(Minghui.org) Greetings, Revered Master. Hello, fellow practitioners!
Thinking back on my cultivation over the past more than 10 years, I would like to summarize to report to Teacher and share with fellow practitioners.
Before I graduated from university in 1994, I came across a copy of Falun Gong. That year, Master came to Jinan to teach the Fa. My roommate, who was a member of a Jinan Qigong Association, came to welcome Master and listened to his lectures. I got the book Falun Gong from him and found it very interesting.
After that, I went to Beijing to work. What was a pity was that, even though I lived there for seven years, I never ran into any practitioners. So I never attended any group Fa-study or exercise sites. That's why, although I had come across Dafa, I did not become a cultivator at that time.
I initially worked for an independent newspaper agency and later for a large Internet company. Neither of these companies had a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) committee, and I hardly watched TV, so I was barely exposed to the CCP's negative propaganda about Faun Gong through its stated-owned media.
In 2001, my family immigrated to Calgary. When we arrived, a church family helped us, so we followed them and went to church to study the bible and became Christians.
In 2003, I began to read the Epoch Times newspaper and thoroughly enjoyed it. I saw it said, “In these troubling times, if one reads the Epoch Times, one can remain clear-minded,” and thought it totally made sense. In 2004, when the Epoch Times began to publish the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party, I found it very interesting and printed it out for my family members. When the Epoch Times said that one should withdraw from the Party, Youth League, and Young Pioneers, I was very happy to quit the Youth League and the Young Pioneers.
In the spring of 2006, my wife had a relapse of her symptoms from a minor concussion. When she couldn't stand it any longer, she told me that she wanted to practice Falun Gong. It was my first time to look up Falun Gong on the Internet. I found the contact information for practitioners in Calgary and called the number. The person who answered was a Westerner who knew a bit of Chinese. Soon after that, a local practitioner sent me Dafa books and video recordings of Teacher’s Fa lectures and an exercise instruction DVD. So, for the first time in my life, I got to read Zhuan Falun.
As I was reading it, I remembered that I had come across Falun Gong before and that I was a Dafa practitioner. When I came across what Teacher said about “no second cultivation way,” I decided to give away my bible. For me, I had no obstacles to overcome from being a Christian to returning to Dafa. Our whole family began to obtain the Fa. We thank Master for his saving grace.
When we first obtained the Fa, we didn't know how to cultivate, we also couldn't fully believe in Teacher and Dafa. When we were watching Master's Guangzhou Fa-lecture video recordings, my four-year-old son was playing in the living room. He listened as he played and insisted that he was also a practitioner.
Later, when he had a fever and we wanted him to take medication, he insisted that he was a practitioner and he would not take it. He obtained the Fa when he was four years old, and he was with us studying the Chinese version of Zhuan Falun multiple times. When he was 11 years old, he became a member of the Tian Guo Marching Band.
I started to validate the Fa with other practitioners when I was doing training for the media team. Besides my background with the paper, as well as having done business through the Internet, I had experience taking care of investment planning and sales in a major Canadian bank as a sales and liaison with clients. Because of that, other practitioners thought that I could help with media management and so I was invited to do some training.
The first time was in 2007. At that time my wife and I had three kids at home and there was lots of housework. When the first training started, my wife called me, saying that our son had an earache and that I needed to come home right away. At that time, a senior practitioner in the training session told me that this was interference from the old forces and asked everyone to send forth righteous thoughts to clear it up. At that time, I didn't quite understand, but, miraculously, by the time I got home, my son’s earache had gone away.
Because there weren’t many practitioners in Calgary and only a few spoke English, since 2007 when I joined the large Fa-study group, I’ve been a coordinator for the Shen Yun sales team.
In 2009, in order to promote Shen Yun, I decided to join a very high-end private club in Calgary. Through a personal reference from a VIP, after I passed the interview, I paid the annual fee of several thousand dollars and became the first Chinese member of this club. The members of this private club included many MP’s and the presidents of companies. The Stampede Parade was started by this club. After I joined it, in order to promote Shen Yun, other practitioners and I began to plan the first Chinese New Year’s at this club. Some did the lion dance, while others presented traditional Chinese culture and then promoted Shen Yun. In the end, the club members rented a big bus and came to see Shen Yun.
The following year, we invited the VP of my division to come see Shen Yun. He enjoyed it very much. He then came to me and asked me what he could do for Shen Yun. I said that I hoped he could help with sponsorship. He referred me to a manager who was in charge of sponsorships.
When I went to see her, she had already prepared an envelope for me with a check in it. She also told me that they received more than 50,000 applications for sponsorships every year. But if this was something supported by the President or VP, they always tried their best to support it. Then she gave me the envelope. I truly appreciated Teacher's empowerment.
The following year, the bank where I worked sponsored the Shen Yun show. After seeing Shen Yun, the VP who supported us was promoted to be the regional VP.
The process of doing things is also a process of cultivation. One year I was responsible for coordinating marketing planning and advertising. One time after the large group study, we had a discussion about Shen Yun. Because one practitioner didn't have the chance to participate in the discussion, she wasn't happy about it and tried to find fault with us. In front of everyone, she yelled at me, and we ended up in an argument. After I left, on my way home, I still couldn't calm down. The next morning, when I began Fa-study, I came across the part related to improve one's xinxing and how one gained in four ways. I calmed down right away and began to look inward. Did I try to differentiate between practitioners and not include her in the discussion? After I found my resentment, Teacher's Fa came into my mind:
“A wicked person is born of jealousy.Out of selfishness and anger he complains about unfairness towards himself.A benevolent person always has a heart of compassion.With no discontentment or hatred, he takes hardship as joy.An enlightened person has no attachments at all.He quietly observes the people of the world deluded by illusions.”(“Realms” from Essentials For Further Advancement)
I let go of my jealousy, show-off mentality, competitiveness, and the heart of complaint. With my xinxing improved, things went much more smoothly. Later when I saw her, I didn't have any mixed feelings, and we got along very well with one another when we did things together. Actually, it's not the other party's problem, but rather the problem resides within me. In cultivation, it's not about who is right or wrong—it is my responsibility to look inward and locate my own attachments and eliminate them.
Master tells us:
“As a cultivatorOne always looks for one’s own faults’Tis the Way to get rid of attachments most effectivelyThere’s no way to skip ordeals, big or small[During a conflict, if you can remember:]“He’s right,And I’m wrong,”What’s to dispute? ”(“Who’s Right, Who’s Wrong” from Hong Yin III)
From then on, I felt at ease and truly came to feel the beauty of looking inward.
I started with doing sales training for the Epoch Times, then I became a part-time sales rep for the Calgary Epoch Times. I led a team of a few new sales reps. In 2010 the mayoral campaign took place. I was working with several other practitioners on getting ads from the three final candidates. We succeeded in getting ads from two of them. In the end, one of them won. After he was elected, he accepted an interview with our media and wrote a congratulatory letter for the Shen Yun show.
With the in-depth understanding of the Epoch Times media, starting in 2009, I began to do global on-line sales training for Epoch Times sales. The first time, I truly came to feel the empowerment from Master. When I was doing the training, I had only a draft with a few lines in front of me. When I began to talk, it went really well. After I finished the training, those salespeople had positive feedback. I came to realize that, as a Dafa particle, I functioned as a recorder. After I learned the top sales experience from mainstream society, I got to share with other practitioners, and they all benefited from it. Thank you, Teacher, for your empowerment once again!
Thanks to Teacher's benevolent arrangement, in 2011, I moved from Calgary to Toronto and became a private banker. A Toronto practitioner told me that to have achieved this level in mainstream society, it's already validating the Fa. Private banking provides legal consultation, tax planning, family trusts, and other comprehensive, high-end banking services.
With the development of the new job, there were tribulations and tests. Because I had to start from scratch, it was no easy task. Soon after, I was notified by my VP that I could only explore areas outside of the Chinese community. I had thought that my bank transferred me from the west to Toronto because of my strength in the Chinese market. The reason they made that decision was because there was already a Chinese-speaking private banker. In order to help her develop her business, the VP who had a good personal relationship with her decided to have me deal with the Western market. I knew that my test had arrived.
Although it was not a very reasonable decision, nothing happens by accident. It might have to do with improving my skills in dealing with people in the mainstream society and getting to know more people. I held myself to the standards of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.
“Doing, but without pursuit—So constant, abiding in the Dao.”(“Abiding in the Dao” from Hong Yin)
According to what Master taught us, the whole of society is our cultivation field.
I didn't complain but rather held myself to a practitioner's standards. I began by diligently preparing for everything I would say, covering every single branch I was assigned to, as well as lawyer's offices. I got in touch with accounting firms and established my own channels. In time, clients were referred to me by commercial banks. I also have gained the recognition of other colleagues who find me kind and honest. I gradually established my own channels. My clients also began to refer their friends to me.
My client base began to grow. In mainstream society, there is a lot of socialization among families. I have been working with my wife, who is also a practitioner, to invite my clients to parties. We worked well with each other to clarify the truth and have had good results. Five years down the road, the growth of my new business ranked in the top nationwide! I came to feel the miraculousness of Dafa one more time and Teacher's empowerment.
I know that for Teacher to arrange such a work situation for me is also for me to validate the Fa in mainstream society and save more sentient beings. Every year when the Shen Yun show comes, I buy group tickets and invite my clients to come see the show. Although they are successful people, true good fortune for them is to get to the theatre to see the Shen Yun show and be saved!
A few years ago, I introduced an investment consultant at the same level as a VP who looked after asset management to Shen Yun. She is a very successful consultant, and her team manages half a billion dollars in investment assets. She herself is a successful entrepreneur. One time, she donated a million dollars to a hospital. I truly hoped that she would invite her clients.
I began by inviting her to see the show. At that time, the Toronto show had already wrapped up, so I invited her to see the show in Buffalo. She went. A local practitioner told me that she arrived at the show in a limo, and the locals thought she was a movie star. After seeing Shen Yun, she was interviewed and gave very positive feedback. The following year, she bought 40 tickets to treat her clients to the Toronto show. Her clients enjoyed it as well. She didn't just increase her mighty virtue in other dimensions, but also received good fortune in this dimension. Within three years, her business and her managed investment assets had grown to a billion dollars, and she became one of the most successful asset management consultants in Canada.
In May of 2016, I transferred to another job and became an investment consultant in the asset management division of the bank. For a new person, this is a very challenging job. But with my established network and my solid background in private banking, I have been making solid progress in this role. Soon it was time to promote Shen Yun.
In the past, I was only an employee of the bank and invited clients to see the show. This year I held a VIP reception for my own clients and partners and invited them to see Shen Yun. This activity at the Four Seasons Theatre was very successful. I worked with other practitioners and invited 50 clients. We bought them tickets for the premium seats on the second floor. We also held a VIP reception before the show. After the show, I was able to meet with two of my clients. My wife and I had tried to persuade them to quit the Party, but they didn't want to and told me that they still had business in China. This time they both withdrew from the CCP and its affiliated organizations. They thanked me profusely, and I could truly feel the joy of lives that have been saved by Dafa.
In my job, I’ve also experienced challenges in my cultivation. The clients I service possess assets in the millions on average. From time to time this uncovers my attachment to self-interest. Because my job is not a full-time Dafa project where I can improve myself in a cultivator’s environment, I have made sure that I continue my daily Fa-study and stay alert and attentive. My job is a cultivation opportunity that Master has provided for me. I truly treasure this opportunity. I have no one to follow in my cultivation but must walk my own path.
(Presented at the 2017 Canada Falun Dafa Experience Sharing Conference)