(Minghui.org) Greetings esteemed Master, and fellow practitioners:

I started to work in the media in 2014. It has been over 6 years, which is not a long time, but it has allowed me to experience the power of Dafa. 

Cultivating and Improving at Work

I have changed a lot since working in the media these past several years. The daily group Fa study and the media environment have helped me a lot. It has allowed me to gain a new understandings of the Fa.

When I first interned here in Chinese NTD Television, I spent a lot of time talking with my friend on the phone. I was an intern for 6 months. I was not a good intern. During the first few months of learning and working, it took me a long time to finish my work. Now, I can finish it in no time. 

During my internship, I felt bored and restless in the office. I wore casual clothes and made many mistakes. My first assignment was to edit video in the Chinese News Department for NTD. I had to learn from scratch. Some practitioners said that I couldn’t stay here long and that I wouldn’t do well.

Fortunately, the NTD News Department has a daily group Fa Study. The media changed from 5 work days to 6 days during that time. So the NTD News Department would work on Saturdays.

When I tried to fit into the cultivation environment, I found myself changing – maybe because I wanted to do well. With a changed mindset, my surroundings started to change. Gradually, I became better at my job. Practitioners on my team taught and helped me patiently. I tried to add some design elements after my basic video editing.

I knew I lacked the basics, so I needed to work harder. I studied video-related information a lot in my spare time. In my opinion, if our media wants to be professional, first and foremost, the practitioners in the media need to become pros. My supervisor gave me many opportunities to try new things. I felt that I improved quickly due to the hands-on experience. I started to train others. Later, I did some promotional videos, feature stories, music videos, packaging, templates, etc. I know that all these improvement are due to the wisdom I gain from the Fa when I have the right mindset – not because I’m smart.

Master said, 

“So in other words, whichever field you might be in, when you are able to improve your skills, that is a reflection of your having continually risen in realm. And people can see that you are a good person and someone who cultivates his or her heart and mind. From the vantage point of human beings, you are becoming a good person. As a result of studying the Fa and cultivating your inner self, you do better and better, and gods give you the wisdom you deserve and give you inspiration so that you can come to realize a lot of things while you study, create better things, improve your technique, and reach beyond.” (Teachings at the Conference in Los Angeles)

Growth of Media Shows the Power of Dafa

During the initial phase of NTD Television, I also heard a lot of comments from practitioners about our media, like, “this isn’t reasonable,” or, “that’s not appropriate.” Over time, as we developed, some practitioners in the media thought our changes were too big, or they didn’t like how the media handled things, or didn’t like their job assignment, etc. They left the media. What a pity!

Actually, I learned that often it is not that management doesn’t have a plan or that something is a bad arrangement. For instance, in the NTD news department, changes happen faster than our plans. Whenever news breaks, the news department follows and reports relevant stories, and finds a way to clarify the truth. Therefore, practitioners are required to act fast, contribute ideas, and even work overtime to make it happen.

My supervisor and I started at NTD in 2018. At that time, there were just 3 people in the team: my supervisor, I the video editor, and an intern who also volunteered at the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party truth-clarification spots. At the beginning, we worked with the Epoch Times digital team. The beginning is always the hardest. We started with a daily 5-minute video, then a longer video, and then with on-camera host practitioners.

During these several years at NTD, I worked with the very first episodes of many of our TV shows. I laid out the show structure, my supervisor edited it, then gave them to team members, or took them to another team for improvement, etc. Sometimes, I couldn’t bear to see myself working this hard: Why do I always have the hardest, beginning phase of work? Then I would use Master’s words to answer myself, “Working hard is part of your cultivation.” (“20th Anniversary Fa Teaching,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. XI)

Slowly, NTD is getting better, as more practitioners have joined. Now, the editing team alone has almost 20 full-time and part-time people, and a dozen interns. Within two years, we’ve had several live streaming shows and news shows. We are on cable TV in parts of the United States and Europe.

Certainly, we are still far from Master’s requirements, with lots of room to improve. But, seeing that NTD has grown this fast in such a short time is amazing. I understand, as a Dafa disciple, that if we cooperate wholeheartedly, as long as we have good intentions, we can still succeed with little experience. That’s because we only contribute on the surface – it’s really Master’s work. During this time, the arrangement of supervisors, cooperation between different departments, and the efforts of all practitioners involved are amazing.

Master said, 

“Sometimes when you folks think about an issue you form a type of habit--"I want to do such and such thing... here's how I'm going to do this thing... here's how I'm going to do that thing." You ponder over it a lot and, well, to the point that you feel you've covered everything in a satisfactory way. But when you get down to doing that thing, the real, actual situations can vary in a lot of ways and your plan won't actually work (laughs). And when it doesn't work, you start to ponder it again. That's not how you should do things. Have righteous thoughts! However you think something should be handled, just go ahead and do it, and when you run into problems you will naturally know how to solve them. If your righteous thoughts are strong, everything will work out smoothly and it's guaranteed you'll do well.” (“Teaching and Explaining the Fa at the Metropolitan New York Fa Conference,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. III)

Expanding Coordination Capacity

As NTD grew, more people joined. My supervisor asked me to be in charge of the editing team, and some coordination work. The members of the editing team are basically young, newcomers who just came out of China. I had no experience in coordination. When everyone works together, we learn from each other. But, we will also have conflicts.

One morning during Fa study, I read Master’s words in “What is Forbearance (Ren) ?” in Essentials For Further Advancement. The first sentence is “Forbearance is the key to improving one’s xinxing.” It suddenly occurred to me that the key to improve xinxing is to endure. Immediately the test came.

One day in the office, I saw a practitioner working on his immigration paperwork. It so happened that I was also working on my own immigration paperwork. This practitioner saw me coming over, then asked me how I handled a particular issue. I told the practitioner what I’d done. While I was talking, another male practitioner said loudly, “Don’t you listen to her!” Then he began to say that it should be handled in a certain way, etc. 

I was very embarrassed. Suddenly it was very quiet. No one was talking. I didn’t know how to react, and said to that practitioner, “You should listen to him, maybe I could be wrong.”

I went back to my seat – biting my lip. Staring at my screen, my heart was racing. I thought that that male practitioner was rude to speak like that. He was so loud. There were other team members in the office. How would others think of me? In addition, I am the supervisor. Logically, I understood that worrying about others’ opinion and criticism, saving face, and the vanity of being a supervisor are things I needed to let go. It doesn’t matter if he’s right or not, or how he talks. If I am moved, I need to let it go. 

Therefore, I kept repeating the Fa that I just learned, “Forbearance is the key to improving one’s xinxing.” (“What is Forbearance (Ren) ?,” Essentials For Further Advancement) I worked on not exploding. I also knew that I needed to endure, so I could improve. This was Master helping me to improve. Since I had enlightened to this level of the Fa, I needed to endure. Even though I felt I’d been wronged, I had to endure without tears or anger.

I stayed put until noon. Then I took a walk outside. Once I stepped out of the building, I began to cry. I thought I was wrongly accused. My husband consoled me, “You need to maintain your xinxing. Don’t lose this opportunity (to improve),” he said. I nodded and cried at the same time. I felt miserable. After crying through the entire lunch break I felt better and went back to work. Afterwards, I mentioned this test to my mother, who is also a practitioner. My mother said that the being that felt miserable was this thin layer of being formed by human notions; because it was being removed through cultivation, that being was miserable.

I shared with everyone one weekend, and that male practitioner responded that he meant no harm. He simply thought he had a better way of handling things, so he asked others not to listen to me. I told him, in the future, if he encounters similar situations, could he speak in a polite way? I suggested that he could say, “Maybe we could also do it another way...” Otherwise, I said, it could easily hurt others’ feelings. That practitioner accepted that. However, my test with him was not over yet.

At one point, we needed to add one more step into our editing work. I knew a practitioner on another team who was very experienced. So I invited that practitioner to train everyone. After he explained everything patiently to us, I thanked the trainer. Others said thanks too. However, that male practitioner suddenly yelled, “I am doomed!” – because now there would be one more step in the procedure, and that step was awkward. I said to myself, but this is the best we can do at this moment. 

I also wondered, what would the practitioner from the other team think of us? After a long training, it was followed by “I am doomed!” After such a detailed explanation, there was this negative comment! What kind of negative emotions would it evoke in the team? Maybe some team members thought that the training was great, but upon hearing this, they might change their mind. The more I thought of this, the angrier I got. I didn’t think I could manage this practitioner. I talked to my supervisor and said that I didn’t want to coordinate anymore.

After my supervisor was told all the details, my supervisor called everyone for a meeting. With this incident, and this male practitioner’s bad behavior in the past, my supervisor wanted to discuss with HR and transfer him to another position. However, other team members began to plead with me not to let him go. I was surprised! This practitioner had so many bad habits. Why would everyone like him so much? I asked myself if I could be wrong? Was it I who couldn’t tolerate others? Why would everyone try to keep him? Everyone’s pleading gave me a buffer. I started to look inside: why was I always at war with him?

I realized that I had this mentality of looking down on others. I didn’t agree with some of his behavior. I had some bad notions about him. Maybe, because my mentality was so strong, he would demonstrate more of the bad behavior that I looked down on. Then, I would even dislike him more. This was a vicious cycle. That’s what the evil wants to see happen. As a practitioner, we should differentiate between good and evil. I thought that Master would definitely want me to do well in coordination, and cooperate well with everyone. 

I thought, if this practitioner really leaves, since my team was already short-staffed, then how could we grow? Everyone worked hard to grow our English media. But due to my narrow-mindedness the project was impeded. Then had I, myself, become an impediment? There were many practitioners of similar age in the team. With a good environment, this male practitioner could change. He was not a bad person at all. I believed that there must be a reason for him to work here. He’s Master’s disciple and Master would also want him to do well. I realized that I needed to expand my capacity. So I asked my supervisor to keep this practitioner on and give him another chance. And I would cultivate myself better. In the end, he stayed. After this, I noted that he actually had many strong points and cooperated well with others. Just on the surface, he needed to break some bad habits.

Afterwards, I realized that I needed to increase my capacity, not to show off, but to strengthen the team and let everyone play to their strengths. This way, everyone could improve in cultivation and fulfill their vows. That’s what Master wants!

Making the Best of the Situation

Besides editing work, I was also a show host. After I transferred to another position I kept some host assignments within the Chinese team.

Last year, the CCP virus was rampant. Media management wanted to have a show exposing the CCP’s cover-up of the virus. My supervisor asked me to host the live morning news. The show was one hour long. The host needed to ask questions face to face. I felt that was a bit of stretch. But since I was asked, I agreed to try my best.

In our viewing audience, there were many Chinese who used VPN to watch our shows. They were very grateful for our media. There were many good comments afterward. Among those comments were words of support and encouragement directed at me.

In the beginning, my partner host was afraid that I might develop attachments. Thus, whenever he saw someone praising me in the comment section, he would delete it. In fact, when I was doing live streaming, I would open the chat box and I saw those deleted comments. For myself, I know that I had lot of room for improvement, and I was very humble at work. So of course, I was glad to see good comments.

One time I was doing the second exercise (“Holding the Wheel”), and I couldn’t calm down when I thought about all the praise I’d gotten, and I even felt quite arrogant. On reflection, I was startled, as because of my attachment, I couldn’t improve in cultivation and there was no mighty virtue in the Dafa project. Most importantly, this attitude impeded the saving of sentient beings. Because my xinxing was not stable, Master’s meticulous arrangement could have been forfeited. 

If the show didn’t have a good effect on saving sentient beings, that would be a waste of Dafa’s resources. The efforts of all cooperating practitioners could have been wasted because of my impurity. The more I thought about this, the more fearful I felt, and I didn’t know what to do.

At that moment, I heard Master voice, “Gradually put down...” I thought, oh, now it’s time to change the exercise position to “holding the wheel in front of the lower abdomen.” I opened my eyes in surprise. There was no one besides me. But Master’s words “Gradually put down” were so real. It seemed that he was in front of me, talking to me loudly. That sentence – “Gradually put down” – was Master directly telling me to let go of all these thoughts. I was weeping as I did the second exercise. Master was indeed by my side. Master knows all my thoughts.

Master is also guiding me. I came to understand that Master asked me to just gradually put down my thoughts. I need not worry. I should think of nothing and just focus on doing the exercise. All those bad thoughts would gradually disappear.

Master said, 

“When a person harbors resentment it’s because he has grown fond of hearing pleasant things and having things go well. And then when things don't go that way, he resents it.” (“2018 Fa Teaching Given in Washington, D.C.”)

When I studied this lecture, I acknowledged many things. The attachment to good comments is not only the embodiment of “attachment to one’s self,” “attachment to fame and money,” and “attachment of zealotry,” but also the root of resentment.

In this lecture, Master also explained how to get rid of resentment.

“I have always taught that a practitioner should look at things in the opposite way of how people normally do. When things go badly for you, you should see it as good, and understand that it’s meant to help you rise higher. [You should think,] “I’ve got to handle it well. This is a test for me to cultivate through, another test.” And when things go well for you, you should remind yourself, “I can’t get too happy. When all is well, I can’t improve and can easily slide downward.” So to cultivate you have to look at things in reverse. But if you always push away and reject the difficulties and unpleasant things that come your way, then you are refusing to cultivate through your tests and turning down chances to make progress, aren’t you? The persecution we face is a different matter, of course.” (“2018 Fa Teaching Given in Washington, D.C.”)

I realized that I needed to follow Master’s words. If I am happy, I should remind myself not be overjoyed. If I encounter difficulties, I should deal with it. Then, I will have a balanced mindset, as there would be no room for resentment.

Doing the live streaming is very tiring. Every morning, I woke up around 4 a.m. and combed through the news. Then, I took the bus to work around 5 a.m. I ate my breakfast while doing makeup, wrote my script, and discussed issues with my partner host. At 9 a.m. the live streaming started and it finished at 10 a.m. Afterwards, I removed my makeup, and then did Exercise 5. At noon, I joined the Fa study. In the afternoon, I started to work on NTD issues until 6 or 7 p.m. Then I went home. At 9 p.m., I organized the next day’s news. I went to bed at 11 p.m. The live streaming happened 4 days per week. Several months of this went by quickly.

My partner host sent out the topics around 1 a.m. or 2 a.m. Because he followed the news closely, he did not have a good night’s sleep. He would sleep for a while, wake up to watch more news, then go back to sleep. Our live streaming support team was also like that – we worked 24 hours, non-stop.

Looking back, that period of time was very precious. When the virus was most rampant, most show hosts for ordinary media worked from home. But we kept working in the office.

Cherishing the Cultivation Environment

Because I work with a Chinese team and NTD, I couldn’t handle things in a perfect or timely manner. Fortunately, the team now has a new supervisor who took over part of my responsibilities. Now I can do more host work. I started with no experience. But now, every week, besides assisting NTD, I did four days’ live streaming, and three cultural shows. I have changed a lot due to hints from Master, as well as sharing with my family, and the media cultivation environment.

Several years ago, Master requested that our media have face-to-face Fa study every day, and I benefit from the daily group Fa study. We began with two or three practitioners within the team. Now, we have two Chinese group Fa studies at two fixed time slots. Other practitioners from other teams also study together.

On the weekends, we sometimes have group sharing. At the beginning, one practitioner said her previous group sharing was like group criticizing. Everybody talked about their attachments, then they would cry. Every week was like that. She felt that kind of sharing was a formality.

In order to help everyone remove human notions, I would share first. I exposed my own attachments and shared my changes and enlightenment at work or from Fa study. That served as an introduction, and everyone would use the same format. Now, all members share more, and look inside. I noted that I could learn something from everyone. They have different strong points and different understanding of the Fa. I benefited a lot from this. The cultivation environment is, indeed, very important. Other people are our environment, and we are also others’ environment.

I believe that if we see practitioners not being diligent, then we should ask them to join our Fa study, exercises, sharing and Dafa activities. It’s just as simple as asking, “Hey, do you want to join us?” Even after they join, we might not see any changes in them. But for them, this is very helpful.

Before I left China, one day, my father took my cousin and me to another city to take part in a Fa reciting event for young practitioners. There were children practitioners, young practitioners and parent practitioners in a practitioner’s house. Everybody took turns reciting the Fa. Some kindergarten practitioners could even recite Master’s new lectures. At that time, I was in college. I didn’t study the Fa a lot, much less Master’s new lectures, and I didn’t memorize the Fa. However, these children could recite whichever new lecture you asked them to! Some naughty looking children could recite an entire subheading from Zhuan Falun! I’d only prepared a short lecture and couldn’t finish reciting it. 

Though I was not inspired to be diligent by this event, it made a huge impression on me. I knew I was far behind when compared with other practitioners. I always said to myself, I need to cultivate better.

Nowadays, if I can make it to Dafa activities, I will join. Two years ago, I couldn’t join the character forming event due to work. After work, I went to the event site to send righteous thoughts. I don’t know how many opportunities I might have [to attend Dafa events like this]. I feel that it’s a precious opportunity for me to attend Dafa events. When I was still in China, I saw photos of Dafa events, and I felt envious. I really hoped that I could be part of such events.

Conclusion

On my cultivation path, I feel the meticulous arrangements of Master. In order to do well in the media, to me, the most important thing is to have the heart to do well, and to believe that you can do well. The fundamentals of our belief actually come from the Fa. Studying the Fa more is the guarantee for us to save sentient beings.

Master said, 

“Just focus on reading the book and cultivating, and you will be constantly improving yourself and continually enlightening to heaven’s secrets. The laws and principles of the Fa are themselves enough to fill you with confidence.” (Teachings at the Conference in Switzerland)

I hope that all of us can stride forward on the path and “...help Master in Fa-rectification...” (Teachings Given on Lantern Festival Day, 2003). In the future, we can smile and tell our cultivation stories to the sentient beings.

Thank you, Master and fellow practitioners!

(Presented at the 2021 Epoch Times and NTD Media Fa Conference)