(Minghui.org) I became a Falun Dafa practitioner at the end of 2019. I’d like to share some of my understandings and experiences while promoting Shen Yun in 2025.
Early this year I was scheduled to talk about and promote Shen Yun at a briefing session. While preparing for the talk, I experienced severe headaches for three weeks. The headaches were so bad that they would wake me up in the middle of the night. However, the pain would subside when I pulled myself together and focused on memorizing the speech. I knew by then that it wasn’t an illness, but a test to eliminate karma and improve my level.
I knew that to put together a briefing session, a practitioner needed to spend a lot of time building up connections, and this was not easy. When I stood on the podium for the first time, I felt nervous, but told myself, “I am a divine messenger and I must accomplish my mission – assisting Master in Fa rectification and saving people.
After speaking in a few sessions, I had a strange feeling that I wasn’t doing much. One day Master’s words came to me,
“There is another state in which after sitting for a while the legs disappear, and one cannot recall where the legs went. The body disappears, the arms disappear, the hands also disappear—only the head is left. As one keeps practicing, one finds that the head disappears as well, leaving only one’s own mind, a little thought that one is practicing here. It is sufficient if we can achieve this state. Why is this? When one practices in this state, the body is being fully transformed, and it is the optimum state. We thus require you to achieve this state of tranquility. However, you should not fall asleep or lose consciousness, as in that case good things might be practiced by someone else.” (Lecture Eight, Zhuan Falun)
This phrase described the strange feeling I had perfectly. I took a closer look and saw that it came from the subtitle “The Attachment of Zealotry.” I immediately realized that Master was reminding me not to lose my focus, not to fill myself with zealotry, and that I should work with a pure heart. Everything was arranged so that people could be saved and I can fulfill my mission. I also knew that I needed to work harder and let go of my attachment to comfort.
I learned a lot during a briefing session in March. A day prior to the event, my throat hurt. I was told at the last minute on that day that the content of my briefing needed to be adjusted. When I got to the meeting room, Feng, the practitioner who arranged the event, was late, and I felt out of place among a group of strangers. Later I was told that no one brought the Shen Yun pamphlets. I started to resent the situation, but quickly caught the negative notion. I corrected my thoughts, and told myself that I needed to do my best to overcome these obstacles.
Things took a better turn after I rewired my thinking. The pamphlets soon arrived. Feng realized that several of the guests were her old-time friends, and the atmosphere warmed up quickly. One of them bought a front row ticket, and another bought two. Master had arranged for everything to happen as it did. The important thing was that I straightened out my thoughts during all of this.
I hosted my first tea party to promote Shen Yun a few days ago. I was so nervous that I could feel my heart palpitating. I settled down by thinking, “I must do this well so that Master Li can save more people.”
After I went home that day, everything that happened at the tea party seemed far away, like an old memory. Tears streamed down my face as I thought about fulfilling my vows on the path of Fa rectification; about my celestial family waiting for my return; and that I was one step closer to home. The feeling of nostalgia became so strong that I told myself to never forget my original wish and disappoint the sentient beings waiting for me. I had to keep moving forward without feeling complacent. To walk the narrow path home well, I needed to maintain my righteous thoughts so that I would not be distracted by zealotry.
Every small thing we do can make a great impact on someone. Last year at a parent-teacher conference, I played Shen Yun’s video. A parent left in the middle, and I thought she didn’t approve of what I did. After talking to her, I realized that she has always wanted to take her whole family to a Shen Yun show. The video I played helped her make up her mind. She bought four tickets this year.
I didn’t always experience smooth sailing in this process. Last year I asked my students to share their thoughts with the class after I played them a Shen Yun video. One of the students said that he had no idea what the story was about; another said that she wanted to watch videos other than Shen Yun. I felt frustrated.
I adjusted my strategy this year. I asked a rather unruly student to take charge of playing a Shen Yun video in the first five minutes of every class of mine. I did this to calm them down after recess before I started teaching. Still to this day, this student has never missed one class, even after he had a fight with other students during recess. The videos worked well to calm the students’ minds. Watching the videos became a routine that they enjoyed.
By mid-September, I wasn’t ready to take the whole class to a Shen Yun show because the students were a particularly difficult bunch. This semester alone, two of their other teachers retired early due to the challenges of behavioral issues such as lying, stealing, talking back, not turning in homework, etc. They exhausted me as well, and I dared not imagine what would happen if I took them to a theater. I thought about just taking five good students to the show. But then I couldn’t stop thinking that they all had a predestined relationship with me to be in my class, and I had to give them a chance. I decided to hand out a field trip survey, secretly hoping that the unruly ones wouldn’t sign up for it. To my surprise, those who often said they didn’t want to watch the videos during the class all signed up for the trip, and were very excited about it.
This event taught me a lesson – I shouldn’t be swayed by the appearance of things. It reminded me to hold on to my faith and respond to children who were a challenge with kindness. We wouldn’t be doing what we do if it was easy. All difficulties exist to help us improve and elevate our character.
Looking back, I often felt intimidated during events that promoted Shen Yun. Now I know that I am not alone, I have other practitioners helping me. Since we are a group of practitioners working together to promote Shen Yun, we don’t compare our sales but how well we cultivate. We search within in every conflict, and we improve together in our team work. I am grateful to Master Li and fellow practitioners.