Cultivating While Participating in Film Projects

(Minghui.org) Greetings, venerable Master! Greetings, fellow practitioners!

I was fortunate and grateful that Master Li (Falun Dafa’s founder) gave me an opportunity to participate in the New Century Films project and to be a part of the film “Godsend In a Taxi” in 2020. The film tells the story of a young woman in a remote town in northern China who is ill with the coronavirus. Her family flees the town. As she walks home alone from the hospital, no passing taxi driver is willing to give her a ride. In the scorching heat, the girl drags her frail body, coughing and hoping for a ride home, but every taxi driver refuses to take her. But good people will eventually be rewarded. When she faints, a passing driver rescues her and gives her a Falun Dafa keepsake which has the nine special words—“Falun Dafa is good. Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good." She not only recovers from the virus she also spreads the blessings to people around her.

Purify the Mind and Let Go of Ego to Better Save People

This was my first time acting in a film to help clarify the truth. I had many interesting and heart-warming experiences in the process. I remember when I was first notified that I was going to be the lead actor, I was extremely nervous because I had just joined the project team six months before and I did not have any acting experience. I felt stressed out when I suddenly received such an important task. When I got the script, I studied it repeatedly and searched online for the symptoms of catching the virus, and then tried and rehearsed it again and again at home. From time to time I thought about quitting.

In our group discussions, the team talked many times about how the process of filming is just like going into a battle between good and evil. It requires the actor to let go of many attachments, such as fear, losing face, impatience, fear of responsibility, fear of trouble, and the attachment of validating oneself, and so on. We must eliminate all attachments. 

Before we began filming, I couldn’t help it—I let the substance of “nervousness” wrap around me. I started to worry that I wouldn’t be able to say my lines clearly, that I wouldn’t be able to get into the role quickly, and that I wouldn’t be able to work well with fellow actors and that I would hold everyone back. All the ordinary human thoughts came flooding into my mind. 

When I realized that my state had become negative, I began to talk to my heart over and over again: “Why are you so nervous? Do you want to give up? Think of all that Master endured for all sentient beings. This little difficulty of yours is so small. Are you afraid that you won’t be able to perform well? Are you afraid of losing face? Do you just want to hear praise? Are you clinging to your own notions and not willing to let them go? Can’t you pass this test at the critical moment? Don’t all the distractions come from these thoughts?” 

Master said, 

“Human beings are just human beings. At critical moments it is hard for them to let go of their human notions, but they always try to find excuses to convince themselves. A magnificent cultivator, on the other hand, is able to let go of his Self and even all of his ordinary human thoughts amidst crucial trials. I congratulate the Dafa cultivators who can come through the Consummation-determining tests.” (“Position,” Essentials for Further Advancement II)

After asking myself these questions, I closed my eyes and began to clear away all the distracting thoughts and not let the negative factors sway me, so that my rationality and righteous thoughts could work better. I said to myself, “All this is not done for my sake, but to help save people.”

But when the first scene started, I felt overwhelmed because the scene called for me to cry. I didn’t know how to move my emotions, I couldn’t cry. The fellow practitioners on the set were very kind and accommodating. They told me to brew my emotions slowly and not be anxious. But when I saw people carrying cameras in the hot sun, and many of them were sweating, my heart became even more anxious. I couldn’t let people stand in the hot sun because of me! I found it harder to get into the performance state, and so I became even more anxious. 

Amid anxiety, I heard a voice in my ears, “With an impure heart, how can you save sentient beings?” I turned around and looked up at the sky as if I saw the scene of revered Master coming down to save the world, and instantly tears gushed out of my eyes. I adjusted myself and emptied my mind and rid myself of all bad and distracting thoughts. I stopped thinking about how I should say my lines and worrying about looking ugly while crying, and I just cooperated with the director’s instructions. I felt the character’s role with my heart so that the real me could perform as I should. After this scene was successfully completed, I knew it was because of Master’s blessing and his compassionate care.

On my way home, I felt like a warrior returning from a victory—I was full of joy and emotion. I realized that the truth-clarification films made by practitioners carry a special meaning and connotation. Only a practitioner who is well-cultivated, diligent, and pure in heart can present the beauty of Dafa in the film and show the power of assisting Master to rectify the Fa and save sentient beings. Since I am a Falun Dafa practitioner, I should cherish all that Master has given me. I should take every step well and have trust in Master and Dafa.

After the film aired, it served its role of waking up people at this particular time during the pandemic. Some viewers commented that my role was very realistic, probably because I myself was once on the verge of death due to illness.

Cultivation Brought Me Out of the Desperate Situation of Life

When I was five years old, my mother was diagnosed with acute jaundice, her eyes turned yellow and she was weak. The doctors asked the whole family to do a check-up to see if we were cross-infected. My father took me with him to the hospital, and the report showed that my father’s liver function was negative, but I was positive. My condition had turned into chronic hepatitis B. The news hit my parents like a bolt from the blue. From then on, I was taken by my parents on a long and arduous journey to seek medical treatment.

When I was a freshman in middle school, the doctor said I would not live to be 20 years old. All I remember was hearing my mother crying out loud and then I fainted. I felt I was given a death sentence and my execution was at the age of 20. I gave up all treatments and waited for death.

Fortunately, I survived past the age of 20. When I was 22, I met my husband, who introduced me to Zhuan Falun and taught me the five sets of exercises. In 2016, my husband and I moved to Canada. I was about to give birth. Since I had hepatitis B before, it was likely that I would pass it on to my child during my pregnancy and delivery, not to mention that my previous liver disease had a high viral replication and was highly contagious. But after the baby was born, all tests were normal and the doctor said she was a super healthy baby! I knew that this was a manifestation of the virtue of Falun Dafa in my life. 

During these four years of practice, my liver disease gradually disappeared, and my postpartum checkups showed that I am healthy and free of illness. 

It is only through the experience of life and death that one learns what is most precious. I am most grateful to Master, who lifted me out of the muddy world and cleaned me up! He gave me a healthy body and new hope in life.

Even Small Things are Cultivation Opportunities 

Many people feel that time is flying by these days, and they can’t do much even if they work non-stop all day. The only way for practitioners to keep up with the progress of Fa-rectification is to persist in diligent cultivation. It has been two years since I came to the Truth Film project team. In these two years, I have experienced the happiness of truly assimilating into the Fa and becoming a particle of Dafa.

When I first joined the team I felt that I had no skills, and I didn’t seem to know how to do anything. As time went on, I was unconsciously changed by the environment. Let's take “perseverance” as an example. Our trainer for acting skills is a fellow practitioner about my age. She gives training to dozens of practitioners. She is always very patient, and she is not absent once, no matter what.

Sometimes I had bad thoughts, thinking, “Doesn’t this fellow practitioner ever have a single instance of karma elimination? Doesn’t she ever have a problem? How can she be so persistent?” By chance, I heard another practitioner talk about her, and it was a big shock to me.

One time she was experiencing sickness karma, but she carried on teaching performance classes for everyone online, and she did not show any signs of distress or pain. But when other students started practicing online, she quietly turned off the video and ran to the bathroom to vomit. She turned the video back on after vomiting and continued to train everyone with a smile on her face.

Hearing this I couldn’t help but ask myself, growing up how many things was I so serious about and responsible for, persevering and selflessly giving for? I thought about it carefully, and the answer is none. There was really nothing that I could persist in for a long time. This fellow practitioner did not want to display a bad state to others, nor did she want to easily compromise with the evil, nor did she want to be interfered with in the matter of saving sentient beings, she just endured quietly. She always brings a sunny, positive state to everyone, and serves as a good positive encouragement in the cultivation environment.

Every time I see the shining lights on the cast and crew, I feel happy for them, because having them around motivates me to keep going forward, and we are really learning and cultivating all the time. In 2021, I participated in filming “The Accident,” and in July, I even took the lead role in the new film “Actor’s Dream.” I hope to keep improving and making breakthroughs in my acting skills, and at the same time my cultivation will also soar, so as to be worthy of the skills Master has given me, and to be in a better state to keep up with the progress of Fa-rectification.

The strong cultivation atmosphere of the crew also influenced my mother, who gradually became part of our cultivation family. Filming movies is physical and mental work, and the best way to recharge our batteries was a hot meal prepared by our fellow practitioner’s uncles and aunties at the end of each day’s shooting. At first, my mom and I were involved in some of the logistics, but as I got busier with my acting duties, my mom was left alone to do most of the work.

Making large quantities of food is a physically demanding job. Because the stir-fry pots at home are small, it takes two or three pots to finish a dish for more than ten or twenty people at a time. From preparing onions and garlic, washing and chopping vegetables, to stir-frying ingredients, sometimes your arms feel sore and tired. But I see that my mother is getting more and more energetic while making huge meals. I asked her, “You’ve never cooked for so many people, don’t you find it troublesome and tiring? But she smiled and said, “This is the work that Master has given me to do to participate in the Fa-rectification, so I should do it well. Cooking is also validating Dafa and is also saving sentient beings. Some of the fellow practitioners work in front of the curtain, and some work behind the curtain, but we are one body. Now I can cook so many kinds of dishes! These are all skills given by Master!” 

I never thought that cooking for the project team was validating the Fa, nor did I realize in my heart that cooking was also saving sentient beings. My notions restricted me. While looking inward, I realized that when I used to cook for people, I was actually showing off, to say that I could cook such and such dishes and how delicious they taste, but I didn’t realize the attachment. It was my mother’s words that gave me a new understanding and appreciation of “cooking”! We should not ignore the true meaning of cultivation because we think something we do is small and insignificant. 

Master said, 

“Whether it's seeking sponsorships or getting ads, all of that behind-the-scenes work done to get capital for the media companies is the same as that of those who act as the public face of the company--the mighty virtue is exactly the same. It couldn't possibly be that someone's mighty virtue is greater just because he writes articles, acts as an editor, serves as a translator, often appears in or on that media, or because he has some select assignment. All of you who participate in that media entity are, as Dafa disciples, the same, regardless of what task you do.” (“Fa Teaching at the 2009 Greater New York International Fa Conference,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. IX) 

Master also said, 

“There is nothing innately inferior about a novice monk who tends the hearth or cooks the meals at a monastery, and his hardships make it all the more likely he will achieve spiritual enlightenment. Senior monks, on the other hand, will find it all the harder to achieve since they enjoy comfort and ease, and do fewer things that would rework their karma. A novice monk leads a hard and tiring life, which allows him to pay off karma and enlighten more swiftly. Awakening might come to such a monk unexpectedly one day, and with it, even if not full enlightenment, will come great powers.” (The Seventh Talk, Zhuan Falun)

From this, I realized that in true cultivation we should pay attention to details, starting with the smallest things in life. We should correct every thought, think about others at all times, be responsible for our cultivation environment, and save more sentient beings with a pure mind.

The above is my experience in participating in the film and television projects in the past two years. 

Thank you, Master! Thank you, fellow practitioners!

(Presented at the 2021 Canada Falun Dafa Cultivation Experience Sharing Conference)