Thoughts About Shen Yun Members Who Left Feeling Resentful

(Minghui.org) Recently, I heard that there are some online videos in Chinese made by a few former Shen Yun students and performers who felt resentful when they left the company. Their complaints were full of personal perceptions and emotions.

I was really shocked upon hearing this. It was unbelievable and made me feel doubtful at the time. What if the allegations were true? How serious is the problem?

My first reaction was to figure out the truth and separate it from the false emotional accusations I saw in the videos. I realized that this was also a test of whether I still firmly believed in Dafa.

After discussing the issue with other practitioners, I came to the understanding that my initial thought to distinguish the truth from the false accusations was also an ordinary person’s way of thinking and totally unnecessary. I would like to share some of my current understanding of the issue.

To begin with, I feel sorry for any former Shen Yun performers who have lost their faith in the Fa and given up the practice. There is no denying that what they said indicated their inner feelings, and I feel sorry that they had negative experiences. However, I will not blindly believe their views, nor will I follow them or use ordinary people’s way of thinking to look at the problems or voice opinions, because Dafa has taught us to improve in the midst of conflicts and improve our xinxing through cultivation, rather than form biased views based on conflicts, accusations, and complaints.

Master pointed out very clearly in his article “Cultivation in Dafa Is Serious,”

“Those who cause trouble are being controlled by the demons, but they themselves don’t know it, so of course they won’t admit it. The problem is there really are some people who are attached and disgruntled who will give these individuals an audience, flattering and accepting them, listening and paying attention to them, totally ignoring the seriousness of Dafa and cultivation. Dafa is heaven’s Fa, and no one can mess it up! What’s messed up is the human heart! Those who have acted up are precisely the ones the old forces want to eliminate. Those who haven’t been in accordance with the Fa for a long time should pay special attention. Those who carry attachments and are resentful, or even those who were dismissed from Dafa projects due to their mistakes and who hold grudges—they are the most likely to follow along. When these people get together to vent their resentments, their attachments are on full display. We’ve seen that these kinds of people never stop to consider for a moment from the Fa: Is it right to have a disgruntled heart? Is this what a cultivator should have? Does it conform to the Fa?” (“Cultivation in Dafa Is Serious”)

Master also said in Zhuan Falun,

“We say that when you take a step back in a conflict, you will find the seas and the skies boundless, and it will certainly be a different situation.” (Lecture Nine, Zhuan Falun)

We all know that Dafa practitioners vary in their level of understanding and enlightenment, some have a very high level. Some have an average or rather low level, just like a pyramid. Those in the center can reach a very high level in cultivation, while those on the edges can only reach a low level and stop there or not achieve a positive result.

Practitioners with high levels of enlightenment are able to pull through the worst situations and endure great pain and suffering. Yet, their faith in Master and the Fa always remains firm and unshakable. Those with poor enlightenment quality tend to use ordinary people’s ways of thinking to evaluate Dafa. When they encounter things contrary to their concepts, they turn in the opposite direction and stop cultivating.

Not long before I heard about the online videos, the French Minghui website updated Milarepa’s cultivation stories. I understand that this is to give everyone an opportunity to relive the story of this Buddhist practitioner, who endured his master’s most severe tests.

In my understanding, the so-called “injustices” and “abuses” Milarepa endured are somewhat similar in nature to the experiences described by those former Shen Yun performers.

I would like to kindly remind them to reflect on whether they have missed any cultivation opportunities in the incidents they described. I feel that they have used ordinary people’s ways to vent their grievances instead of maintaining righteous thoughts while experiencing conflicts, and cultivating and improving themselves as Dafa practitioners would.

I understand that in our projects to save people, it is not gods who are doing the work but cultivators in the human world. Therefore, human shortcomings and attachments will naturally emerge in the process, which also offer every practitioner opportunities to achieve perfection in the midst of tribulations. This is my understanding of why conflicts occur.

The greater the tribulation, the better a cultivator’s foundation might be and the higher one may achieve in cultivation. However, even though these people might have a high level of attainment, their low level of understanding in this life may prevent them from returning to their true selves.

Some of us may think that only ordinary people can create tribulations for us, not Dafa disciples. That is certainly not the case. According to the principle of mutual-generation and mutual-restraint, if we always think that there won’t be tribulations among practitioners, the old forces will definitely create negative illusions or incidents in our Dafa projects. Also, I wonder if the people who joined Feitian or Shen Yun earlier were unconsciously obsessed with looking for a “pure environment,” and if that is the case, there must be corresponding tests for such an attachment.

From the videos circulating online, we can see that most Feitian students and Shen Yun performers expressed their happiness in participating in Shen Yun. They are happy because they understand the sacredness of what they are doing, they have a clear understanding of the tests of cultivation, and they have overcome various difficulties with righteous thoughts.

In this instance, judging whether what was said in the videos is true or false is not important at all, nor is it what we should do. In any case, their remarks denigrate Dafa, and we should not add any energy to them by showing any interest in what was said.

I believe that as soon as they left Dafa, the old forces began to take control of the situation, leading it to what we are reading about now. Some people with ulterior motives have long been looking for testimonies that are unfavorable to Dafa. Those who have been misled by the CCP’s propaganda and criticized Dafa also pay close attention to what these people are saying. Sadly, these former Shen Yun members cannot let go of their attachment to a selfish ego and even feel satisfaction at being heard.

I sincerely hope that they can regain peace and balance in their hearts and stop participating in the destruction of sentient beings out of ignorance. What they are doing now is precisely what the old forces want. The old forces intend to destroy them, not to satisfy their pursuit of human emotion or gains.