(Clearwisdom.net)
"I'll tell you a truth: the whole process of cultivation is a process of constantly getting rid of human attachments." (Zhuan Falun)
Greetings Master!
Greetings fellow practitioners!
I was fortunate to embark on the path of Dafa cultivation in 2004. Words cannot begin to describe the profound changes which I have experienced as a practitioner. In just a few short years, I have changed from a selfish person full of karma into a Fa-rectification period Dafa disciple. A few days ago I went to have pictures taken for the renewal of my passport. The picture shows a whole new person. Compared with my picture before I obtained the Fa, I looked more serene, purer and prettier. I didn't put on any makeup when I went to have the photos taken because I cultivate Dafa. Actually the biggest transformation is intrinsic. The universal law of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance purified me from the origin of my life, helping me to eliminate karma and attachments, so my true self could emerge. I sincerely thank Master for this precious chance to cultivate Dafa. Falun Dafa has given me a whole new life. No words can express my gratitude towards our benevolent Teacher.
In the past years I have participated in various Dafa projects. Here I wish to share with fellow practitioners my experience during the Shen Yun promotion.
During the first year of the Shen Yun promotion, I tried to get sponsorships for our show. I contacted a friend who works for a profitable government entity. In the beginning, things went smoothly and we met some important people in the organization, but very soon my attachment of zealotry surfaced. As a result, we came to a dead end. I blame myself for the failure as I realized that I fell because of my attachment. Since then, whenever I sense that there is any intention to validate myself, I remind myself of this experience so that I can correct my thoughts and purify my heart.
I was also selling tickets in a shopping center. Because we rented a commercial space, we had to follow the schedule of the mall to open and close. I was by myself while doing this as well as taking care of the display, so after awhile I started to complain in my heart. In fact I was being selfish, and also had the attachment to vanity and a desire for recognition. I wanted everyone to know that I had done something good. Now this heart is weaker and my xinxing has improved.
During the promotion, every day the coordinator assigned me a different practitioner to help sell tickets. At first I insisted on working only with familiar practitioners, telling the coordinator that new ones would require too much time for training. The coordinator realized my attachment, so he still made the assignments according to his plan. After working with different practitioners, I realized that my human notions were too strong. I worked well with everyone and together we formed a strong group. Experience does not make a difference. Whoever came to sell tickets was arranged by Master's Fashen and we always formed a strong group.
It's not easy to stand for a whole day, so it was a really good environment to test my xinxing. On Friday and Saturday, everyone left to go to Fa study and I was alone. I was all alone and feeling sad. However, almost always in this situation, predestined sentient beings came to buy tickets for a big family. I knew that this was Master trying to encourage me. My heart was no longer bitter. From that day on, I was always happy and at peace in my heart no matter how long I had to stand there, with or without anyone by my side. During almost all of the after hours, I waited for predestined people to purchase the tickets. I sincerely thank Master for His arrangement and encouragement. As a result, that year I promised myself that from then on I would fully cooperate unconditionally without complaints, only concentrating on selling tickets.
During the second year, the administration at the theater granted us the right to distribute flyers at the door. Montreal has very cold winters so this no doubt was great news for all of us. Without thinking more thoroughly of potential consequences, a lot of us went inside and distributed flyers to the before-and-after show traffic. As the coordinator at the time, I didn't even realize anything could happen. Soon, the evil found a loophole to attack us. The theater warned us, telling us that we were blocking traffic and had violated their rules of conduct. Eventually, they took away our privilege and even forbade us from distributing flyers indoors during next year's promotion. I held myself responsible. How could I not be able to foresee this situation? How could I give the evil an excuse to take advantage of us? Looking inward, I realized that I made the following mistakes: 1) The attachment of zealotry took over rational thinking. 2) Not being professional. If we only had a few well dressed, well trained practitioners on site, the situation would have been avoided. 3) I did not think through all of the possible consequences. This was a lack of strategic planning and I ignored vital details. 4) Most importantly, I did not think about other people, but only concentrated on my own needs. That year, no one blamed me and we didn't blame each other, we learned a lesson and shared about what happened. Everyone looked inward to identify their shortcomings. That year, we made a mistake as one, but we also learned from the mistake as one. We have all matured a great deal from that year in our cultivation and vowed to do better as one body in the coming year.
Master said in Zhuan Falun,
"So for the portion of us that cultivates in the setting of ordinary people, it doesn't matter how much money you have, how high your official rank is, or whether you're self-employed or you have your own business, it doesn't matter what kind of business you do: do things fairly and act with integrity. All the professions out there should exist; it's only that people are short of integrity. It's not about what type of profession you are in. There was a saying in the past, 'Nine out of ten merchants are crooks.' That's what ordinary people say. But I'd say it's a problem of integrity. If the people have integrity, and people do business fairly, the more effort you put in, the more money you should make. You get that only because you put in effort in this ordinary world--no loss, no gain--it's gained through effort. You can be a good person in any social class, and there are different kinds of conflicts in different social classes. The upper class has upper class type conflicts, and they can all be handled correctly--whichever social class you're in, for how to be a good person, you can all let go of different desires and attachments. In different social classes you can all show yourselves to be good people and all of you can cultivate in your own social classes."
Year after year has passed by quickly, and we have been earnestly promoting Shen Yun during this time. There are fewer chances left for sentient beings. How can we have bigger breakthroughs this year, to maximally save sentient beings? Personally, my first step was to begin our daily Fa-study group. We all enlightened that we can no longer become lax with our Fa-study. We firmly believe that our Fa-study group will be solid. We will unconditionally cooperate and support each other, upgrade as a whole, and fulfill our important mission to save sentient beings.
Thank you, Teacher!
Thank you, fellow practitioners!
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Category: Clarifying the Truth
