(Clearwisdom.net) I am a new Dafa practitioner. The "Truth-Compassion-Tolerance" Art Exhibition was recently held in my region. There were not enough people to work as docents. It was by chance that I had time, so I applied to work as a docent for the exhibit. Although I did not have any experience being a docent, I believed that as long as I had a righteous mind, Master would help us. Below are some of my understandings that I have gained from my participation in this project.
During my experience as a docent, what impressed me most was the power of the art itself. I witnessed some unusual phenomena. For example, many children of three to four or four to five years old came to see the art. Although it seemed they could not understand the explanations of the paintings, they often stood in front of the paintings and stared at them for long periods of time, seeming unwilling to move away. Even when their parents urged them to leave, they still stayed, transfixed. When they finally had to leave, they showed a kind of unwillingness to leave. There were also children who returned to again appreciate the same several paintings. Their parents seemed curious about the unusual behavior. I, however, clearly knew that the children were very pure and had less karma, and so their minds could most directly feel these paintings' deep inner meanings and the power of Truth, Compassion, and Forbearance that is conveyed by these paintings.
When the adults came to appreciate the paintings, I often quietly stood beside them sending righteous thoughts and getting ready to explain the meanings of the paintings to them. Oftentimes, however, even before I could offer an explanation, they seemed to have already understood the meaning. They then went to sign the "One Million Signatures against the Persecution" forms. I usually also explained the origin and purpose of the paintings. I would choose one or two representative paintings for my explanation to help them even more clearly understand the goodness of Dafa cultivation and the facts about the persecution.
Among the visitors, a 40-to-50-year-old woman impressed me deeply. While looking at the paintings, she was moved to tears. She took off her glasses and wiped her tears away. In the end, she could not control her tears anymore, so she hurriedly walked out of the exhibition hall and sat down on a long bench. I walked over to her and sat beside her. After she slightly regained her composure, I asked her why she had felt so upset. She told me that she understood the painfulness of mental torture. The art exhibition had moved her greatly. After I listened to her, I told her about the inhumane persecution of Falun Gong practitioners by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which has already gone on for nine years and still continues. Especially as the Beijing Olympic Games approached, the CCP started to even more frenziedly arrest and persecute Falun Gong practitioners. When I spoke about this, she told me that the left-wing and the right-wing party members in the government had been debating hotly whether they should attend the Olympic Games. Now she said that she clearly understood which side she should support. She then returned to the exhibition hall and signed her name on the petition form.
I have found that being an art exhibition docent is a very good truth-clarification platform. I usually only clarified the facts to my family members, friends, colleagues, and classmates, and I rarely told others whom I did not know about the persecution. This was because, on the one hand, I did not have many opportunities to contact strangers, while on the other hand, even when I met someone new, I did not know how to turn the conversation to truth-clarification. However, at the art exhibition, so many people came! Each time I explained these paintings to visitors, I simply started with the story about Professor Zhang Kunlun, one of the artists in the exhibition. I told the visitors that millions of Falun Gong practitioners have been suffering from even more brutal tortures, both mentally and physically. I then stressed the unyielding faith of Dafa practitioners, which originated from the goodness and powerfulness of Dafa. My explanation flowed naturally as one very cohesive story. Furthermore, during my truth clarification, I found that many people were eager to listen to the facts about Dafa.
There was one student from a local university. When she finished looking at the paintings, I started to explain the artworks to her in the same way as I had with other visitors. I also told her the facts about the persecution. She seemed shocked, and extreme worry and fear appeared in her eyes. I could not understand her complex expressions. Eventually she told me that she majored in Chinese and that she would go to Hong Kong in four days and then to China as a visiting student for half a year. I then understood that she was scared and worried about going to a place full of such terrible happenings. I also discussed the issue of the recent natural disasters in China and told her they were Heaven's warnings. She wanted to know how to protect herself. I told her to clearly remember, "Falun Dafa is good! Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good!" In this way, should disasters come, miracles will happen. I then gave her a bookmark that said, "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, Falun Dafa is good!" I told her that she did not need to be scared. She should often look at the bookmark and remember what I had told her that day.
She became emotional as she accepted the bookmark. When she was about to leave, I embraced her and wished her the best. I noticed that her worrisome, fearful, and helpless expression was gone. Her eyes looked happy and relaxed, the result of knowing the truth about Dafa.
August 4, 2008
