Nov. 25, 2024 | By Minghui correspondents in Melbourne
Agapitos, who understands what the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is really like, explained why he was interested in Falun Dafa. He said, “If the CCP hates Falun Dafa so much, then it must be a really good practice.”
(Minghui.org) The Mind Body Spirit Festival was held at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Center from November 15 to 17, 2024. The Falun Dafa booth was very popular.
The Mind Body Spirit Festival, Australia’s oldest and largest health expo, is held twice a year in Melbourne. There were nearly 200 booths this year. An endless stream of people visited the Falun Dafa booth during the three-day exhibition, and many of them lingered to talk to practitioners.
Irene and Agapitos heard about Falun Dafa during the COVID pandemic lockdown, attended an online class, and bought a copy of Zhuan Falun. After seeing practitioners at the exhibition, they decided to join the group practice.
Irene said, “Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance are really wonderful principles to live by—the world could do with more [of them].”
Agapitos, who understands what the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is really like, explained why he was interested in Falun Dafa. He said, “If the CCP hates Falun Dafa so much, then it must be a really good practice.”
The couple, who live in a Chinese community in Melbourne, both expressed an interest in going to the local practice site to do the exercises. Irene said, “I started to practice online when the COVID-19 lockdown was in place and we couldn’t go out. Now that I can go to the practice site, I’m really looking forward to it. We live in Box Hill so the practice site is really close to us.”
Visitors Like Falun Dafa
Maraki said she was drawn to the Falun Dafa booth and the bright yellow T-shirts the practitioners were wearing. “I love the yellow. I was so attracted to it and the energy.”
She also participated in the online Falun Dafa exercise classes during the pandemic, and said the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance resonated with her.
She said that during the pandemic lockdown she learned to practice Falun Dafa online, and the experience changed her life. “I’m looking forward to actually reading the book Zhuan Falun again. It’s been a couple of years since I watched the Falun Dafa lectures online, but if I [had the book] I could read on the train.
“I need a daily practice, so this is a morning practice that I can do every day. It’s also a beautiful way to settle myself down and go a little slower,” said Maraki.
Keren first heard about Falun Dafa at the exhibition and was impressed to learn about the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. She said, “These are good principles. They align with what I believe in and are what I’m looking for.”
After talking with practitioners, she learned about the CCP’s brutal persecution and how Falun Dafa has spread around the world over the past 25 years. Keren was happy to learn that there’s a Falun Dafa practice site in a park in the center of Melbourne, not far from her home. “I’m going to have a look at it. I need a way to start meditating, but I haven’t found the proper way. I’ve been looking at YouTube, so I’m very pleased with this practice.”
Sisters Milla and Hannah were happy to meet and talk with practitioners. Milla said, “Falun Dafa is amazing. I’d like to try it. I was looking to do something different and this looks wonderful.”
She went on to say that it was amazing that people of all races and backgrounds can practice. “For us, everyone in the world is essentially the same, they are human beings. We all need to think about the meaning of being human.”
They admired the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. Milla said the world needs to return to tradition and that, “People need more love and more respect. Families should come together and emphasize the preciousness of the family. It’s most important for all of us to be better people. But at the moment we are separated. Families are separating and not coming together. They are looking for more money and just pursuing money. People have become so selfish and inconsiderate. We need to change that. I think the principles of Falun Dafa can change that.”
They said they would go to the practice site near their home and learn the Falun Dafa exercises.
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Source: https://en.minghui.org/html/articles/2024/11/25/221803.html
Editor’s Note: Dear readers, do you know that Falun Dafa, originally from China, is currently practiced by people in over 100 countries? But in China, since Jul. 20, 1999, Falun Gong is defamed, slandered and persecuted due to the Chinese Communist Party’s fear of Falun Gong’s rapidly growing popularity. Jiang Zemin, former head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), perceived the spiritual discipline’s growing popularity as a threat to the CCP’s atheistic ideology.
To learn more about the persecution Falun Gong practitioners are subjected to in China, visit http://faluninfo.net/.
For more information about the practice or to download Zhuan Falun, visit: www.falundafa.org. All books, exercise music, resources, and instructions are available completely free of charge.
