by Teacher. Posting date: 6/6/2007 |