Some Experiences Promoting Fa In Montréal The First Week Of July

This week, we undertook some intensive Fa promotion here in Montréal, in the form of small public demonstrations in parks. We did two demonstrations daily, at two different times: in certain places, at lunchtime, and for others, in the evening. We will now offer some specific details and experiences, as well as some general observations and understandings; these will hopefully be of benefit for both further promotions in Montréal, as well as for everywhere else.

Our group was small, varying in size from 3 to 8 practitioners. Sometimes, one or two of us wore the yellow gongfu suits, but usually we just dressed casually. We often brought with us a sign, bilingual French/English, and left piles of newspapers (French, English, and Chinese) with paperweights on top of them, in front of the sign. Sometimes, we also hung up a small yellow banner reading 'FALUN DAFA'. We used a small tape player, and played the tape loud enough to co-ordinate our practice movements but not loud enough to disturb people!

Monday from around 12 noon to 2 PM, we went to the Vieux-Port (Old Port) downtown, where many tourists and locals alike go in the summer. We demonstrated the movements and passed out some flyers and newspapers in 3 different locations, and we actually ran out of flyers and newspapers before our afternoon demo! From that morning, we discovered that it is important to make sure to have permission to distribute materials and/or practice in areas that are not public property or public parks. However, we never had any trouble setting up and demonstrating in any public place we went to. That afternoon, around 4PM, we went to the Mount-Royal Park, and did a demo at the Chalet, which overlooks the city from the top of the Mont-Royal hill. 4 of us practiced, and it went well. One lady came and joined us for awhile: she said that she had been to a local group practice before, and thus perhaps we'll see her again! Few people watched us. They were mostly riveted on the scenery.

Tuesday from 12 noon to 1PM, 'lunchtime', we went to Dorchester Square, which is in the middle of the financial district, and also happens to be a place that many tour buses stop and offload tourists. Two of us practiced while another went around and offered flyers and newspapers to those who were interested; we also had a pile of material beside where we were practicing. There were many people there during that time, most were eating lunch, few were interested in what we were doing and few wanted the flyers or newspapers. It was discouraging at first but at least one person was quite interested and spoke with us. This showed us that though the situation may seem bleak, that it is always worth a try. That afternoon, during the hours when many people were commuting by bus and by Métro (subway), namely 5-6:30 PM, we went beside the Linel-Groulx Métro station, where many buses also connect with the subway. Thus, there were quite a few people passing through constantly. Two of us sat in meditation, one of us demonstrated the standing exercises continuously, and another spoke with passersbies and distributed material. Many people waiting for the bus had a chance to watch us practice, and were then quite receptive to flyers distributed to them. At one point, two women walked by with a young boy, and I offered them a flyer. They turned it down, but immediately the young one piped up "You should take that, Mommy! " The children are indeed much wiser than their parents sometimes!

Wednesday, again at 'lunchtime', we went to Square St-Philippe. This is right downtown, and many people were sitting and eating lunch as well as passing through. One of us did the standing exercises, one of us did the sitting meditation, and one of us passed out flyers to those who wanted them, as well as spoke with interested people. That afternoon, we went to Place Emilie-Gamelin, which is also right downtown. It is also a place where many drug dealers hang around and sell drugs, and in fact we promoted Fa to them as well! One of these fellows, came over and asked us for information and a newspaper in English. Indeed, one cannot tell who the predestined people will be.

Thursday's lunchtime demo took place at Cabot Square, two of us practicing and one passing out flyers. One fellow came to find out more and I promoted Fa to him for half an hour; he said that was going to get the books at the library and come learn the exercises at some point. Another lady, passing through, said that she had recently learned the exercises, and actually took a lot of newspapers and some flyers in order to promote Fa to her clients at work! That evening, we went to Westmount Park, which is in a residential district. There, we practiced and meditated, with a banner hanging in the trees. Some people were very interested and spoke with us. One little girl came over from the playground nearby. She watched us perform the fifth exercise and took a flyer and a newspaper.

The next day, we were late getting to the park we wanted to go to, and thus missed some other practitioners. Not only that, the park itself was no longer there! Instead there was a giant hole in the ground where a building foundation was being built. We felt the demon-nature murmuring 'ahh, go on back home, it's useless' but we identified it as such and wandered over to another small park, where there happened to be a small stage built, and we commenced practicing (only two of us!). Some people behind us were really interested and all took the information and were all talking about their experiences with Tai Chi etc. After they got the materials and we spoke with them, we continued to demonstrate, but within 5 minutes it started to rain heavily. Thus, we had to cut the demo short, and everyone in the park left anyway. We went back and took the subway, and as soon as we got on the people sitting right beside us were very interested and took some materials! Events truly do not happen without reason.

Through all this, we came to some understandings of promoting Fa and also had attachments revealed. For instance, some kind of 'self-conscious' mentality made me reluctant to go and hand out flyers, but as soon as I identified it, I was able to do this with all my heart in it, indeed putting the Fa before myself. Also, as in the last case, we discovered that the demon-nature would use any means possible to interfere with our cultivation and promoting, and thus trying to block the rectification of the Fa. However, when we went ahead and promoted, despite these selfish personal feelings caused by attachments, I think that we helped rectify the Fa a little bit more and indeed advanced our cultivation. For awhile we were getting preoccupied with human notions, and the word 'effective' kept surfacing, as if promoting Fa resembled 'marketing a product' or something. Through our experience we have the understanding that, small or great, whether simply practicing in public or demonstrating with yellow suits on, banners etc. and distributing large amounts of materials, the effect was good. Thus, it is our current understanding that: virtually no matter what your idea is, as long as your mind is right, it will probably be a good thing (even if few people will participate in it or if you are disorganized), and indeed the predestined people will be there.

We hope that this has been beneficial to you and that our understandings are not incorrect.