Some of the Brooklyn practitioners, early in June, made a commitment to Hong Fa at the Annual Fulton Art Fair. Later, it was discovered that some of the Art Fair dates conflicted with the Chicago Conference. Several practitioners felt that we should cancel our participation in the Fair; however, others decided to stay behind to fulfill the commitment. Only two of us prepared to Hong Fa at the fair, but by the time we began four practitioners were helping out. Before the day was over, practitioners from other boroughs came out to assist us. We know the Fa always rectifies everything.
Day one -- June 17th
On the 17th of June after our morning practice at Prospect Park, another practitioner and I packed my car and drove to the Fulton Art Fair. Upon our arrival we could see that the Fair had not started because of a thunderstorm. We knew that it was no accident. When we returned to my apartment, we discovered that we were not properly prepared to participate in the Fair. We decided to make a list of the items needed to set up our tent at the Fair the following weekend.
Day two -- June 24th
June 24th was day one of our Hong Fa activities at the Fulton Art Fair. Upon arriving, we were told to set up inside Fulton Park. We set up our tent, posters and table. A park supervisor came over and told us that no booths were allowed inside the park and that we might have to move to the outside perimeter of the park where all the other vendors had set up their booths. We believed at the moment it was a test, but we were not moved. At that point, I said, "the Fa rectifies everything," and if we have to move that's okay. Later the park supervisor returned and said, "Everything is fine."
For most of the day, we demonstrated and taught the exercises, handed out flyers and clarified the truth.
During the day a gentleman inquired about the human rights aspect of the Falun Dafa situation.
At previous Hong Fa activities in the African-American communities around Brooklyn we were always questioned about the African-American presence within the Falun Dafa practice and the display posters. This same question came up again at the Fulton Art Fair. Afterwards, we decided to create posters about Hong Fa activities in Brooklyn, Manhattan and Florida that would reflect Falun Dafa crossing racial boundaries and cultures. On Friday evening, June 29th, we collected pictures and made new posters. The posters have been added to our poster collection and were used at the Fulton Art Fair and will be part of our Hong Fa posters for Brooklyn in the future.
Day Three -- June 30th
Saturday, June 30th, we unveiled our new Falun Dafa posters. The posters were well received by the community. We began the day by clarifying the truth about the persecution in China and handing out flyers. Many of the people in the African-American community were well informed about both Falun Dafa and the persecution activities in China. Most of them asked why the Chinese government was persecuting Falun Dafa practitioners. This gave us a great opportunity to talk about the persecution in China and how the practitioners are unable to practice their beliefs freely and openly.
Day Four -- Sunday, July 1st
We continued the Hong Fa activities. Each day was better than the day before. A practitioner who usually demonstrates and teaches the exercises found himself passing out hundreds and hundreds of flyers. People actually stopped to read the flyers and ask questions. One man ran up to a practitioner and yelled "Falun Gong" and asked for a flyer. A woman who came to the Fair from Philadelphia said, "Please give me a few flyers so I can pass them out to my friends."
Later, another practitioner dropped off some SOS brochures. All of them were given out that afternoon and evening.
In the late afternoon, there was a downpour of rain. We grabbed our posters and gathered them under our tent. "A picture perfect moment." There must have been seven or eight of us huddled together. We were all calm, not frustrated, and very much unattached to the weather conditions. Then, low and behold, the sun came out again. We put our posters back up and continued to Hong Fa.
Davy Five -- Wednesday, July 4th
At the beginning of the day it was damp and dreary. The weather was unpredictable from moment to moment. But we knew we had to step forward. Once again we weren't attached to the weather conditions. We set up our tent and began our Hong Fa activities in spite of the weather conditions. The highlight of the day came when one of the practitioners taught the Falun Gong exercises to a group of children. It's amazing to watch the Fa hold the attention of the children, who were, I am sure, predestined for the seeds to be planted to attain to Fa. They were taught exercises one through five. One little girl in the group never took her eyes off the practitioner as he taught them for more than thirty minutes. Some of the children would move in and out of the circle, but this little girl never left until the practitioner demonstrated all five exercises. When it was time for the fifth exercise, two little girls immediately sat in double lotus before the practitioner completed his demonstration of how it should be done.
Later, a practitioner was handing out flyers when a policeman walked up to him and asked if he could have one. He said, "You have been handing out these flyers for half an hour and haven't given me one. Give me one of those flyers." He felt neglected because he had not gotten one. After receiving the flyer, he stood across from the practitioner and read the entire flyer, from front to back while on duty.
The four days of Hong Fa was well received in this community. There was only one man who did not want to take a flyer. He said, "I know my African spirit and I'm not going to Asia." But he kept pacing back and forth in front of our booth. The practitioners were not moved nor did they try to convince him that spirit has no cultural boundaries. He walked over to another booth and complained about us being there. Later he came back to our booth; we didn't say anything. He finally left. Sometimes, one has to know when to speak and when not to speak, but instead show compassion from the heart by keeping silent.
Once, while we were practicing the fifth exercise under our tent, someone threw some rocks. We were not moved and eventually the disturbance stopped.
The last day we had more tribulations than any of the previous days. I believe it was a test, to see if any one of us had some hidden attachments. To my knowledge none surfaced. We were not moved by the tribulations but continued to Hong Fa until the thunderstorm sent everyone scurrying for cover.
Thank you, Master Li!
P.S.
1) I looked inside myself and realized that we need to reach out to all communities, not just the African-American community. I am suggesting, that once a month the western practitioners in Brooklyn Hong Fa in both the Brooklyn and Manhattan Chinese communities. This is the compassion that I've learned from this experience.
2) I believe that if we as practitioners make commitments to Hong Fa in various communities we should keep our commitments. If there are experience sharing conferences that conflict with our Hong Fa activities, some practitioners should do Hong Fa activities and some should go to the experience sharing conferences. We were able to touch the hearts of people by doing Hong Fa at this Art Fair.
3) It was a fantastic experience and transcended all my expectations. It just proves how the Fa rectifies all things when one commits oneself to Hong Fa from the heart.
4) People living in the Fulton Pak Community are interested in having a practice site here.
5) The Saturday after the Fulton Art Fair, about eight new people showed up at our regular practice site in Prospect Park.
6) Another practitioner and I thought we were going to be the only practitioners to Hong Fa at the Art Fair. We had decided to Hong Far by ourselves because we knew in our hearts this was something we had to do. As it turned out we had support from practitioners from all five boroughs. We had at least four or more practitioners each day. When your purpose for doing an activity is to rectify the Fa, clarify the truth and give those who are predestined an opportunity to obtain the Fa from your heart, everything will be completely rectified. I believe! I believe! I believe!
Western Practitioners Brooklyn, N.Y.
Category: Parades & Other Community Events
