(Clearwisdom.net) The Swedish people are very fortunate, since they were one of the first group of people in the western world who learned Falun Dafa. Mr. Li Hongzhi, the founder of Falun Dafa, taught the practice personally in Sweden on April 6th, 1995. To help more people understand Falun Gong, Mr. Li made five speeches, about three hours each speech, including three in Gothenburg, one in Stockholm, Sweden's capital, and one in Uddevalla.

The First Falun Gong Lessons in Sweden

From the 14th to the 20th of April, Master Li taught the first Falun Gong lessons in Gothenburg, Sweden. More than one hundred and twenty people attended the class, most of whom were westerners. During the seven days of the lessons, Mr. Li taught people what Falun Dafa and cultivation practice was.

Afterwards, to create an environment for cultivation practice and to let more people learn Falun Dafa, practitioners held a nine day workshop with videos many times. They have insisted on holding workshops for years, so more and more people practice Falun Dafa. Every practitioner wanted to have a Swedish Zhuan Falun, the main text of Falun Dafa. Therefore, practitioners started to translate the book. The English Zhuan Falun had not been completed at that time, so they asked practitioners from Mainland China to help translate Zhuan Falun into English, and then they translated it into Swedish. The Swedish Zhuan Falun was formally published in October 1997.

What is cultivation practice? It is unfamiliar to western people. Though they can understand its general concepts, when confronting concrete matters in daily practice, they don't know how to deal with it. A practitioner liked to drink beer. He always bought a box of beer each time. After he attended Master Li's nine day workshop, when he drank the beer at home, it tasted bitter. He though it might be going off, so he emptied the remaining beer. He bought another box of beer the next day. It still tasted bitter. He looked at the date, but it was still within the expiry time. He then was enlightened and quit drinking.

Some western practitioners do not complete attending the workshop when they have sickness karma. To avoid the situation, veteran practitioners attend each workshop. They discuss and share experience after learning every lecture. They also organised a visit for western practitioners to Dalian, China, to study the Fa and share experiences with practitioners in China.

To Share the Benefits of Falun Dafa with People in Other Countries

The Swedish Falun Gong practitioners initiated a long journey for spreading the Fa. In December 1999, seven Swedish Dafa practitioners went to South Africa. They held a nine day workshop and spread the Fa in many cities.

Since then, many practitioners from Sweden have travelled to many countries in Europe, as well as to Asia and America. In 2000 Swedish, French and American practitioners held workshops in India during a long period of time. Later, Swedish practitioners visited other countries to clarify the facts about the persecution and also to introduce Falun Gong.

Sven is s worker in a shipping services company. Sometimes, he worked without taking a rest for a couple of days. So he could collect the off-duty time together to spread the Fa. He said: "I want to help spread the Fa from the bottom of my heart." He has been to China seven times. Since the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) started to persecute Falun Gong on 20th July 1999, Sven has been to many big cities to participate in conferences and activities for spreading the Fa.

In 2002, he and practitioners in other countries went to India together. They held Master Li's nine day workshop with local practitioners. He recollected, "People there were friendly. They spoke English, so it's easy to communicate with them. When we talked about the content of Zhuan Falun, they understood it easily." Many people attended the workshop at that time. When they knew the facts of Falun Gong, they made great efforts with local practitioners to broadcasted Master Li's nine lessons to the entire nation through the biggest television station in Bombay, the capital of India.

Coming for You

On November 20th, 2001, more than thirty Dafa practitioners from twelve countries held the banner, "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance," on Tiananmen Square in China. The action shocked the world.

Western Falun Gong practitioners in Tiananmen Square

Among the practitioners, nine were from Sweden, including Pirjo. She is a nurse in the Neurosurgery Department of one hospital in Gothenburg. She obtained the Fa in April 1995. Pirjo said that she had not heard anyone tell her such profound theories with such simple and understandable words. Since then, she decided to practice cultivation. Pirjo usually listens to the recordings of Master Li's Fa and reads Zhuan Falun after coming off duty. She also practices the exercises at the exercise site. All the pain in her body has disappeared.

After the persecution started, she and other Falun Gong practitioners presented a petition in 1999 to the Chinese Embassy in Stockholm to ask them to stop the persecution.

Falun Gong practitioners in China are persecuted to death every day since the persecution began. Pirjo cried several times. She could no longer just stay at home. So, on November 20th 2001, she and other western Falun Gong practitioners went to Tiananmen Square. The people in China didn't know that there were Falun Gong practitioners in countries other than China. Under the red terror of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the people have been denied a free press and freedom of information. In order to help more Chinese people know the facts, the western practitioners opened a big banner with the words, "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance."

Six police cars sped to them and surrounded them in one minute. A lot of policemen jumped out of the cars. They beat and arrested the practitioners. Pirjo was dragged into a police car with other practitioners. Some were injured, some were pulled by their hair and others' clothes were torn. A practitioner in her fifties was pulled in the police van by her hair and was kicked and hit and ended up black and blue in many places. This experience showed them how brutal the Chinese police are even towards western practitioners. One can only imagine what happens to the Chinese practitioners.

Later on, a song was written for this event. A choir composed of European Dafa practitioners has sung it on several occasions, including Chinese New Year Galas and other occasions.

Coming for You
Coming from far away,
Again and again, I came for you,
I came for loving you.
Precious Chinese people, please listen to my heart-felt voice,
Falun Dafa is good, Falun Dafa Hao!
See the truth behind those lies.

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