Taiwan Fahui | Eliminating Jealousy While Working for the Media

(Minghui.org) Greetings, Master! Greetings, fellow practitioners!

I would like to tell you my experiences since I began working for the Epoch Times seven years ago. My initial intention was to devote myself wholeheartedly to truth clarification. I sometimes worked all night and into the early hours, but in order to not miss our group exercises, I would take a nap in my office chair. I wouldn't feel tired.

However, my human attachments grew as I worked there longer. My main job was to post our reports on social media 24 hours a day. I worked seven days a week, ready to add new reports whenever they were available. My complaints eventually surfaced—I wanted to have time to rest and improve my skills.

When the other team members began to notice the change in my attitude, they discussed the situation with me. I got what I thought I needed—some time off. But it didn’t resolve my essential problem. I didn’t look inward based on Dafa’s principles and identify my attachment.

My attachments surfaced through conflicts at work, until they were exposed one at a time. I finally realized that my fundamental attachment to gains and self-interest was at the root of my unhappiness.

For example, I only slept three hours a day on workdays, including Sundays. I didn’t calculate my work hours, because all my teammates worked in the same way. We continuously reported on the protests and police violence in Hong Kong in 2019. My entire team took turns working overtime. Not everyone did the same job though, due to the complicated division of work.

Another team member told me that he needed more time to rest. A disagreement made me realize that the situation was due to my jealousy about the unfair distribution of work, not necessarily the number of work hours per se.

I understood that everyone has difficulties and that I hadn’t done everything perfectly. I didn’t communicate openly with him, and instead I complained and escalated it to the administration. I didn’t dig out my hidden attachments. My way of handling the conflict only made it worse. I didn’t let go of my self-interest. Even though I knew that I should cover the hours, I didn’t want to. My jealousy became more hidden.

My jealousy manifested at various levels and in various forms. For example, I felt upset and held grievances when someone didn’t put his mind on his work, when I looked down on someone, when I felt marginalized, when I thought others should endure as much as I did, when I took others’ sacrifices for granted, etc. Even the strongest friendship felt fragile under the weight of jealousy.

Master’s words came to my mind,

“Forbearance is the key to improving one’s xinxing. To endure with anger, grievance, or tears is the forbearance of an everyday person who is attached to his concerns. To endure completely without anger or grievance is the forbearance of a cultivator.” (“What is Forbearance,” Essentials for Further Advancement)

Thinking about how not to become upset, I realized that all these conflicts arose because I hadn’t let go of my attachment to personal interests. I suddenly saw Master’s painstaking arrangements.

Master told us,

“It’s fine for an ordinary person to do something about some ordinary people’s thing. He sizes it up with the reasoning of ordinary people. But you, on the other hand, you have to use higher reasoning to size things up. (The Ninth Talk, Zhuan Falun)

Yes, that’s it! I had been holding onto ordinary people’s reasoning. That’s why my thoughts were ordinary people’s thoughts. As a practitioner I should view the whole picture from a higher level, so that I could go beyond an ordinary person’s realm. That’s the only way to stop being controlled by emotion and shoulder more responsibility.

As I calmly identified my selfish notions and tried to eliminate them, I felt that part of me was dying. I finally had the courage to part with a thirty-year-old notion, which wasn’t part of me to begin with. All of my complaints vanished. I valued my team members. Viewing conflicts from the perspective of personal interests used to put me in the category of ordinary people, but it was much easier to identify and eliminate my attachments when I started thinking from the perspective of a cultivator.

Distributing Newspapers Helps Me Become Diligent

My busy schedule was the excuse I used to skip morning exercises and Fa study. When I didn’t need to work, I enjoyed sleeping in. My attachment to comfort ate away at my will power. I was frustrated to see myself miss Fa study in the mornings, but I couldn’t make a breakthrough.

One coworker was on a business trip and someone needed to take his place to distribute newspapers. I decided to help. I used to avoid this task because I wasn’t sure about my cultivation state. I was afraid I’d oversleep and I was afraid of riding a bike alone at night. I was also worried that I’d have less time to exercise and rest.

I realized that it was an opportunity for me to make a breakthrough. I decided to give it a try. After distributing newspapers for a month, I found that all my worries were simply excuses. Knowing that the newspaper had to be delivered on time, I got up as soon as my alarm rang. Danger? I knew that Master was with me, and my righteous thoughts would eliminate any interference if I cultivated myself well. Willpower was exactly what I needed to work on.

I gained more from distributing newspapers than I expected. I was able to catch up with the speed of memorizing the Fa with my team. After following a fellow practitioner’s suggestion of reciting the Fa when I had to stop at traffic lights, I got rid of my anxiety and even enjoyed waiting so that I could fill my mind with the Fa.

I gradually got used to the new schedule and stopped trying to make up on sleep. I did the exercises and read the Fa right after I finished distributing newspapers. It allowed me to do the three things before I started working. I felt fulfilled if I could accomplish it. My frustration with myself was gone, and I worked smoothly during the day.

I also became modest. Many practitioners had quietly distributed thousands of newspapers for years. I deeply felt the difficulty even though I only did it for a short time. I regret not having shared the work with them earlier due to my selfishness. Any of my little success was due to the groundwork done by many other practitioners. My mission was to deliver the truth at the final section of the assembly line.

Benefits of Doing the Exercises Outside

Master told us,

“Our best method for spreading the Fa is for everybody to do the exercises in groups. We’re only saying that we don’t want to leave out people who have a predestined relationship.” (Teachings at the Conference in Switzerland)

“You claim that you are too busy and don’t have the time. Actually, you are afraid that you don’t get enough rest. Has it ever occurred to you that cultivation is the best form of rest?” (Teachings at the First Conference in North America)

Our office is located in a high tech company district. Many people go out for lunch around noon. A park next to the road is a perfect place to demonstrate the Falun Dafa exercises. The other practitioners and I decided to do the exercises outside during our lunch breaks.

I experienced some amazing things soon after I started distributing newspapers in the morning. If I joined the group exercises right after I finished, I could see light radiating from the ground while I did them. This never happened before I distributed newspapers. I knew that Master must have been encouraging me. I understood from this that some people with predestined relationships with Dafa saw us.

I felt surrounded by an energy field while I did the exercises. I realized that I had the responsibility of safeguarding this field. It’s great for people to see us doing the exercises when they go to work. The beautiful trees in the park seemed to remind us do the exercises diligently. The leaves, seeds and bright sunshine in the fall made for a poetic and inviting scene, attracting people to find out about Falun Dafa.

Many people stopped and watched us, or took information about Falun Dafa. Some passersby gave us a thumbs-up. Some copied our exercise movements. I strongly believe that many people will join us in doing the exercises in the future.

The above is my recent cultivation experience. Please kindly point out anything I have fallen short.

Thank you, Master! Thank you, fellow practitioners!

(Presented at the 2022 Taiwan Fa Conference)