Greetings Master!
Greetings my fellow practitioners!
Shen Yun Performing Arts is one of the key undertakings in Fa-rectification in recent years. Many Dafa disciples have devoted tremendous effort to it and, as a result, achieved great results. My own efforts with this year's promotions are, by comparison, rather negligible. But had I not done even this bit, I would be left with many regrets. Through all of this, I have felt Master's compassion and the mighty power of Dafa.
I'd like to take the opportunity of this Fa Conference to share with you, my fellow practitioners, some of my xinxing improvements; many were inspired by fellow disciples with whom I worked in promoting Shen Yun.
Part 1. Cooperation
As soon as we confirmed the location of performances in Washington, DC, local practitioners were ready to give their best. Although I had participated in previous years' promotions, my efforts were limited to writing articles, taking part in parades, putting up posters, and handing out fliers. I wasn't engaged much with mainstream society. Yet with the progress of Fa-rectification, introducing Shen Yun to everyone has become something urgent.
Beginning last July, another practitioner and I began to visit arts foundations, and we started to participate in events attended by elite figures. I have observed over time that every practitioner believes his or her own viewpoint to be best. Thus, when it came to matters of Shen Yun, we found that each practitioner had a different understanding of its programs, different takes on which was best or most sacred, and a different idea as to what to tell people about or how to do so. This meant we could have problems with cooperation.
Some felt the live orchestra that merges Western and Chinese traditional instruments is the highlight; some felt it was the fact that the lead dancer was the winner of a Chinese dance competition; some felt it was the 3D animated backdrops; some felt it was the costumes and props; some felt it was the technique of the performers; some felt it was the spiritual depth of the show, and so on. I heard of instances where two practitioners were doing promotion together, and one would end up interrupting the other, trying to cover what each felt was most important. It wasn't by chance that I heard about this. I reminded myself not get into disputes with others.
There was one practitioner with whom I went out regularly to clarify the truth. We cooperated well. We would usually take turns when talking to people, adjusting according to where the conversation was going and how much the other party could understand. Along the way, we met military generals, key figures in the mayor's office, some top figures in the armed forces, and some distinguished artists. The results were consistently good.
I didn't think too much about it, as it was all quite natural. Then later on, as I was listening to Master's Fa, I came to a new understanding. I realized that Master has told us in the Fa that the evil elements have been almost completely eradicated, and thus, I believed, the evil cannot stop us now. After cultivating for so many years, the power of Dafa disciples' thoughts should be strong and able to dissolve much evil; many issues should be resolvable. Even if there is a mountain in front of us, we can use our righteous thoughts to open up a path. However, if we fail to cooperate with each other, we end up canceling out our abilities. In other words, while evil cannot stop us, our powerful abilities can be offset. I have thus come to believe that when promoting Shen Yun or doing government work, when we meet with challenges, it might not be that the task itself is that hard, but rather, that it is a matter of cooperation.
Many practitioners might not know how to go about promoting Shen Yun. But there is one thing that anyone can, immediately, do. Namely, to remove any barriers in your heart and cooperate with others.
I remember one time we had a sharing and one practitioner raised an idea. I felt that his idea was totally unrealistic, so I told him that it wouldn't work. He insisted it would. Later I heard that he had made some progress on it. For several months we had been putting a lot of time into our own plan, and if he was able to make his idea work out, we would have to make major adjustments to our plan, since it would create a scheduling conflict. I had no idea how much he would manage to accomplish, and I wondered if I should help him. In the end, I said to myself that if his idea works out, we would work with it, even if we had to change everything of ours just to open up a path for him. It would be worth it.
Just when I was thinking I had passed the test, I had a dream that night. In the dream this practitioner proudly strutted about before me. I said to him, "Since your plan succeeded, show me the contract that was signed." I was ready to cancel everything I had done. When I awoke in the morning, I didn't feel that I had passed the test that well. When I asked to see his contract in the dream, I was not willing to admit that his approach had worked out, even though I was ready to cancel my own plan.
With that said, cooperation of course shouldn't be without principle. Whenever you have a different opinion, you can kindly raise your idea, but things shouldn't get personal.
Master said at the 2007 New York Fa Conference, "At present, the most important thing is to save sentient beings, save more people! That is the most important thing." I think that no matter how different our opinions are, we cannot delay our saving of sentient beings.
2. Keeping Compassionate
Master told us in "Touring North America to Teach the Fa":
"Think about it, if we ended it today, how many people in China would die? A lot of people correspond to numerous beings in even larger cosmic bodies, so if this ended immediately, how many beings would be weeded out? If due to our inability to clear out the evil thoughts in their heads that are hostile to the Great Fa of the cosmos, and yet many of them represent gigantic cosmic bodies, then how many beings in the universes that correspond to them would die as a result of these people being weeded out? Do you realize how many beings would be weeded out? Have you thought about this?"
When I read historical works, it grieves me to read about the destruction of a civilization. But when I read "Touring North America to Teach the Fa," Master says that if we fail to cultivate well, when we return, our cosmic bodies will be empty, and countless sentient beings will have been eliminated. The mere thought of it is terrifying. It is more than just the destruction of a millennia-old civilization in that case. It is the destruction of a civilization that dates back eons. I thus want to save more beings, and try my very best to do more. Otherwise, when Master says time is over, we might see many lives be eliminated and be filled with regret for not having done enough.
With this understanding in mind as I work to promote Shen Yun, I feel that every life is precious. As a result, no matter what attitude others may have toward me, and no matter how harsh things may be, I can always be happy. It feels great to have righteous thoughts that are not at all impacted by the attitudes of others. And in the other direction, my mental state can positively impact others. Simply put, I feel that my sense of compassion has increased somewhat, and I now want to save more people. I remember once when I was listening to Master's lecture, a sentence lept out of my mouth: "Master, I will forever remember your compassion." I believe that it's not easy for Master to save us, and we should use our compassion as Dafa disciples to save sentient beings.
For three weekends, another practitioner and I promoted Shen Yun outside of a store of a major retail chain. The weather was cold. That practitioner borrowed a table and dressed it up nicely; I set up the TV and displayed posters. When we had righteous thoughts, we didn't feel the cold or notice our hunger. People came to take our fliers, and some signed up for tickets on the spot. The results were very good. At day's end, I didn't feel that I was there simply for the sake of being there. And I managed to do my best without being impacted by everyday people. The sense of being at ease with my conscience made me realize that cultivation is indeed a wonderful thing, and that righteous thoughts can truly allow a cultivator to "find joy in hardship."
Sometimes I felt overwhelmed and tired, and really wanted to take a break. At those times I would urge myself on, thinking: "If you want a pleasant life, is there any place better than heaven? Why would you bother to come to this human world? Now that you've come, what are you here for: to rest, or to save sentient beings?" Knowing the importance of our mission can push me to do more.
3. The Power of Shen Yun
In early December of last year, a coordinator at NTDTV of New York approached me and asked me to write a TV script about Shen Yun. After declining a couple times, and still being asked, I finally agreed to the proposal. The main reason I said no was that I didn't have the confidence in my own abilities.
Master said in "Fa Teaching at the 2007 New York Fa Conference":
"In this dimension it was young people who were performing, while in other dimensions, many of my Law Bodies and many divine beings were doing so. (Applause) The strength of the impact on people, as with the changes it caused in them, were very similar to what happened back when I personally taught the Fa early on. (Applause) So it has effected tremendous changes in people."
I know that all efforts related to Shen Yun are serious. If indeed the performance is similar to Master's Fa teaching, then adding even a tiny bit of personal stuff into it will compromise Shen Yun's power to save people. Yet I felt that as I wrote, I would have to try to express the beauty of Shen Yun's performances, so that the viewer could sense the brightness, compassion, and uplifting power of Shen Yun.
My initial thoughts centered on the difficulty of the project. After I took on the task, I studied the Fa earnestly and tried to clear my mind. Another effort that took place shortly before proved helpful. In that one, practitioners selected audience quotes from the previous year's tour and paired them with select performance photos, which together were published as an Epoch Times publication, called, Astounding the World. I took a day off from work to read the whole publication before I started on my script.
Reading it helped me a lot. Prior to doing that, I had thought: "What do everyday people know? How can their understanding of Shen Yun compare with that of Dafa disciples who have cultivated for a long time?" But as I was reading these people's comments, I could feel in them the change, the excitement, and the joy, of a life that had been cleansed by Dafa. It made me recall how I had felt when I first obtained the Fa. Their heartfelt words and gratitude were from the deepest recesses of their souls. My initial sense of difficulty vanished. What was key to removing it was actually the power of Shen Yun itself. I realized that I would be able to do this task as long as I didn't allow my attachments to diminish this power. The writing process that then ensued was quite smooth.
The book also helped me greatly when introducing people to Shen Yun later on. I memorized the names of the best-known artists who were interviewed and their remarks, and tapped into their artistic achievements and authoritative status to convince would-be-customers who were still undecided.
4. Ticket Sales Miracles
Master said in "Fa Teaching at the 2007 New York Fa Conference":
"As you are Dafa disciples, whatever it is you are asked to do--be it writing articles, distributing materials, or going out to the streets--you can do it well. But it seems that if you are asked to visit potential clients and do sales and marketing, you don't want to."
A fellow practitioner often read this paragraph to me. And every time I read it myself, I felt a bit uneasy, as if it were directed at me.
In late December, our ticket sales in the local retail stores officially began. A few months earlier, a fellow practitioner had asked me if I would wear an emperor costume to promote ticket sales. I thought there was something lacking in my cultivation, and we needed it to save sentient beings, so I agreed to it right away.
On the very first day, after I told a person how wonderful the show was, he promptly bought three tickets. I believed this was encouragement from Master. That weekend the sales went very well. On average we sold over fifty tickets a day. The second weekend, the practitioner who was in charge of our ticket booth was not able to take Friday off of work. I didn't realize it, but I had grown dependent on her, and always thought that she had a lot of experience, along with good looks and pleasant tones. Whenever she told people about Shen Yun, they liked to listen. Although I managed to sell tickets, I saw her as playing the lead role. But that day I could not bank on her, since she wouldn't be there. I would have to depend on myself. After breakfast, before heading out from home, I stood in front of Master's portrait and raised my hands in heshi. I told Master, "Master, your disciple is going to save sentient beings. Master, please strengthen my righteous thoughts and bring people with a predestined relationship to our booth." Practitioners in our group put in a concerted effort, and we had strong righteous thoughts and cooperated well. As a result, we sold more than forty tickets that morning alone.
I had not been a good salesperson in the past. More than five years ago, I worked on advertising for our newspaper for three months. The only thing I achieved then was one signed contract, for a sum of $45. So, this new ticket selling experience led me to conclude that it was not in fact me doing much of it. Thus, the best thing that I can hope to accomplish is to simply not block the path that Master has arranged for people with predestined relationships; the task is to not let my own attachments interfere. The fewer attachments we have, the greater our compassion and the more powerful our words.
This is not to say that because righteous thoughts are important we can take sales skills lightly. Before we started selling tickets, practitioners at our site did a training session. The practitioner who was coordinating things asked everyone to bring to the training whatever clothes they planned to wear selling tickets, and inspected everything--from suits to shirts to ties and other accessories. Three practitioners bought new suits just for selling tickets. Everyone's thoughts were pure. When one practitioner was telling a potential customer about the show, the next practitioner would be sending righteous thoughts. When one person finished speaking, they would switch roles. We regularly discussed our techniques, and tried to use the least number of words to attract passers-by. We tried to describe what's best about the performances in under one to two minutes. When things were slow, we would quickly discuss together what to improve or keep doing. Eventually this kind of smooth cooperation allowed us to hit a record: over 100 tickets sold in one day.
Some elderly female practitioners were not able to be salespersons for various reasons, such as not speaking English, lacking transportation, or other constraints. What they did instead, then, was to help out in many other ways, such as taking care of other practitioners' children, folding fliers, making paper lotus flowers, and cooking for us. Usually we stood all day at our ticket stand at the retail store, from opening until closing. We took no breaks, other than a 10-15 minute lunch break. Sometimes the coordinator would not even break for lunch, standing there for over ten hours straight. After we finished each day, we would share in a happy time together at a practitioner's home, eating whatever delicious meal the older practitioners had prepared for us. Anywhere from two to a dozen-plus practitioners would eat and exchange experiences. It felt like a big family.
5. Sentient Beings Anxious to Board the Fa Boat
Comparing how well our ticket selling at the retail store went and my failure selling ads for the paper in 2003, I realized that the biggest difference was my mindset. In 2003, I regarded selling ads as a business transaction. This time, however, all I was thinking about was saving people. During this process, which was really one of forming predestined relationships with people's lives, we could sense that the knowing side of the sentient beings in front of us realized that this ticket (for Shen Yun's performance) was their ticket to board the boat of Fa, and thus, they cherished it. One lady spent more than half an hour at our table, doing the math. A practitioner was still trying to convince her how good the show was. She said, "You don't need to convince me. I'll buy tickets. I really want to buy tickets for everyone in my family, but I don't have enough money. I'm trying to figure out where I can come up with the money for one more ticket." She then left, but returned shortly afterwards. She said, "I have too many bills to pay and not enough money. I can only buy three tickets. So my family can go see the show, though I won't be able to." We didn't have the heart to watch this, so we said, "Since you truly know how good the show is, let us help you." The Kennedy Center wouldn't allow discounts of greater than 10%, however. Also, we cherished the efforts of Master and our performers, and didn't want to give too much of a discount. But, at the same time we wanted her to have the chance to be saved. We thus made an exception, and three practitioners each put in $10, using their own money to help her buy a ticket.
That story was not a typical case, however. We didn't spend the money merely to give out a ticket. It was because we saw how much this sentient being was longing to be saved. A ticket sold is a life saved.
One time after I had told a family many wonderful things about the show, they still couldn't make up their minds, and were saying that they needed to give it more thought. But they told me with a smile, "You are a good salesman." Watching them turn to walk away, I had a thought in my heart, "Don't leave. I must save you." I said to them with a smile but firmly, "I'm not a salesman, actually. Do you see the four of us standing here? Three of us have PhDs. We are all using our vacation time to be here. We're not simply here to sell tickets. We won't make a penny from selling you a ticket. We're here today to tell you how wonderful this show is. But as for why I do this, and what the show will mean to you, you won't know until you've seen it yourself."
His smile suddenly disappeared. He looked me straight in the eye, with a serious expression. He then turned his shopping cart around toward me, and said, "Okay. I'll buy two tickets."
On our last day at the chain store, I was deeply touched by our last transaction. It was time for the store to close. The rolling gate was down. Only another practitioner and I remained there to clean up. There was a mid-eastern man watching our TV from a distance. I went over, exchanged a few words, and brought him to our table. The other practitioner then began to explain the show to him. At that time we didn't have too many tickets left, and the seats we had were either not next to each other or off far to the side. We asked him how many tickets he would need. He didn't say anything. He looked at the seating charts and left, saying he needed to make some phone calls. After a few minutes he came back and said that he wanted to buy a group of eight tickets for the Friday night performance. He paid for the tickets and stood there counting the remaining open seats to see how many more people he could bring to see the show. This was my only experience that a customer didn't count how many people wanted to see the show, but rather, how many open seats he could fill.
Everyday people also helped us promote Shen Yun. One practitioner chatted with a person for a long time. In the end, he was happy to buy a ticket. After a while he came back and said, "I'm so excited! I didn't buy anything else here. I've been on the phone with my friends asking them to come over as well. One of my friends is on the phone but I can't explain it to him very well. So you talk to him." He then handed the phone to that practitioner. His friend ordered the ticket over the phone after hearing only two sentences from that practitioner. There were many such stories. Practitioners have said that it's almost like when we obtained the Fa--learning of it by word of mouth, people "come one after another." ("Enlightenment," Essentials for Further Advancement)
Looking back at the experience of promoting Shen Yun, I see the compassion of Dafa and its supernormal power. I see the almighty power that comes from fellow practitioners' seamless cooperation. And I see the eagerness of sentient beings who are yearning to be saved.
I remember how one day, as I was having a hot dog for lunch inside the store, I looked at the crowds there and felt moved. There are many people in history who have died for just causes. They made big sacrifices, endured great pain, and even laid down their lives. But even if they had a place in history, what could that do for them? Without Master looking after us, no matter how much, or how well, a person has done, he or she is still but an ordinary person who will continue on the sixfold path of reincarnation. Yet today, because we have Master, we have Dafa, and as long as we put in a little effort, Master will give us tremendous wisdom and the ability to save sentient beings.
My heart cries out: "Master, thank you for saving me! Thank you for allowing me to follow you in saving sentient beings!"