(Minghui.org)
About Coordination
The path of practitioners is a process of improving ourselves and walking toward maturity. I have some key experiences to share in this regard, which I have come to realize at my current level of understanding:
1. Coordination is cultivation, as opposed to solely doing things. Fa-study is the key to doing well in every project.
2. Coordination involves communication, discussion, and working with others, as opposed to telling others what to do. One should not have the heart of being arrogant.
3. When coordinating, one is required to have righteous thoughts and wisdom. We needs to be patient and broad-minded. When running into a conflict, taking a step back as opposed to getting stuck in the matter itself, will lead to a change in the situation eventually.
4. During the process of coordination, one needs to have a good handle on doing the three things. One should not go extremes. Reading other practitioners' experiences on the Minghui website can help us with how to handle certain situations. We should always treat the Fa as the Teacher.
5. Treat practitioners' shortcomings or practitioners who have made mistakes, fairly. Practitioners will have human attachments surface in their cultivation. In regard to that, one should be tolerant and understanding of others, leave others room to rectify themselves, and help others let go of their attachments.
For a coordinator, it is normal that one has different opinions or runs into conflicts with others. If every one of us could look within and be tolerant of others, we would surely improve.
6. As a cultivator, one needs to pay attention to cultivating oneself solidly—this is also the foundation. If we can cultivate ourselves well, we can display a positive role in Fa-rectification. For many years, my wife and I have worked well with one another while measuring ourselves with the teachings of Falun Dafa.
Cultivating and Coordinating
I have come to realize the above lessons through years of mistakes, teamwork, and enlightening through Fa-study. Working through the persecution, in particular, has been extremely important in gaining insight and improving in terms of how to coordinate better.
To avoid being persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), we had to leave home and live in another city. Under the order of the 610 Office, our company withheld our salary, and this financial persecution caused great difficulties in our lives.
One time, as soon as my wife and I arrived home, my daughter burst into tears. “Dad, I think you are very selfish!” she said to me. “For all these years, neither you nor mom have cared about me. You only care about cultivation. You never think about me!”
I was caught off guard and I felt very sad. I thought to myself: What she said makes some sense. We truly have not paid much attention to her, to the point of forgetting about her sometimes.
It took me a while to calm down before I could speak clearly to her. “Actually, it's not because I didn't want to take care of you,” I said. “We are leading a difficult life right now. But if Dafa wasn't spreading in the human world and creating another opportunity for human beings to survive, we all would have long been gone. However, we are helping people see the true situation about Falun Dafa. It's very important for all of us.”
I did not know what else was weighing on her. At least she began to calm down.
Now the situation has become much more relaxed. My wife's pay was resumed, and our life is back on track. Thinking back about our path in cultivation, without Teacher's protection, we wouldn't be where we are today.
Letting Go of Oneself During Coordination
At the early stage of opposing the persecution, we managed to tap into the state-run Chinese TV system and broadcast a video revealing the persecution of Falun Dafa practitioners. As a result, many local coordinators and practitioners who were strong in technical skills were arrested, which significantly impacted our local Dafa efforts. We were at a loss about what to do. During those days, when we got together, our discussion was mainly about what we should do and that some people needed to step forward to take on the coordinator's role.
At that time, I was quite perplexed. Some practitioners said they could make DVDs and others said they could fix the machines. One day, a female practitioner volunteered to download documents. At that time, it seemed we were experiencing some kind of bottleneck.
I figured the problem came down to the fact that we were not short of hands, but rather, we did not make the most of the resources we had. This was the issue.
Therefore, a few of us got together, and we decided to take on the effort of coordinating local practitioners. We split the workload into a few areas such as materials production, materials distribution, equipment maintenance, providing assistance to other practitioners, and so on. After 10-15 days, the Dafa efforts in our area were back to normal.
During the process of coordination, there were many xinxing tests that I had to pass. There was one that struck me most: At that time, one of the practitioners in our area was tortured to death, so there were many follow-up issues that needed to be dealt with. Therefore, I invited everyone to come and share on this. However, a few practitioners declined.
From the Fa, since we are one body, we should deal with these things together. Therefore, we decided to go to the home of a practitioner to share. But unexpectedly, they insisted on not wanting to share with us. Under such a situation, I decided to let it go and study the Fa together first. We all agreed.
After Fa-study, I proposed that since it is very easy for us to get together, we should share with one another. But they still did not agree. It seemed that they were quite upset with me. I tried to break the ice. “I really want to do our Dafa work well,” I said. “But I am feeling some hurdles now. Whoever thinks they can do a better job with this, please take over.”
After that, a practitioner encouraged me to quit my post, which made me feel sad. At that time, another practitioner said to me, “Please carry on with what you do. If we find someone who is a better fit for this role, then you can quit.” After that, we called the meeting off. Before I left, I talked to another practitioner who refused to share with me at first, to see if she could meet with me to chat some more.
The next day, this practitioner came to my house. I was very compassionate when sharing with her. She said to me frankly, “How were things decided to work at the beginning? Didn't we say that we would get together every 15 days and discuss things?”
Her words reminded me. Because young practitioners always took the initiative in doing things, I quickly forgot about other practitioners and made decisions only with young practitioners.
After I realized where I fell short, I promised her that I would do better next time. My sincere attitude changed her as well. “Young practitioners are indeed very active,” she said. “Please let them take on more work and don't let them stop. I'm old and I don't act fast enough. I will work with them by doing some leg work.”
I was so touched after seeing that she was willing to let go of her opinions. From this, I also was able to see my shortcomings.
Though the Path Is Bumpy, We Need to Walk Righteously
Practitioners subjected to severe persecution prior to 2004, had to leave their homes and live in our area to avoid further persecution. Some local practitioners who felt safe were afraid of getting in touch with these non-local practitioners, though they were the ones who took on great responsibilities in our local materials-production center. Later after the materials production centers began to spring up in practitioners' homes, more practitioners took on the task of making materials. As a result, the workload was divided among more practitioners, and the persecution was less severe.
The CCP still often came to check on us, follow us, and even arrest us at the materials-production centers. Sometimes, the places we rented would be discovered by the CCP, and then we lost the rental places, which caused great losses.
Given the situation, we began to look inward and uncovered a few things that did not comply with the Fa. For example, we pursued a better environment for the rental place, though the money spent to rent was for saving people. Secondly, some practitioners' behavior was not according to the Fa. Thirdly, some practitioners were dependent on other practitioners for financial support. After we had some in-depth sharing on these matters, many practitioners came to realize the issues. After that, some of them went to look for work and began to support themselves.
One time during a meeting, one practitioner did not agree with us. She said that for her to take on such a great responsibility, she needed the money to cover the rental costs, given she did not have any income—though the money could have been used for printing materials. This practitioner insisted on her opinion. Then she ended up being arrested at the end of 2004. After that, she realized where she fell short.
The lessons we learned, one time after another, made us realize the importance of true cultivation. Moreover, that one should never seek something from Dafa, but rather hold ourselves to the standards of the Fa at all times. Up to now, practitioners in our area have their own income and make financial contributions to cover our Dafa efforts.
Thinking back, I have so many things to say. But it all comes down to cultivating oneself well. Walking one's cultivation path right is so important.
The above-mentioned is some of my cultivation experiences of being a coordinator. Fellow practitioners, please kindly point out anything inappropriate.
