The third experience-sharing conference in Germany was held in Erbach on December 28, 2000. The first experience-sharing conference was held in Frankfurt in May 1998 as the first one of its kind in Europe. The esteemed Teacher personally attended the conference and gave law lectures. The second conference was held in Berlin in August 1999, after the evil force had begun the all-round persecution on Dafa, and was held in conjunction with a press conference. This conference was held after practitioners had endured various tests for over a year.
The spread of Dafa in Germany started in mid-1997. Over the last three years, practitioners in Germany experienced phases with different emphasis. Starting with mainly practicing the exercises, studying the Fa, and improving xinxing levels, more and more practitioners have come to maintain Zhen-Shan-Ren in their hearts all the time and voluntarily joined the activities of spreading and safeguarding the Fa, and clarifying the truth to people in the world. We now have entered the phase of cultivation during Fa rectification. At the present time, more and more practitioners have immersed themselves in the Fa and have become Dafa particles.
Fourteen practitioners shared their understandings of Dafa from different perspectives, (including two articles read from Minghui,) their experiences and lessons learned during the process of spreading the Fa and clarifying the truth. They explained how they had overcome difficult barriers in front of tribulations by relying on righteous minds and their firm determination to follow the Teacher and Dafa. They also discussed how they, as practitioners, used wisdom, took advantage of different timing and opportunities, clarified truth to various different people, and participated in the Fa rectification. The entire conference hall was solemn and peaceful. Practitioners felt the great compassion of the Teacher and the mighty power of Dafa. Practitioners in the meeting hall were sometimes brought to tears and sometimes burst into laughter. After the conference was over, practitioners unanimously agreed that this was a very successful conference. Some practitioners said that they felt their minds were expanding constantly and had increased several times. Faluns could be seen in some photos taken by practitioners.
Some practitioners in Germany and Austria mentioned that at the beginning, they did not fully understand the importance of spreading the Fa and thus missed many good opportunities. Through studying the Fa and sharing experiences, they were able to eliminate some human mentalities and actively participated in Fa-spreading information day activities, held Falun Gong introduction meetings, approached the government and the media, collected signatures, and tried their best.
One practitioner talked about how she took advantage of a job interview to spread the Fa to the company manager, human resources personnel, and other candidates in the interview. Because she holds herself to the standards of a practitioner everywhere, she made a good impression on the company and was hired on the spot. Another practitioner talked about the experience of collecting signatures. The day before the deadline, this practitioner surprisingly collected over 450 signatures and used all the signature forms. A practitioner who participated in the translation of Zhuan Falun mentioned that toward the end of the translation, it became very easy to memorize paragraphs in the book by translating them. When studying Italian, this practitioner could read the Italian version of Zhuan Falun in two months.
The last speech was a reading of an experience article from Minghui by a practitioner in Mainland China. A German practitioner who is a policeman read this article, which exposed the brutal persecution of Dafa practitioners by the police in China. All practitioners in the conference were shocked by the inhumane atrocities and were moved by the great compassion of the practitioner in China. After the conference concluded, two German practitioners mentioned that during the sitting meditation that day, they experienced strong pains in their legs. They thought of the practitioner in China and concluded that the leg pains they were experiencing were no comparison to the tribulations encountered by this practitioner in China.
Practitioners were deeply moved during the conference and realized their insufficiencies. Many practitioners gleaned many insights on how to treat themselves and the Fa and how to spread the Fa.
January 3, 2001