(Minghui.org) The 2024 Australian Falun Dafa Cultivation Experience-Sharing Conference was held in Sydney on October 27. Practitioners who attended it said they benefited a lot. Some said that listening to the other practitioners’ experiences changed the way they thought about problems; they were reminded to look at issues from the other person’s perspective.
Practitioners Purchase Falun Dafa Books
Practitioners also bought books for themselves or their relatives and friends, and Zhuan Falun was popular.
As of 2023, Zhuan Falun has been translated into 50 languages, with hundreds of millions of readers in more than 100 countries and regions around the world. No other book has been translated into so many languages in just two or three decades, whether it is a Chinese or any other language book.
Practitioners buy Falun Dafa books.
Sunny buys a Falun Dafa book for his friend.
Practitioners Benefit from Others’ Experiences
John said he learned a lot from the conference.
John said before he started practicing Falun Dafa in 2009, “I was in a dark place. I was looking for principles to improve my morals, improve my mindset. When I was given the flyer from a colleague at work and read the principles, I realized this was exactly what I was looking for.
“When I first started reading Zhuan Falun, all the pages were fuzzy. So, I was just reading, I never really studied anything. I didn’t really have many questions when I read it. When I did, it was answered within the same paragraph. It was maybe a few rounds of reading until it hit me what Falun Dafa was. And then the practitioner I was reading with was like, what’s going on? I said, well, I think I know what this is. This is pretty much what I’ve been looking for. I never looked back.”
John was impressed with the conference, “I wasn’t diligent for a few years, so I didn’t handle things well. So, I missed a few years of the conference. And when I came back last year to Melbourne for the conference, it reminded me. As soon as I walked in, my first words were, Oh I forgot. I forgot. You know, it’s the whole community, the energy, everything, and this year as well, the whole community of us all getting together, the sharing, helping each other improve. I’m so glad I got this opportunity to pull through some really heavy attachments to actually get back last year. So it wasn’t so hard to come this year, but, it’s just amazing. The sharings I’ve heard tonight were incredible, so in depth. It helped me a lot.”
John said listening to other practitioners’ experiences showed him to look at problems from different perspectives, “You know one thing has really shown out, of all my time here, and that is, taking the time to be understanding and seeing things from other people’s perspective. I walked through this city last night, quite late, heading back to my hotel, and there was a homeless guy on the side of the street, screaming and yelling at everyone. And instead of looking at him like, ‘Oh, this guy’s crazy.’ I looked at him and I had nothing but compassion for him. For someone being in that situation, it’s obviously affected him greatly, and he just, maybe some demons have gotten into his mind and disrupted him a little bit. He was very violent. I thought it best not to approach him, but I really felt bad for him. I probably would have completely avoided him before. And I was amazed at how quickly learning to take other’s perspective has kicked in. So that’s definitely one big thing I’ve taken away from this weekend.”
He participated in the group practice on Friday and said, “I live south of Perth so I’m pretty much the only practitioner in my area. I miss out on a lot of group practice. But because it’s early in the morning and I work night shift, everything conflicts. So just being able to practice with so many practitioners around, that’s just been amazing, really nice experience.”
Touched by Others’ Experiences
Michael from Melbourne was encouraged by the conference.
Michael has practiced Falun Dafa for 25 years. “Twenty-five years ago I was a completely different person. I was an angry young man, frustrated, I had a lot of hate in my heart, a lot of anger. Once I obtained Dafa and I started to cultivate, everything changed. I only started practicing for health reasons, but the more I read Zhuan Falun, the more I realized, this is so much bigger than health.”
Regarding the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance, Michael said, “Falun Dafa’s principles—Truth, helped me become more honest with myself. Compassion taught me how to be kind with myself and with the world around me. Forbearance taught me how to be more tolerant with everything that’s happening around me or to me, so most definitely the principles are key to my transformation.
“There were some amazing sharings from practitioners,” Michael said. “I was very moved by their courage, and I think I learned a lot and I’m going to have to go back and reflect on my cultivation.
“Definitely my understanding of truth-clarification is improved now. Because of my background, there are opportunities for me to contribute more to truth clarification. So, it was great hearing other practitioners share their experiences on truth clarification.”
Other Practitioners’ Experiences Are Helpful
Tom from Queensland said the atmosphere of the conference was inspiring.
This was the first time Tom from Queensland attended an experience sharing conference, “It’s been an experience that I actually wouldn’t have expected. Because I came here thinking that it was about promoting Falun Dafa. But really, it’s been just as important looking inside myself and finding things, by talking to other practitioners from different areas, and connecting with them, they share their experiences, they share their thoughts, and you find, that it really helps you as well. It’s just as much about our individual improvement as it is about letting others know about the practice.
“It’s an infectious vibe as well,” he said. “Like this community, it’s such an accepting, open, peaceful community. It’s such a great vibe.
“A speech that stuck out was about the community of young practitioners, creating one body, within the community of young practitioners in Sydney. I think that just resonated with me because I am a young practitioner. And it can sometimes feel like you’re in a different stage of life and you’re especially a different age in a different phase of culture in the world, as opposed to the people that you’re talking to that grew up in the eighties or seventies or nineties or whenever they grew up. So that really resonated with me, and I’d like to take elements of that and bring it to the Gold Coast.”
Tom said he participated in the march on Friday and was impressed, “The parade was awesome. That was the first time I saw the Tian Guo Marching Band. I was right behind them in the parade, and it was just awesome. I could see the people that were handing out flyers on the side of the street. They did such a great job. I was maybe 50 meters from the start of the parade, but by the time I was walking past, people on the second floor of buildings had a pamphlet, and they were looking, and they were smiling, saying, ‘Oh! This is awesome.’ So that was great. The smiles there, the joy, it was all awesome. It was so close to me, and it was so cool to see so many people lining the streets to watch it.”
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