Greetings revered Master!

Greetings fellow practitioners!

In 2017, a fellow practitioner gave me a trombone to try playing. I was excited, but when I opened the case, I felt discouraged. Having never held a musical instrument before and lacking any knowledge of music, I felt it would be very difficult to play this instrument, which had no finger holes. My wife was pregnant at the time, and she hadn't yet begun practicing cultivation. She said to me: ”Please, dear, don't make too much noise.”

I left it at home for a while and then returned the trombone.

An idea flashed through my mind but quickly faded because of the practical difficulties, or more accurately, because I hadn't passed the test. I didn't take joining the Tian Guo Marching Band seriously, I considered it a high standard to reach and belittled or deceived myself into thinking I wasn't capable enough to join. Some time passed, and in 2018, I saw a group of fellow practitioners discussing going to training. Two young practitioners had joined the band, in the trumpet section. This inspired me to join.

Meeting my music teacher

After contacting the band coordinator, the trumpet was chosen as my instrument. There was a music school near my house, and I contacted a teacher to give me extra lessons at home once a week. For the first two months, I was really determined and practiced for an hour every day. After a while, the teacher stopped teaching at the school, so I had to study on my own, but I didn't make much progress. Every day, I took my trumpet to the store to practice. One day, a regular customer saw my trumpet and asked, “How long have you been playing? Who's your teacher?” I replied, “I just started, but I don’t have a teacher right now.”

She immediately went to the door, called her husband in, and asked him to teach me. We agreed, and since then, I have been learning with him whenever we can arrange our schedules. This teacher is special because he is the best trumpet player in the Czech Republic. I am very grateful and cherish this meticulous arrangement from Master: "Thank you Master."

I also invited him to watch Shen Yun, and he shared a very positive review of the performance on NTD. Each of our lessons often included many topics about life, and I took many opportunities to explain the truth. There was even a time when we did the exercises together.

Practicing the trumpet at work is also a great opportunity to connect with others and clarify the truth. Many people hear the trumpet or see it and immediately ask me why I play the trumpet, how long I've been playing, or if I play in a band. I respond and gradually lead them into the story of a European music group that travels everywhere performing, bringing the beauty of Falun Dafa to people, while also calling for an end to the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China. I also play a video for them to watch, and almost everyone receives it with empathy.

Practicing music is also practicing cultivation

One time, while driving alone to a training session, I listened to the Fa all the way there. When I heard the third lecture in a row, a black-and-white video appeared in my mind, very vivid. A white figure was performing beautiful martial arts moves, leaping and striking with decisive blows. At my level, I realized that this was Master's point: “Practicing music is like practicing martial arts; you must be diligent and serious. If you practice well, you can develop extraordinary skills.”

After the training session, I understood the rhythm for the first time and could play along with it. On the way home, I played Shen Yun music and felt the mastery in each of their beats. I was so moved and inspired by Shen Yun's music that tears streamed down my face. My heart was filled with determination.

During this year's parade in London, I had a memorable experience. It had been raining since morning, but all the members and local practitioners were ready. The rain soaked me, making me feel cold, and negative thoughts arose. Everyone around me gave me more motivation. The eyes of an elderly member helped me to initiate righteous thoughts: “Nothing can stop this mission.”

I remembered the Fa that Master taught:

“I’ll tell you something: Before I spread the Fa, and before those high-level elements came here, there weren’t any old forces, and back then I had other ways to handle coldness. This is what I’d think: “You’re cold, and you try to make me cold—are you trying to make me freeze? I’ll be even colder than you, I’ll make you cold.” (Audience laughs. Applause) Or, “You’re trying to make me hot. I’ll turn it around and make you hot—so hot that you can’t stand it.” I’m just telling you the idea. You might not be able to do that. But you should handle it with righteous thoughts, and you shouldn’t be afraid of it. ”, excerpt from ​​Teachings Given on Lantern Festival Day, 2003.

My righteous thoughts were not enough to warm my body, but I no longer felt cold.

Discovering attachments and cultivating them away

For a period of time, I realized that I had an attachment to relying on others. I always regarded myself as a new member, so I did not make as much effort as the veteran members. For example, I didn’t memorize the drum major’s hand signals, and I also didn’t want to remember them because I thought I could just ask the person next to me, or that in our group we had already agreed someone would say the name of the song after the drum major gave the signal. This seemed really ridiculous.

This year, I asked a new member if he knew the drum major’s hand signals. He opened his phone and sent me a link to the instructions. I looked it over and found it wasn't difficult to follow the logic from left to right and memorized it right away. From then on, I no longer needed to depend on others and became more proactive in preparing for the first note better. Since then, I always review it before each parade and remember it right away.

Digging deeper, I realized I still had a complacent attitude and wasn't taking my role as a member of the band seriously. I was also a bit smug about being able to play all the marching band songs, even though I wasn't playing them well. This complacency also manifested itself in the fact that whenever I heard others play wrong notes, I felt annoyed, even though I myself sometimes played wrong notes. Thanks to this realization, I focus more on my own skills and no longer feel annoyed with others, hoping to become more humble.

Being a member of the band is a great honor and something that makes me very happy, but sometimes I have become attached to it and revealed some selfishness. Sometimes I find it difficult to control my emotions when I am with the members; I feel happy when we talk, share, and laugh together. This made me develop an attachment, making me feel unhappy when a member I often talk to was absent from an event. The main thing is that this feeling stemmed from my own selfishness, not because of the sentient beings or the marching band. I decided to let it go, because this could create additional pressure for fellow practitioners in other dimensions, as it corresponded and reinforced my own attachment.

Another experience was during the parade in Gothenburg. Whenever the band leader noticed that the trumpet section didn’t sound good, he would come over or turn around to remind us. Each time, I would just smile and point at his wife, and everyone would laugh. I felt that this helped ease the tension for me and for the group.

This time during the parade, that fellow member fell and couldn't participate in the second parade because her trumpet was damaged. This made me feel extremely regretful and I began to look inward and discover some of my own shortcomings. First, I had ignored the many opportunities to improve my musical skills, which also improved my xinxing, whenever the band leader turned around to remind me, and instead pushed my weaknesses outward—I had not actively cultivated my mind. Second, without realizing it, I created pressure from other dimensions upon that fellow practitioner, and at the same time created karma for myself.

That fellow practitioner's fall in the parade was similar to my fall in cultivation. I silently thanked Master for this reminder. I also apologized to that fellow practitioner for my irresponsible actions.

Overcoming difficulties to participate in the parades

Alongside the advantages arranged by Master to join the music group, I occasionally faced difficulties that I had to overcome. Specifically, this year when participating in an event in Berlin. On Friday during rehearsal, my son called: “Dad, my little sister fell.” From our conversation, I learned that she had fallen from the bunk bed and hit the back of her head on the edge of the radiator, causing bleeding. My wife couldn't keep her composure and didn't know what to do, while my daughter kept saying her head hurt. My wife asked, “Can you come home?”

I was a bit conflicted and at a loss because my wife doesn't know much Czech, my daughter needed to go to the hospital for a checkup, and she was crying, saying she didn't want to go. As for me, I really didn't want to miss this parade. I silently asked Master to help me calm down.

Master said:

“[…] I said that just by remaining unmoved you could handle all situations.”, excerpt from the Fa Teaching Given at the 2005 Canada Fa Conference, Collected Teachings Given Around the World, Volume V.

In times of constant pressure, this passage of Fa seemed to have penetrated deeply into my mind, and in such situations it always helped me regain my composure.

After a while, I called my neighbor and asked him for help. It was around 11 p.m. when he came over and persuaded my child to go to the hospital. After arriving at the hospital, the doctor kept my child there for observation, but did not allow her mother to stay with her because she was taking care of our third child, who was seven months old. At 1 a.m., we had to call a fellow practitioner's wife who lived nearby to ask her to come to the hospital and sleep there with our daughter. The next day, we asked my aunt, who lived an hour's drive away, to come to the hospital to be with our daughter. Then my cousin came to pick her up. Everything went smoothly, and our daughter was fine except for two stitches on the back of her head.

During that process, I was able to pass the test and take part in the parade, fulfilling my mission well.

I realized that it was both interference and, at the same time, a xinxing test related to my attachment to family affection. On the surface, the reality was that I couldn't help at all at that moment, only the doctor and the hospital could. If my heart had been moved, I would have made things worse, and the six-hour drive back would not have helped at all. Without that attachment, I was calmer and untangled each knot one by one.

In addition, I was uplifted by gratitude for those around me and, above all, for my Master.

Recently, a similar test came again. A week before my son and I participated in a parade in Gothenburg, my wife and children fell ill one after another. Then I also had similar symptoms. Before the day of departure, I had a runny nose and a sore throat. My wife was exhausted, having to take care of two sick children by herself, while also having to manage the store. When she realized my departure was approaching, she said, “Why must it be so hard?” I heard her and tried to keep my mind steady, not dwelling on whether I could play the trumpet while participating in the parade despite my illness. The next day, when I called home, she said she and the children were back to normal. My sore throat was gone, and I could play the trumpet as usual.

After 3 years of being a member of the band, looking back, I feel that I have matured considerably. I have become more tolerant and more respectful of others. The selfless cooperation of everyone makes me feel like I am immersed in the pure land. Being a member of the group gives me a new measure for myself so that I can quickly improve and coordinate well with everyone in all categories. I learn a lot from the members, from diligence in practicing the exercises to dedication to others. Besides, I am very grateful to my wife for taking care of the family and work when I participated in the events.

I experienced the efforts of the members as well as the local practitioners who organize the parades to save sentient beings. There are locations with financial and human resources difficulties, but their demeanor is unforgettable and truly worthy of learning from. I feel that I am still lacking, my xinxing is limited, so from now on, I hope my fellow practitioners will point out my mistakes in the process of working together. Let us advance together and fulfill our vow to return.

To conclude my sharing, I would like to read the poem Tian Guo Marching Band from Hong Yin IV:

“Tian Guo Marching Band

Sacred drums and horns show Heaven’s might

Eliminating evil and calling beings to return Home

Saving people from doom, shaking Heaven and earth

The Way rights the cosmos, shining and bright.”

August 1, 2015

I thank you, revered Master!

Thank you, fellow practitioners.