Revered Teacher, respected fellow practitioners:
1. Only by Studying the Fa Well Can One Carry Out Dafa Coordination Well
We started selling tickets in Toronto last October. I was mainly responsible for coordinating ticket-selling booths in Chinese plazas. Four months before the shows began, all the booths were operating only on weekends. One month before the show they were open on weekdays as well. At the beginning, coordinating only one booth was not difficult. When we could not find anyone else, I had to be there. But things changed after three booths were set up at three different locations. The difficulties increased. Each of the three locations needed certain equipment, including a TV set, a DVD player, tables, materials and display boards. I also had to find people, pick up people and every day deal with ticket selling and counting money. I have a full-time job, and I have two children; the young one is only four years old and my husband is tied up with his projects as well. I was running around all day. My 16-year-old daughter commented, "All the time, it's just Mom talking non-stop." Later I thought about transferring one booth to another practitioner for coordination. Surprisingly, she said to me, "I would rather sell tickets every day than be a coordinator." So I had to do it myself.
I was fortunate to obtain the Fa in 2002. Before I began cultivating, everyone in my family had to listen to me. Later, since every one in my family began to cultivate, I tried to correct my behavior about being nosy and ordering others around. This was the first time I had ever been a coordinator. I truly felt the difficulty. But it was a great cultivation opportunity that Teacher had bestowed on me.
One evening, I was calling practitioners for help and I was on the phone for hours. In the end I had no one. One practitioner began to explain to me the details of her week. After she finished talking, I said to her impatiently, "I am not here to listen to what you do every day, save your breath." That practitioner wrapped up our conversation by saying, "Then you don't have to call me for ticket selling anymore. I don't have time."
Teacher said,
"You probably remember something I've said to you often: a Dafa disciple should consider others first in everything he does. Whenever something happens or whenever a situation comes about, even if it's a minor thing, my first thought is of others, for it's already become natural for me--I just think of others first. If all of you can do this, there won't be any of that stubborn arguing in your validating the Fa; if you really have a solid foundation like this and are able to calm yourselves, consider others, and examine yourselves when anything happens, I think you'll be able to handle a lot of things well." (Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Boston)
As a matter of fact, this fellow practitioner has already overcome a lot of difficulties in cultivation. Her husband is a non-practitioner, she has a four-year-old daughter to take care of during the day, she works at our media on weekends, and she has ordinary people's work to do. I didn't talk to her from the perspective of caring about her; instead, only because others didn't follow my plan, I began to complain. When I realized where I had fallen short, the situation changed.
In the morning, as soon as I got to the practice site, there was a practitioner couple, one of whom speaks Mandarin, the other Cantonese. They offered to go sell tickets once a week. There were also two practitioners who speak Mandarin, Cantonese, and English who told me they could help with ticket sales as well. After that, my cellphone rang non-stop, one practitioner after another telling me that they could help with selling tickets.
One morning, while setting up the booth, I was thinking about the other booth that had to be set up and I became impatient. When fellow practitioners asked me questions, I was very impatient, and I thought but did not speak it out, "You don't even understand this." Another practitioner was standing beside me watching. When he saw that I had almost finished, he came up to me and said, "You look so impatient, how can you do a good job in coordinating with such an attitude?" I asked myself, "What's wrong with me?" He continued, "You are hot-tempered, and you think fast, but your words can't keep up with your thoughts. Whatever you think about you expect others to understand automatically. When others don't understand, you get nervous. You can't act like that and be a coordinator." I said to him worriedly, "I understand that I am not a good coordinator. What should I do?" He said, "How come you don't know the answer to such a simple question?" I said hurriedly, "Please tell me what to do right now." He replied, "Study the Fa well."
The practitioner's words woke me up. There are many times that I am fully occupied with things and leave Fa-study behind. Teacher said,
"You should study with a concentrated mind, and you must really be studying." ("To the Australia Fa Conference"�)
When it comes to Fa-study, I couldn't keep a calm mind. While reading the book, I was thinking; "Who should I call to sell tickets? Should I go with the Divine Land Marching Band and report its parade? How should I do a good job in reporting on the Spectacular? Things are piling up. With so many things on my mind, how can I study the Fa well? If I can't study the Fa well, can I do things well?" I had no other choice but to study the Fa more diligently. After I corrected my mindset, I continued selling tickets.
But sometimes it was hard to find practitioners to go to the booth to take a shift and sell tickets. At those times, I would think about giving up the booth. I felt that I couldn't keep up with it any more. Just at that moment, Teacher's Fa enlightened me,
"Actually, if you think about it, the cultivators of the past didn't dare to slack off for even a second, and that was when it took an entire lifetime to complete the journey. So how can Dafa disciples--who are to achieve the Attainment Status of a being who is saved by Dafa and who have the most convenient cultivation way--not be even more diligent when they are given this most glorious honor of Fa-validating cultivation in a brief cultivation period that passes in the blink of an eye?" ("The Closer to the End, the More Diligent You Should Be")
During that period of time, the Divine Land Marching Band participated in many parades sponsored by local communities. After I reported on their events for a few days, I began to complain. It was only a couple of months before the Toronto Spectacular, so in 60 days, the performances would begin. There are 150 members in the band, so if each member could help with the ticket-selling booth for one day, the three booths would have almost been covered. How come it was so hard to find practitioners to help out? When I developed this kind of mentality of relying on others and feeling that things were unfair, sales dropped dramatically. For two weeks in a row, we didn't sell even one ticket.
At that time, when I was faced with this great obstacle in coordinating, I also felt that I needed to share with other practitioners based on the Fa principles. I began to write my understandings on the New Year Spectacular, the current situation regarding ticket sales, and the difficulties we were facing, and I shared with the band members. Then I sent the shift schedules for each booth to them. After everyone became clear from the Fa's perspective, they began to take action. In the following weeks, practitioners who went to the ticket-selling booth to help promote tickets were mostly band members. Until the day before the show began, they took care of ticket selling.
2. How to Cultivate Myself Amid Interference
Two months before the Toronto Spectacular, tickets were selling very well. Right at that time, someone broke into my home. One evening at 11:30, after we came back from Fa study at the University of Toronto, we found our home had been broken into and thoroughly ransacked. That day my husband had left for Ottawa to report on an event. After I reported to the police, I sat there and began to send forth righteous thoughts. I was hoping that the proceeds from the tickets hadn't been stolen.
When the police came, my four-year-old son quickly hid under the table. Because of what he read in the truth-clarification materials, he thought that all the policemen were terrible. When the police officers treated him very kind, he relaxed and went to bed. As for my 16-year-old daughter, the first sentence she said to the police was to ask if they could find her trumpet. Since she plays trumpet in the Divine Land Marching Band. When she found that her trumpet was still there, she was all excited; this was the only thing she cared about. How easy it is for those kids to pass the trial.
As for myself, when I rushed upstairs and found, first, that about $2,700 in cash proceeds from selling tickets had been stolen, I said to myself from the bottom of my heart, "These shameless spies!" When I discovered that all my jewelry was gone as well, I began to realize that I was a practitioner and began to think, "Was the loss of my jewelry something I owed to others and should pay back?" After I calmed down and seriously looked within, I found many of my attachments popping up--zealotry, a show off mentality, pursuit of money, lack of feeling secure, and so on. They were the root cause for this theft.
For example, if one day we had good sales, my zealotry would pop up, and with this show-off mentality, I talked to everyone about it. One morning, when practitioner A was setting up the booth, someone came and bought eight tickets. When I took over for my shift, practitioner A didn't tell me about the sale, she only handed me the money. Later practitioner B told me. As soon as I heard about it, I made phone calls to practitioners to make sure that they all knew about it. I said, "Today, before our booth was even set up, a person came and bought eight tickets. Practitioner A cultivates so well, she doesn't even have a bit of show off mentality." Then, two days later, the person who bought the eight tickets came back and asked me for a refund for all the tickets. Even though I clarified the truth for a long time, he still insisted that he couldn't come to see the show, because he had a family emergency. What I gathered from this episode was, because of my show-off mentality and zealotry, eight people lost their chance to be saved.
Also there were times when I was in a state of only worrying about how to get things done. I forgot about the fact that I was doing the grand deed of saving sentient beings. I would be thinking all day long, "How many tickets have we sold today? How much have we made? Who is going to pay me tomorrow?" As soon as I began to study the Fa and do the sitting meditation, these thoughts kept popping up in my mind. Just as Teacher said in Zhuan Falun,
"While chanting the scripture over there, some monks are thinking in their minds: 'After consecration, how much money will I be paid?'"
Lacking a sense of security is another of my loopholes. I often counted the money at our booth regardless of who was in front of me. One time, a practitioner reminded me, "Watch out for your money in pubic, it's better to be safe than sorry." I replied to her by saying proudly, "This is Dafa practitioner's money, who dares to steal it?"
Master said,
"All kinds of evil factors take advantage of the gaps that Dafa disciples have when there are still attachments or are human thoughts that the disciples haven't detected yet." ("Teaching the Fa at the Western U.S. International Fa Conference")
After I discovered all kinds of attachments, I let go of my hatred as a consequence of the theft. What was left were feelings of guilt and regret. Whether they were spies or thieves, it was because I had an omission, and I was being taken advantage of by the old forces, so they were able to steal a practitioner's money, and commit a sin against Dafa. I hereby would like to say a few words to those who have acted as spies among us, "Hurry up and wake up. Don't do anything to undermine Dafa. Your chances are numbered."
3. Teacher Gives Us Confidence at All Times
A ticket booth located in the Peachtree Center didn't get much attention. People normally wouldn't accept any flyers. One practitioner said to me, "This plaza is not prosperous at all. The whole day, we can't even sell one ticket. It worries us a lot. Some people not only didn't take flyers, but also gave me the cold shoulder." Well, saving people is not easy, but as long as it's what Teacher wants, we will stick it out to the end for sure. As a matter of fact, compared to monks in the old days, and fellow New York practitioners, our situation is much easier. Teacher said in "True Cultivation",
"Did you know that in order to save you the Buddha once begged for food among everyday people?"
Comparing this to the little bit of hardship we suffered, it's really nothing.
After a month, people still barely responded. I was feeling depressed, and sometimes I felt that I wasted practitioners' time. Then I suddenly saw the paper lotus flower placed right next to the TV spinning. I was very excited and moved. I knew that it was Teacher who was giving us courage and confidence.
Even though at the human level, it didn't have a significant effect, however, we have planted this field. Gods only look at our hearts. As long as we have the heart for saving sentient beings, people with predestined relationships will be saved. Later a lady came to the booth and said, "We finally found you. I heard from my friend that this show was very good. I wanted to buy two tickets."
The cleansing effect of that ticket-selling booth enlightened me. One month later, in comparison to the very beginning, people responded better when we handed out flyers. Almost everyone was willing to accept them. Those who didn't accept the flyers said, "I have it already." Or "I know about that already." Or "My friends have booked the tickets for me." After someone read the flyer, he came back and asked, "Will you come back next week? I may come to purchase tickets."
A month after that booth was first set up, even though we didn't sell a lot of tickets, it had a significant role in introducing people to NTDTV and the New Year Spectacular. Many people said that they had never heard about the programs or the event before, and they showed great interest. They normally would say that they would decide after they got home whether to buy the tickets or not. The on-site TV show was very attractive as well and many children didn't want to leave. Then their parents had to buy a DVD for them.
Later this mall became really prosperous. One day after a practitioner had wrapped up the booth, she handed the tickets and money to me saying, "We sold over 50 DVDs and 22 tickets. People have ordered 30 tickets and will come to pick them up tomorrow."
I want to finish my speech with Teacher's poem from Hong Yin II:
Journeying Via The Way
The Great Way travels through the world
Bringing salvation to lives once lost
Thoughts of fame, feeling, and profit gone--
Could any difficulty stop the holy one?March 19, 2001
