(Minghui.org) Greetings esteemed Master! Greetings fellow practitioners!
Every year before the other efforts to promote Shen Yun begin, we put up posters. Last year, the coordinating practitioner approached me and put me in charge of arranging the distribution. I felt this was a heavy responsibility. The requirements for my cultivation had also increased. I could feel the pressure on my heart. Every time I stood in front of Master’s photo, I ask him to help me do a good job.
Practitioners in other cities who are responsible for putting up posters to promote Shen Yun shared their experiences with me. This inspired me. We made maps of where we planned to distribute them, numbered the areas and practitioners volunteered. As the areas were completed they updated their progress in real time, which improved our communication. We also conducted one in-person training and three online training sessions. Within eight weeks most of the posters were taken by practitioners. It was a good start, and tribulations naturally came with it.
Most of my time was spent telephoning practitioners who volunteered to distribute posters. Usually when there’s a problem we communicate through texts. But to get practitioners to steadfastly participate requires sincere communication. When I make truth clarification calls to ordinary people I remind myself that it’s as though I was holding sentient beings in my hands to tell them the truth and save them.
While coordinating the poster distribution I remind myself that I must have the same sincere attitude when communicating with practitioners. Sometimes I would rather go out and put up posters all day myself instead of calling practitioners, but as the coordinator, my responsibility was to get more practitioners involved in saving people. This is what Master wants, and this is the road of cultivation ahead of me. Only by cultivating genuinely and meeting the standard can I pass.
One practitioner told me that she couldn’t put up posters for various reasons, so I said that if she didn’t have time to put them up, she could give them back. She gave the posters back to me. Later, I received a text message from her saying that she did not want to give up putting up posters and wanted to make a breakthrough, and hoped to receive some again. I was very touched to hear that and ashamed that I was not patient. I did not encourage her when she wanted to give up, instead I asked for the posters back. Thankfully she told me her thoughts quickly. This small thing strengthened the mutual understanding between us and made our cooperation easier.
Tracking the progress of putting up posters is also a cultivation opportunity. Since we don’t have a dedicated poster distribution team, most of the practitioners are involved in several projects at the same time and have different priorities. Some took posters but did not update their progress for several weeks. I became impatient. But I could not ask them to adhere to a strict timeline as though it was an ordinary job.
At first I called the practitioners after each poster distribution assignment to understand their situation and encourage them to come to the big group Fa study and share their experiences. Later, I contacted some of the practitioners who had not made any progress over two or three weeks and I asked how it was going. I also examined myself for attachments. I found I was slacking off: although I was responsible for the task, I was very slow in putting up posters. I decided to go out for at least one hour every day. It was very effective, and then the whole poster project took off.
A few days later, the number of posters wasn’t budging again. Since other projects also needed people, I became anxious. So I sent out reminders and pushed people. Sometimes, I couldn’t send out a reminder even after thinking about it for a few days. I felt that I was in a bad state, and filled with combativeness and resentment. The messages I sent out did not have positive energy or a good effect. Instead of sending messages, I sent forth righteous thoughts. During that time I seemed calm on the surface, but in fact my heart was in turmoil.
In the end, I did not send that reminder but I noticed that there was progress with the posters again.
Due to pandemic restrictions, we had to stop distributing posters for a while. When we resumed, new tribulations came. Posters were returned to me for no reason but I still had more to hand out. My negative emotions accumulated and erupted one weekend morning.
On Friday I found dozens of badly damaged posters in the office, and I was disheartened. I didn’t know whether the posters were damaged while being returned or returned because they were damaged. My combativeness flared up again. I immediately took photos of the posters and said that I would put them into the training materials to remind everyone. Because I did not promptly correct my bad state, the tribulations came.
On Saturday morning, I told my daughter to get up for dance class. She was already up but was moving very slowly, so I started nagging her. Slowly my voice became louder and louder. She said she wasn’t going to class no matter what I said. I didn’t think I was wrong, but when I thought about it carefully, I realized that on the surface I was nagging her, but in my heart I was thinking about the returned posters. Every word I spoke seemed to be complaints and dissatisfaction with practitioners.
I had mixed feelings the following week. I felt that the practitioners should not have done this but I was also frustrated at not being able to control my emotions. I felt like there was a big rock sitting on my heart.
There are no coincidences in cultivation. Regarding the returned posters, I was looking for reasons and finding ways to deal with it. I did not sincerely look inward until I wrote the draft for this sharing.
Why was it that something that seems so trivial now, was so difficult to overcome at that time? I realized that all the difficulties I encountered were directed at my attachment: I was afraid of trouble. My cultivation level was too low, and I needed to improve my xinxing. Master said,
“...compassion is a trait of righteous gods.” (“What is a Dafa Disciple,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. XI )
When I realized the person who was complaining, fighting, and frowning at these problems was not the real me, my mood brightened.
I remember the last time someone returned posters was two days before the end of the promotion. The work had already been divided, and the number of posters for each person had been set. Suddenly posters were returned again. Although there weren’t many posters, it was a lot of work to put them up. By then it was very close to show time, so we needed to re-plan the route to make sure we could finish it on the same day. I informed practitioners who were going out to put up posters that there might be changes. I also sent out notices to find help. It occurred to me that there was a small city off the island that we hadn’t distributed posters to, and that it would be great if one of our practitioners could go there, as it was closer to him. Just as I was thinking about this, that practitioner contacted me. Everything went smoothly and I was able to pass another test.
In the process of Shen Yun promotion, many things happened that made me realize that as long as we have the wish to save people and do it without being attached, everything has been arranged by Master. We are just carrying it out. Here are a few examples.
We were planning to expand our efforts to smaller cities this year. We needed to find suitable streets, so we spent more time doing research. I thought about how great it would be if a practitioner could call me. Within a few days, a practitioner called me and said she wished to put up posters in the surrounding cities, and just like that, I traveled to many surrounding areas together with this practitioner.
One weekend on the way home, I realized the poster team had not sold any tickets this year. I remembered that the previous year we were able to sell tickets when we were putting up posters.
Then I went out on Monday to put up posters. When I entered the first store I asked the owner if I could put up a poster. He said that he never heard of Shen Yun but he really liked art. He wanted to keep the poster and research Shen Yun first. I said yes, and then we chatted for a few minutes. I showed him the words on the poster - Shen Yun - China Before Communism.
When I was about to leave, he suddenly said, “Go ahead and put up the poster.” As I was putting the poster up, I continued to talk about the impact of the pandemic on people and how people needed to see a Shen Yun performance at this time to give them hope. He agreed and sat down at his computer to search the Shen Yun website for ticket information. I found that he was not very computer savvy so I called a practitioner directly and helped him and his wife buy tickets.
I didn’t expect that the process from talking to someone who had never heard of Shen Yun, to their buying tickets could be so quick. I knew it was all Master’s arrangement.
There was also a time when we were selling tickets at an exhibition. A couple stayed at our booth for a long time listening to a Western practitioner patiently tell them about Shen Yun. Then the man turned to me probably because I looked Chinese. He said he loved Chinese Kung Fu and Shen Yun, but thought the ticket price was a bit high. I suggested that he buy weekday tickets, but he said he didn’t have a car and it wasn’t very convenient.
I saw the sincerity in his eyes and I started to send forth righteous thoughts for him until they left, without buying tickets. Whenever I thought of the couple, I sent righteous thoughts, hoping they would go watch Shen Yun. During the intermission for the last Shen Yun show, I saw the couple and they also recognized me. He told me how much he enjoyed the show, and I gave him a small lotus flower. I was so excited and kept thanking Master in my heart for allowing me to see this couple again. I felt Master’s compassion and the effect of the righteous thoughts of Dafa disciples.
Another time, a practitioner participating in Shen Yun promotions for the first time wanted to bring some practitioners to a small city to put up posters. The weather forecast said it would rain that day, so I began to send righteous thoughts. It was not easy for practitioners to come outside for projects, so I hoped this distribution would be possible. The next day, I got the news that it wasn’t raining too much, and they went to put up the posters. A few days later, I learned that residents in that city were buying tickets. In the feedback column asking what led them to buy tickets, they all mentioned posters. Another time during the big group Fa study, I heard a Western practitioner talk about her breakthrough in the process of putting up posters. I saw on the ticketing system that afternoon, a few tickets were sold in her city, and the feedback column all indicated posters.
There are many examples like this. I was encouraged and experienced the gravity of cultivation and how wonderful it is to save people. I know that I dare not slack off.
I remember reading an article on the Minghui website titled “Kindness and Compassion Got Me Through Hard Times.” I realized that this is also true in coordination work, where the only way to pass tribulations I encounter is by being compassionate—there is no other way. In the process of expanding my heart I understood I should cherish every opportunity to work with other practitioners and treasure this cultivation environment even more. When I resumed making truth clarification calls, I was more relaxed and experienced the beauty of cultivation.
I felt that Master was right beside me, and I was constantly reminded that I must cultivate myself well and save sentient beings.
Thank you, Master! Thank you, fellow practitioners!
(Presented at the 2022 Canada Falun Dafa Cultivation Experience Sharing Conference)