(Clearwisdom.net) After reading the July 7 article on Clearwisdom.net -- "Waist Drum and Tang Dynasty Costume Dancing is a Supplemental Form of Clarifying the Facts," I have been reflecting on the issue of parades.
Falun Gong practitioners have participated more frequently in parades in the name of Falun Gong. Parades can enable many people to know about Dafa and its greatness, as well as the persecution in China. However, there are some issues that require our attention, especially how we convey the purpose of our parade. I've heard the audience shouting, "Chinese! They are Chinese!" while the Falun Gong contingent was passing by. Some westerners even asked the participating practitioners, "What's the theme of your dance?" In fact, it is very common for many people to ask the practitioners distributing the flyers, "What is Falun Gong?"
A parade usually takes only two to three hours, but the time for preparation is many times greater. It involves rehearsal of dancing or waist drums and preparation of costumes and design. How can we achieve better results from parades? We must do things without pursuit. I'd like to make a few suggestions:
- We commonly use the music "Pu Du" and "Ji Shi" in our parades. The music is compassionate and touching. Can we include a brief introduction to Falun Dafa and play the recorded message repeatedly? This way, we can let the audience quickly know what Falun Dafa is, rather than learning this only from an introduction from the stage. If there are scale models of Zhuan Falun or the flags with the Falun symbol, can we play a brief introduction audio to help our audience get to know Dafa while watching the parade?
- In addition to wearing the golden practice suits, western and eastern practitioners could wear the beautiful costumes of their own countries (such as Korea, Japan, Russia, Spain, Africa) to demonstrate the exercises, or they could take turns dancing and demonstrating the exercises. This way we can show how Dafa is spreading around the world.
- Little practitioners wearing Tang costumes or exercise suits also participate in our parades, but I haven't seen many little western practitioners. It would be good if they could also participate and wear the angel costumes.
- Our banners should convey not only that "Falun Dafa is Great," but also how Falun Dafa is great. For example, we can introduce Falun Dafa with messages like these: "Falun Dafa for Better Health;" "Free instruction by volunteers - No costs;" and "Easy to learn, suitable for everyone."
My suggestions are for showing the greatness of Dafa, and I feel we should adjust torture scenes in the parades accordingly. For practitioners, both the parade preparation and participation are opportunities for cultivation, as we use the parade to cultivate ourselves. We want our audience to know about Dafa, not China. Dafa belongs to the world. Beautiful costumes and dances are very attractive; however, our compassionate and sincere eye contacts with the audience are much more touching. The moment we silently look at the sentient beings, we are communicating heart to heart. The audience won't forget the "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance" of Falun Dafa.
Please correct anything that is not proper in my views.