(Minghui.org) Greetings, esteemed Master! Greetings, fellow practitioners!
I started practicing Falun Dafa in Canada in 2005. Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye I went from being a new practitioner to a veteran disciple who has practiced for 16 years. I did not experience any dramatic stories or miracles, but I did experience the joy of attaining the Fa, the heart-wrenching experience of removing my attachments, and physical and mental improvement after overcoming tribulations.
When I first began practicing, my understanding lingered at the stage of individual cultivation, so I practiced alone at home for a year without joining other practitioners. As my understanding of the Fa deepened, I gradually realized the urgency of saving people and my responsibility, so I really wanted to participate in Dafa validation projects. I later had the opportunity to participate in different projects but in the end, either the projects were canceled or there were some changes. I felt apologetic that I could not stay until the end for most of them.
I began participating in New Century Films. The project is growing and becoming more professional with the participation of practitioners from the United States, Canada, Australia, Vietnam and other areas of the world. Not only has New Century Films produced many truth clarification films that can reach a wide audience and save many people, but it also provides a stellar environment for cultivation, which has helped me improve significantly.
One day, a practitioner approached me and asked if I could help out in a cameo role. Back then, it was still called the “Canadian Truth Film Group.” Although I was not a fan of movies, I always had a certain feeling about them since I was young. Not long after I began to practice Falun Dafa, a practitioner asked me if I had ever been to the New Tang Dynasty TV station. I thought, “Oh, we have a TV station, I hope I can go take a look someday.” So when I was asked, I immediately agreed. I brought my curiosity and lack of confidence to my very first film shooting.
The scene was very simple. I played a good husband who cooked a nice meal and waited for his wife to come home for dinner. Of course, I didn’t make the food. Fellow practitioners had already prepared it, and it was really sumptuous. At the time I thought it’s really fun to make a movie while enjoying a delicious meal!
In retrospect, the conditions were very basic, but the scene was enough to make me feel nervous. I was just about to put the food in my mouth when I heard “Cut!” I had no choice but to put the food back on the plate and try again. As the scene was shot in the kitchen of a fellow practitioner’s house, the space was very small, and the photographer had to crouch and squeeze into a corner, with sweat soaking through his shirt. After the shoot, I could finally eat, but after looking at a table of cold food, I had no appetite at all. I felt frustrated. On the way home I thought that it really did not suit me, so in my heart I said, “Goodbye to my dream of being an actor!”
I thought that was the end of it, but a few days later the crew called and asked me to re-shoot the scene. This time I was no longer curious or looking for fun. I thought I needed to calm down and treat it very seriously and not cause trouble for everyone. I sent forth righteous thoughts on the way there and asked for Master’s help. During this re-shoot, the scene changed. I performed well, and the shoot was successful. After this experience, I always send forth righteous thoughts and ask for Master’s help. The results were good, so I knew it was all because Master was helping me, and my heart was full of gratitude!
Rectifying My Family Relationships
Since I attained the Fa late, my personal cultivation and validating the Fa are combined. Because my sentimentality is quite strong, this attachment is often exploited by the old forces. My cultivation path was rather bumpy and I had many tribulations. My wife, who is not a practitioner, was not very supportive of my involvement in the project. She especially did not understand why I was filming a movie because she thought I was pursuing fame and fortune, which is odd for someone who is no longer young. Since I work during the day, the filming was usually done at night and I would often be there until quite late. She would get very angry and often called in the middle of the night to make a ruckus. My heart was a little unstable. Sometimes, I could not handle my xinxing well and argued with her on the phone because I was concerned about saving face. I was reminded by fellow practitioners to behave like a practitioner. Our group has an unwritten rule that the site must be kept pure and peaceful. Only films that are created in this kind of atmosphere can save people. Looking around at the kind smiles of fellow practitioners, I was able to calm down quickly.
Afterwards, I looked within and found many inadequacies. I was usually not compassionate enough to my wife. She was the one who took care of many household chores and issues, so she often complained that I was selfish and did not care about anything—I only thought about my cultivation practice. Indeed, many times I felt like I did not want to do anything else, except for cultivation. My family relationships were poor and I performed perfunctorily at work. I appeared to be diligent, but I did not actually do things according to the Fa. Master asked us to practice while integrating as much as possible into ordinary society. People should say you are a good person. Although I knew that we are making films to save sentient beings, I always had a knot in my heart. I felt that this was not my profession. I was afraid that people would think I was not doing my job properly and wanted to become famous. Maybe because I had this attachment this kind of trouble was invited in. One family tribulation was not yet overcome, and new obstacles were already on their way.
My Wake-up Call
I used to work in a government position that was well paid and easy, so I had a lot of time to participate in Fa validation events. I could have done better, but I did not cherish that opportunity. I was involved in several projects at the same time and I seemed to be very busy when in fact, I did not do any of them seriously. I often made excuses that I did not have time to do them properly. I thought I could work in that job until I retired. However, our boss retired and the new boss wanted to reform the company. I was suddenly laid off and forced to face the job market—something I had not done in a very long time. My skills were a bit behind, so I immediately felt pressure, especially from my family.
This change and pressure forced me to wake up. I resolved to deal well with everything and break through my current cultivation state. I tried to maintain my xinxing at home, avoid delaying Fa study and doing the exercises, and continue participating in truth clarification films. I spent the remainder of my time earnestly, preparing my resume and for interviews.
One day, a friend told me about a large U.S. financial company. Shortly after my resume was submitted, the boss called me for a phone interview. He was satisfied with me and asked when I could come in for an interview. I was so anxious to find a job that I said I could come at any time, and he arranged for me to be there the next day. That was when I learned that the competition in this department was fierce, the threshold was very high, and there were four more rounds of interviews. They asked tough questions and candidates needed to write out algorithms on the board along with answering many foundational questions.
I graduated years ago and I had forgotten almost all of my university course content. I had not studied abroad, so I did not recognize much of the terminology. On top of that, I had not looked for a job for years so I needed to prepare, but I only had one afternoon and evening. My wife complained that the time I agreed to was too hasty, because this opportunity was rare and I should have given myself more time. I smiled and reassured her to go with the flow; my job was already waiting for me.
I immediately began looking for relevant information on the Internet, and I really experienced what can be called “divine assistance.” It was truly like I could instantly find what I was looking for, and felt as if my wisdom was suddenly opened up. I was amazed at how well I was able to understand and memorize information at a glance and write it down.
I already had little time to prepare when suddenly, the power in my neighborhood went out. I handled my xinxing well and did not panic. I found a fast-food restaurant that was open all night. I went there and studied until 3 o’clock in the morning, and I was able to finish all of the necessary preparations. The next day, I was full of energy and confidence and I passed all four rounds of interviews. I knew that this was all a blessing from Master, and that Master would help his disciples when they did well in their practice.
After this incident, when I went to participate in shooting films again, my wife no longer gave me so much resistance.
Finally Realizing That Participating in Films Is a Cultivation Opportunity
However, cultivation tests sometimes arrive one after another. Soon after that, various troubles appeared in my family. Because I was too emotional, I was often overwhelmed with many things and struggled to cope with them. I always felt that I did not have enough time, especially when we were filming some big movies or during critical moments of important activities, there were often all kinds of interruptions.
When problems arose, I dealt with them while having attachments, so I did not put the matter of Fa validation and saving people first. Rather, I always put it last, arranging everything in my ordinary life first before thinking about the project.
At the time, I put great emphasis on time arrangement. I hoped that the crew would tell me the filming schedule in advance. However, many of the crew members had their own jobs, families, and various other things to do. On top of that, they had to find locations for filming, so it was not easy to coordinate times. As a result, I was often notified of shooting times that conflicted with my expectations or arrangements, which caused me a lot of trouble. While facing these issues, I did not approach them with an understanding of the Fa, nor did I look for my own problems. Instead, it was the opposite: as time passed, I developed an attachment to complaint.
When we had a new movie to film, I asked for its start time so that I could arrange to take time off in advance. After getting confirmation, I made arrangements for my wife to return to China during that time and visit Japan on the way so that I would not have worries at home. It turned out that there was a change of plans. When I arrived at the scheduled time slot, I learned we could not film the scenes—I could no longer control myself and I lost my temper with the coordinator.
After I got home, I could not calm my mind when I was studying the Fa and doing the exercises. It seemed like one of my selves in my mind kept saying, “How can you be like this? That is terrible.” I realized my problem: I was too selfish. We need to work well together on this project to spread the truth and save people, but I was not doing it for other people.
That night, I apologized to the coordinator. Later on I heard that other people were actually experiencing greater difficulties than me, but they did not treat them as a big deal. Meanwhile, my own attachments were so strong that I was bothered by sentimentality and disturbed constantly, so I was always unable to overcome it.
In reality, the fellow practitioners in the crew were very tolerant with me. I was often late and caused everyone to wait for me. Cultivation is very serious, so participating in Fa rectification projects and saving people requires us to always have righteous thoughts. I noticed that every time we needed to film scenes, if I did not pay attention to leaving early but left with little time to spare, I would run into inconveniences like getting stuck in traffic or having an issue on the subway.
Once, I had to go to a specific location after work to film a scene—it turned out that there was a problem with the subway and it was very slow. Without saying a word of complaint, a practitioner told me to get off at the nearest subway station and she came to pick me up. I did not know how she did it, but I got to the shooting site very quickly. The other co-workers had been waiting for a long time, but thankfully it was not yet dark and there was enough light. I hurriedly got my makeup done and no one complained. The actors immediately engaged in the scene and the shooting was completed smoothly.
On the way home, I wondered, “Why didn’t others encounter traffic jams? On the other hand, why do I face problems at critical moments even when I take the subway on time? Why do I always get interfered with?” Today’s scene was not simple, but it was shot smoothly in a very short time before dark. I understood that the coordination, cooperation, peace, and mutual tolerance of the fellow cast members negated the external interference that was bothering me! Such things happened many, many times during filming. It taught me that as a practitioner, to accomplish my mission well and to be able to save sentient beings, cultivation is really the most important!
I have been involved in this project for so many years. When I look back I feel so many emotions. I have had the privilege of participating in films ranging from short films “Homecoming” and “The Gift” to the medium-length films “A True Friend,” “The Journey,” “To Remember the Fleeting,” and “Code of Revelation,” and this year’s New Year’s Eve film “May Your Wish Come True” and the feature film “Redemption.” At first I thought I was just there to help, I did not expect my participation in validating the Fa was my own path of cultivation! I had doubts about my choice during the process about how effective our films would be, and I even wanted to leave when there was a lot of interference and difficulties. But after seeing the perseverance and hard work of my fellow practitioners and how this team has always attracted me like a magnet, it made me try my best to integrate into the group and keep up with the process of Fa rectification.
Every time we produced a new film, we received immediate feedback from practitioners in China, saying that they were burning CDs for wide distribution. The film that I starred in, “Code of Revelation,” won a special award at the Canadian International Film Festival. Shortly after the festival organizers released the news, their web page was attacked by hackers. This helped me realize that the evil was afraid of our truth films. Afterwards New Century Films went on to win several awards from various international film festivals. The fact that so many ordinary judges honored these truth films, which positively displayed the beauty of Dafa, showed that they saw and understood the truth, and that their hearts were touched. Those who chose to honor the films produced by practitioners made the best choice for their own future. I understand that this is all Master’s encouragement for us to continue to work hard and to do better!
Film is a comprehensive art, and to walk the path well, we must not only improve in cultivation, but also enhance our various skills so that we can do more to save people. This is the principle that New Century Films has continued to follow.
Master said,
“Whatever you do, do it well. In the process of doing things, what’s looked at is your hearts, not your success itself. In the process of doing things you can save people! Your process of doing things is also a process of you elevating in cultivation, which, at the same time, plays the role of saving sentient beings! It is not that only if you succeed in doing that thing can you play the role of saving sentient beings.” (“Fa Teaching at the 2016 New York Fa Conference”)
Before, I only focused on the impact our films had. I now know to pay more attention to the process and the little bits of improvement in cultivation. The various kinds of training to improve our performance also count as cultivation. I used to be ashamed to say that I wanted to be a good actor. Now, I am very proud to say that I am fortunate enough to be an actor, and I want to become a good actor because it is for the salvation of sentient beings. I now understand that this is my mission, it is my cultivation path, and I want to walk it well!
Thank you, Master! Thank you, fellow practitioners!
(Presented at the 2021 Canada Falun Dafa Cultivation Experience Sharing Conference)
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