(Minghui.org)
Greetings to great Master! Greetings to all fellow practitioners!
I would like to take the opportunity of the 13th China Fahui to report to Master and share with fellow practitioners my cultivation experiences working as a dining room administrator in a government agency.
I used to be a government official. I started practicing Falun Dafa (also known as Falun Gong) in 1996 and was detained in a labor camp for two years for telling officials the facts about Falun Gong in 2001. As a result, my position as an office director was eliminated and I was reduced to being a clerk.
When I was released in 2003 and went back to work, my supervisors and colleagues who were deceived by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) propaganda and lies had misunderstandings about Falun Gong.
Everyone but me had a PC at work. They never dared to leave me alone in the office. As long as I was there, someone else had to be there to watch me. They followed me whenever I left the office.
I was only allowed to receive and deliver the newspaper. I had no contact with official documents. I explained the facts about Falun Gong, but no one dared to listen to me. It was impossible to persuade them to quit the CCP and its affiliated organizations.
What should I do? I had to find a way to tell them the facts and save them. I finally found a solution. I delivered informational materials to each person.
Gradually, as they read more and more about Falun Dafa, they had a new understanding about Dafa and practitioners. Some agreed to quit the CCP and its organizations. While others didn’t dare to quit, a way was paved for the future in case they encountered other practitioners encouraging them to quit the CCP.
This April, my supervisor asked if I would like to take the position of dining hall administrator in our agency.
Why did he choose me? Because I am a Falun Gong practitioner, so he knew he could count on me to do the job.
Originally, breakfast cost 6 yuan. Each employee paid just 1 yuan and the rest was picked up by the agency. But the management team then decided to cut the subsidy when the central government started a campaign to “root out corruption.”
Breakfast and lunch were still available, and family members could also come to eat, but everyone had to pay for each meal. No subsidy, no profit. It was just a convenience for the staff and their families. The problem was, it's very tough to run a dining room like that. At that point, the supervisor thought of me, a Dafa practitioner.
At first I didn’t want to take the job. I was concerned about the long hours taking away from the time I had to do the three things. I thought to myself, “I've been through so many years of hard times and great difficulties. In another two years, I can retire and go home. There is an old saying that goes, ‘Of all the jobs, the person in charge of preparing meals has the most difficult.’ I did not want it.
But the supervisor tried to convince me again and again to take it over and said I was the only choice.
He said, “We know it's a tough position. There is no agency subsidy. If the food is priced high, the staff will not buy it. If the prices are lowered, we might lose money. We chose you because of your honesty and integrity.”
I said, “You are right about that. Dafa practitioners do not keep any money or possessions that do not belong to us.”
Considering how desperate they were for me to take the job, I thought I better take it, or else it wouldn’t seem right. They used to keep me separate from everything and everyone at work, and now they were trusting me to do such a tough job. That meant they had a good understanding of Falun Gong and me. If I did the work well, it would be an opportunity to validate the Fa, tell people the facts, and save them.
More than 100 staff members eat in our dining hall, including about 70 from our agency and those from other agencies in our building. Additionally, their families can also come eat with us.
At first we set up a payment system of swiping cards. The start-up fund was 10,000 yuan. I started and took care of everything.
As a practitioner, I have to be responsible for whatever I do and validate the Fa during the process. I followed several principles:
-Keeping the prices as low as possible, but making sure we didn't lose money-Motivating the chefs to make delicious food-Making sure there was a variety of dishes so that there was something for everyone
In the past, staff members were embarrassed to bring their families to our dining hall. When they heard that our food was fairly priced and tasted great, their families also came to eat.
Some worried that the prices were too low and reminded me, “Just increase the prices whenever necessary!”
One meat pie sold for only 1 yuan. A large portion of dumplings was only 5 yuan. In the past, breakfast cost 6 yuan, which now could buy you breakfast and lunch.
Supervisors and colleagues discussed it and concluded that the financial accounting in the past was questionable.
Over the past five months, from April to August, we made a 500-yuan profit.
From my experience, I discovered that whether or not the dining hall makes a profit depends on management and careful accounting. If the accounts are accurate and honest, there should definitely be no losses.
Actually, it is not necessary to check the accounts, because problems are easy to spot once we compare the food and the prices.
I write up a statement of our account every month and send it to my supervisors. But they all said it's unnecessary because they trust me.
When I worked as an office director, I had some authority and was often offered bribes and favors. In most cases, I did the right thing and refused, but sometimes I didn't do well in minor things.
After the persecution started, I was not authorized to do anything at all at work and was consequently no longer was tempted with bribes.
Over ten years passed, and I am now in that situation again. I do all the purchasing. I make the decisions about what and where to purchase our food and supplies.
As a buyer, I often encountered vendors who tried to bribe me. I refused them all and explained, “I am a Falun Gong practitioner, so I will not accept it. You can just offer a better price instead.”
One time when I purchased seasonings, the vendor making out the invoice asked, “You want me to issue the invoice with the actual price?”
When I said I did, he asked, “Why not let me write a greater amount on the invoice? Everyone is asking for much more.”
I explained, “I am a Falun Gong practitioner and follow Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. We do not take what does not belong to us.”
He stared at me in surprise and responded, “Oh.”
Sometimes I was moved in the face of potential personal gain, but eventually I could do the right thing as a practitioner. I reminded my wife to do well, too: “When others want to give you benefits, you must maintain control of your desires. We have to walk a righteous path and set an example for others.”
My wife is very supportive and never accepts things from others. When she comes to eat, she swipes her card for whatever she purchases, even the leftovers.
Several chefs often said, “No need to swipe your card. These are just leftovers.”
I insist that she does: “No way. She has to swipe her card. We are practitioners and never take what does not belong to us.”
That happened many times. Finally they understood and said, “No wonder you were chosen to be the administrator. They really got a good, honest person.”
One time my wife wanted to purchase a side dish priced at only 50 cents. At the time the chefs were all away. Only my wife and I were there. One thought surfaced in my mind, “All right, only 50 cents, just take it without swiping the card.”
But my brain suddenly hummed and I felt very uncomfortable. At the moment I realized my wrong thought. She had to swipe the card. My mind was clear again after we swiped the card. I felt elevated in realm.
Actually, not only are regular people watching our every word and deed, all the gods in the universes and cosmos are watching us. Therefore, no matter what we do or say, whether anyone is beside us or not, we must follow Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance and assimilate to this characteristic of the universe.
Master said:
“Today at this critical moment in history, with every penny and every little [thing], what’s being revealed is your realm, your state of mind, and your attachments as a cultivator, as well as whether you can achieve consummation or not.” (“Fa Teaching at the 2015 West Coast Fa Conference”)
Every time I face the issue of loss and gain, I always remind myself that I am coming to the end of my cultivation path and must maintain control of myself.
As a dining hall administrator, I work in a very ordinary position. But to my understanding, every practitioner's cultivation path, though we do not accept the arrangement by the old forces, whatever we encounter is closely related to Fa validation and letting go of our attachments. Whatever we do can be used to validate the Fa and cultivate ourselves well.
There are many ways to save people and validate the Fa. Some practitioners tell people the facts face to face; some distribute informational materials; and others just validate the Fa with their own words and actions. People are able to judge if a person is good or not by what he says and does.
As practitioners, we have to do well. Only by doing well can we validate the Fa, because everyone sees our behavior and they know we are practitioners.
Everyone who eats at our dining hall, including staff members and their family members, sees how I behave. They can tell that Falun Gong is good and not at all like how the CCP propaganda portrays it.
Please point it out compassionately if you find any problems with my sharing.
Thank you, merciful Master. Heshi.