(Clearwisdom.net) I work for a big bookstore in the city. The reason I chose to sell books was because I felt it would be easier and more convenient to clarify the truth in a bookstore. I did not have any other reasons. Once I got this job, through studying the Fa I started truly treating this job seriously, especially after reading Master's lectures following "Teaching the Fa in San Francisco 2005."
In the past year I started going to the extreme. At work each day the only thing I thought about was clarifying the truth. When I saw so many people come and go in a rush I became quite anxious. I talked to this person and then talked to that person. Although many have quit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), after doing this for a while there were conflicts between my co-workers and me as well as the upper management people. My managers reminded me that I did too much talking and didn't accomplish enough work. They started questioning what exactly I was doing on the job. But I did not awaken at the time. I took things for granted and continued with what I was doing.
Meanwhile my surroundings changed. My co-workers started interfering with my efforts to exhort people to quit the CCP, but I still did not calmly examine myself. Instead, I dismissed the issues and thought it was evil interference that should be eliminated by sending forth righteous thoughts. I did not begin to think about this until I had clarified the truth to people controlled by the old forces and run into danger. With Master's protection however, I remained safe.
Yes, clarifying the truth itself is absolutely the right thing to do. But what Master taught us is to validate the Fa and clarify the truth while cultivating ourselves well. I had not paid enough attention to my job. I had worked there for over six months, but my business promotion skills, product knowledge and job processes were not up to par. I also often had conflicts with my co-workers.
Was I following the requirements of Dafa to be a good person? My identity here is publicly known, and my actions could affect how others viewed Falun Gong. I had overlooked many important factors. In addition, through exhorting people to quit the CCP I gradually came to understand that it wasn't I who was clarifying the truth, and it wasn't I who was rescuing sentient beings. Now I understand that, "Cultivation depends on one's own efforts while the transformation of gong is done by one's master." (Zhuan Falun) In fact, Master has done all. It is Master who saves the sentient beings. We practitioners merely have this wish and Master helps us accomplish it. But what is the result? We have gained so much. Master does not ask anything from us. Master merely asks us to have compassionate minds.
After I understood these Fa principles I changed my attitude towards my job. I now work hard to study the job process, learn from more experienced co-workers and diligently do my job. I had some previous knowledge about the books. My progress at work gradually improved. For example, as soon as customers ask a question about the books I'm responsible for, if we have it, I can find it immediately. If we do not have it, I am able to recommend other books by the same author.
After a while the relationship between my coworkers and myself improved. In the meantime, while doing well at work I also kept the thought of clarifying the facts in mind. With Master's arrangements, the predestined people keep coming my way to listen to the facts and quit the CCP. I'm still able to do what I am supposed to do as a Falun Gong practitioner. Several times practitioners from the surrounding areas even came to our bookstore to distribute the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party and truth clarifying flyers. My co-workers saw the flyers and the Nine Commentaries, so I took this opportunity to explain the facts to them. Some of my coworkers took the Nine Commentaries home and read it carefully. The co-worker who found the flyers also changed his attitude toward Falun Gong.
As a matter of fact, one should always have righteous thoughts in any situation. During a critical moment, whether the one thought is for self or for others determines the outcome. Everyday people always have their own benefits as the priority. But Master taught us that practitioners' responsibilities are to validate Dafa, rescue sentient beings and think of others first when doing anything. This is also the foundation on which we base ourselves.
It is not as easy cultivating in this large bookstore environment. My attachment to lust, miscellaneous books and sad music all exploded here. Our bookstore is part of a shopping mall. 990f the girls who work here are single. There are many kinds of books in the store, and there is a variety of music audio and video selections. Nude pictures are all over the place. Music having a sexual connotation is constantly playing. Initially I did not want to come here to work. Certain fellow practitioners also did not condone me being here. They were concerned about the interference here. Because I am single they were afraid I would not overcome the temptations. But I remember Master said,
"'When a wise person hears the Tao, this person will practice it diligently.' When a wise person learns of the Tao, he thinks: 'Finally I've obtained a righteous cultivation method. Why wait and not start to practice today?' The complex environment, in my view, is instead a good thing. The more complex it is, the greater the persons it will produce. If one can elevate oneself above and beyond it, one's cultivation will be the most solid." ("Lecture Nine" from Zhuan Falun, 2000 translation version)
So I stayed.
Looking back, I did not make a wrong choice. On the one hand I have opportunities to clarify the facts to people from different segments of society. Of course, when I speak the truth and exhort people to quit the CCP, most of the time I do not reveal that I am a Falun Gong practitioner. Only in special situations would I talk about quitting the CCP along with clarifying the truth about Falun Gong. On the other hand I have control over the book categories to the maximum. When my managers asked me to be responsible for the books in the arts and literature categories, the first thing I did was to stop the stocking of Jiang Zemin's books and remove all the related posters. I also destroyed some books that slander Dafa, books from previous CCP leaders and the CCP's books. I tried my best to keep the volume of these books to a minimum. Of course, the goal was to eliminate all of them. Certain books have become my ammunition for indirect truth clarification. There are certain books on traditional Chinese culture, books exposing the facts about the Kuomintang and how the American army fought the war in the Sino-Japan war and books from some renowned authors that rethink history, especially as they relate to the CCP's political movements from a different perspective. The sales volume in our store of these books has been quite good. I exhorted almost all the customers who bought these books to quit the CCP. There are more and more varieties of books here, leading to additional opportunities to explain the facts.
Of course I still have many shortcomings. Recently, I have not paid enough attention to studying the Fa and to eliminating the attachment of lust. Consequently, I became attracted to a female co-worker. Although I did not act on my attraction, my way of speech fell to everyday people's standards. Fortunately, with fellow practitioners' help, I corrected myself and ended this matter. The several months of being mentally attracted to the co-worker negatively affected my truth-clarification efforts. I have wasted precious time.
Following that experience I now understand the principles that many practitioners have already realized - to take the Fa as priority. If during the Fa-rectification period I do not want to fail my great responsibilities and missions and truly become a qualified practitioner, I should always treat the Fa as teacher and view the Fa as the most important thing. I should always view things from Fa's perspective, including looking for a marriage partner. The standard of looking for a marriage partner should also be based on the Fa. Using looks, profession and money to determine good or bad in a person is an acquired, deviated notion. Steadfast practitioners should not be smitten with emotions and judge anything based on that. I gradually came to understand the premise for looking for a marriage partner. Emotions in general should not influence any decisions. Interactions and conversations between two persons should be as if both are fellow practitioners. Everything should be based on Dafa. So, the one who can make it would have to be a fellow practitioner. This would be impossible with everyday people! Since we have chosen this cultivation path, it clearly means that we have chosen another way of living. Although we should maximally conform to the way of everyday people while cultivating, we should never confuse ourselves with everyday people. We will then be able to pave this eternal path of cultivating from human beings into gods.
We cannot avoid having to face dealings with everyday people in our daily lives. The people I work with are almost all females, even my managers, and our job also needs teamwork, so there is some sense of cultivation connotation about forming a whole body. I previously had the notion of always doing things alone, on my own. If there was something I wanted to accomplish, no one could touch it. Even if I could not complete it right away, I would return to the task later and try to get it done. In fact, this notion is a big exposure of the old universe's characteristics.
In the past, with these old universe's factors, I ran into troubles all the time and was utterly isolated. No matter how hard I tried on the job, or how outstanding I was, if my starting point was based on ego and not for others, and didnt respect other's opinions, even if I did a lot, I would not get any recognition from my co-workers or managers. But when I eliminated these thoughts and tried to cooperate with others, I found that everyone changed, changed to thinking of others. Even more surprisingly, my own opinions were recognized and accepted. I thought this must be what Master said, "...attaining naturally without pursuit." ("Falun Buddha Fa-- Lecture at the First Conference in North America")
When my co-workers now hear any words that do not conform to Dafa standards they say to me, "This does not sound like you. You should not have said that!" But when I was controlled by the old universe's factors and tried to argue, my co-workers would say, "You have done so well. Why would you have said that?" I know Master gave me hints and asked me to be strict with myself. I clearly understand the meaning of every single thing that happens to me. When I am clear-minded I can always feel I am enveloped in our great Master's unlimited grace and compassion. I can't express enough my gratitude toward Master.
While interacting with everyday people I also find that one should always use righteous thoughts to treat the conflicts among co-workers, even if you are the third party. One should never use human notions to treat issues because it would directly impact the truth-clarification effect on them. For example, a co-worker came to me to gossip about someone else. If I went along and believed what he said the old forces' factors would then use everyday people's mouths to control me with formed notions and interfere with my effort of rescuing sentient beings.
We should not make space in our daily activities and relationships for negative factors to survive. This is an issue of practitioners minding our speech during the Fa-rectification period. If we do not mind our speech during this time we would prevent everyday people from being rescued and block the practitioners' cooperation as one-body. While we are talking casually or sharing among fellow practitioners, we sometimes express certain negative factors, dissatisfaction toward our co-workers or a manager at work, dissatisfaction toward specific fellow practitioners, doubt in some practitioners whom the evil once manipulated but who have become rational and diligently cultivate, or intolerance toward everyday people who once persecuted us but now regret what they did.
There are still so many knots that need to be untied. Master's salvation ship has set sail. The ropes that tether us could pull us down. If they are not untied we will have regrets. We should take advantage of the time we have now to harmonize the relationships between different levels, to rescue sentient beings and to validate Dafa.
Our practitioners in China carry huge responsibilities. We can tell merely by the number of people who quit the CCP that we are doing far from enough. The root cause and factors causing today's situation hide in every practitioner's daily life. Our Fa-rectification efforts would accelerate if we were strict with every single thought and tried our best to comply with Dafa's standards. This refers to ourselves and our environment, relating to our advancement. The number of sentient beings being rescued and the speed of the rescue would increase.
In 1997 when I was in college I saw the precious book - Zhuan Falun in the Xinhua Bookstore in the city. Ten years have passed. My original intention is still the same as ten years ago. I am still standing here as I was standing in the bookstore holding Zhuan Falun ten years ago, looking at the cover, it's still the same bright Falun Emblem, looking at the back cover of the book, it is a blossoming lotus...
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