(Minghui.org) Greetings, compassionate Master! Greetings, fellow practitioners!
Master said,
“Cultivation depends on one’s own efforts, while the transformation of gong is done by one’s master. It is good enough if you have this wish. It is the master who actually does this, as you are simply unable to do it.” (Lecture One, Zhuan Falun)
My understanding of what Master said is that a practitioner’s “wish” to save sentient beings may be expressed as a goal or hope. When we conform to the xinxing requirements, compassionate Master arranges opportunities for us to achieve this goal in a way that’s consistent with ordinary society.
There are no shortcuts in cultivation—we do the three things well and unconditionally examine ourselves so we align with the Fa. Any notion that one achieved something through one’s own efforts should be corrected. If we don’t let go of this attachment and we take credit for Master’s efforts, we are deviating from our vow to assimilate to the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance.
I have a full-time job. After the COVID-19 pandemic eased off, my workplace required employees to return to the building to work in person five days a week.
During the Shen Yun promotion season there are many emails and phone calls that I need to follow up on every day. Group tickets take longer, and lots of follow-ups need to be done during the hours I’m usually at work. What should I do? Taking leave to participate in Shen Yun's promotion is fine if I only take one or two months off, but I can’t take leave from work for five or six months.
I sincerely made a wish: All my time and energy, as well as my life, are given to me by Master, and I’m assisting Master in Fa-rectification and saving sentient beings. I wish to fully devote myself to promoting Shen Yun. My time, energy, and even my life are all Dafa’s resources. I asked Master to arrange everything and make the decisions for me.
Perhaps my sincere wish was in line with my Buddha nature, and I felt Master blessed me. My work environment was quietly but amazingly changed. On the surface, everything remained normal and routine, but some adjustments were made.
First, we were asked to log onto the computer to deal with some matters remotely. In order to avoid the interference of two colleagues working together in the same room, our supervisor arranged for us to work in separate, soundproof rooms to ensure that our work could be carried out smoothly. I now have my own quiet workspace.
Second, almost all the work I’m involved in requires multiple parties to be present. When someone isn’t there we have to wait.
It seemed that the god in charge of time was cooperating and making good arrangements. Every morning when I connected my computer to start work, I was almost always told: The case you are working on needs to be held for now, please leave your phone number and then you can choose to log offline. We’ll call you when the case is ready.
When my colleagues have to stand by like this, they usually chitchat or have coffee. I wondered if this separate, soundproofed room could be Master’s arrangement. Instead of talking, or drinking coffee, I felt the time was arranged for me to fulfill my wish to promote Shen Yun, so I treasured it very much.
What’s even more extraordinary is that it seemed that my work environment was not constrained by the time field of this space. Usually when I finished the phone calls and emails for Shen Yun I needed to make that day, I was notified that all the parties were now present, and I could connect to the computer to do my work. I actually accomplished a lot more work each day than I did before.
I understood clearly that when I positioned my starting point righteously, Master arranged the best for me, and made it possible for me to do well—both in my ordinary job and saving sentient beings—and do so seamlessly.
In the introduction to Shen Yun’s “Chopstick Dance,” there is a saying: “One chopstick is easy to break, but a bunch is hard to break.” No matter how hard an individual works, his/her strength is limited. Teamwork is powerful.
When the local coordinator for Shen Yun suggested I set up a follow-up team, which was also my wish, I immediately set up a six-member follow-up team. In addition to following up on the ticket leads provided by the other practitioners while they put up posters, the team was also responsible for following up on potential group tickets.
Our follow-up team had a regular time each week to study the Fa and send forth righteous thoughts. We discussed the technical difficulties in closing the deals and our cultivation issues. We supported and encouraged each other.
Master said,
“One’s gong level is as high as one’s xinxing level, and this is an absolute truth ... Therefore, only by emphasizing xinxing cultivation can your gong increase and your level improve.” (Lecture One, Zhuan Falun)
Practitioners don’t measure how well they practice by how much they do. We agreed that in order to do well in promoting Shen Yun, we should not just keep ourselves busy doing things. Instead, we should remind each other of the importance of improving our xinxing, cultivating solidly, and working hard on examining ourselves by cultivating every single thought.
Amy from the hotline messaged me that a lady wanted to buy 10 tickets and asked me to follow up as soon as possible. I called the number and left a message; then I wrote an email and sent it. A while later, another hotline member, Belinda, texted me saying that she just finished processing the order that Amy forwarded to me, and the lady already bought 10 tickets, meaning that I didn’t need to take care of it anymore.
The lady bought 10 Shen Yun tickets, that’s great! Belinda was so quick and efficient! I should give her a thumbs up. But I immediately thought it was unprofessional for Belinda to do this, and that two people should not contact a client at the same time. Belinda knew that Amy texted me asking me to follow up, so if Belinda wanted to do it, it was great and worth encouraging, and it was fine in my opinion.
But wouldn’t it be better if Belinda just told me beforehand? That way two people wouldn’t contact the same client. Time was already tight; so wasn’t it a waste of precious time and energy? It felt like my human thoughts and divine thoughts were fighting each other. When my human thoughts prevailed over my divine thoughts, I complained. When my divine thoughts prevailed, I felt that I must have an issue because my heart was disturbed. I should examine myself and dig out the human attachments.
Belinda contacted the lady and sold the tickets, but I felt unhappy that my time was wasted when I wrote and sent the email. Isn’t my attachment to my time also an attachment to ego? Isn’t it also selfish of me to seek results after I put in the effort? Does it matter who sells the tickets? Belinda sold the tickets, so people had a chance to be saved, shouldn’t we be happy for both the practitioner and the person? It seemed that behind my unhappiness, there was also jealousy.
My cultivated side thought: I should not only thank Belinda for helping people buy tickets, I should also thank her for helping me find my hidden selfishness and jealousy. When I examined my notions, my using “unprofessionalism” as an excuse to feel unsettled covered up my unwillingness to let go of my attachments. I told myself, “These attachments aren’t me, I have to eliminate them.” I felt a mass of bad substances were cleared away, and I immediately felt lighthearted.
I learned to appreciate each team member and find their strengths. When I see other people’s shortcomings, I should be alerted to the fact that this is a mirror, and my own shortcomings make me notice theirs. I realize that people around me whether they are fellow practitioners or ordinary people, are all here to help me achieve my goal of cultivation. Therefore, I should always remain humble and grateful!
When I saw the breakthroughs and progress made by team members, I was very happy for them from the bottom of my heart. Each member is invaluable.
How to effectively promote and sell high-end group tickets is a goal we’ve been working on.
Master said,
“The problems you experience selling Shen Yun tickets are in fact a reflection of the cultivation state of the students in that locale.” (“Fa Teaching Given at the NTD Meeting,” in Collected Teachings Given Around the World Volume IX)
Since the success of Shen Yun’s ticket sales depends directly on our cultivation state, shouldn’t we put more effort into improving our cultivation, looking inward, and truly believing in Master and the Fa?
The few times I heard people say the tickets were expensive, I tended to look for reasons on the technical level, starting from the introduction of the values of Shen Yun, and how people benefit physically and spiritually from watching the show, and so on. I introduced Shen Yun in depth, so that people would feel the ticket price was indeed worth it. This is important. I was sometimes able to convince people to upgrade their tickets. As a result, I didn’t bother to think about examining myself.
In fact, when I occasionally heard people say the tickets were expensive, it was actually a reflection of my cultivation. I should realize that I needed to look inside and find and root out my thought that the tickets were expensive, and get rid of this human notion. Especially when I saw the high- end tickets were selling slowly, I thought: Aren’t these prices too high? The audience may not be able to afford them.
How could I forget that there are sentient beings waiting for each and every seat, including those high- end seats that have been arranged by Master? I shouldn’t allow my notions to block them. Instead, I should eliminate the notion that tickets are expensive and try my best to find those who Master arranged to sit in those seats.
When I continued looking deeper, I found the root issue was my disbelief in Master and the Fa. My negative notions included: The exchange rate of the Canadian dollar to the U.S. dollar changed, so the ticket price should be reduced; the economy was bad after the pandemic, and the purchasing power of Canadians declined, so the price should be reduced. Was this because the price points and ticket range set by the Shen Yun Office didn’t reflect our local situation? All these thoughts are disbelieving in Master and the Fa.
Master’s teachings about Shen Yun being a world-class performance are crystal clear, I truly need to rectify my thoughts in line with the Fa in a timely manner.
Gan Jing World released its new platform GJW+ this past March. Unlike the larger online streaming platforms, GJW+ is a new streaming platform that provides viewers with wholesome and top-quality entertainment for the whole family to enjoy. In just a few months, thousands of titles joined the platform, offering wholesome videos, movies and TV.
In the process of looking for GJW+ partnerships and movie titles, I feel that we are messengers, telling people about Gan Jing World, and ultimately connecting them to Dafa through the GJW platform.
During the process of contacting people, I found that most people hadn’t heard of Gan Jing World, but they agreed with its values. We started by clarifying the truth and sharing the mission with them. GJW uses technology to return to the traditional values of human relationships. Gan Jing World’s technology uses a “non-addictive algorithm” that prioritizes valuable information and inspiring content to broaden the user’s horizons and stop them from scrolling endlessly. People were happy to hear this and were impressed to hear that GJW was created only 2 years ago, but has grown quickly.
In the process of promoting the platform I realized I shouldn’t do things according to my own preferences. I should always adjust myself according to the needs of the entire team. Sometimes it takes time to gain an understanding of the situation of the distributors in a particular region through research and study before we start to make appointments. I personally prefer to strike while the iron is hot, but I was often told there was a shortage of films in certain areas, so we have to adjust our direction and contact other markets.
At first, I wasn’t very comfortable with this, thinking that I seldom do things this way. I later realized that as a practitioner I shouldn’t choose what I do based on my personal preference, perception or ability. Instead I should set aside my ego and focus on the needs of the whole team, and cooperate with whatever I am assigned to do. On the surface things may seem disorganized; but I believe everything is taken care at the management level and must be in order.
When I encounter difficulties, I tell myself: I just need to do what I need to do with all my heart. Don’t get attached to the results, focus on the process of clarifying the truth, cultivate my xinxing and eliminate my human notions and attachments. Eventually the clouds clear up and the sun comes out.
Thank you, Master! Thank you, fellow practitioners! Heshi!
My understanding is limited, so please compassionately point out anything that is not in line with the Fa.
(Presented at the 2024 Canada Fa Conference)