Experiences of an American High School Student Creating his Own Environment

Here is a bit of my experience in promoting Dafa and clarifying truth over the last month in my high school.

Last year, I practiced the exercises mostly at home or in my dorm, and I did not take the initiative to promote Dafa widely in my school. I thought that it would be sufficient for me to just guard my Xinxing against bad influences. As for my part in Law-Rectification, I only had to separate myself from the evil propaganda in China, persevere in cultivating Dafa, and passively participate in promotional activities.

However, after I attended the New York conference on September 11, I realized that passively participating was not enough. It was simply my demonic nature and attachments to fear and selfishness that prevented me from doing my part in the verification of Dafa and creating a positive environment in school. I spoke to several other American practitioners about ways to promote Dafa in a school setting. They all suggested that the best way to promote Dafa was to practice outside. At first, I was still timid and afraid that others would laugh at me. So I began by practicing outside on the grass in front of my dorm. Gradually, I was able to let go of my attachment to fear, and I took the initiative to practice out on the great lawn, the heart of the campus and an ideal place to attract attention. I printed out FALUN GONG in big letters and placed the sign in front of the tape recorder. I secured the sign with a stack of Falun Dafa newspapers and/or flyers. Later I supplemented my sign with a two-piece board with colorful pictures of people practicing, the main books of Falun Gong, and website addresses. Next to it I placed a plastic container of Falun Dafa newspapers and pamphlets.

Everyday I scheduled two hours of practice, depending on what time most people pass by the lawn (for my school, usually 2-4 PM). I was surprised to find the number of newspapers picked up by students/faculty passing by. It seemed that no matter where I carried the boards and the newspapers with me (to the library, to tennis practice, to cafeteria, to mailroom, etc.), people would always stop by and take one of the newspapers.

With my initiative to practice outside, everything seemed to follow naturally. A picture of me doing the exercises appeared as the Picture of the Week in the school newspaper. Then the editor of the newspaper interviewed me on my personal cultivation experience and the persecution in China. He even printed one of the pictures taken from the peaceful parade in New York along with the article he wrote in the school newspaper. Then I was asked to write a commentary on Falun Gong itself as well as the persecution. Over 10 students perhaps asked me if I wanted to start a club; one added that if I did start a club, I would have a lot of people behind me.

A student from Amnesty International talked to me and expressed her concern about the persecution. Another student from a Japanese class picked up a newspaper and brought it to his/her Japanese class, and now the whole class knew about Falun Gong. My French teacher suggested that I should do the French project on Falun Gong and have the class participate in the exercises. A teacher passing by even asked me to talk about Falun Gong in her Chinese History class.

Another way that I found to be quite effective was to send school-wide emails. First I posted an introduction on the General Announcements and Bulletin section on the school's network. However, not many people cared enough to visit those sections. So instead, I sent emails directly to all the students (perhaps the mail carrier also sent it to the faculty). Soon, I received lots of comments and feedback from the students. The majority of the students found the persecution to be horrible and asked me what they could do to help. Basically, I told them that they could help by spreading the awareness of the terrible persecution in China, by visiting daily updates on www.faluninfo.net, and by informing the media and the international human rights organizations. I thought it would be better to direct them to see the updates on the Internet for themselves and to read Zhuan Falun rather than explaining it through my own limited understanding.

During this process, I realized that I should not regard myself merely as someone who benefits from Falun Dafa and not take the obligatory step to verify it. It is really my duty as a practitioner to take the initiative to promote Dafa and clarify the truth. Moreover, I should regard myself as a particle of Dafa and actively participate in the Law-Rectification process. Master Li said in <>, "As a practitioner, you should make use of all favorable conditions to spread the Great Law and prove that the Great Law is correct, is the real science, not a sermon or idealism, which is the obligation of every practitioner." Master Li also said in <>, "The environment is created by you yourselves and is also a decisive factor for your improvement."

A high school practitioner in the US
10/9/00