(Minghui.org)
Greeting Master!
Greeting Fellow Practitioners!
I came to Vancouver on World Falun Dafa Day in 2009. Today I want to share my cultivation experiences of the past 3 years.
Overcoming difficulties and participating wholeheartedly in NTDTV
Shortly after my arrival in Vancouver, I participated in the Petition Drive for NTDTV Landing in Vancouver. In the process I felt that many sentient beings watched NTDTV in Vancouver to learn the truth. However, they had some misunderstandings about us. Some people did not want to listen to the truth. Some issues simply cannot be explained in just a few sentences.
I felt that we needed to clarify the truth more deeply and from all angles. We wanted to help people elevate their thinking gradually. It is a long winding road and we shoulder heavy responsibilities. What is the best way? In my opinion, TV broadcasting is the way. If we can make good use of it, TV can be really powerful.
At that time, NTDTV needed more manpower due to an extended program line up. My younger sister and I applied without any hesitation. We did not have any technical skills. Nor did we have a lot of education. We only wanted to help. We do not mind doing menial jobs. In the end we joined the station. At the beginning I did not understand the technical terminology at all when one practitioner trained me. He moved pretty fast. I was completely lost and got drowsy, almost falling asleep. Yet I pretended that I was alert because I was afraid other practitioners would notice. What a struggle! Fortunately, those that trained me were very patient. Eventually I learned it and was happy about it. Then came the second challenge. I was slow. I usually arrived at the office around nine or ten in the morning. It always took me about six hours to finish taping and editing. There was little time left to turn in the tape. To make sure the delivery was on-time, a fellow practitioner had to drive my younger sister to the train station and she had to run fast after she got off the train. She said that sometimes she felt like passing out while she was running and had to work hard all the time.
Gradually I found that I could make a breakthrough in my project if I got rid of some of my attachments or went to the Chinese consulate to send forth righteous thoughts. After I gave up some of my attachments, my heart became more serene and I would think creatively or receive tips from fellow practitioners. As a result, I completed the work faster. Sometimes after I went to the Chinese Consulate to protest, I would see a great leap forward in my project. For example, all of a sudden I could download files much faster, or technical difficulties with older equipment would disappear. Now it only takes me two hours to finish my program when everything runs smoothly. It saves the anchor and the cameraman a lot of time. I can handle post production alone as well, including the introduction.
I received a one-year allowance from the Canadian Immigration Services due to my refugee status. When the year was up, I told the practitioner who is in charge at the station that I had to quit the station to find a job to support myself. The living expenses in Vancouver are pretty high. To my surprise, the practitioner immediately sought financial help on my behalf. I knew the practitioner rarely asked others for help. I was touched by his sincerity. I decided to stay and overcome the financial difficulties myself.
When my thoughts straightened out, Master made arrangements for us to move into a suitable apartment. Moreover, I also got a job at a factory. I can assist Master to rectify the Fa in Vancouver with peace of mind.
Looking inward – Ceasing to Avoid Responsibility
After a while, I ran into other troubles. Rumors had it that I pushed some practitioners away. Conflicts and lack of cooperation emerged at the station. Files downloaded from the NTDTV headquarters and NTDTV Eastern Canada were always faulty, which had a negative impact on the quality of programs in our station. I complained a great deal to myself and to the coordinators. During an NTDTV experience sharing conference, I almost exploded in front of a coordinator. I said I volunteered for NTDTV despite my financial difficulties. Many practitioners had left the station due to financial difficulties. Could they guarantee files of good quality? The faulty files were either missing the soundtrack or video frames. I spent a lot of time downloading them, only to find them useless. We had to replace the faulty files with commercial spots. Sometimes, the commercial break was as long as 5 minutes. It was especially disheartening when news files that directly clarified the truth were corrupted. What good did it do if we could not clarify the truth? The coordinator promised to get to the bottom of the problem.
As it turned out, the whole thing took a turn for the worse. Once, all the video frames of all news programs in an entire language from NTDTV Eastern Canada were missing. I was upset. I thought that if NTDTV did not do well, it would not be left for everyday people. I started wondering whether it was worth working at NTDTV.
I tendered my resignation again and asked that they find a replacement for me soon. I could tell that my resignation put a lot of pressure on the practitioner in charge. Another practitioner told me it was easy to find someone to come on board. The hard part was to have someone to persevere in doing the work. If this happened often it would undermine the operation at NTDTV. His words reminded me that if I were to leave, I would be exactly the person who did not persevere.
Master said,
“Right, when someone who has done quite well suddenly leaves for some other project, it instantly creates a manpower shortage. With some students, the moment something isn't agreeable to them they just disregard how [leaving] will affect others, they don't consider how it will impact that task that was being done to validate the Fa, and they just do whatever they please. I have observed this in some students, and the gods are not exactly impressed, either.” (“Fa Teaching at the 2009 Greater New York International Fa Conference”)
I again realized that it was not accidental that I came to Vancouver and NTDTV. It is my destiny to be here. I believe it to be a great sin if I do not fulfill my duty. I decided to stay and do my work at NTDTV well.
After Master's Fa teaching concerning the prohibition of collecting funds was published, our local TV station was out of money. The coordinator also felt that it was difficult to run and planned to close it. After our sharing, we believed that it was possible to keep on, even if it meant moving the station to a practitioner's house. It was, after all, a window of truth-clarification. Good news came when it seemed that we were at the end of our rope. NTDTV successfully landed, which covered the western half of Canada. It was a good opportunity for us. If we did a good job on marketing, we would be profitable.
NTDTV premiered after landing on March 28th. I went to the station to deliver the tape. In the control room, I ran into a Singaporean and asked him to switch to our channel. I witnessed this historic moment in NTDTV broadcasting. I watched the programs and introduced NTDTV to the Singaporean. I had the feeling that there will be bright flowers and another village ahead after passing the shady willow trees.
I realized in a recent sharing that a fellow practitioner in NTDTV Eastern Canada works very hard. He spends over ten hours every day in the station. I should not have given him more pressure. I found the gap between me and fellow practitioners and when I calmed down to look inward I found the attachment of avoiding responsibility. I blamed other people for moving or touching my computer thus interrupting my work. In fact, I didn't have strong righteous thoughts when problems occurred, so the evil used this loophole to interfere.
Get rid of selfishness and cooperate with fellow practitioners
One day I distributed Shen Yun materials in a residential area. I circled the route on the map where we would go and the route seemed to save time and it was impossible to be repeated. I was attached to the perfect arrangement. Consequently, my fellow practitioner lost patience listening to me talk and wanted to follow the initial route. He disliked my controlling attitude, lost his temper, asked me to get out of the car and told me that I would be not permitted to sit in his car. At the beginning, I was unhappy without looking inward. I felt that he was the one that was unreasonable and I would not cooperate with him later. On the surface I tried to endure in order not to start a confrontation with him. I continued to go ahead according to my way. There were a few blocks without any houses and during that time I was reflected on the Fa. I recalled what Master said in “Dafa Disciples Must Study the Fa - Fa Teaching Given at the 2011 Washington DC Metro Area Fa Conference”.
Master made it very clear. Why was I unhappy when encountering this? In my heart, I told the people in the residential area: that this is the time you have been waiting for, for thousands of years. Be sure not to miss this opportunity because of looking down on us. It is Master who saves you, not me. Although I still have attachments, I will still cultivate and I will cultivate well and will not miss this chance.
The same thing happened in another practitioner’s car. The other practitioner directed the driver. My younger sister and I felt that this way was very clumsy. However, we reminded each other that we must cultivate ourselves and coordinate well with each other. Don't let other people be unhappy. Consequently, the way that was seemingly clumsy was not time-consuming and we finished sooner. It also indicates that cultivation is not measured by the good way or the bad way. It is measured by the thoughts and actions of the practitioner. If the thought is righteous, it is effective in other dimensions.
Saving time is also saving gas. I always took 200 booklets with me. At the beginning, I felt that my load was very heavy, especially when walking up steps. However, I realized that it was not booklets that I was carrying. It was sentient beings and universes that I was carrying. It no longer felt heavy. In fact, the more, the better.
In order to do the Shen Yun program better, I took time to read sharing articles on this aspect. I read one article about how a certain practitioner seldom goes outdoors to practice the exercises so this practitioner couldn't sell the high price tickets. Afterwards she persisted to go to practice the exercises outdoors and the situation improved. After that, I started to practice the exercises outside. One day, my family and I were doing the sitting meditation. We raised our heads to see the sky and saw layers and layers of red circles over our heads extending to the horizon. My tears fell. I saw this twice before it disappeared, I meditated in ease. I knew that this marvellous phenomenon was encouragement from Master.
The righteous thoughts from Dafa disciples play a leading role
During Shen Yun promotional activities, several groups asked me to send righteous thoughts for them. However, it was also arranged for me to distribute brochures in the city. After bagging the brochures, we distributed them with the newspaper. This made me unable to send long-term righteous thoughts calmly. I suggested to the Falun Dafa Association that we should enhance sending forth righteous thoughts because Master told fellow practitioners in New York to send righteous thoughts as much as possible. They all had this arrangement and the Falun Dafa Association accepted my suggestion. I was crying without realizing it when I entered the place where we were sending righteous thoughts. Another practitioner was also touched and cried. It may be because our hearts were one, since everyone wants to do a good job for Shen Yun to help Master in Fa rectification. I would send righteous thoughts for 45 minutes and rest 15 for minutes, and I would do this from 1 o’clock to 9 o’clock. Time would fly by and I didn’t feel tired at all.
One day, I attended a group Fa-study. After the group study, I was asked by a practitioner to take care of her stuff while she went to the washroom. My family member, who is also a practitioner, was anxiously waiting for me outside. Once he saw me, he threw a tantrum and then hurried to the print shop with the booklets. I was very calm and did not feel that it was unfair. I realized that it is the evil that wanted me to lose my temper and then exploit my loophole of the competitive mentality to fight with him with the goal of destroying the mailing material. If I was not in the state of a practitioner, those Shen Yun materials could not play the role of saving sentient beings and thousands of human beings would not be saved. Therefore, I started to send forth righteous thoughts but he still did not stop complaining. Finally, I sent very strong righteous thoughts and said to myself that I am very clear about things and I am the person who plays the dominant role and I want to play the dominant role. With this strong righteous thought, it was as if he realized it and he calmed down and didn't say anything. Then, I found that his car had an oil leak and the car needed to be repaired in the morning. The mechanic told us that there was nothing wrong with the car. My family member apologized to me after he looked inside. Then the car had nothing wrong with it. The Shen Yun materials were distributed to thousands of families successfully.
I will stop here. Please correct me if there is anything inappropriate
Heshi!
