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Fadu, Story Petals Of Peace

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The ‘Petals of Peace’ project began with a little 3-year-oldAustralian girl. Here is her story:

Four years ago a little girl was born in Australia. Hername was Fadu.

Her mum, dad and all her relatives came from abeautiful land in the East.

This eastern land had magnificent mountains, exoticanimals, like tigers and panda bears, and lakes filledwith colourful lotus flowers.

This land had so many wonderful treasures as it wasone of the oldest cultures in the whole world.

When Fadu was little, she left Australia to visit thiseastern land called China.

All the rest of her family lived there, including heruncles, aunts and her dear old grandpa.

Fadu’s family enjoyed doing many things together.They ate with chopsticks, visited the markets, and wentto the park each morning to practise ancient Chineseexercises called Falun Gong.

The gentle stretching exercises made Fadu’s familyvery healthy, especially Fadu’s grandpa, who quicklybecame fit and well after being sick for a long time.

They grew to be happier too, as they became moretruthful, kind and patient towards each other. In thisway, Fadu’s family planted seeds of goodness in theirhearts that would one day blossom into somethingbeautiful.

However, before long, the leader of this far-awayland became jealous of the large numbers of peoplepractising their exercises in the parks, and decided tochange some of the rules.

Suddenly, no one was allowed to do these gentleexercises any more. Fadu’s family felt very sad andcould not understand why they were not allowed to dotheir exercises in the park any more.

So, her dad wrote a letter to the leader explaininghow his family had become healthier and was strivingbe more truthful, kind and patient.

However, the leader refused to understand, and sent afew bad men to take Fadu’s dad away.

Fadu and her mum were very upset and they didn’tknow where to find him. Sadly, they decided to returnto Australia to wait for any news about Fadu’s Dad.

They said goodbye to their aunts and uncles and dearold grandpa and left the beautiful far away land, hopingthat one day they would be able to return.

Fadu and her mum missed the rest of their familyvery much, and worried about their safety. The worldnow seemed dark and very lonely. It was as if theywere at the bottom of a murky pond and couldn’t findtheir way out.

Fadu’s mum began to remember how the lotus plantsshe had seen in China began as little seeds in a muddypond and were able to grow up out of the mud into thesunshine to become beautiful flowers.

After feeling sad for a while, Fadu and her Mumdecided they didn’t want to live as though they were ina muddy pond.

They stopped thinking about their own unhappinessand thought instead of all the children and people in theworld who might be feeling sad over things that havehappened in their lives.

Their compassion and kindness deepened, and theydecided to share their story and hope for a brighterfuture. They travelled around the world to share withpeople the importance of being truthful, kind, andpatient.

In this way they were able to share seeds of goodnesswith children everywhere.

Fadu and her mum found that they were not alone intheir situation as so many people reached out with theirhearts to comfort them. They in turn were able tocomfort others.

It was as though the sun had started to peep throughthe clouds and the little seeds of goodness began togrow. As they rose, not a single trace of mud was left asthey unfolded into the most magnificent and beautifullotus flowers that anyone had ever seen!

They sparkled in the sun like ‘Petals of Peace’offering friendship and hope to children all over theworld. Soon there was one for every child!

Can you help make a lotus flower and send your goodwishes to all children facing difficulties like little Fadu?

Together we can make a lotus flower for others and,of course, we can make a very special one for you too!

The theme and characters in this story are true. An estimated 100 million people now practise FalunDafa in over 60 countries. However, today in its country of origin, China, it is sadly being persecuteddue to its immense popularity.

Fadu’s dad and grandpa have died as a result of the persecution and her aunty was illegally sentencedto two years to a forced labour camp.

-April 2004

Acknowledgements:

Text - written by Heidi Sibley, on the basis of Jane Dai and Fadu Chen’s true story.

The photos used in this story were obtained with thanks to the following sources:

Page 1 – Family Photo: Chengyong Chen, Fadu Chen, Jane Dai

Page 2 – China Mountain Photo, Mr. Byron Jenner, Panda Bear – photographer unknown, lotus flower –ClearHarmony.net, 2003.

Page 3 – Family photographs – Jane Dai., Jichang Park Postcard.

Page 4 – Falun Gong Exercises, Photo: Falun Dafa Clearwisdom.net, Noodle Bowl, Photo: Margery Dunn,Fadu & Jane, Photo: Australian Falun Dafa Information Centre: falunau.org

Page 5 – Group Practice, Chengdu, Photo: Falun Dafa Clearwisdom.net: Letter, Photo: Heidi Sibley

Page 6 – Fadu & Jane, Photo: Australian Falun Dafa Information Centre: falunau.org

Page 7 – Lotus, photographer unknown

Page 8 – Jane & Fadu: Australian Falun Dafa Information Centre: falunau.org

Page 9 – Hands holding lotus: Australian Falun Dafa Information Centre: falunau.org

Page 10– Lotus, photographer unknown

Now that you've read Little Fadu's Story, let's learn how to fold a lotusflower!

Step 1Fold the square sheet ofpaper diagonally along thedotted lines. Crease andthen unfold.

Step 2Fold all four corners intothe center.

Step 3Fold all four cornersinto the center again

Step 4Turn over, and fold all fourcorners into the center. Makecrease, and then unfold.

Step 5Turn over again and then lift each corner and fold alongthedotted line as shown (about ¾ of the way up).* The height of the fold can be varied. Reduce theheight forthe bottom layer of petals.

*

Step 6Turn over again and fold a, b, c, d into the center. Thisforms fourpetals.

Step 7Turn over and pull out thefour corners (e, f, g, h)under the flower

Step 8Turn over again. Hold down the center of the flowerand gently ease the underneath corners (e, f, g, h) upto make another four petals.The corners can be pulled up higher if necessary(for the inner layers of petals). To do this, put yourthumb on one of the black dots, and gently pull upthe corresponding corner as far as possible, beingcareful not to tear the edges. Repeat for all corners.

Make more layers! (optional)The lotus flower is made up ofseveral layers of petals(between 2-4 layers). The final layer of petalsis approximately one quarter of theinitial paper size.

Repeat steps 1-8 with anew square sheet of paper to makeanother layer of petals. Usesmaller squares for the inner layersof petals. Glue or tape the layers ofpetals on top of each other.

How to Make the LeafThere are several different shapes you can use for the bottom leaf (round, hexagonal, 4-leaf). Tomake the leaf, use a square piece of green paper. The paper should be slightly larger than thebottom layer of petals. (go on to the next page)

Step 1Fold paper in half alongdotted line

Step 2Fold in half again alongdotted line

Step 3Fold in half diagonallyalong dotted line

Step 4Cut the edges along dotted line

Step 5Unfold leaf. Glue flower inthe center.

Finished Flower (ThreeLayers)

Golden Lotus Origami

Great job! You have folded petals of peace!

Thank you for reading Little Fadu's Story and folding Petals of Peace with ustoday! With your help, we can let people around the world know aboutchildren like Fadu who are suffering in China.

Let's share seeds of goodness with peopleeverywhere!

Please visit www.petalsofpeace.org for more information.

©2004 Petals of Peace