My Cultivation Journey While Working in the Media

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

I’d like to summarize what I learned while working in the media and share it with you.

No Negative Feelings

A coordinator of the project I worked in had a strong personality. After working with her for many years, I thought I let go of my human notions. I did not expect that when I was assigned to a different team, I would meet a coordinator who was tougher.

My tolerance and forgiveness no longer worked. I suppressed one kind of complaint, only to find another one coming up. Every day, I had to endure while working on eliminating all kinds of human notions, one after another.

I thought, “Why did this happen?” In the past, Master Li (founder of Falun Dafa) arranged the previous coordinator to help me by pointing out that I hadn’t really looked within. In fact, my understanding of “not being disturbed” in the past was tolerance on the surface and it did not reach a deeper level.

So I focused on looking inward. As soon as a bad thought surfaced, I would catch it and ask myself: why was I moved? Why couldn’t I let it go? What did I want out of this? Was my thought consistent with Dafa? I dug deeper and deeper into my attachments.

Over time I realized that many human notions were rooted in selfishness and sentimentality, and I was able to suppress them. Continuing on this path, I was able to feel what compassion is. When I looked at the coordinator, I felt she was a child and my heart was filled with compassion – I just wanted to help her.

But this wasn’t enough. One day the coordinator made some harsh comments about me and I was upset again. I thought, “Master, I have compassion now; so why does this still happen to me? What else do I need to work on?” Another practitioner reminded me, “Why were you unhappy when you received negative feedback? Do you still think criticism is a bad thing? Being unwilling to accept criticism means you want to protect yourself.”

I suddenly realized that my previous understanding of good and bad was limited to the human level. But as practitioners we need to discipline ourselves on a higher level.

Master said,

“But in reality, what human society takes to be truths are, from the perspective of the cosmos, inversions of truth; when humans go through hardship and suffer it is so that they may pay off karma and thereby have happiness in the future. A cultivator thus needs to cultivate by correct and upright truths. Going through hardship and suffering is an outstanding opportunity to remove karma, be cleansed of sin, purify the body, elevate your plane of thought, and rise in level—it’s an extraordinarily good thing. This is a correct and upright Fa-truth.” (“The Closer to the End, the More Diligent You Should Be,” The Essentials of Diligent Progress III)

After I had this realization I repeated Master’s words every day. A few days later, another reporter suddenly called me and scolded me. It was not until later in the conversation that I realized she was actually upset by two practitioners in the U.S. Because of the time difference, they were not available so this reporter found me and vented her anger. I wondered: Why wasn’t I upset this time? I realized that reciting Master’s words every day helped me. I changed my notion about what’s good and bad. I no longer felt upset and I even thanked that practitioner for this opportunity to improve my xinxing.

I understood that, it’s critical for us to change our human notions. For example, one day a reporter complained to me, saying the coordinator was unfair and wronged her. In the past, I would have agreed. But now I had a different understanding of “good and bad” as well as “loss and gain.” To me, there is no such thing as “being unfair” or “being wronged.” After all, everything is related to karma. If one doesn’t have karma, he or she won’t have trouble. The universal law (Fa) is governing everything – were someone to really hurt you, the universal law will make that person to give you de (virtue) as compensation.

I also realized all these were caused by karma and it's fair. When someone does not endure, however, he or she may push back and complain. This person may even doubt the universal law. How wrong is this? This is similar to what Master said, “A wicked person is born of jealousy. Out of selfishness and anger he complains about unfairness towards himself.” (“Realms,” Essentials for Further Advancement)

As this continued, I removed more notions layer after layer and I stopped protecting myself, seeking fame, avoiding suffering, or being afraid of conflicts. I also realized that, “no discontentment or hatred” Master mentioned in the same article occurred because one’s thought process changed. Without an underlying substance, jealousy or hatred has no soil to grow in.

I’m able to cooperate with the coordinator without any reservation. When conflicts or difficulties arise, I know they are my karma and I have to remain humble and repay my debt to her.

Learning to Be Considerate of Others

I also review articles and I tend to notice omissions. Some reporters are very fast but their articles have lots of typos. Some reporters only work on certain parts and leave the challenging parts for the next person.

In the beginning, I often complained and wondered why some reporters did not improve their xinxing. I later realized their behavior is actually a mirror for me to see my own problems.

I became more strict with myself, paying attention to details and becoming more professional. I constantly eliminate my impatience and carelessness. I deeply feel we cannot ignore these human notions with the excuse that we have done so many things that validate Dafa; otherwise, these human notions may expand and lead to bad thoughts.

When I reviewed an article one day, I noticed more and more problems. Plus, the text did not match the video. Were I to submit this report, the editors would have to watch the video and transcribe the text, which could be very time consuming. I was unhappy thinking the reporter was careless and left such basic work to others. So my comments became more and more stern. Just as I was about to save my comments, the reporter called me. She said to me with a tired voice, “I am sorry I did not have time to update the report. I will do it now.” I realized that she was not careless, she was just too busy.

This reminded me that several days before, I did my best and completed something, but the coordinator criticized me harshly for one mistake. I felt wronged. Now, I did the same thing. I thought the coordinator was wrong, but I did the same thing!

I began look within: I examined what happened and realized that, when I noticed the reporter made mistakes or did something not fitting my expectation, my first thought was to complain, and look down on the reporter. If that person defended themself I would think, “How could you make excuses after making mistakes?” Then I would argue with them. When my human notions arose, every thought I had was bad.

As I sorted through this, I was shocked. I always thought I was careful and responsible. I didn’t know so many bad thoughts could arise and produce additional thought karma. When I was angry at that practitioner, I also gave her de in exchange for her karma. Isn’t this going against the principles of cultivation? If I hadn’t examined myself, I wouldn’t have these realizations. These notions probably accompanied me for dozens of years or hundreds of years, and I was used to them. I even thought I was correct and I was responsible.

So as a practitioner, what should my thoughts be? Master said,

“They are in a state of immense tolerance, of mercy toward all beings, and of being able to understand everything with kindness. To put it in human terms, they always manage to be understanding of others.” (“Fa Teaching Given at the 2002 Conference in Boston, U.S.A.,” Collected Teachings Given Around the World, Volume II)

An everyday person is attached to his own human notions. He wants to win over others and is unable to treat others with kindness. I was like that. As a Dafa practitioner, I need to abandon all this, including the thought process that produces bad thoughts. No matter what happens, I should remain calm and undisturbed by human notions. If I have compassion, I can understand others and help them.

The Importance of Studying the Teachings

Having practiced so many years, I realize that cultivation is not complicated. I just need to focus on assimilating myself to Dafa and helping Master save people. Studying the Fa well is most fundamental for us to achieve this.

Before the past Shen Yun tour season started, I read three lectures of Zhuan Falun every day. As soon as I picked up the book, I felt strong energy revolving around me. Although three lectures a day seemed a lot, I often quickly read through the contents to catch time. So I began to memorize the book. I previously tried memorizing Zhuan Falun several times, but I stopped. This time, I memorized the book with another practitioner. Every day, we checked on each other to see how far we progressed. She memorized faster than me. But I did not give up and continued day after day, paragraph after paragraph.

After several days I could feel the difference. When I meditated one evening I clearly felt something rising from my chest all the way to my forehead, pushing out from the passage of the celestial eye. My celestial eye is not open and this is the first time I experienced something so real. I knew Master was encouraging me to do better in memorizing the teachings.

One day when I read the first sentence of On Dafa: “Dafa is the wisdom of the Creator” my entire body shook. I read and memorized this sentence countless times. At this moment I suddenly understood – the Creator passed on his own wisdom to us. This is the ultimate wisdom that created the gigantic universe, profound, all-encompassing, and omnipotent wisdom. I felt bad. Why didn’t I study Dafa well? Isn’t it everything in the wisdom of the Creator? Wouldn’t this solve everything?

Although for me, cultivation became simpler, it did not become easier. The number of reports increased dramatically, and some practitioners complained, “Why are there so many problems? Isn’t practicing Dafa supposed to bring blessings?” Seeing other practitioners struggling with illness karma, I wondered if I had problems.

By studying the teachings, I gained new understandings. It is not like, the more we practice, the more comfortable we are or the fewer problems we’ll have. We should be able to endure big hardships and difficulties, while remaining undisturbed. When I read the Fa one day I suddenly realized those thoughts that attempted to influence me were ridiculous. They were from very low levels and could not affect me.

I also realized practicing Dafa requires us to let go of selfishness and truly prioritize helping Master save people. When I watched Shen Yun Creations, an artist talked about her experiences. When she played the heroine role in the program Devotion, the choreographer asked her to stop and repeat one movement, because there was no tears in her eyes. “If you aren’t moved yourself, how can the audience be touched?” he said. From then on, before rehearsal, the dancer often listened to the music through a headset again and again to get the feeling.

Shen Yun artists’ pursuit of truthfulness really touched me. Yes, only genuine feelings can move others. As a practitioner, we need to let go of such feelings. But to help save people, Shen Yun artists have to increase their feeling to strengthen their performances. When their hearts aren’t pure they won’t be able to move the audience.

I reflected on my reporting: are the reports factual? Is the data verified, and are the quotes appropriate? More importantly, is my heart selfless? I report the news—this does not reflect my opinion or my favorite content. We write reports for the readers so they can get the facts. There is no self-validation and the credit does not belong to me, either.

Master is great and Dafa is great. I feel fortunate to be here and to be chosen by Master to practice Falun Dafa. If I don’t do well, how can I repay his compassion?

I read countless Shen Yun reports during this year’s tour season. I was moved by the audiences’ praise and insights, and I was happy they were saved. I also understood how to do news reports better to help save people. Like Shen Yun artists, we need self-discipline, we need to forbear hardship, and we need to cooperate genuinely and seamlessly. Only by placing the readers’ impression as the highest priority, can we help Master save more people.

These are my personal understandings. Please point out anything that is inappropriate.

(Selected article presented at the 2025 Japan Fa Conference)