Two Falun Gong Practitioners from Germany Introduce People to Falun Gong and the Persecution in New York

Before reaching New York, we had the opportunity to tell people the truth about Falun Gong and the persecution in China in many places in North America . Most American’s are rather inquisitive and open to human rights discussions. Subjects such as freedom of belief and religious freedom are of great importance to Americans.

We felt rather insecure before arriving in New York. We wondered what we would find there. On the day of our arrival we first visited the information booth in Times Square where a torture exhibition has been held there for more than a month. We distributed leaflets at a near-by crossing. Many passers-by refused to accept our materials. We found this to be a mirror image of our insecurity. With time, given our sending of righteous thoughts, everything improved, including our attitude and anxieties.

The following day we took one of the boards, showing a tortured practitioner, and walked along 42nd street towards Grand Central Station, been the largest railway station in New York. One practitioner carried the exhibition board, while the other distributed leaflets and spoke to passers-by. We found that the passers-by walking towards us do not have sufficient time to notice and incorporate the information, as one is walking towards them with the exhibition board. Only a few took any materials. Therefore we came to a standstill at a street corner. We found this to be more effective, as the passers-by, while crossing the street were able to read the boards’ message.

A few hours later, an American practitioner told us that more English speaking practitioners are needed at the information booth at Grand Central Station. We then proceeded to help at that location to tell the truth during the next few days. Though, we were passive and only distributed leaflets. We did not try to speak to anyone.

The next morning, the American practitioner suggested that one should talk to the people to achieve the best results. Someone pointed this out during experience sharing. We accepted and implemented his suggestion immediately. We could feel the one body among practitioners. While some practitioners distributed leaflets and practiced the five-sets of Falun Gong exercises we attempted to strike up a conversation with the passers-by.

We found the following attributes of the New York residents:

1. Many are occupied by the thought of money and material possessions, as well as seeming to be always in a rush and battling with time constraints.
2. New York residents are very critical and suspicious people. Most of them avoid intentionally any eye contact.
3. Informational material is not often accepted, as people expect promotional material from merchants.
4. Most New Yorkers are seriously concerned about a terrorist attack, which might occur during the next four to six weeks and are scarred and deeply concerned about their personal safety.
5. The Presidential election in November seems to consume the thoughts of New Yorkers.
6. Depending on location, many New Yorkers speak a dialect, which is difficult to understand by Europeans.

Yes, one has to overcome ones own inadequacies in this special environment and be able to speak directly to the people on the street. The situation is such that large crowds quickly pass the information booth and not many will look at the booth. We spoke to everyone that stopped for a second, or hesitated, or leaned against one of the buildings.

Many passers-by had only a few seconds to see the message on the boards. Though we had many wonderful experiences, we also had many rejections. Negative re-actions included:
What else is expected of Americans? Leave me alone! You pester us all over town. We have too many of our own problems. Stay at home and protest there. Who cares about the immigrants? We don’t want to associate with communists.

On the other we had many wonderful experiences. The passers-by who had the opportunity to listen to the story about the persecution re-acted often with a deep understanding towards the persecution. These passers-by asked on their own as to how they could help. They either shook our hands or encouragingly patted our shoulder when saying good-bye. One elderly woman had difficulties stopping her tears. She was deeply touched. Then, one day we talking to a passer-by and asked him to tell his friends, acquaintances and family member about he persecution. The next day he appeared at our booth and began to tell the passers-by the truth about the persecution.

We found this to be a learning process for us too. We understood that we couldn’t measure our successes or disappointment by the rejections or acceptances. We are here to fulfil our duty. We had to save sentient beings. We had to fully concentrate at all times and maintain continuous righteous thoughts. During times when we had problems to keep up our righteous thoughts and concentration we encouraged each other. The first thing most people asked was, “Why. Why the persecution of Falun Gong?” Other frequent questions were:

What is Falun Gong? Some thought Falun Gong to be a person. Where did you get the pictures depicting the tortured victims? Why are there so many practitioners in New York? ….

We were fortunate enough to listen to many passers-by who had received leaflets and material at other locations. We found to our detriment that many could not have understood the persecution if they had only received the informational material and not had had the chance to talk to us.

We also found that the arrangement of the posters and the location of the exercises influenced the outcome of our efforts. Such locations are important to allow for a logical flow of information. We must remember that if the observer has only a few seconds time to view the material, it could be detrimental if no logical sequence in the presentation is maintained. We noticed that some people, when passing by, only shook their heads. During experience sharing we heard that some people believed that Falun Gong practitioners torture people. Therefore, we learnt that a clear distinction has to be made between the human rights violations on one hand and the beauty of Falun Dafa, through the demonstration of the exercises.

Another problem was noted. Pictures of people who had actually been tortured were placed directly next to the torture re-enactment scenes. Nothing indicated as to what was an original depiction or what was a re-enactment. A Chinese person passed-by was deeply angry after he saw the pictures. He first saw the re-enactment and then immediately told us that everything else was also a re-enactment. He walked away with a very unhappy disposition. A Falun Gong practitioner from Taiwan followed him and explained clearly the truth. Finally he simmered down, but suggested that a note should be placed with the enactments to prevent further misunderstandings.

We often were in situations when the passer-by had only ten to fifteen seconds, as they were in a rush to catch the train or reach their place of work. It is most important that one maintains under such situations a clear head and shares the most important information only.

Often we were asked about directions. This was a great opportunity to start a discussion about Falun Gong. Therefore, everyone should know a little about the surroundings.

Lastly, I want to note that much interference is found in New York. We found especially in the morning a deep reluctance to go the location where we were due to go. We also had great difficulty to study the teachings of Falun Gong in the evenings. We were often hindered by deep fatigue, which was difficult to overcome. We want to warn everyone to be on his or her guard and recognise demonic interference, which tries hard to stop us from fulfilling our obligations. We cannot under any circumstances accept such interference.