July 22 - 30
Iceland is an island and a country created by friction between the two continental plates of North America and Europe. It is composed of lava rock. Today's Icelanders migrated by boat from Scandinavia primarily, but also from Ireland. The Icelandic language is "old Norwegian".
Icelanders' folk history and culture is well preserved, and it includes ideas and beliefs that might seem foreign to most Westerners. For example, when building a new road, city planners and builders will avoid areas that encroach upon the homes of beings in other dimensions. (Whereas, the builders have learned from experience that they will encounter practical problems, such as equipment not working, if they do not make these considerations.) Many Icelanders can see into other dimensions and also believe in the unseen.
After receiving obvious hints for several months, a UK practitioner felt an urge to travel to Iceland to Hongfa [Introduce Falun Dafa] and clarify the truth regarding the persecution in China. For some time the idea of traveling to Iceland had been in the back of his mind, but had never been acted upon. In mid-July however, it was as if the trip to Iceland was progressing, as if already clearly manifest in another dimension, and all that was required was to follow the course naturally. However, there wasn't much time.
On short notice, and with only a little planning, one practitioner arrived in Iceland on Sunday, 22 July to Hongfa and clarify the truth regarding the persecution in China. Everything went surprisingly well. With a lot of voluntary help from kind-hearted non-practitioners and new beginners, a lot was done in a short time.
On Sunday 22nd of July, within hours after arriving in Iceland, the practitioner was interviewed by the TV news and asked questions such as, "What is Falun Gong?" "Why is Falun Gong persecuted in China," etc. According to Icelanders it was extraordinary and very rare to get three minutes of coverage on the main TV news that most Icelanders watch. But Falun Dafa was given more than this. The reporter was very supportive and intentionally put forth questions to point out the absurdity of the persecution against Falun Gong. The reporter highlighted the good points of Falun Gong and in contrast the actions of the Chinese regime against Falun Gong looked very bad, causing Jiang Zemin's regime to lose face.. (More details reported in a separate Iceland media report.) Monday and Tuesday (the 22nd and 23rd), a lot of preparation work was done, such as the creation of Dafa posters and leaflets in Icelandic, contacting media, etc.
Wednesday through Friday, a three-day intensive introduction course was given for three hours each day. On the first day, Wednesday, one of the new beginners remarked, "It has been ice cold and raining for weeks, but since Falun Gong came to Iceland, it has been warm and really nice weather. And today, on the first day of our three-day introduction, was the nicest day of the entire summer." The skies had been clear blue all day. Upon arrival at the practice site, there were a few light clouds, each one different with very unusual and delicate shapes. One Icelander that was just trying Falun Gong for the first time, pointed and said, "Look! Look in the sky! The sky beings are dancing to greet us at the practice site." Later, the same Icelander said, "The angels are celebrating the start of Falun Gong in Iceland." The clouds were majestically positioned in a row parallel to the horizon in the south, and some parts were light but solid and some areas were semi-transparent. Later on, the Icelanders noticed that the clouds had moved from the south side of the sky to the north, which would have been impossible for "natural clouds" to do, especially without deformation and without turning upside down.
After the practice, there was a lotus flower in the skies in the west not far from the horizon. It was composed of light, semi-transparent "cloud strokes" and had the very well defined shape of a lotus flower from the side perspective. From the lotus flower, one bold stroke stretched all the way to the opposite side of the skies. On each side of the stroke was another slightly bent stroke. The formation of the three strokes looked like a boat from below, stretching from horizon to horizon. The east end and back of the boat was decorated with swirls and curly clouds (a bit similar to auspicious clouds) and the west and front of the boat was decorated with the lotus flower. But the lotus was massive and covered 30 percent of the sky. The boat that was initially quite narrow, grew wider and wider until it covered nearly two-thirds of the Icelandic skies. During these hours, there were no other clouds in the sky. But many other things were seen.
Also on Wednesday, one of the two leading newspapers interviewed the practitioner for the Saturday issue. The article seemed to have given a good impression to the readers, because on the day it was published, 29 new beginners came to the practice site. Luckily, there were now three more practitioners there to help. It was also arranged so that the TV news would come to interview the three visiting practitioners and announce an introduction class to be held on Saturday.
On Friday the 27th, three Scandinavian practitioners arrived to Reykjavik for a two-night stay, on their way back home from Washington D.C. On Friday, truth-clarifying and hongfa activities were done at many levels. For instance, practicing and handing out material on the main street and in other places. The TV news announced Saturday's introduction class and included pictures of the practitioners practicing by a beautiful waterfall.
On Saturday the 28th, it was clear that there was a tension in the group of practitioners, and it was agreed to sit down in the park for talk and exchange. In the beginning there was some reluctance to open up and admit frustrations that had built up for nearly two weeks. There was reluctance because the time in Iceland was limited, and practitioners may have felt that talking could be done later. As soon as practitioners admitted there was tension, however, and started to open up and talk, things started to happen around the practitioners at a rapid speed. The practitioners got attention from the curious public, and were asked for flyers. And the other TV channel happened to walk past, so the practitioners took the opportunity to speak to them and were filmed performing the exercises.
After this event, all the practitioners felt that the unintentional success was a reward for opening up and talking. It is easy to get stuck in human notions, such as one action has priority over another, but no matter what we intend doing, it cannot be done well if we are not doing it with a pure heart. When doing genuine cultivation, the work is done automatically. The practitioners agreed if they did not sit down and talk they wouldn't have been this successful. They also learned that from now on, to make sure that the group is solid is the most crucial. All the work that needs doing will be automatically done if cultivating well. This was experienced even more strongly, when one hour later the practitioners arrived at the practice site announced by the newspaper and TV news. At the practice site were more new beginners than they had ever seen. Twenty-nine people, most of whom were new beginners and a few who had just practiced for a week. The introduction class went well with the new beginners in a circle and the four practitioners standing back-to-back in the middle, facing out to the four directions.
In the morning of Sunday the 29th was the last practice before Scandinavian practitioners went back to the airport. Despite the early hour, 11 more new people came to learn the practice.
Category: Journeys of Cultivation
