(Clearwisdom.net) Greetings, venerable Master and Practitioners!
1. Beginning Cultivation in 2009 Under Unexpected Circumstances
I had heard of Falun Gong a long time ago. A relative had practiced it before. In spite of these opportunities I did not take up the practice. After arriving in the US in 2003, influenced by the propaganda from the Chinese Communist Regime, I mistakenly thought that Falun Gong was involved in politics. Several times I picked up the phone and wanted to contact someone at the practice site listed on the Falun Gong website, but out of fear I did not make the call. I sensed that there was something keeping me away from Dafa.
One day in the second half of 2009 several friends and I were chatting, discussing how to keep fit. Out of nowhere I suddenly found the courage to ask if anyone knew a Falun Gong practitioner. I said that I wanted to learn the practice. Immediately someone said she knew a practitioner;. She told how her friend had recovered from illnesses after starting the practice. Later on, this practitioner sent me an email, and we met each other. It was as if I had found a relative. She taught me the exercises, and from then on I began the path of the cultivation. Since then, I fervently read through Zhuan Falun and all of Master’s lectures. I read truth-clarifying materials and visited the Minghui/Clearwisdom website regularly. Not long after I started the practice, I could feel the Falun rotating non-stop in my abdomen. I also saw Falun spinning towards me. These experiences made me more determined to follow the cultivation path, right to the very end.
2. Backache Vanished at Once after I Determined to Cultivate
I have been suffering from backaches since primary school days. Sometimes the pain was so severe that I could not straighten my back, especially in the mornings when I got up. I often slept on my stomach. My condition did not improve, despite spending a lot of money on medical treatments. After I made up my mind to start cultivating in 2009, one morning I woke up feeling a heavy object pressing on my back. I could not move. As I was trying to make out what was going on, I suddenly saw Master smiling at me from afar. Since then, the backaches that plagued me have vanished. One day after I did the second set of exercises – Falun Standing Stance – for half an hour, the shoulder inflammation I used to experience was gone.
3. Gastric Pain Subsided after Watching Shen Yun
My family took a flyer for the Shen Yun Performing Arts show before, and I saw practitioners selling tickets for the show at a supermarket. I did not see the show. After I started cultivation, practitioners advised me that I must see the show. I got someone to buy tickets. But several weeks before the performance, I needed to return to China to visit my critically-ill mother. Flights back to the USA were all fully booked. I had to wait for about two weeks before I could catch a flight back. I thought I was not going to make it back in time to catch the show, but several hours before a plane was scheduled to depart, the airline company told me there was a seat available. Although I missed the first show, I quickly managed to buy tickets for the second day’s show. I watched the whole Shen Yun performance with tears flowing down my cheeks. I felt Falun rotating non-stop in my abdomen. Ever since I was young, my intestines were weak; after graduating from university I even had blood in my stools and was subsequently hospitalised. When I visited my ill mother, I went to sleep late at night and got up early in the morning. My gastric pains returned, and I could not eat anything for a week. However, since watching Shen Yun, I have not experienced any intestinal discomfort.
I have been lost amid the maze in the human world for so long and nearly lost this opportunity to cultivate in Dafa – an opportunity that comes in tens of thousands of years. I am grateful to Master for his salvation. Time and again, I witnessed the miracles of Dafa.
4. Selling Advertising for the Epoch Times and Cultivating amid the Fa-rectification Period
In the past I almost never read the Epoch Times newspaper. Once in a while, when I could not find other newspapers, I would pick up a copy of the Epoch Times and briefly read through it. I cannot remember when, but suddenly I noticed that the Epoch Times print version had become thicker, the articles in it were more interesting, there were more and more ads in the paper, and the quality of the print improved. I thought to myself, who is involved in producing this paper? What kind of people are they? They have persisted in doing this for so many years, starting with nothing, from a small paper to a global paper. That is truly remarkable!
Later on, when reading Master’s new lectures, I learned that Fa-rectification period Dafa disciples must do the three things well. I also learned that the Epoch Times needed more people. I wondered if I could do anything for the Epoch Times; just as I had this thought, Master arranged an opportunity for me. I got to know a practitioner who worked in sales at the Epoch Times. Since May last year I formally became part of the sales team at the Epoch Times.
Initially I had no knowledge of sales at all. Driven by passion, I went to visit one business after another, either alone or with another practitioner, bringing along a copy of the paper and a schedule listing ad rates. To keep all distractions from my mind, I would silently and continuously recite the phrase, “Cultivation depends on one’s own efforts, while the transformation of gong is done by one’s Master.” (Zhuan Falun) while driving.
A practitioner and I went to a classy Italian restaurant. The proprietor was away, but several hours later he called back to say that he was keen to advertise in the paper. It is rare that someone would take the initiative to call and say he wanted to advertise with us. I was thrilled.
Because we became zealous, it provided the evil with a loophole. The proprietor’s home was broken into after he returned from a holiday and as a result he could not go back to work. His plan to advertise in our paper was put aside. We sent righteous thoughts to eliminate the interference, got rid of our attachment to zealotry and maintained contact with the proprietor. Finally we got the deal. This was the first ad from a posh Italian restaurant.
On another occasion a practitioner and I arranged to meet a client in the afternoon before distributing Shen Yun promotional materials somewhere else. But in the morning I suddenly had blood in my urine and had to keep going to the toilet. This had happened to me before. Every time, I was in such pain that I had to go to the hospital immediately for treatment and take medication for at least a week. This time the relapse was severe. I thought, "I am a cultivator, Master is cleansing my body, and I shouldn’t be deceived by the false appearance of sickness karma." I left home as planned and met with the client. After the meeting, I handed out Shen Yun promotional materials and completely forgot about the incident. When I returned home after a busy day, my ailment had completely disappeared.
5. Strengthening Cooperation and Getting Rid of the Attachment to Validating Myself
Once, at the beginning of this year everyone in our sales team seemed to be somewhat despondent. What’s more, I did not clinch any deals, either. I was anxious and wanted to sell more ads, but did not have any success. I didn’t think there was anything wrong. I only focused on “me” achieving a certain sales target; “me” opening up new businesses; “me” writing a good proposal. Despite my efforts and phone calls, there were no results. Sometimes I was on the verge of closing a sale but in the end the deal fell through.
Fa study eventually reminded me to look within myself when I encounter problems. I discovered that I have the deeply buried attachment to validate myself. I also loved to hear compliments from people when I did well – an attachment to showing off. But when I did not secure an advertising contract I began to doubt my capabilities. I became disheartened and anxious. This was another manifestation of my ego. It just so happened that we had a sales meeting, and everyone realized the importance of cooperating well. Since then I shared with other practitioners more often and eliminated the gaps in our team. I asked veteran practitioners for advice, let go of my ego and took the initiative to work together with other sales reps, willingly taking on a supporting role.
Our manager suggested once that we look for sales prospects in a certain business district. She passed by that area while delivering papers and thought we might find sales prospects in that area, but did not have the time to explore them herself. I decided to check the place out. However my GPS kept giving me the wrong directions. I thought, “I must find this place. There could be predestined people waiting for me to offer them salvation.” Another practitioner guided me on the phone. I finally found the place. I spent the entire afternoon approaching businesses, one by one. In the end, a wedding dress business was keen to advertise in our paper. Two weeks later, accompanied by another practitioner, I went to their office to sign an advertising contract. We arrived at our destination before the appointed time. As it was not polite to go in too early, we decided to visit a marble supplier across from the wedding dress company. We stepped into the office, an interior decorations materials supplier with two branch offices. It happened that the proprietor was in, and on the spot we got an advertising deal and brought back a deposit for $2,000. Later on our sales manager met with the proprietor and after clarifying the truth to these people, they extended their advertising contract from the initial three months to a year. Subsequently we heard that this advertiser had a good response from his ad in our paper, and they even employed a Chinese person. I feel that if we cooperate well together, Master will bring predestined people to us.
6. Involved in the Distribution of English Epoch Times and Becoming a Small Flower in My City
After the Chinese and English Epoch Times in our area merged, the English paper increased its circulation. Due to a lack of staff it was decided that the sales reps could be involved in the distribution of the English paper, if they wanted to. I read on the Minghui website about information sites in Mainland China popping up like flowers, spreading the truth everywhere. I was very moved. I thought, I will start a newspaper distribution point in this area. I want to be a tiny flower in my city. We sales reps went to shops, offices, clinics, law firms, apartments, banks, restaurants and other places to distribute our paper. Everyone took care of an area, and our paper is spreading everywhere, like flowers.
As I drove around distributing the paper I listened to Master’s lectures in the car. Not only was my every thought on the Fa, I felt that everywhere I passed, the other dimension was being cleansed. Sometimes I was afraid of hardships and had other fears – such as it was going to be a waste of time; I would not be allowed to put my papers in the shop; the paper would be thrown away, and so on. But the Fa corrected all these fears, and I accomplished the task with a pure heart as well as a smile coming from within my heart. I had to drop off the papers at more than two dozen places every time. Initially, certain supermarkets or restaurants put our paper in an inconspicuous spot. I would then introduce our paper to the owner or the manager and subsequently, they moved our paper to a more visible spot by itself. Some even put it next to the cash register. In some shops there was an empty spot as if it was meant for our paper.
Regardless of rain or snow, I persisted in delivering the paper. Once, a shop manager said to me, “Normally, we do not have papers in our shop, but seeing you deliver the papers in the rain, I decided to accept it.” A restaurant owner took down the Santa Claus ad in his shop window and put up our Shen Yun promotional poster when we introduced Shen Yun to him. A former Defense Department official who lives in my area drove 40 miles to DC to see Zhen-Shan-Ren Arts Exhibition after seeing ads in our paper.
7. Clarifying the Truth to Chinese People While Delivering the Paper
While delivering the English Epoch Times, I would come across businesses and restaurants owned by Mainland Chinese people. I would give them the Chinese Epoch Times. I got rid of my fear of approaching Mainland Chinese folk and struck up a conversation with them. I introduced them to the Chinese Epoch Times and asked about their business, etc. Their attitude toward me changed – from initial indifference, tension and unnatural demeanor to welcoming smiles on their faces.
Once I dropped off papers at a Chinese restaurant. As I stepped into the shop, the chef in the restaurant greeted me loudly with “Falun Dafa is good.” Everyone looked at me, and I felt warm. I am truly grateful to Master for arranging our cultivation path during the Fa-rectification era, so that I can save more sentient beings. I wished them a prosperous business in return.
On another occasion a practitioner and I went to see a prospective client, but when we arrived in the area we couldn’t find the company. We were thirsty and hungry and went into a Chinese restaurant. We gave them a copy of our paper and chatted with them while having a meal. The owner said that he had seen the Epoch Times before but did not have a good impression of it. That day when he saw our paper he commented that the paper had improved significantly and had the makings of a mainstream paper. He knew Falun Gong was good but did not understand why the Communist Regime slandered and persecuted Falun Gong. He even thought that the U.S. government paid practitioners $5 an hour to hand out Falun Gong flyers. We asked if he could provide evidence to substantiate his claims and he was at a loss. We then told him some facts about the persecution, such as the Tiananmen Square Self-Immolation incident and the live organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners. We clarified many things, and he agreed to renounce his membership with the Communist Party.
Sometimes I encountered hostile Mainland Chinese. A Chinese restaurant owner told me he did not like the Epoch Times and did not want our papers in his restaurant. I remained calm and refused to give up. I finally found an opportunity to chat with two Chinese employees in the restaurant. At first they said they didn't read our paper. I suggested that if they were looking to buy something, they could get information about the products advertised in our paper. One of them remarked that he reads our news section, and the other person said she reads our fashion page. I continued, “That means you still read the Epoch Times. No paper is perfect. As long as there is something in the paper you like to read, then this paper is worth reading.” After that, when I dropped off our paper at the restaurant, they always greeted me warmly and thanked me for delivering the paper.
The Epoch Times is our magic weapon to offer sentient beings salvation. We have achieved the state that where there are people, there is the Epoch Times, and the truth spreads to that area. My personal experiences made me aware that many Mainland Chinese have misconceptions about Dafa due to the Communist Regime's propaganda. These people long to understand Dafa, and by delivering our paper we have breached the gaps created by the old forces. We Dafa disciples are the only hope for sentient beings, as Master taught us.
Master said,
“The Dafa disciples of the world together encompass the whole earth, with each person having a certain reach. All of what you encounter and meet with owes to factors that are present within your expanse. If you can have sufficient righteous thoughts, you can then be towering and massive within your expanse and suppress any bad things that might exist there. Were every Dafa disciple able to achieve this, the entire world would change, since each of you assumes responsibility for a large expanse in this world and represents a certain segment of sentient beings.” (“Fa Teaching Given at the Epoch Times Meeting”)
Please kindly point out anything inappropriate about my sharing.
