(Clearwisdom.net) Besides working well in ordinary human society, I have devoted myself to the project of promoting Shen Yun since March 2010. Through this journey, I have come to deeply understand one of Master’s Fa principles,
“When disciples have ample righteous thoughts
Master has the power to turn back the tide” (“The Master-Disciple Bond” from Hong Yin Vol. II)
Right now, it is a critical moment for promoting Shen Yun in my area. There are only two weeks before the show begins, but the ticket sales are not ideal. I’d like to take this moment to share my cultivation experience during the process of promoting Shen Yun.
Under the leadership of the assistant, practitioners at my practice site have contacted many mainstream clubs and chambers of commerce. While attending their activities, we had the opportunity to do a presentation to promote Shen Yun. I really wanted to use my expertise to contribute more, however, due to limitations with my work and family, I couldn’t go to places that required over an hour drive by car. Master has said that every Dafa disciple is in charge of sentient beings in one area, so I just try my best to do well in the area of about 40 miles in each direction. Master saw my heart and therefore arranged many opportunities for me.
When doing promotion to mainstream clubs, the assistant and I discussed which clubs we hadn’t visited. I then sent letters to these clubs, requesting the opportunity to participate in their activities and to give presentations. I quickly received a reply from the chairman of one club in my local area, who invited me to present Shen Yun to their members. This was my first time conducting a presentation about Shen Yun. I spent a lot of time collecting related information and preparing a PowerPoint presentation. While attending their club activity, I sent forth righteous thoughts to everyone present. There was a female senior executive who was good with words and had an extensive knowledge of China, so I sent forth righteous thoughts specifically toward her. As a result, during the question and answer session after my presentation, she raised several positive questions that gave me a chance to further expose the essence of the evil Chinese Communist Party. After the activity, I received a letter as feedback from the chairman, which was also published on their club website and in their newsletter reaching every member.
This letter describes Shen Yun as an inspiring and enlightening group. “If I were affected by communist ideology like the Chinese leaders, perhaps I would also be afraid of the spiritual context of such an art form that presents five millennia of Chinese culture, and be afraid of this most beautiful glory of human nature represented in the performance. To the communists, 'freedom' is a lie. However, as those short stories about Shen Yun you mentioned at our club, although what you are doing seems too tiny to compare with Shen Yun’s whole glorious performance and the harsh persecution by the Communist regime, the power of your persistence, little by little, will allow you to save the five millennia of Chinese civilization. Under your unremitting efforts, hope and freedom will have the immense power to stand out in the end. It will be a world-shaking success of humanity.”
In this letter, the chairman also mentioned the “Starfish Story”, which I've summarized below.
On one beach there were many starfish. A young man kept on picking up starfish from the shore and throwing them into the ocean one by one. Another man passed by and noticed it, saying, “Do you not realize that there are miles and miles of beach and there are starfish all along every mile? You can't possibly make a difference!” At this, the young man bent down, picked up yet another starfish, and threw it into the ocean. As it met the water, he said, “It made a difference for that one.”
I went to a monthly luncheon party for members of the Chamber of Commerce. Under the arrangement by Master, I met the curator of a local museum there. He invited me to attend their museum’s annual luncheon party to promote Shen Yun. Fellow practitioners and the assistant of my practice site supported me very much. Quite a few practitioners also came to the party that day. We used a large screen TV to play the introduction video of Shen Yun and distributed flyers. When the curator did his annual summary report, he introduced us to the attendees. Then some people with a predestined relationship directly came to ask for ticket information, as well as group tickets. In addition, the curator reserved two perfect display windows for us, letting us do a thematic exhibition the following year. At this party, I became acquainted with a representative who was very active in my district. Afterwards, I met him again at an executive meeting at my college. He encouraged me and helped me to contact my former university president. I was able to give the Shen Yun information and related introductory materials to the former president, and invited her to watch the Shen Yun show.
Since November, I took every Friday off and went to a bookstore to do gift-wrap work, in which I could simultaneously promote Shen Yun. During this process, I realized the importance of sending forth righteous thoughts and coordination as one body. Because Christmas Eve was the last day we gift-wrapped at that bookstore, I went to a new bookstore to promote Shen Yun. In the beginning, nobody came to have their gifts wrapped, making me feel very anxious. I cleaned floors around my table and rearranged things on the table. I talked with shop assistants, asking them to tell their customers that we provided gift wrapping here. I even put up a sign, hoping to attract customers in this way. Although I tried everything possible in the way of ordinary people, there was still no people coming to have their gifts wrapped. Then, every practitioner in this bookstore calmed down and sent forth righteous thoughts together. After I got rid of all of my human notions, the attachment to doing things, the attachment of zealotry and the attachment to results, everything turned around. The first client coming in was a colleague who worked with me in the same building. I was surprised to find out that he even spoke very good Chinese and had good knowledge of Chinese culture. That day finally became our busiest day doing gift-wrapping. I was so busy telling clients information about the Shen Yun shows all the time that my voice turned a little hoarse in the end, but I felt very happy in my heart.
By sharing my cultivation experiences here, I hope all fellow practitioners will cherish this sacred chance for cultivation, purify themselves and coordinate with each other well as the one body to fulfill our vows to help Master with Fa-rectification and to save sentient beings.
