(Minghui.org) Greetings, revered Master! Greetings, fellow practitioners!
For the past 15 years I have dedicated myself to validating the Fa and clarifying the facts about Falun Dafa. In this way, I have tried to follow closely the progress of Fa rectification.
Throughout the years, I have been disciplined about studying the Fa and practicing the exercises, and they are my daily morning routine. I have also worked hard to do the three things. In the process of validating the Fa and clarifying the facts, a lot of my attachments have been exposed.
As I have become more capable in doing more work, different human attachments have surfaced. Most noticeable have been my attachments to doing things, to competition, and to fame. I have also become very opinionated. Therefore, I have faced regrets, hardships, and tribulations due to not knowing how to look into the root of my attachments.
Master taught us in Zhuan Falun:
“To tell you the truth, the entire cultivation process for a practitioner is one of constantly giving up human attachments.”
Master also said:
“Has it occurred to you that everything in your daily life is part of cultivation? Your every word and action, and everything you do—all of it is part of your cultivation. Do you realize that?” ("Fa Teaching on World Falun Dafa Day")
On the trade show/events team, our objective is to promote Shen Yun Performing Arts to mainstream society and to create brand awareness. That provide us with great opportunities to introduce Shen Yun by talking face-to-face to the right target audiences.
We propose business opportunities to organizations in the way of partnership-cross promotion to use our own media resources at no cost to the Shen Yun marketing budget. This approach gives us the chance to contact CEOs and management personnel at the decision-making levels, to introduce Shen Yun and Shen Yun media partners, and to discuss business proposals.
Along the way, we come across many predestined people Master has arranged for us to save. I usually follow up with phone calls after I email proposal letters introducing myself and our media. At one time I called the founder of a charity organization getting ready to host a black-tie gala dinner.
She said, “I have looked at the Shen Yun website you sent me. The music and the dance are very soothing, and they put me instantly into a meditative state. Usually you have to be a donor or a sponsor before we can promote you at the event, but I will make an exception for you. We have confirmed that 480 guests will attend the gala dinner. Can you give me 480 flyers to hand out to the guests that night?” I asked her how she sold so many tickets to her event, and she said it was mainly through support from corporations.
Another organizer I contacted said: “I'm sorry. Our event is a business awards night, and the roster is full. It is a bit late to add yours, but I am on the board of several other organizations. The show sounds amazing, so send me something about it. I will promote Shen Yun on my social media page and other organizations that I am in.”
It is not difficult to promote Shen Yun to the management of big organizations. It is a matter of fine tuning the approach, and making them feel we are there to help them connect their business with the Chinese community through the Epoch Times, the biggest Chinese media in Sydney.
Master has paved the way, and we have the best product – Shen Yun. All we need to do is to find the predestined people and introduce Shen Yun to them. Behind each person we meet are huge networks of people and organizations.
This year, with more than 10,000 tickets, it is important that every practitioner find where his or her area of expertise in promotion can best be applied. Even with a small promotion budget, I believe that when we all elevate our cultivation states and cooperate well (and with the wisdom bestowed upon us by Dafa and with Master’s help), nothing is impossible.
I realize that every tribulation is for me to elevate my xinxing. When disappointment arises, I remind myself to keep my thoughts on the Fa and eliminate any thoughts toward fellow practitioners. I understand that I cannot use my own standard to judge other team members since I do not have to go out to work like most of them. Instead, I am allowed to work full-timet to promote Shen Yun, so naturally I can take on a much greater workload.
It is a challenge to constantly maintain a good cultivation state under the pressure of deadlines and xinxing tests, and I do not always manage and balance it well. It is only after I have gone through ordeals that I realize where I have fallen short. However, with these new understandings, many things often become easier. In this way, being a coordinator is not as daunting as I used to think it was.
When we began our promotion activities, there was a problem communicating with one of the practitioners in my team. I was a bit disturbed by the way she handled things while not communicating with me. When I looked within, all I could think of was how “she is wrong and I am right.” My head was full of reasons justifying how I felt about her.
I looked at the list of events coming up, and I thought about the predestined sentient beings arranged by Master to see Shen Yun from this list. I would be partly responsible if I did not do well as a coordinator on this team. I then asked Master for help and guidance on how to be a good coordinator. Words from Hong Yin III came to my mind:
“Who’s Right, Who’s Wrong
As a cultivatorOne always looks for one’s own faults’Tis the Way to get rid of attachments most effectivelyThere’s no way to skip ordeals, big or small[During a conflict, if you can remember:]'He’s right,And I’m wrong,'What’s to dispute?”
Suddenly all the negative thoughts I had about this practitioner disappeared, and I started to see only the positive side of her and her valuable contributions to the team. I apologized to her, and I said that it was entirely my fault for not communicating well with her. It further reminded me of what Master has taught us: “Cultivation is up to you, gong is up to the master.” (Zhuan Falun)
I realized that, in order to be a good coordinator, I must first apply a higher standard to myself, and to remind myself to be more considerate, tolerant, and willing to take on more work than others. It also requires letting go of “self,” layer by layer, like peeling an onion.
And to do well in promoting Shen Yun, maintaining harmony within the team is of utmost importance. After all, it is Master who is doing Shen Yun, and we know there is nothing Master cannot do when we meet the standard of what is required of us based on the Fa. Furthermore, Shen Yun promotion is a great cultivation opportunity for us to work together to form one strong, formidable body.
We approach organizations with proposals, and it is our responsibility to ensure that the confirmed proposals are carried out and delivered. I used to get very upset when a practitioner did not deliver what he/she promised, and I would feel resentment towards the practitioner.
A few weeks ago, we had a deal to publicize a charity event on the social page of one of our magazine medias. When the time came to honor our commitment, I was told by the magazine editors that I had to write the article and do the layout. When I asked one of my team members if she could help write the article, she said that she had already written a similar article for the newspaper. The magazine editor said it was too long, so they could not use it. When I asked the practitioner if she could shorten it, she said no, that she did not have the time.
When no one was willing to compromise, and as the deadline to submit the article drew closer, I worried about how to handle the situation. But I stayed calm and reminded myself to keep my thoughts on the Fa. I knew that this was just a test for me to cultivate. Then it hit me: I could ask another practitioner with experience in writing articles to write one in English for me, and then I could get it translated into Chinese.
After I checked with the magazine, they gave the go-ahead, and the practitioner was happy to help without any hesitation. I then spoke to the CEO of the charity event and asked if there was anything special she would like me to mention on the social page of the magazine. She emailed me several things, and the practitioner just had to tidy the article up some. I then went through the hundreds of pictures of the event that the client had sent me and picked out 30. I sent them and the article to the magazine, just in time to meet the deadline.
Because everyone cooperated so well, the field was harmonious and everything just fell into place. On top of that, it was amazing that out of the 30 pictures I sent, the magazine decided to publish the 5 most important ones, without me even mentioning it. At that moment I felt Master there watching over me, encouraging and helping me. Thus, a potentially big problem was resolved easily. It was just as Master said in Zhuan Falun:
“And when you can really do it, just like that worn and weary traveler, you’ll see, 'the shade of willows, the blooms of flowers, a place to rest my head!'”
The CEO was very pleased. She wrote to me and thanked me for going out of my way to look after her. She also said she would like to help promote Shen Yun within her network.
Above are my recent experiences in being part of the Shen Yun coordination team. Please kindly point out anything that is inappropriate in my understanding.
Together we can fulfill our prehistoric vows and improve as a whole.
Thank you, Master. Thank you, fellow practitioners.
(Presented at the 2014 Australian Experience Sharing Conference)