(Minghui.org) I started playing the baritone when the Toronto Tian Guo Marching Band was founded. Like many fellow band members, I started from scratch. Our band soon participated in big and small parades and performances. Under Master’s empowerment and practitioners’ efforts, our band’s reputation grew, especially during the Christmas parades in Canada, when event organizers vie to invite our band to their parades. Even though we fix our schedule one year before, we are still overwhelmed with performances, and the band is constantly rushing from one performance to another, with two or even three parades a day becoming the norm.
When I play the baritone, band members who are playing instruments from the bass section march behind me. Two were tall and played sousaphones, and they looked majestic. The other band members looked forward to their participation, because when they marched behind us, we felt very confident, as though there was a mountain behind us. When they couldn’t participate, the space felt empty. Later, the sousaphone players moved away, and the euphonium became the largest instrument that marched behind us. This situation continued until the music instructor from New York said the band needed sousaphones because they formed the base of the music—otherwise the music did not have a strong foundation.
I asked, “Can women play the sousaphone?” When she said yes, I decided to switch. I started off by playing the tuba. I ran into challenges and breakthroughs that involved notions and physical strength. My attachments to being overjoyed and showing off were exposed. After I got rid of them, I felt grateful for Master’s empowerment and fellow practitioners’ silent help. I started playing the sousaphone nearly ten years ago, and I’m now in my 60s.
I’d like to tell you about my cultivation journey to validate the greatness of Master and Dafa, and also serve as a witness to the Tian Guo Marching Band’s 20 amazing years.
When the band was first organized, Master arranged for us to have four sousaphones and six tubas. It is regrettable that after all these years, we no longer have players for some instruments. Because the sousaphones contribute so much, we can only try our best to have three or four sousaphones in every performance. The sousaphone players also went through many tribulations, including illness and family issues. Some of them were forced to leave. However, everyone encouraged and helped one another to hold the last row of the band’s stronghold.
Although I played the sousaphone the longest, my capabilities have always been insufficient. On top of that, my cultivation had not fully caught up with the progress of Fa-rectification. As a result, my body started displaying symptoms of aging, including my hair, eyes, teeth, and legs. This made it harder for me to participate in parades, especially the pain in my knees, which affected my marching.
It seemed normal for my knees to ache and swell and my shoulders, waist and body to be in pain after a parade. It usually took a week for me to fully recover. There are many opportunities to join parades in Toronto, so we participated in several parades. That meant I was constantly in pain. It hurt to walk and climb stairs, and my knees even ached when I slept. I knew I needed to break through my human notions such as “aging” and “illness” and that this was an opportunity to improve my cultivation. I tried to take these human notions lightly and not be disturbed by them. I reminded myself that perhaps this was Master’s arrangement to help me eliminate my attachments. I continued to participate in parades.
However, one can’t pass tests just by identifying our human notions. It’s important to increase the length of time we do the exercises and study the Fa. Unfortunately, I have not done well in these areas. The main issue is poor time management. From other practitioners’ experiences, I understood that as long as I can manage my time well, I would definitely be able to break through this obstacle. Master saw my efforts and the state that I should be in but had yet to attain, so he strengthened me in almost every parade. Otherwise it would have been impossible for me to participate.
Many of my hidden attachments were also exposed. The scariest one was when we had to increase the speed of our marching pace during a parade to catch up with the procession in front of us while keeping the marching tempo. We usually walk at a normal pace, and although my legs ached, others could not see it. However, I grew nervous whenever I heard the marching tempo increase.
During the Thanksgiving parade last year, a crew member kept urging the band major to speed up. Before long, the distance between me and the row in front grew by a lot. I was so tired that I was almost out of breath, but I still could not catch up. A surge of resentment, mixed with various thoughts, welled up inside me. The group in front wasn’t very far from us, so I felt it wasn’t necessary to increase the pace. I felt this was a case of “a well-fed person doesn’t know the hunger of the starving person.”
Complaints, jealousy, the attachment to fame, and feelings of unfairness, helplessness, and desperation welled up inside me. I also developed many negative thoughts, such as, “You may not be able to complete the parade. Even if you leave the parade, who is going to help you carry the sousaphone to the finishing point? I should not participate in the future because I am affecting the image of the band.” I could not suppress them.
I was surprised that so many thoughts that were obviously not mine could enter my mind. I felt they were trying to break me down! I tried hard to curb these bad thoughts and asked Master to help me. The other sousaphone player accompanied me, and I truly felt his silent support. We gradually caught up with the band.
Last Christmas we had to rush to participate in three parades. The third parade was quite long, and we had two more parades the next day, one of which was also long. Thinking of them scared me, but there was no way out. We had to guarantee at least two sousaphones to “stabilize the scene of battle,” so I had to join the performances.
During the first two parades, the distance was quite short and the audience encouraged us passionately. Before the start of the third parade, however, my legs ached so badly that I could hardly stand up. I sat by the road curb and sought Master’s empowerment with uncertainty in my heart. When it was time to gather, I raised the sousaphone onto my shoulders and took the heavy steps to begin the arduous journey.
Both sides of the road were crowded with people waiting in anticipation. In the nearly zero-degree winter night, they cheered and jumped with joy for our performance. At that instant, the tiredness, pain and worries all became nothing. I knew that I could definitely complete this parade. We performed continuously throughout the nearly two-hour-long parade.
After the parade ended, a practitioner came and helped take the instrument away as I slowly walked back to the school bus. In the dark, I could finally let my tears of gratitude fall. Thank you, Master! I once again witnessed Master’s teaching: “When it’s difficult to endure, you can endure it. When it’s impossible to do, you can do it.” (Lecture Nine, Zhuan Falun)
This Christmas was the same as last year: we had three parades on the first day and two parades on the following day. We finally had four sousaphone players who performed in ten Christmas parades, forming the strongest lineup in the band’s history.
Just when I felt that my performance on the first day was better than last year, we ran into strong winds the next day. They felt like whirlwinds; we sometimes marched against the wind and sometimes with the wind. It was extra difficult because our sousaphone bells caught the wind easily. As we came upon a sloping path under a bridge at the end of the parade route, I started to have doubts again.
Before the parade, we decided to send forth righteous thoughts together to have the wind blow according to our needs. We also communicated with the band major to send forth righteous thoughts together. Not long after we set off, the marching tempo to catch up with the cohort in front sounded again. Once again, I was being left behind. One of the sousaphone players accompanied me at the back while the other two players caught up with the band.
I maintained a normal mindset and tried my best to keep my sousaphone from being blown away. I also tried my best to catch up while suppressing all the notions that were surging in my mind. This time, I faced the test head on without any complaints or fear. I did not even worry about being laughed at by the audience. I felt that they would definitely be able to understand the difficulty of playing such a big instrument on such a windy day.
During that short process of catching up with the band, I even experienced the feeling of fellow practitioners being forced to lag behind due to tribulations. I thought, “Nobody wants to be left behind. It’s actually not scary to be left behind. What is scary are the sentient attachments that surge into our minds. These notions shake our confidence and make us give up voluntarily.” I caught up with the band step by step while maintaining a calm mind. Finally, the band began marching in place, and the two of us caught up with the others!
There was still a long way to go, however, and the few of us were sometimes blown out of our positions. While we were climbing up a slope, I recalled that I was already very tired when I reached the same place last year. I was playing breathlessly that time too. Just then, someone from the crowd shouted, “Tuba! The best!” Tears almost flowed down my cheeks. Thank you, Master, for encouraging us through the audience’s reactions!
Now, I seemed to be hearing that shouting again, and my spirits came back. By the time we reached the sloping path under the bridge, things were different from last year. There were actually many spectators there. Our musical piece “Fa Drum” echoed off the bridge arch walls, resounded in the sky, and shook the surroundings. The winds also subsided without our even noticing, and it seemed to blow in the direction favorable to us. Everyone marched to the end in full spirits, and we were welcomed by warm applause.
At another parade during this year’s Fa conference period, some tall, foreign practitioners came. Since we had four sousaphone players, another practitioner and I went to play the tuba instead. A while after we set off, I stepped right into a pothole, lost my balance, and fell. We were in the midst of a performance, and the two practitioners beside me quickly lifted me up. I did not know how I fell or how I stood up. I also felt no pain and just continued to perform until we completed the parade.
I discovered that there was only a small scrape on my arm, and the tuba had no sign of damage. I later realized that this incident stemmed from a non-righteous thought I had. I always worried about not seeing the road in front of me while carrying the tuba during a parade, so I wouldn’t be able to see if there was a pit on the ground. Although the sousaphone was heavy, it didn’t block my sight. On top of that, I was speaking without enough compassion to a practitioner just before the parade. If not for Master’s protection, I would not have emerged unscathed from the heavy fall with my tuba.
As the coordinator of the middle and bass sections, my responsibility is to motivate everyone so that every member could achieve their best effect. In fact, the players are mostly self-organizing, so I only need to maintain an open attitude, handle every comment and suggestion with positivity, exchange cultivation understandings when conflicts arise, and remove barriers. I am always moved by practitioners’ sincerity, passion, and trust.
The oldest members are in the middle and bass sections, and one is over 80 years old. He joined the band to play the euphonium when he was 71, and he seldom misses a performance. He is not hindered by the notion of “aging.” I have learned many things from him. Although he’s no longer as physically strong, when he decides to join a parade, the other practitioners and I drive him. Twice when I forgot to ask if he needed a ride, he took the bus.
Although he went through a few illness tribulations, he persisted. A few years ago, he want to join a parade after he had just recovered. The band coordinator and I did not want him to participate, but the strong performance that he delivered in the pre-parade exam left us speechless. We recently shared our thoughts with him about doing what he can, and he is also very cooperative. I do not add on any negative thoughts about him and just follow Master’s arrangements to help fellow practitioners achieve extraordinary things.
One member in our section has a musical background. He taught most of the section members how to play our instruments and also made great contributions to the development of the band. However, due to disagreements among practitioners, this member stopped participating in the band. After many rounds of communication, I understood the perspectives of different practitioners, their feelings and difficulties, and also Master’s painstaking arrangements.
I no longer insist that things go my way. Although some practitioners still have attachments and difficulty cooperating, the wonders of the Buddha Fa are limitless. Master made another arrangement to make use of everyone’s talents.
When many new practitioners wanted to join the band, this practitioner tried his best to nurture them, including those who play the tuba, euphonium, baritone, trumpet, trombone, saxophone, and other instruments. The process is really tedious, and most of the new members have no background in music. The old forces also obstruct progress. As a result, to truly become a band member requires persistent effort from both the teacher and the student, as well as support from surrounding practitioners.
On the one hand, I need to encourage the teaching practitioner to be more accommodating and make use of the new members’ shortcomings to work on his own attachments. On the other hand, I also have to encourage the new members to persist and overcome the old forces’ interference instead of giving up. Assistance from other practitioners also plays a significant role.
Our section has two new baritone players whose rhythm and music fundamentals are relatively weak. However, both have a strong desire to join the Tian Guo Marching Band and save people. Everyone really put in a lot of effort to help, and they were finally able to fulfill their wish.
This process included the music instructor’s initial teaching and repeated corrections, two baritone members’ full-time accompaniment to practice the rhythm type by type, and repeating and correcting segments of the pieces over and over again. Our section members even created electronic versions of every section’s recordings that went through repeated corrections by another practitioner who knows music.
All these efforts provided the new members with great convenience in learning the pieces. The hard work finally paid off. I could almost see everyone frantically pulling and dragging the new members into the band. As to how many practitioners were involved and how much time and effort were spent into this project, only Master will know. Everyone is building their own virtue while enabling others to succeed.
I will never forget the help that everyone has given to me. Before and after each parade, practitioners help me carry the sousaphone and load it onto the bus. One practitioner will also ask me to dissemble my sousaphone into two pieces so that she can help me to carry half of it. The practitioner, who drives the school bus, will always leave seats for our big instruments while the band major will always come over before the start of each parade to tell us about possible scenarios along the way. This gave us peace of mind that he cares about the back of the band, too.
After the end of each parade, he says to everyone warmly, “Everybody has worked hard!” Miraculously, the kind behaviors of fellow practitioners helped me to get rid of complaints and bad thoughts. When these thoughts emerge during difficult times, I immediately stand on the side of these practitioners and dissolve the barriers that these the negative substance tries to create among us. In this way, they are instantly disintegrated. This may be an example of the power of compassion that Master teaches in the Fa.
Over these years, all that fellow practitioners have done, be it spiritually or physically, were a great help to me. Here I thank all my fellow band practitioners from the bottom of my heart. I feel more and more that as I progress along this path, Master pushes me forward and protects me along the way. Apart from Master’s help, I have also had help and encouragement from these practitioners that got me to where I am today.
The Tian Guo Marching Band involves many practitioners. We show people the dignity and majesty of Falun Dafa. Every practitioner is precious—we are just like musical notes, and we come together to display practitioners’ dignity. We play music that saves lives. For the past twenty years, we supported one another to overcome the tribulations arranged by the old forces, and we braved many storms together. As we approach the Fa rectification of the human world, let us cherish one another and continue to do our best not to let down the Tian Guo Marching Band that Master created for us.
I would like to end my sharing with what Master said in “Tian Guo Marching Band” in Hong Yin IV to encourage everyone:
Sacred drums and horns show Heaven’s mightEliminating evil and calling beings to return HomeSaving people from doom, shaking Heaven and earthThe Way rights the cosmos, shining and bright
Kindly correct me if there is any room for improvement.
(Selected sharing article for the 20th Anniversary of the Tian Guo Marching Band)