The drum major’s field of vision is vast. At the front of the parade, with an empty road ahead and spectators lining the sidewalks, he stands proud—the sway of his red tassel a beacon for the band members following.
“I feel the power of the percussion,” Kuo Ming Cheng said of the 85 drummers behind him. “I melt my spirit with their spirit, so we are together.”
Kuo, a native of Taiwan, led 6,000 practitioners of Falun Dafa through Chinatown in New York Saturday.
“I feel honored,” he said, “to be able to lead the grand parade today and show the beauty of Falun Dafa to the people of New York and the world.”
Kuo, a quiet man in his 40s, owns a company that provides learning assistance to students in his hometown of Gaoxiong. He started practicing Falun Dafa more than 10 years ago.
Falun Dafa practitioners do five meditative exercises, study the teachings of Falun Dafa—the main text is “Zhuan Falun,” and do their best to apply those teachings in everyday life. The basic principles are truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance.
He jumped at the chance to join the Tian Guo Marching Band in Taiwan six years ago when it was first formed.
“All practitioners in Taiwan wanted to join,” he said. “The music is very powerful. People can understand and feel the power very directly. Our mission is to go all around the world, especially Asia, to spread the goodness and beauty of Falun Dafa.”
The parade in Chinatown on Saturday also had a serious message, said Kuo. Falun Dafa has been persecuted in China for nearly 13 years, and practitioners spend much of their free time raising awareness of this human rights crisis.
Memorializing the Steadfast
Qian Lin couldn’t see Kuo from her place in the parade, and the two have never met. Lin’s purpose was somber, a sad reminder of a persecution that has affected all Chinese people.
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