[Japan Fa Conference] My Cultivation Experience While Working in the Media

(Minghui.org) I am a young practitioner who grew up in Japan. I am 29 years old this year. I joined New Tang Dynasty Television’s Kansai interview team a year ago, and I would like to take this opportunity to share my cultivation experiences during this period of time with fellow practitioners.

1) Getting Rid of Selfishness and Attaining the State of Truly Cooperating with the Team 

Before joining the New Tang Dynasty Television team, I had participated in all sorts of Dafa truth-clarification projects. I had often encountered practitioners who lacked “being detailed and attentive” and “accurate,” characteristics that Japanese especially emphasize. I gradually felt exhausted mentally and physically when I cooperated with these practitioners, so much so that I didn’t have the motivation to continue. A sudden increase in my workload would also sometimes mess up my routine, making me feel stressed. So when I first joined the New Tang Dynasty Television team, I was in a passive state and basically relied on others for everything.

Four months after joining the team, we received a comment that the Kansai team produced relatively less programs. I was a reporter, and I also had the job of applying for interviews. So if I didn’t take a proactive approach to submit more applications, the programs would not be able to be created. I then realized that my attachments were depriving fellow practitioners of opportunities. The attachment was a strong selfishness, so when I saw others’ shortcomings I did not feel like participating actively or sacrificing my time so I would not add to my stress.

After discovering this selfish self-centered attachment, as I kept studying the Fa, I gradually got rid of the desire of hoping that the project would progress according to my pace, and the desire for others to cherish my time. Even if I did not have any time for myself continuously over a few days, I also no longer felt it was tough. I now instead feel that trying my best to make good use of my time while participating in Fa validating projects is a natural thing to do. So I have become more proactive in applying for event interviews.

I learned that the reason I feel stressed when I see shortcomings in others is because I lacked the ability and wisdom to be tolerant of others and to fuse into the entity. Actually, in the past when I had participated in different Dafa projects, I had still been a newbie in technical skills, but the practitioners all rendered help to me without any complaints. But when I saw shortcomings in others, I did not immediately go and supplement to make the matter successful. And although I did not show it on the surface, I felt all sorts of dissatisfaction in my heart. After joining the New Tang Dynasty Television team, when I made mistakes, the practitioners would all quietly help me to make things go well.

Master said, 

“I think that if you, as a Dafa disciple, take the initiative to make up for what is lacking, then that is what a Dafa disciple should do.” (Fa Teaching Given at the 2014 San Francisco Fa Conference) 

I understood that the reason I saw shortcomings in others was because I had shortcomings. That was why these things were reflected, like a mirror, to show me.

For example, a practitioner was raising a large piece of equipment during an interview and accidentally knocked into and damaged someone’s property. As the interviewer, I broke into a cold sweat and felt a bit dissatisfied with that practitioner. Although it seemed that the practitioner’s carelessness had caused the accident, after looking inward, I realized that it was because I, the reporter, had not burdened myself by considering the inconvenience that practitioner might have when it came to moving around. So I did not look around the surroundings and was not attentive enough to remind that practitioner to be careful.

While participating in the New Tang Dynasty Television project, the more everyone cooperates with each other, the better the effect of the project will be. To attain true cooperation from the bottom of our hearts, I think that we need to fulfill two criteria. First, we need to first consider what will have the best effect for saving sentient beings and doing New Tang Dynasty’s programs well. Second, we need to give care and consideration to fellow practitioners. If selfishness is mixed into the matter, the cooperation within the body will weaken. This is because when one is being selfish while validating the Fa, one’s objective is no longer pure.

While carrying out interviews outside, what often troubled me was having to point out the aspects of inappropriateness in fellow practitioners in terms of etiquette in Japan. The habits in China and Japan are not the same, and Japan’s mainstream society is rather harsh about etiquette. Even I cannot understand this very thoroughly. I am the youngest in the team, so I just could not get rid of my selfish heart of not wanting others to mistakenly think I think highly of myself or that I make others unhappy. So I just relayed the lowest minimum level of required etiquette to everyone.

However, sentient beings often fixed their eyes on the attitudes and behavior of the media workers. The media workers’ image will often affect their impression of the media. If I continue to be unclear in my ways of relaying the required etiquette to our team, similar mistakes will keep happening.

When I placed New Tang Dynasty Television as the top priority, I realized that this selfish heart of mine was obstructing me. I thought that as long as pointed out everyone’s shortcomings to them with a benevolent attitude while being understanding toward them, the fellow practitioners would definitely be able to understand my good intentions. Luckily, the practitioners in my team will often be tolerant and accept my reminders. They will also try their best to rectify their shortcomings each time. Sometimes, we will coincidentally meet with similar scenarios. After improving our way of dealing with the issue, the results became very good. Through this process, we strove to accumulate experience and improve bit by bit. In this way, our interview etiquette has also become more thoughtful, decent and mature. Everyone is able to accept my opinions gladly, despite me being the youngest on the team. This makes me feel very grateful. Such a cooperative environment is formed through all the practitioners trying their very best to cooperate with one another.

2) The Miracles That Happened During Interviews

While participating in parades or events to seek signatures for a petition, I am often able to maintain very strong righteous thoughts. But in my daily work, if I don’t study the Fa enough, I will easily become like a robot and just go through the motions, forgetting my original purpose for doing it. So when I did interviews for news that seemed unrelated to truth-clarification, I often became less serious. However, if I am able to maintain the mindset of saving sentient beings and maintain my righteous thoughts while doing my work and doing interviews, I have realized that things will often go very smoothly and miracles will keep happening.

While interviewing a parliament member, another parliament member happened to pass by. I quickly told the other member about the Chinese Communist Party’s evil nature and requested an interview. The parliament member happily agreed to my request. 

Another time, while doing an interview for a traditional craft skill, I met a traditional artist who happened to have come to repair his signboard. That artist agreed and accepted our invite for an interview on the spot. At that time, we happened to have met a bottleneck for our submitted requests to do interviews for our traditional culture program series. So I understood that this was empowerment from Master. 

While doing an interview another time, I suddenly felt that if there were some flowers to decorate the scene, it would improve the program. So I asked if there were any florists nearby. In the end, there really was a flower shop nearby. 

The most recent miracle happened at a grand fireworks event. The filming location that the organizer had initially arranged for us was in a far away corner. On the day of the shoot, the filming location was suddenly changed to a location that was right in front and quite near the fireworks. This really brought us surprise and joy.

Miracles like this kept happening. These miraculous events that could not be explained made me experience that Master is by our side all the time. I am full of gratitude.

3) Do Not Slack Off, Make Use Of the Opportunities to Save Sentient Beings

During one of the parades, a practitioner who had just come from China was moved to tears and told me excitedly, “I really cannot believe that I can participate in a Dafa parade so freely overseas! This is my first time participating in a parade, I am really very happy!” I was deeply moved by her pure soul.

I am someone who has always lived in Japan, so participating in a Dafa parade, clarifying the truth on the streets and doing interviews for programs all seem very natural. But for practitioners in China, these are not easy tasks due to safety issues. Why have I not put in even more effort to make more sacrifices? I actually have the ability to do so, but I have slacked off in this free environment. I can’t help but feel ashamed. I could feel that practitioner’s heart of giving her all to save people. Since then, I almost can’t bear to even spend time sleeping. I just put in my all for my job. But I think that if my workload increases, my amount of Fa study must naturally increase too. Otherwise, I will just be completing tasks like a robot again. That would be an everyday person doing Dafa work.

During interviews recently, I have met people who have watched a Shen Yun performance, and they will voluntarily raise the topic of New Tang Dynasty Television or other media that Dafa practitioners have set up. They have said, “I have been paying attention all the while!” Some have said, “I know Falun Dafa!” The sentient beings are already becoming so familiar with our media. This is really touching. Sometimes, this type of predestined affinity also makes our interviews proceed more smoothly. I realized that although practitioners are all working in different projects, the things that everyone puts their efforts into every day will ultimately create a chain effect. Everyone is forming a big and strong entity to assist Master in rectifying the Fa and saving sentient beings without us realizing it.

Looking back on the path that I have taken so far, I have discovered that every one of the things that I have learned from the various Dafa projects are all the necessary skills that are required for my job at New Tang Dynasty Television. I will definitely walk in a steadfast manner on this cultivation path that Master has meticulously arranged for me and complete my mission as a Dafa practitioner.

Thank you, benevolent and great Master!

Kindly correct me if there is any room for improvement.

(Presented at the 2022 Japan Fa Conference)