PureInsight | March 12, 2006
[PureInsight.org] To support
the eight million Chinese people who have withdrawn from the Chinese
Communist Party (CCP), to oppose violence, and to hasten the
disintegration of the CCP, on Feb. 26, 2006, Falun Gong practitioners
from around the world, people from the Service Center for Quitting the
CCP, and people who are concerned about China's human rights held a
rally and, then, a grand parade in Los Angeles' Chinatown. With about
2000 people, the parade procession lasted for more than ten blocks. The
most impressive participant in the parade was the Celestial Marching
Band composed of approximately 200 Falun Gong practitioners. The
marching band's great dignity, profound influence, and the soaring
sounds of its drums and bugles became the focus of the audience.
Band Members Come from All Walks of Life
The marching band's general director Mr. Chen Rutang was born into an
old and well-known musical family. According to Mr. Chen, the Celestial
Marching Band is only a little over two month old, and has about 200
members who are Falun Gong practitioners from all walks of life, mostly
from the greater New York area. Among them are tenor Guan Guimin,
soprano Jiang Min, and some philharmonic musicians. But the majority of
the members are people without any prior musical training. They include
company managers, doctors, painters, workers, homemakers, university
students, even high school and elementary school students. The oldest
is 68 years old, and the youngest is 13 years old.
Mr. Chen said it could be called a miracle to form such a marching band
in a little over two months. When asked what has empowered these
Falun Gong practitioners who did not know much about music before to
form the "Celestial Marching Band" and to give public performance in
two short months and to play touching music, Mr. Chen said, "All
members of the Paradise Marching Band are cultivators, who conduct
themselves with a high standard and consciously practice with the
instruments, and therefore improve faster than an average band."
Of course, the requirements for the Celestial Marching Band's members
are very high. It requires that everyone practices by himself or
herself every day and joins a group training every weekend that lasts
for an entire day. Trombonist Li Baigen said that he likes practicing
together with other band members because he can feel a very strong
energy field. At the same time, seeing other practitioners being so
diligent, he is encouraged to work even harder. Everyone learned from
one another and worked with each other so they could make progress
faster.
Promoting Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance, Suppressing the Evil and Opposing the Persecution
Drummer Yu Xin is an anchor person at NTDTV. She said that one of the
reasons for the miracle of the Celestial Marching Band is the power of
everyone's "heart," and their spirit in opposing the persecution.
Everyone wants to convey the beauty of
Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance through the musical notes they
play.
Yu Xin described how the Chinese Communist regime has been carrying out the policy implicit in the words, "beating [Falun Gong practitioners]
to death is nothing, and counted as committing suicide" to brutally
persecute Falun Gong practitioners, and many practitioners have died as
a result of the persecution. Some members of the marching band have
personally experienced torture inflicted upon them by the CCP, and some
of their family members have suffered persecution in China. A main
reason for them to come to take part in the marching band is to let
more people learn the truth about Falun Gong.
Falun Gong practitioner Li Baigen came to the United States over two
years ago from Mainland China to avoid being arrested by the CCP for
practicing Falun Gong. When he heard that a marching band was to be set
up though which Falun Gong practitioners will display the wonderfulness
of Falun Dafa and practitioners' versatile styles, he immediately
registered to join and became a trombonist.
Li Baigen said that when playing the trombone, he feels each note
represents his thought, "Falun Dafa is Great. The World needs
Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance." He hopes every person who hears
the music of the Celestial Marching Band can feel Falun Dafa's
peacefulness and beauty.
Trombonist Julia expressed that she felt very much honored to be able
to promote the beauty of Falun Dafa in a form of a cultivator's
peacefulness. She said, "Everyone overcomes many difficulties with a
strong will, and hopes to tell the world's people the beauty of Falun
Dafa in such an artistic form."
French horns
Taking Suffering as Joy, Cultivating Xinxing Diligently
Like most members of the Celestial Marching Band, Li Baigen was
basically musically illiterate three months ago. He had never touched
any music instruments before.
Li Baigen said, "When I first picked the trombone, I was really at a
loss. I could not read a musical score, did not have music sense, and
could not follow the rhythm. I also couldn't play any sound with my
instrument. Even if I managed to play a sound, it was out of tune. I
was vexed, and the more I was vexed, the worse I played. But, since it
is for clarifying the truth to the world's people, no matter how
arduous and difficult, I should practice well."
He practiced several hours each day, and used a lot of force to blow
into the mouthpiece with his lips. Within a few days, his lips began
chapping. At the worst time, after finishing practice his lip were
stuck to the mouthpiece of the trombone, oozing blood. Even so, he did
not stop practicing even for one day.
The several young men who play trumpets, including John and Xiao Han
are both computer engineers who are very busy in their work. They also
do other volunteer work. To meet the requirement to play the trumpet in
a very short period of time, they each took a trumpet mouthpiece to
practice with them every day. In their free time, they would practice.
When walking or driving, they also practiced exhaling and changing
breaths. John said he was busy during the daytime, and did not have
time to practice. When he got home at midnight, in order not to disturb
his neighbors, he hid in a closet to practice. For the first few weeks,
his mouth swelled up from blowing the trumpet. Especially when
practicing an alt, all the trumpet players said they felt sharp pains
in their heads. But with cultivators' strong will, they did not slack
off for one day, but practiced diligently every day, and could feel
their improvement each day. Whenever they played a note well, they felt
very happy.
John said that he grew up in America and has never suffered much since
childhood. Doing sitting mediation for an hour is also not painful, but
very relaxing. But practicing the trumpet was really a challenge for
him. The process was a good opportunity to temper his willpower and
improve his xinxing.
Falun Gong Practitioners' Performances Come from the Power of the "Heart"
New Tang Dynasty Television "Run on Life" hostess Yu Xin plays the
flute in the marching band. She said that, although she had learned to
play the piano before, she had forgotten all the skills. Moreover, she
hadn't played flute at all. In two months she learned how to play the
flute using her breath. She said that in fact many members of the
marching band didn't have any experience with musical instruments
before joining the band.
When asked what has empowered so many Falun Gong practitioners who
didn't know much about music to form the "Celestial Marching Band" and
give a public performance in such a short time with such good quality,
Yu Xin expressed that, this might be attributed to the power of
everyone's "heart," and their spirit in opposing the persecution.
Everyone wants to convey the beauty of
Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance through the musical notes they play.
Being Calm in Mind Brings Natural Success and Outstanding Performances
Participating in the musical performance of a marching band is also to
put an end to the slander and persecution inflicted upon Falun Gong by
the evil specter of the Chinese Communist Party, so the participants'
involvement is certainly connected with their individual cultivation.
Piccolo player Zhao Xin had some understanding of this. She said, "When
I first held the piccolo in my hand, I was unable to produce any sound.
I was very worried. The more I was worried, the less I was able to make
the sounds come out, and the more I was out of tune. I thought, Master
has told us that people in the past would always adjust their breathing
first no matter what they did, and they did not start doing things
until they calmed down. Cultivators emphasize being calm in mind and
being tranquil, so to calm down I sat peacefully to study the Fa,
reading the book Zhuan Falun. Gradually, I felt better. I blew again,
and it was really good. Without using any strength, the correct tune
was produced. Playing piccolo is also cultivation."
The leader of the Celestial Marching Band, Falun Gong practitioner,
tenor Guan Guimin said, "Our band has participated in two community
parades in New York. The audience's response was warm and enthusiastic
because overseas Chinese people have never seen such a large band.
Seeing Falun Gong practitioners' marching band performances, they
applauded enthusiastically and many people were amazed and dumbfounded."
Los Angeles Resident: When People Are Unified with a Single Will, They Are as Strong as City Walls!"
A Chinatown resident described the Celestial Marching Band's
performance with words like "a magnificent and grand scene, with
profound influence." He said he was amazed at seeing the waist drum
group, along with the banners during the parade, which could be
described as stirring up heaven and earth. He said the Communist Party
appears strong and fierce, but is actually very scared.
Some audiences felt, "It is true that when people are unified with a
single will, they are as strong as city walls! With such righteous
momentum and determination, the CCP has no way to withstand, and no
doubt it has to disintegrate!"
Translated from:
http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2006/3/2/35868.html
