Presented during the "2005 Taiwan Falun Dafa Experience-sharing Conference"
(Clearwisdom.net) I started to work for Sound of Hope (SOH) due to a special coincidence.
In June 2004, SOH was recruiting narrators for Still Water Runs Deep, and I was involved in it. After that, I became the contact person for Taiwan SOH. In "Teaching the Fa at the Discussion on Creating Fine Art", Teacher said,
"What I'm asking you to do is not only for the sake of others and for leaving behind these things for the people of the future--it's also helpful to your own cultivation."
I realized that, while doing day-to-day work and clarifying the truth, my cultivation is involved throughout the whole process. I remember there used to be one project that I had agreed to coordinate. However, my idea on it was quite different from other practitioners' understandings. Everyone seemed busy and we did not have time to exchange ideas. Finally, I evaded the responsibility as a coordinator. That affected my cultivation a lot, and for a while I was in a downcast mood and muddleheaded. Although I was still doing things, I felt something was missing, and there was some bitterness in my heart. Somehow I knew I was evading the fact that I was not cultivating well. Although I tried to evade it, after a long detour I had to go back.
That was why when a practitioner asked me to be a coordinator, I felt I could not evade it. However, being a coordinator involves minding details, as well as contacting many people on many different things. It was a test for me on how to straighten things out. After Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party came out, our news media had to catch up in clarifying the truth to high-level government officials and the media. This is also to give chances to sentient beings. In January 2005, a fellow practitioner sent the Nine Commentaries to about 200 radio stations in Taiwan, in the name of SOH inviting them to broadcast the Nine Commentaries. After doing that, this practitioner left Taiwan for overseas, and I had to follow up in contacting the radio stations on this matter.
First of all, I had to face my fellow practitioners who had not participated in SOH previously. How can they clarify the truth while representing SOH? Throughout the process, I realized the importance of relationships. In the poem, "Descending to the Earthly World," Teacher said,
"Who is really the gallant lead in this gigantic play?
I made this trip just for the sake of sentient beings."
Dafa disciples are the main players on the stage of Fa-rectification. In order to perform well, we need to know the basics. Our cultivation and the understanding of our roles are all integrated in our truth-clarification. In order to save sentient beings, we need to know our roles and perform well every time. I remember that while doing an interview at an anti-torture exhibition, I did not do well as a reporter, but instead started to clarify the truth when asking questions. The practitioner who did the editing found it quite odd. On the other hand, I did take the initiative on that day to clarify the truth to a reporter from another media outlet. I said, "Sound of Hope is an international radio station that covers worldwide issues. We pay close attention to Falun Gong, since this is a big event throughout the world. However, because of China's economic influence, very few media cover it even though so many people have been persecuted to death." I asked him how they reported Falun Gong, and he remained silent. I then talked to him more, and he listened attentively.
After sharing understandings and experience, practitioners started to contact local radio stations. Then we obtained some free time from everyday people's radio stations. However, not many practitioners participated in this, and it was hard to find so many hosts. How should we solve this problem? Based on the Fa, we believe that when something is required in Fa-rectification, things will be straightened out and more practitioners will come. Therefore, we had sharings in several regions, and finally everything was in place. Starting from April, news about the Nine Commentaries began to spread all over Taiwan. Looking back, it was a difficult process, since we did not have much to start with. Throughout this process, I saw the resilience and power of Dafa disciples in overcoming obstacles together. Here I would like to share one specific experience.
In June 2005, the evil made big efforts to interfere with SOH's broadcast to China. By July, the blocking was so rampant that a lot of feedback poured into the SOH web site, saying, "SOH can no longer be heard. Please help!" After sharing among practitioners, we had further understandings of Teacher's words in Zhuan Falun, "All matter appears in the form of life in other dimensions." The interfering shortwave transmissions are also sentient beings in other dimensions. If Dafa practitioners can send strong righteous thoughts as one body, we can eliminate the bad things in the short-wave interference. Then, audiences in China can hear the broadcast and be given a chance to know the truth. Therefore, everyone dealt with it using righteous thoughts. After one week, we received some encouraging feedback from China: although the blockade was severe in major cities, some people in the countryside could still hear it. Since the Internet is not widely available in those rural areas, a lot of effort is needed to save people there.
In "Teaching the Fa at the 2004 Chicago Conference," Teacher said,
"It's not that you're cultivating amidst the ordeals they created. Rather, you are to walk your own path well while not acknowledging them".
From this we realized that in addition to sending forth righteous thoughts, we need to do whatever it takes to expand the broadcasting to China. Therefore, practitioners involved in SOH in various regions, including Taiwan, put a lot of effort into this. Some of these areas are new to us, and we had to learn while doing it.
I was riding home very late in the evening after an experience-sharing. Looking at the dark night outside the window, I asked Teacher in my heart, "Teacher, we know we need to work in this direction, but how can we do it?" At that time, I had a strong feeling to study the Fa. So I turned on the light above my seat and started to read Zhuan Falun. The first sentence of Lunyu caught my attention, "Nothing is as profound as BUDDHA LAW." Although the light above my head was weak, the words "BUDDHA LAW" were very clear. I was moved, "BUDDHA LAW", does it mean we should do things in a way that a Buddha would do them? So, what would a Buddha do? At that time, I had a further understanding on improving xinxing. The whole process only took a few seconds, and my mind calmed down with no worries, since I knew Teacher was looking after practitioners all the way. I think that improving xinxing is the most direct path for us to save sentient beings.
Lately, SOH practitioners from various regions worldwide came together to share their understandings, as well as to find more bandwidth to save the Chinese people. At that time, there was a parade celebrating 5 million people quitting the CCP and its subsidiary organizations. We deeply felt that SOH needed to play a role in the mission of saving sentient beings during Fa-rectification. At that time, my xinxing was also tested. At the beginning, because of different opinions, I had conflicts with other practitioners when expressing my ideas. As a result, on the following day it seemed that I had a fever as well as muscle and bone pain. At that time, I realized I had some shortcomings, but still did not fully understand it.
Then, practitioners decided to build a more appropriate infrastructure in order to have SOH run more smoothly. I expressed some opinions on the draft plan, arguing that things should be this way or that way. My words triggered other practitioners' unhappiness and emotional reactions. I was also criticized. How come things went like that? I thought it over, still feeling that other practitioners had some problems and my intention was just to do things well. So it should be okay.
Soon after that, I heard practitioners reading together during a Fa-study:
"And the most outstanding evidence of that is that they always compare themselves with humans and with their own past, but fail to examine themselves with the requirements of the Fa at different levels.
Divine Being: These problems have already become very serious. It would be good if they could manage to search within themselves for the things that they have been able to find in others." (Essentials For Further Advancement)
Those few sentences deeply touched me. I knew I had been wrong. Just like Teacher said, "...they always compare themselves with humans and with their own past, but fail to examine themselves with the requirements of the Fa at different levels." However, I still thought of myself as having fewer mistakes than others, and felt all right since I had already looked within. I did not judge myself using the requirements of the Fa. That paragraph had helped me a lot in the past, and led me to look within during my cultivation journey. However, upon encountering problems, I was still self-centered. I felt guilty about this. I also felt that Teacher had spared no effort for practitioners to improve.
As we made progress, we would notice that the requirements from the Fa are present, layers upon layers of them. When there is something that I did not coordinate well and fellow practitioners criticized me, I wanted to explain things clearly. However, fellow practitioners already had some notions about me, and further explanations from me implied that I was attached to my reputation. At that time, I felt sad. Then I realized that, regardless who is right or who is wrong, did I have the problems that fellow practitioners pointed out? As I examined myself carefully, I did have those problems, and they also had manifested themselves under other circumstances. Wasn't that a good opportunity to get rid of my attachments? Among practitioners, it does not matter who is right or who is wrong. The critical thing is to make good use of the opportunity, to find our omissions, and improve on them. As I look back, many problems in coordination came about because I tended to only pay attention to the surface and ignored the fact that we should rectify ourselves. As I realized that, I felt some happiness because I had stepped out of the conflicts.
Finally, I would like share Teacher's words with everyone, hoping we can all do better:
"... maintain the unique cultivation state that you have, and to do well everything you are responsible for as a Dafa disciple--that is what it means to be diligent." ("Teaching the Fa at the 2005 Canada Fa Conference")
Thank you, Teacher. Thank you, everyone.
