(Minghui.org) Because I began practicing Falun Dafa when I was a child, I thought that cultivation was natural. I didn’t understand what it really meant to cultivate. I didn't realize the preciousness of Falun Dafa or become determined to cultivate until many years later.
It was a long process of strengthening my will, tempering my heart, abandoning my attachments, and improving my xinxing. Falun Dafa is rooted in my heart and lifted me out of this messy world.
I felt that working at an ordinary company is like a monk wandering around in society. Master said,
“...‘You still have many attachments to remove. You should go out to wander about.’ Wandering around in society is rather torturous. It must beg for food and meet different kinds of people who will scold, insult, or take advantage of it. It might encounter all kinds of things. It will treat itself as a practitioner and balance well relations with others, always maintaining and upgrading xinxing. It will not be moved by the temptations of different benefits among everyday people. After many years, it will return from wandering around.” (Lecture Eight, Zhuan Falun)
Letting Go of Attachments and Saving People
After I had made up my mind to walk on the path arranged by Master, I gave up my freelance occupation and applied for work at a company. I was determined not to quit under any circumstances and only follow Master’s arrangement. Master saw my determination and arranged opportunities for me to let go of attachments and improve my xinxing.
The first issue I encountered was whether I should please the head boss. My first day at work, my team leader said many bad things about my co-workers and asked me to follow him closely. I realized that life would not be easy for me in this company.
I didn’t listen to him. I treated every colleague equally.
Master said that we should “make our hearts expand so that we are compassionate to all.” (Teaching the Fa at the Conference in the Midwest-U.S.)
Actually I was more considerate of those with whom I did not work closely. My team leader gave me a gift worth 200,000 won (about $170 USD). I refused it calmly. As a result, he thought I would not be of any help to him. I followed the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance at work and didn't care if it caused me any losses, as I knew I must remain morally upright.
Letting Go of Ego
One day, the chief contractor ridiculed my company's director while we were waiting for a bus together. Because I didn’t say anything, the contractor felt embarrassed. Later, he told me that an employee of a famous design company in Japan wanted to work for him and he said that he would hire him through me. I didn’t reply. He also said that he would introduce a university professor to me. My heart was not moved.
Then, to humiliate me, he embarrassed me in front of other people on several occasions. Even though my boss knew what he said was not correct, he worked with the contractor to put me into a very difficult situation. It was not easy for me. I reminded myself that I'm a practitioner and maintained my xinxing. I put up with the situation and tried to let go of my attachments to saving face and ego. I followed the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance even in this uncomfortable situation. I tried my best to complete the work for the contractor.
My director and that contractor began having a disagreement, and the contract fell apart. The contractor messaged me to apologize and thanked me for still having him in my social media group. He hoped that I would have a good future. Much to my regret, I didn’t tell him about Falun Dafa. I will let him know Falun Dafa if I see him again.
I was to meet with another contractor. Because the contractor had strict requirements, I was thoroughly prepared. The person in charge of the project from my company was very nervous because of the contractor’s requirements. During the meeting, the head contractor rambled on and then praised me for my quick perception. He said that my boss didn’t understand him last time and he had difficulty carrying out the project. I told him that my boss was very knowledgeable and not like what he said.
There were about thirty people, including the president and employees from various departments. The president asked me what my specialty was and whether I was able to translate what he said into Chinese. He talked for fifteen minutes non-stop. I jotted down notes and translated what he said for my company's project coordinator. The company president checked with our coordinator to see if my translation was correct. Then he trusted me. Afterwards, his presentations were shorter and he gave me enough time to translate. Everyone said that my translation was perfect. Actually I was not fluent in Chinese, but Dafa opened up my wisdom. The contractor had a good impression of me and wanted to sign another, larger contract. He invited me to help coordinate. But my boss didn’t respond, so his idea stopped there.
On another occasion, I was to attend a meeting with another contractor. My boss reminded me that this contractor sometimes demanded the interpreter translate his words in reverse order, so our company's employees were biased against him. Actually he had a high demand for quality. We answered his questions carefully, and I tried my best to translate for him. Whatever questions their team raised, our team answered them patiently and satisfied them.
After the meeting, I stayed behind until I finished everything. The president of that company asked us to sign our blueprint and said that he would hang it up in his office. I realized that even tiny deeds that are in line with the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance will move other people. Tiny deeds can lead to big changes.
Taking Care of Our Surroundings
One hot summer day, I went to get ice from the office fridge. I was surprised to find that it was dirty. I didn’t know whether I should clean it. I thought of Master’s teaching:
“… you want to save a rotten apple and don’t want to throw it away, so you leave it in the room, yet it becomes more and more rotten, with maggots crawling all over it. Now there’s a rotten apple with worms all over it in your spotless room—why would you leave it there? If you insisted on leaving it there, wouldn’t you be doing a bad thing?” (Teaching the Fa at the Eastern U.S. Fa Conference)
I understood that practitioners should rectify their surroundings.
I closed the door so that my colleagues would not smell anything. I started to clean the fridge. It was very hot because there was no air circulation. Some coworkers came in, and a few helped me. Others even asked me to stop cleaning. I held my breath. When my colleagues finally saw the clean fridge, they exclaimed that it was even cleaner than the ones in their homes.
The soap dispenser in the office bathroom was not easy to use, so I bought a bottle of liquid soap and an air freshener. The bathroom smelled nice. Some coworkers happily exclaimed, “The environment is good, and so is my mood!”
I bought another bottle of soap after the first one was empty. The next day, the bottle was empty again. I later learned the office chief told the janitor to use it to clean the floor. I was upset but said nothing. I brought a new bottle and placed it in the bathroom. He took the bottle and put it on my desk. He was angry and told me to use it myself. He even slapped me. Though I was wronged, I let it go because he was the same age as my parents.
My coworkers didn’t like him and told him that he was unreasonable. Soon after, I was given notice to leave the company. A few days before I was to leave, he told me to leave that day. An ordinary person would not be able to take this humiliation. As a practitioner, I only had one thought: did I have enough time to give him a copy of Zhuan Falun?
I bought several copies of Zhuan Falun and gave each colleague a copy. The office chief felt guilty and invited me to coffee. He told me to apply for unemployment allowance and say that I didn’t get along with other employees.
I said, “I was dismissed because the company was losing money, not because I didn’t get along with other employees. I'm a Falun Dafa practitioner and I won't lie. But I won't apply for unemployment.”
He called me three times after I left the company. He tried to persuade me to apply for the unemployment benefit. I told him that I wouldn’t apply. Finally he wanted to introduce his nephew to me. He begged me to see his nephew at least once. I refused. During that time, my xinxing tests came one after another. When I calmed down to think about it, I realized that they were all arranged and that what I should do was to solidly cultivate myself and let go of my attachments.
A New Cultivation Environment
I was hired by another company the next day. I knew it was because I had passed every test and improved my xinxing. I introduced Dafa to my colleagues in a way that they could understand. I studied the Fa a lot and answered their questions based on Dafa’s principles. I made a Chinese language teaching program for our staff and added some of the stories about traditional culture from the Shen Yun website. When Shen Yun came to Korea, some of my colleagues attended it. They traveled to another city to watch the show. Thank you, Master!
As I cultivated diligently and improved myself, I noticed that the environment at work improved. Three weeks after I was given a new assignment, many things unexpectedly happened that would normally take a year. It took me only two months to learn the job, and I started to do the translation. It would take an average person six months to learn it.
One day a client requested compensation from us. They hoped that we would compensate them fully. I thought it was not fair and that each party should bear half the responsibility. We couldn’t reach an agreement. They said a lot of things that disturbed me. I tried to cultivate speech and maintain my xinxing. If I protected myself, my company’s hard-won credibility might be harmed. I tried my best to let go of my ego. After I discussed with my boss, we decided that we would compensate them fully. The client was very happy and changed his attitude towards me.
My boss affirmed my approach after he learned how I handled this matter. During the process, I went through a lot of tests to see if I was able to let go of my attachments to fame and gain. In the beginning, I didn’t want my client or company to bear the loss. I looked within and let go of my attachment of being afraid of loss. I changed my mindset. This was cultivation, and it was good for my company as well. The tribulation disappeared.
When I assigned the translation jobs, I let go of sentimentality and selfishness. When I assigned jobs to colleagues who were close to me, tribulations came. This helped me let go of sentimentality. When I didn’t have many translation jobs, I let my colleagues take the job first.
When I let go of myself and attachments and did my job with a pure mind, I was very efficient. When I was in a good cultivation state, my translation speed was very fast and sometimes even surprised myself. When I was not in a good cultivation state, I could spend an entire day to translate a small article.
I told my colleagues about Falun Dafa when I was having lunch with them. One colleague didn’t get along well with our boss and was criticized every day. Though the boss was very good to me, I didn’t take advantage of it or feel happy about it. I told her about Dafa's principles and how this was an opportunity to improve her xinxing. She understood and put it into practice. Her relationship with the boss improved.
Before I came to this company, the colleagues didn’t get along and shifted blame and responsibility. Now things have totally changed. Even though I'm a practitioner, I feel it's hard to forbear sometimes. But I find the answer when I study the Fa.
Master said,
“When she cured a patient’s illness, the patient might not appreciate it. When she treated the patient, she might have removed a lot of bad things from this patient’s body. Although she healed this patient to such an extent, there might not have been any obvious changes at that time. The patient, however, would not be happy in his mind. Instead of expressing gratitude, he might accuse her of cheating. With these problems, she was undergoing psychological tribulations in this environment. The purpose of giving her energy was to enable her to practice cultivation and upgrade herself. While doing good deeds, she could develop her own supernormal abilities and build up her own gong; however, some people did not know this principle.” (Lecture Three, Zhuan Falun)
I will remember Master’s Fa when I encounter tribulations in the future. I will look within, let go of my attachments, and improve my xinxing.
Master has helped since I made up my mind to cultivate diligently. I will pay attention to Master’s hints and let go of my attachments.
Please point out anything inappropriate.
Thank you, Master! Thank you, fellow practitioners!
(Presented at the 2019 Korea Fa Conference)
