Practitioners from the USA and Canada joined the local contact person in Santiago, the capital city of the South American country of Chile, to help introduce Falun Dafa to the Chilean people and to clarify the truth about the persecution in China.
Hearts of Gold
It was a very moving experience for the visiting practitioners to conduct HongFa activities (HongFa means introducing Falun Dafa to others) in Chile...dramatically different from what they are used to in their North American homes. Never before had they seen people so willing to hear about Falun Dafa and anxious to learn the exercises. The people of Chile have very big hearts. We found them very open to listening to new ideas...they seem to have an intuitive understanding that "modern" human society is on the wrong path...an idea that most North American people find difficult to accept.
Practitioners were in agreement that the Chilean people very well understand the concept of Shan. The Chilean people are overwhelmingly kind and compassionate, even to strangers. They take time to stop and chat when they are approached on the street or in the market. They listen intently to the words spoken to them. They offer to help in any way they can. They have very little to give, yet they gladly share all that they have.
The government has been less repressive over the last 15 or so years. Many people have hearts of gold. The Chilean people are ready to hear the benefits of Falun Dafa. Few words are required to explain to them the truth of the persecution...the wounds from their nation's oppressive past are still healing and the people know what it is to be under the control of a cruel dictatorship. They quickly understand that Falun Dafa is good and are anxious to learn more about Zhen-Shan-Ren. It seems that there are many, many people pre-destined to learn Falun Dafa in Chile.
Teaching the Exercises in the Barrio
Practitioners spent their first day in a Barrio (a relatively poor neighborhood) near the airport in Santiago. Wearing yellow t-shirts proclaiming Verdad-Compasion-Tolerancia (Truth-Compassion-Tolerance), the practitioners found the local people anxious to ask about Falun Dafa and where they might learn it. When practitioners explained that we had just arrived and would be happy to teach the exercises to anyone who wanted to learn, a nearby park was quickly found and in less than an hour about 20 people (mostly young children since the parents were just arriving home and preparing the evening meal) had gathered to learn.
Smiling, laughing and delighted to experience the effects of their first time practicing the exercises, the children were very grateful for the opportunity to learn Falun Dafa.
Jiang Zemin Drives By
The next day, practitioners gathered to demonstrate the exercises outside of the National Museum of Contemporary Art. The setting was a small plaza within a large city-center park surrounded by massive trees and magnificent examples of Spanish colonial architecture. We were practicing the exercises just a few meters from "El Caballo," a statue by the French artist Voltero that is quite well known in Santiago. It had recently been "tagged" (spray painted with various gang-like sayings) by local graffiti artists and many of the local population had been outraged. Various local government officials came to inspect the damage and attempts to repair it while practitioners sat in meditation.
Quite a few members of the public stopped by to pick up a brochure and ask practitioners the many questions they had. The local media came by to take a few pictures and interview the local contact person. Shortly thereafter, the road across the park became filled with motorcycles with lights flashing and sirens blaring and the big dark Mercedes carrying China's President Jiang Zemin suddenly raced by. Fearing a USA-led resolution to censure China for it's abysmal human rights record at the Geneva UN Human Rights Conference (particularly with respect to the brutal persecution of Falun Dafa), Jiang is on a whirlwind South American tour, checkbook in hand, using every means at his disposal to prevent UN condemnation of his leadership.
Practitioners continued their practice of the exercises, demonstrating the benefits of Zhen-Shan-Ren. Remarking to each other how strongly they sensed the energy around their bodies while practicing the exercises, they realized the importance of the positive-energy field they helped to create in proximity to the leader of the dark forces in the human world, Jiang Zemin himself.
Practitioners traveling in South America
Category: April 25 Events
