Steadfast on the path of cultivation alongside the Tian Guo Marching Band
I still remember the first time I participated in the European Fa Conference of the Tian Guo Marching Band in 2019. That was the first year I officially became a member of the band. I still recall my mindset at the time—as a new member, I was eager to write an article to inspire other practitioners to join and contribute to this project.
Now, seven years have passed. This time, I would like to share with everyone the experiences and cultivation insights I’ve gained over the years. It’s also a moment for reflection and a summary of the path I’ve walked alongside this deeply cherished project.
Financial Tribulations
Each year, members of our marching band cover their own travel and accommodation expenses for 5 to 7 parades. I live in the south of France, so I often fly to major cities across Europe. However, when I first joined the band, I didn’t think much about the costs—I only knew this was an important project. At that time, I didn’t even know that the Tian Guo Marching Band was established by Master. I simply thought: I had already overcome the first hurdle of learning the instrument, so even if life was a bit financially tight, why not do my best? Back then, my family relied almost entirely on my engineer’s salary. It wasn’t abundant, but I genuinely felt it was manageable.
However, my family didn’t see it that way. After a year of participating, they began calculating the costs of traveling with the band and started to complain. On top of that, I had to send a considerable amount of money back home to my parents, and my savings were minimal—so I understood their concerns. Looking inward, I realized I had been focused solely on my own cultivation and the three things, and had somewhat neglected my family. It would have been better if I had guided them to cultivate diligently too, and shared my understandings regularly—then everything might have gone more smoothly.
Since my family also cultivates, I reassured them that I was aware of the financial burden of traveling with the band, and promised I wouldn’t go to extremes that would make things difficult for us. But we weren’t truly lacking either. After all, we are Dafa disciples — we have Master, we have the Fa—why worry about hunger? Our resources are Dafa’s resources, arranged by Master. The key is to always put Dafa first. Whatever we want or need to do, we ask ourselves whether it helps save sentient beings. I believe Master will arrange everything for the disciples—what is truly ours will not be lost. Master teaches:
“If you do not care and do not put them on your mind, with the master and the Fa here what is there to fear? As long as the green mountains remain, there is no fear of having no firewood to burn” (Lecture in Sydney).
My heart remained unmoved. Even though my family wasn’t very convinced, and the issue resurfaced for a while afterward.
One year later, I was hired by a major French pharmaceutical and cosmetics corporation whose logo features the image of Taiji. The whole process felt like a red carpet being laid out—I barely prepared for any of the six interviews. I’ve never been good at this kind of thing; I’m not good at talking about myself, and I don’t like the tricky questions that ordinary people tend to ask, because I’m often too honest and concise. At that time, I only knew that Master was by my side, that I had all the skills the job required, and that whatever was meant for me would come.
In the end, they accepted both candidates for a position that was originally intended for just one. Two years later, my wife also found a good and stable job. We knew that Master had arranged everything with great care, because everything that came to us seemed so random and rare.
Now, whenever we look back, our family fully trusts Master and Dafa. After the COVID-19 pandemic, even though flight tickets doubled in price compared to before, I no longer faced financial tribulations or complaints from my family.
French Horn in the European Tianguo Marching Band
The number of French horn players has never been large—at most, there might be six, but that’s extremely rare. In the past two years, for various reasons, many French horn members have stopped participating, so most parades only have two players.
The French horn has a warm tone and usually plays a harmonizing role, softening the main melody. It’s difficult to play loudly. So when two French horns are placed between trombones and trumpets—both loud instruments with many members—it sometimes feels like two oil lamps in a storm. I quietly thought that whether the French horn was played well or not, no one would know, no one would hear it.
I realized that this thought carried many attachments. Wanting to be heard—I saw that as a show-off mentality. Looking deeper into this mindset, I saw that this attachment had formed when I was a child, always striving to achieve accomplishments that ordinary people valued, seeking recognition, refusing to be overlooked. So it was also tied to a strong competitive mentality. After obtaining the Fa, I’ve always recognized and tried to eliminate it. But deeply rooted attachments are often thick like icebergs—I know I still have many of them. When I’m not paying attention, they surface in many situations and make me feel ashamed when I reflect on them. And even that feeling of shame—I see it as another form of showing off. I separate myself from that attachment and simply eliminate it.
During parades, surrounded by the sound of horns and drums, I feel like I’m walking in a pure space. When attachments surface, this environment helps me recognize and remove them more easily than in everyday life. It aligns with my understanding of the following passage from the Fa, quote:
“The chi of people who don’t practice is cloudy and impure, as it turns out, and the only way for them to make their energy brighter and clearer and remedy things is by doing an energy practice like chi-gong. Once the energy becomes clearer, it will be evident that there are large, dense masses of dark energy in their bodies wherever they have a disease or ailment.” (Zhuan Falun - The Eighth Talk - Stealing Energy)
I enlightened to the fact that when the mind is pure and assimilated to the Fa, the energy that Master bestows upon each member of the band during the parade can truly manifest its power to save sentient beings. On the surface, it is about focus and unified music—everyday people who hear it can feel the compassion and strength of the band. In other dimensions, the mighty power of Dafa works to save sentient beings, helping them to accept the truth more easily.
Due to this understanding, I no longer worry about how many members the horn section has. I simply focus on playing in rhythm and producing a full, rounded tone, rather than trying to play louder—because every note carries mighty power if I can purify myself during the parade.
Master teaches:
“When the band was playing, the energy they emitted was tremendous. Be it the energy emitted, the sounds you made, or the music and notes themselves, they all had the effect of affirming the Fa and sending out energy.” (Teachings at the Conference in Los Angeles)
Time and Opportunity
In my first year with the band, there was a parade in Frankfurt that I didn’t attend. On the day of the parade, I stayed home for some reason—I don’t even remember why anymore. I just remember sitting there, watching the constant stream of messages in the band’s group chat during the event: what time to study the Fa, where to do the exercises, when to depart, what to pay attention to, etc.
At that moment, I thought: What am I doing at home? While my band is like an army preparing to go into battle? My mind felt empty and lacking. Looking back, Master had helped me learn the instrument so quickly—was I wasting time and Master’s expectations?
I asked myself: Why do I want to be part of the band? Is it for selfish reasons? Just for fun? Or is it to fulfill my vow, which is to assist Master in saving sentient beings?
As time passed, each parade that went by was another opportunity that slipped away.
Since then, unless due to an unavoidable reason, I have never missed another parade. As my cultivation progressed, I lost interest in the ordinary concept of travel or vacation. I consider each trip with the marching band to be my holiday—simply because I feel so joyful. Joyful for fulfilling my responsibility as a Dafa disciple and as a member of the Tian Guo Marching Band during this extraordinary time; joyful for meeting and sharing with fellow practitioners; joyful for every hardship endured that helped me elevate.
Master taught in the poem “Tempering The Will” from Hong Yin:
“...
Let joy be found in hardship.
Physical pains count little as suffering,
indeed, cultivating mind is hardest
…”
I have marched with the band through streets packed with tourists all across Europe—on days so hot the sun cracked our lips, and on days soaked through by relentless rain. For many of us, sleeping overnight at the airport has become routine. During that cultivation process, during those opportunities, I sometimes wondered: how many more will there be?
A few years ago, we learned a lesson when the pandemic struck—organizing parades became difficult. Who knows if yesterday was the last time we could march together, or if we might have to pause for a long time?
Over the years, I’ve seen many new members join, and many old ones not return for various reasons. Were those days long or short? Looking inward, I sometimes ask myself: will there come a day when I leave this project simply because my heart has changed, no longer feeling like I did in the beginning, no longer feeling inspired? I see that as human sentiment—sentiment changes over time, but righteous thoughts remain unchanged.
I hold close Master’s teaching:
“The Fa is not going to change, and Master has not changed. Some people have changed for the worse in cultivation and aren’t as good as they were at first. It really hasn’t been a long time, though. In the past people talked about certain cultivators meditating facing a wall for nine years or their entire lives and enduring suffering all alone. Practicing in monasteries, mountains or forests, cut off from the ordinary world, and going through years of toil and suffering—how lonely would that be? But that is not the approach you are to take. And yet some people still loathe how long it’s taking. Yet in all of history no one has ever cultivated for only such a short time. But these people have allowed themselves to grow lax, and when even just a little interference comes, they forget that they are Dafa disciples. What are you cultivating for? For your reputation? Out of resentment? For the attachments you harbor? For your loved ones? For the things you’re attached to? For the things you can’t let go of? Aren’t all of these exactly the things that you should be getting rid of?” (Fa Teaching at the 2015 West Coast Fa Conference)
Because we are in illusion, we cannot truly know the process of saving sentient beings that Master is carrying out. What we need to do is walk forward with the vow to fulfill our mission as Dafa disciples and as members of the European Tian Guo Marching Band.
The above is a humble sharing based on my limited enlightenment. If anything is not in accordance with the Fa, I kindly ask fellow practitioners to compassionately point it out and help me correct it.
Thank you, Master.
Thank you, fellow practitioners.
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