(Clearwisdom.net)
Greetings, revered Master!
Greetings, fellow practitioners!
I went through a period of feeling immense joy when I first obtained the Fa in
1997, and then I went through feeling lost during the persecution. After that I
finally became firm in cultivation and following Master in the Fa rectification.
I have had many failures and have also been moved to tears by the Fa. I have
often experienced painful tests and profound relief after I passed the tests. I
have also experienced the burden when I was not able to let go of attachments.
No matter how stubborn or lost I have been, Master has never abandoned his
compassion and care for me, and has painstakingly arranged my cultivation path.
I would like to share my cultivation experiences over the past six months while
working at the Chinese Epoch Times in Los Angeles.
1) The Power of One-Body at the Chinese Epoch Times Has Strengthened My Abilities.
I moved to Los Angeles from Ohio in July of 2006. At the time, I was not aware of my purpose in coming to Los Angeles, except that I knew that there were many Chinese in the area. I did not know that working for the Chinese Epoch Times in Los Angeles was the cultivation path Master had arranged for me. As I think back, I can understand from an impulsive level that it was one naturally arising thought of mine that encouraged me to do what I am doing today.
In the article "Fa Teaching at the 2007 New York Fa Conference" Master answered one disciple's question:
"As you are Dafa disciples, whatever it is you are asked to do--be it writing articles, distributing materials, or going out to the streets--you can do it well. But it seems that if you are asked to visit potential clients and do sales and marketing, you don't want to."
After reading this, I had a thought, "On the contrary, I'd like to do what others don't feel like doing."
When I had this thought I did not even consider the fact that I had no experience in marketing. On July 9, 2007, I decided to do sales full time for the Chinese Epoch Times. Not long after working there I realized two things. First, I was amazed that the paper had prepared my business cards a year before my arrival. Second, in only a month, I broke through factors limiting my progress in cultivation, eliminated my discontent about the imperfect management of the Chinese Epoch Times, and resolved family pressures and other external factors. On August 9, Master arranged a year-long commercial contract from a customer with the Epoch Times, the EET website, and NTDTV, in which I would be heavily involved.
From the initial meeting with the customer to the signing of the contract, the design and publication of the advertisement, and the promotion of the effectiveness of the ads, it was a process that was filled with dedication and devotion from every practitioner at the Chinese Epoch Times. To assist me, a practitioner with sales experience postponed her appointment with another client and personally went with me to meet with the potential client. After the contract was signed, a practitioner with design experience put aside her own advertisement work and, within a month, designed four different layouts according to the client's request. To promote the effectiveness of the ads, the practitioners from the Chinese Epoch Times called the client as a reader of the paper and ordered their products. Furthermore, the feedback after using the product has provided content for the Industry and Business News sections of the paper.
Fellow practitioners' effort and sacrifice has allowed me to have a higher level of understanding about sales and a deeper knowledge about the subtler connotations inherent in cultivation.
Of course I still have to walk my own path. Since we promised to provide redesigns free for ads when signing the contract, the client requested a new design on a weekly basis. While I was running around to find help in designing the new ads, I began to feel troubled to the point where I finally complained about fellow practitioners. I felt that we should not give promises without serious consideration, and thus argued with several practitioners at the paper. Now as I think back, it was simply because I failed to understand fellow practitioners' efforts to satisfy the customers with our service.
Driven by these external circumstances I decided to learn the art of ad design. I searched on-line software, from beginner courses to advanced, and learned the basic operating procedures. My first ad design, with the help of fellow practitioners and requests from the client, was satisfying to the client and they never mentioned changing the design again. Since then the client has used my design in other newspapers. Before long the client put their ads in seven different Epoch Times offices in the United States. I am grateful to Master and to the fellow practitioners who helped me to learn about ads and sales in such a short amount of time.
(2) Rooting Out the Irresponsible and Cold-Hearted Attachments Through Conflict
Not long after I started to work at the Chinese Epoch Times I participated in the layout and editing of the classifieds. At that time the classifieds were in the process of modification and renewal, and we constantly made mistakes in our ads. Sometimes the ads were developed correctly, but a few days later it would either disappear or be published with mistakes. The complaints from the clients and the constant reminders from other sales had all put pressure on me in a way I could not quite pinpoint.
One incident helped me to realize what it was. A fellow practitioner had spent a lot of effort to attract a new client by telephone and secured the deal. A few days later the client asked to modify the content. However, after we made the change the newly modified version disappeared and returned to the original version. This did not go over well. One day, a fellow practitioner asked for my help in designing a fixed PDF file for her client, which I agreed to do. I was happy with the quality of the work and felt there were no mistakes, so I forwarded the file to her. Unexpectedly, the next day she called and was very serious. She said, "How can you make such a mistake in the client's pricing? It is so irresponsible. Our newspaper is not an ordinary people's newspaper." I was speechless for a long time by her strong words. I thought, "I spent a lot of time on your ad."
Later when we spoke of that conversation, she said, "I don't remember what I said at that time. However, I did feel your "xinxing" was
very high." To be honest, my heart was jumping and my blood was boiling. After I calmed down I realized another major issue I had, which was not being able to be truly merciful to others while I tried to clarify the truth. For a long time I could not find the obstacle. The realization was that I have been irresponsible and indifferent. I have always looked at things and people with a bystander's attitude. In "Teaching the Fa at the 2004 Western U.S. Fa Conference" Master said:
"I've told you before that Shan isn't something pretended, nor is it a state that's just maintained on the surface. Shan truly comes from within and can only be attained and embodied through cultivation."
Master also mentioned in "Teaching the Fa at the 2004 Chicago Conference:"
"So looking at things from this perspective, you still need to step up your clarifying the facts some, and still need to do it in greater depth, do it better, and do it more solidly; you absolutely can't just go through the motions. Only when you do it earnestly can you save that many people."
Indeed, nowadays people are not merely human beings. Destruction of one life could concern a huge celestial body and the lives within it. How can we be ignorant of or not care about such an immense responsibility?
(3) Further Remove the Attachment to Self-Interest
Being a sales representative at the Chinese Epoch Times, the money issue is unavoidable. I thought after becoming a practitioner that I would be able to let go of some of the attachments to self-interest, especially since I believe that I have given my best while doing projects in Fa rectification. However, this attachment has manifested in several forms. After I finished my first customer's ad I continued to write news for the Industry Section of the paper, designing commercial ads, and establishing relations with customers. When I felt everything was under control, I started to count my commission. This process continued for some time, until one day, this seemingly normal thought was deeply attacked and made me realize why I am doing what I do today.
That day, on the way back from a business appointment with a client, the practitioner who went with me mentioned a meeting the company had had a few days before about allocation of our commission. I almost jumped up from the car seat and said, "What a mistake. The meeting was supposed to be about how to find more customers for ads. Instead, it was a discussion about commission allocation." I only felt pain in my heart and could not hear what the fellow practitioner was trying to explain.
The following few days I kept returning to why I had reacted so strongly about something that seemed so normal to others. After I calmed down and reflected on the incident, I realized that, in fact, I had been practicing with expectations. I seemed to have forgotten that cultivation is supposed to reach the point where no single omission is found. Master has helped me through fellow practitioner's words to find my attachment. Even though it seemed I believed the meeting was supposed to be about getting more customers, instead it was about commission allocation. In fact, it was only to mask my attachment to self-interest. Once I realized my problem, the first sentence my mother told me when she made an international call was, "You have to be clear that working for the Chinese Epoch Times is to save more sentient beings, not to make money." After I recognized my attachment I came to know that this is an explicit requirement from Master.
To conclude, I have worked at the Chinese Epoch Times for more than half a year, and I am passionate about it. I have been deeply moved by the quick awareness and enlightened actions among the sentient beings that experience the paper. Many readers and customers care for and support our media. Some praise us, some encourage us, some offer criticism for improvement, some take the initiative to advertise in our newspaper, and some even volunteer to write articles for us. These are all because of Master's compassion, the overall uplifting in cultivation among fellow practitioners, and efforts made by every practitioner. I will collaborate with fellow practitioners in the future to refine and to fulfill our media's role and function in saving sentient beings, so that we will not disappoint our Master and his arrangements, the sentient beings, and my own vows.
Finally, I'd like to quote Master's new Jingwen "Greetings" to encourage each other:
"Save your sentient beings, fulfill your great prehistoric vows, and make good on the pledges you made!"
Thank you, Master.
Thank you, fellow practitioners.
