(Minghui.org) May 13, 2024, is the birthday of Mr. Li Hongzhi, the founder of Falun Gong. Young Falun Gong practitioners in Toronto, Canada, gathered to wish Master a happy birthday and thanked him for his teachings, which have helped them maintain their moral compasses in troubled times.
When young people are in their prime, it can often feel like a period of struggle in life. Conflicts of interest between people can manifest as difficult problems to confront. Three young Falun Gong practitioners in Toronto shared their stories of overcoming hardships by giving up their attachments when facing tests of reputation and personal gain.
Young Falun Gong practitioners in Toronto wish Master a happy birthday!
Video: Young Falun Gong practitioners in Toronto wish Master a happy birthday!
Concession and Non-contention Brings Greater Blessings
Li Xibei thanked Master for his teachings, which have enabled her to face difficulties and friction with her colleagues.
Li Xibei is 35 years old. She completed her Master of Business Administration (MBA) at York University and is currently working as a senior manager in a state-owned company in Canada.
She started cultivation at the age of seven. “My mother was sick. To treat my mother, my grandmother learned all kinds of qigong. She then found Falun Dafa and asked my mother to practice it too. After practicing, my mother’s illnesses were cured, so I also practiced with her. On weekends, I went to the park with my family and many people practiced together. Sometimes, passersby saw so many people practicing that they would follow along.”
Xibei started working at the state-owned company four years ago. She eventually had conflicts with the manager who had been in charge of training her. “In the beginning, the manager had a good impression of me. However, as I rose through the ranks, I became her equal, and she had resentment toward me,” Xibei recalled.
They were both senior managers, so the work and team members should have been divided equally. But as soon as there was a task, the senior colleague fought with Xibei and snatched all the team members, leaving only seven people assigned as Xibei’s subordinates, while almost 20 people were in the colleague’s group. The colleague always lectured her on what she didn’t do right in meetings and told her what to do in a choking tone. From time to time, Xibei was told that the colleague was saying ugly things about her behind her back.
Xibei felt overwhelmed. If she didn’t fight back, it could directly affect the work of the entire team she led, but she didn’t want to go head-to-head with this colleague. In the end, she chose to back down and settle the conflict. “During the most difficult times, I would think of Master’s teachings, so I just went with the flow, didn’t fight or grab, and gave her all the work and personnel,” Xibei said.
Because the work assignments were taken by this colleague, Xibei had time to think about new projects. A few months later, she got a new project up and running. The boss assigned team members from the colleague’s team to Xibei’s team and asked Xibei to lead a team of 20 people.
“At this time, my workload was large, and the conflicts were acute again. When the focus was on me, my colleague fought with me again, but I felt as if I wasn’t one of them. When she was unreasonable, I just thought she was very tired. I didn’t need to compete with her for fame and fortune. I just took it lightly,” she said.
After Xibei learned to interact with her colleague calmly, her work environment slowly changed. The colleague was affected by Xibei’s unruffled state and gradually calmed down. Now, the two of them can communicate and work together normally.
Finally, Xibei wanted to say to Master, “Thank you Master for letting me know that everything in life is arranged. I learned that difficulties are not bad things, and that you have to go with the flow. In the face of difficulties, Master also taught me to step back. It was hard, but once I was able to do it, the work became smoother.”
The Landlord Did Not Return My Deposit, and I Took It Lightly
Wang Xiang thanked Master for allowing him to change from a profit-oriented person to a person unaffected by money and material desires.
Wang Xiang is 32 and is a journalist. He had read a lot of books about qigong, Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. When he was a university student in Taiwan, the professor introduced Falun Gong to him and explained how the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) had used lies to smear Falun Gong.
After reading Zhuan Falun once, Wang Xiang felt that Falun Gong was righteous and teaches people to be good, but he did not make up his mind to practice. When he went to England, he happened to see the book Zhuan Falun in a local library. He picked it up and read it again, but put it down. Later, as he read more books, he found that compared to other books, only Falun Gong was the truth he had been looking for. He then started to cultivate.
Before cultivating, Wang Xiang was a profit-oriented person. But after cultivating, he gradually took money lightly. When he first graduated, Wang Xiang’s salary was not high and his lifestyle was modest. He had to vacate the house he rented early for personal reasons. The landlord agreed that he would return the deposit as soon as he found a new tenant. “He found new tenants and they signed up,” Wang Xiang said, “But the landlord made an excuse for not returning the deposit, and then he didn’t answer my phone calls or text me. I felt resentful at first because the deposit on the house was a lot of money for me.”
However, Wang Xiang remembered that Master had taught him that as a cultivator, he should take fame and fortune lightly. “If I didn’t cultivate and I had suffered a loss in terms of funds, I would definitely have been haunted and kept thinking about it until my mental state collapsed,” he said. “However, Master taught me not to look outward at the shortcomings of others when I encounter problems, but to look inward at my own shortcomings. I thought maybe the landlord needs this money, and I rushed it too much to make her feel uncomfortable, so I apologized to her.”
Wang Xiang said that though he couldn’t get the deposit back, he decided to maintain the optimistic attitude of a cultivator, so he was able to deal with the loss of money calmly.
Wang Xiang congratulated Master on his birthday. “Cultivation has taught me to look at money and personal interests with a normal heart. In the face of cultivation, giving me hundreds of millions of dollars and the wealth of the whole world would not shake my determination to cultivate and do good,” he said.
Hard Work and Suffering Leads to Success
Jiang Ling is grateful to Master for teaching her not to look at gains and losses from the perspective of fame and fortune, but to use moral standards to measure right and wrong.
Jiang Ling is a 30-year-old who works as an analyst at the International Finance Corporation (IFC), providing qualification assessment services to companies raising capital in the capital markets.
When Jiang Ling was a child, her mother was sick and often quarreled with her father. In such a depressing environment, Jiang Ling’s academic performance was below average. When Jiang Ling was 12 years old, her mother began to practice Falun Dafa on the recommendation of a colleague. “My mother behaved according to Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, and her personality became gentle, not only becoming a good wife and mother but also regaining her health,” Jiang Ling recalled.
After witnessing the changes in her mother, Jiang Ling and her father also started cultivating. As the family atmosphere became harmonious and warm, Jiang Ling’s academic performance got better and better. She was not only admitted to a prestigious university in China but also became a graduate student at a top university. After completing her studies, she joined a major international company.
Her work intensity is high at the International Finance Corporation, and the requirements for detail and quality are strict. It can be a high-pressure job. Although she felt tired sometimes, Jiang Ling was always the last person to leave the office. Her boss then gave her some extra tasks, which made her feel overwhelmed. A colleague advised her that she should not work so hard and that she could just perform her tasks in a perfunctory manner.
In a daze, Jiang Ling happened to read the part of Zhuan Falun that talks about improving the mind. “I think as an employee, I still have to work hard and do my duty,” she said. To give her clients an accurate financial assessment result, Jiang Ling worked tirelessly and always checked the information until midnight. Jiang Ling was quickly promoted.
At work, mistakes are inevitable. If she was not a cultivator, Jiang Ling would have found excuses to maintain her face and image. But as a cultivator, she chose to take the initiative to admit her mistakes. Once, when submitting a report generated by the system, Jiang Ling forgot to delete a piece of text. When the department manager held her accountable, Jiang Ling could have easily said that it was a systemic problem, but she took the initiative to admit that it was her own mistake.
“Sometimes my colleagues make mistakes, but they put the responsibility on me. Instead of complaining, I just fix their mistakes myself. The company manager once advised me, ‘You have to learn how to shirk responsibility,’ and I smiled. I think that we should do things according to Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, and we should not ‘shirk the blame’ when things happen,” Jiang Ling said.
She went on to say: “Falun Dafa taught me not to look at gains and losses from the perspective of fame and fortune, but to use moral standards to measure right and wrong.”
Jiang Ling wanted to express her best wishes and gratitude to Master: “Happy birthday Master! Thank you, Master, for letting me know the truth, from which I have learned to distinguish between what is truly good and what is bad.”
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