(Minghui.org) May 13 was World Falun Dafa Day. It has been 21 years since Falun Gong was first disseminated to the public. Every year in May, Falun Gong practitioners from around the world celebrate this special day in a variety of ways to express their gratitude for the practice of Falun Dafa and to thank Dafa's founder, Master Li Hongzhi.
North Rhine-Westphalia: Celebrating the 21 st World Falun Dafa Day on the beautiful Rhine River
Group photo to wish Master Li a happy birthday
On May 11, 2013, Falun Gong practitioners gathered in Dusseldorf, the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, to celebrate the 21 st World Falun Dafa Day on the beautiful Rhine River, and to celebrate Master Li Hongzhi's 61 st birthday.
Practitioners dressed in golden-yellow exercise suits demonstrated the slow and gentle Falun Gong exercises. Along with the beautiful music, the fluidity of motion and the peaceful atmosphere caused passers-by to slow down. Many stopped to watch, some took photos, while others listened to practitioners introduce Falun Gong. A number of people said that they wanted to learn the Falun Gong exercises. After hearing that Falun Gong is being persecuted in mainland China by the Chinese regime, people expressed their indignation and signed a petition calling for an end to the persecution.
Practitioners at the event shared how Falun Gong has enriched their lives in so many ways.
Tremendous changes from deep inside
Karin is a civil servant from Cologne, Germany. She came to Dusseldorf with her sister Ursula and brother Werner to participate in the Dafa Day celebration. After being handed a flyer back in 2001, Karin and her siblings started to learn Falun Gong together. Having cultivated for over ten years, Karin said that she felt a most relaxed and peaceful feeling from practicing Falun Gong. She explained, “Falun Gong has brought tremendous changes to me deep down. The principles of Truth-Compassion-Tolerance have merged into my work and daily life. I don't pursue fame and self-interest any more, I won't say anything bad behind my colleagues' backs, and I act the same wherever I am. My colleagues are aware of my changes, and have said that I'm very reliable. Anything assigned to me that I've promised I'd do, I'll definitely do it, instead of superficially dealing with it. It's the same when I am at home; things my husband asks me to do, should I agreed to do it, without his asking again and reminding me, I'll certainly do it. It's easy. Even my 90-year-old grandma noticed my changes. When I go to the nursing home to visit her, I feel very relaxed. The other residents there grab onto me and talk to me, and I am always very patient and listen to them attentively. My grandma said that I have changed a lot, and that I have became very tolerant. The principles of Falun Dafa have brought peace to my heart and allow me to take things lightly.”
Karin, a German civil servant
“This was what I've been looking for”
Nineteen-year-old Daniela is a German student. She just graduated from high school and is preparing to take a battery of exams for university. Today she took the time to participate in the Falun Dafa Day celebration. Daniela began practicing Falun Dafa only six months ago. She shared how she came to find Dafa: “I'd been looking for the standard of goodness. I looked around, and everywhere I looked, one was this way, one was that way, and they all have no real standard. I gave up searching. Half a year ago, I came across Falun Dafa and read Zhuan Falun. I suddenly realized that this was what I've been looking for. I found the standard for measuring what is good, and the path in front of me widened. It's so important for me to study Zhuan Falun .”
Daniela, a student
From misfortune to happiness
Detlef, from North Rhine-Westphalia, is a computer programming engineer who began practicing Falun Dafa in February 1998. The year 1997 was a very unusual and difficult year for him, with misfortunes piling up one after another. That year, he suffered three major accidents. The first accident was when he hurt his back cycling, which never healed properly. Following that, he incurred a brain injury in a car accident, which also hadn't healed. Then he had a bigger cycling accident, resulting in a big hole gouged in his thigh exposing his bone. That injury also did not heal as it should. He was nearly disabled as a result of these major accidents. Then, at the end of the year he received a notice of dismissal from his workplace, adding to the pressure he was already under.
Detlef started looking for an effective way to get well. He eventually found a book about qigong, and he decided to learn qigong to treat his ailments. Then he found Falun Gong on the Internet. After Detlef read about Falun Gong, he felt it to be a good practice and decided to try it. Not long after he started practicing Falun Gong, he went to Geneva to attend Master Li's Fa teaching in Switzerland in February 1998. After three months of practicing Falun Gong, he felt a Falun rotating in his lower abdomen. After a while, his celestial eye opened and he experienced many miraculous things. His personality became refined, he no longer pursued fame and fortune, career and material gain, he took things lightly, and was not as self-centered as before. As a result of these changes, he didn't lose anything materially, and he also fully recovered from his injuries and even got a new job.
Detlef's mother Eva is eighty years old this year. She started practicing Falun Dafa in 2001. She observed her son for two years, and saw how through Falun Gong cultivation, not only did he improve his health, but his character improved greatly as well. He was not selfish as before, and thought of others first. With the encouragement of her son, and having witnessed the positive changes in him herself, she started practicing Falun Gong in 2002.
An energetic eighty-year-old
Eva was born into a Christian family, and was a practicing Christian. After she witnessed her son's miraculous changes and having read Zhuan Falun , she was able to understand Dafa's profundity and follow Master Li's teachings. She knew that it was important to practice only one orthodox cultivation way. She said, “From a Christian to a Falun Gong practitioner, that's how I transferred. At my age, being eighty years old, I've had no illness over the past ten years. My body is light, I'm full of energy, I do all the household chores including kneeling on the floor to scrub the floor, but I don't feel tired. I feel energetic all day long. I do the Falun Gong exercises every day, and wherever I go I'll take the book Zhuan Falun with me and read it whenever I have time. What I can do is to recommend Falun Gong to people.”
Detlef and his mother Eva at the Dafa Day event in Dusseldorf
It can be said with certainty that every Falun Gong practitioner has moving cultivation stories and miraculous experiences to share. Before the event finished, North Rhine-Westphalia Falun Gong practitioners who participated in this event took a group photo along the Rhine, and expressed their heartfelt best wishes: “Master, Happy Birthday!”
