(Minghui.org) Greetings revered Master! Greetings fellow practitioners!
May 2014 was the first time Shen Yun Performing Arts came to Perth, the capital city of Western Australia. Because it was so difficult to secure a theater and had taken us so long, we really cherished the rare chance to host Shen Yun. All practitioners worked as one body and improved as a whole while promoting the Shen Yun performance.
Although we encountered many tests and interference, with faith in Master and the Fa, local practitioners supported each other and denied the old forces’ arrangements. With Master's help, we had full houses and people were even waiting at the theater for a chance to purchase tickets when the last show started.
I’d like to share some of my cultivation experiences during this process.
Before the Shen Yun performances, Perth had a very important event - the Perth International Arts Festival which lasted three weeks. Several classical concerts and ballet performances were held in most of the government-run theaters.
The audiences attending these shows are also the people who would appreciate Shen Yun, so in November a western practitioner and I began visiting all the theaters and box offices to introduce Shen Yun to the staff. We showed them Shen Yun videos and audience reviews.
The first visits were very successful. The people we talked to were very welcoming, and all the theaters and box offices accepted Shen Yun flyers, those that had space for posters accepted a Shen Yun poster. However, when we re-visited these venues a few weeks later, we found that most of the government-run places had taken the Shen Yun posters down. Some had even removed the Shen Yun flyers.
Some of the venue's staff later told us that, due to the pressure from the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) Consulate, they received notice from their top management not to support Shen Yun. So we visited the CCP's consulate twice to speak to the officials directly, eliminating the interference at its core.
In addition to pressuring the government of Western Australia, the consulate officials had even done things in person to cause trouble for Shen Yun.
The manager of the theater where Shen Yun would be performing received an email from the CCP Consul General in February requesting an appointment to talk about the show.
Fellow practitioners discussed this and we decided to meet with the Consul General. However, the consulate ignored our emails requesting an appointment. A western practitioner and I decided to visit the consulate.
The assistant to the Consul General asked who we were, and after he found out who we were and why we had come, he grew very nervous. He was the person who sent that email to the Shen Yun hosting theater on behalf of the Consul General. He told us to wait in the lobby and he went inside.
A half an hour passed, but he hadn't returned, so we started introducing Shen Yun to the people in the lobby. Most of them were Chinese who came to obtain visas or other help. I gave them Shen Yun flyers and told them where to buy tickets.
Since the assistant hadn't returned, I had an idea. “If no one comes to talk to us, I'll play the Shen Yun videos and introduce the show in the lobby.” As soon as I took out my iPad the assistant returned with another officer who was not the Consul General.
They took us to a small meeting room and told us that the Consul General was not available that day, and asked when we wanted an appointment with him. We pointed out that they had interfered in matters outside their acceptable parameters. Before we left, I gave them Shen Yun flyers and a promotional DVD.
That week, media outlets run by practitioners exposed what the CCP consulate had done to interfere with Shen Yun.
However, the CCP didn’t stopped there. The CCP Ambassador flew to Perth from Canberra in mid-March, met with all the Chinese groups, and publicly told them not to buy Shen Yun tickets.
Members of various Chinese associations told me about this. Local practitioners discussed what to do, and we decided to send emails to the consulate from a different angle. A western practitioner sent them an email, and explained that what they were doing violates international law.
I sent them another email telling them not to continue doing things that harmed themselves and others. For example, I sent them the details of how the CCP embassy in Spain was sued because they interfered Shen Yun.
The western practitioner and I went to the Consulate again just before Shen Yun arrived. Three officers (but not the Consul General) met us in a formal meeting room. The main speaker was obviously in charge of “Falun Gong issues” and said that only the Chinese language would be used in the meeting, trying to prevent the western practitioner from participating, so they could target me.
He started to repeat the CCP's propaganda about Falun Gong. I refuted him on every point and I sent strong righteous thoughts as he talked. Another practitioner was sending righteous thoughts outside the consulate.
Our meeting lasted about twenty minutes. I openly put my iPhone on the table and recorded everything. They kept trying to trick me into saying that we came to threaten them. With Master’s protection, both the western practitioner and I kept our thoughts very clear.
We kept telling them we only came to invite them to see Shen Yun. The official said that it was impossible and abruptly ended the meeting. While we were walking out, the main speaker asked me how long I’d been in Australia. I told him I’ve been here for nine years and shook hands with him.
We left with calm heart - the type of calmness you get after enduring a ferocious storm.
I realized that the negative elements had been neutralized at the core, and they couldn’t do anything more to interfere with Shen Yun. In fact, the Shen Yun performances in Perth didn’t experience any real interference after that. For the last show, the Regal Theater had to find the “Full House” sign which they hadn’t used for more than thirty years.
When the show opened, people stood outside the theater waiting for tickets. The audience survey indicated that we had many Chinese in the audience. We had a similar experience during the promotion campaign. Here are a few examples:
I know a lady from China. She's a volunteer for Western Australia’s biggest Chinese association, and loves music and dance. When I told her Shen Yun was coming, she was very happy and asked me to reserve four tickets for her. However, she canceled them later and told me that the officers from the Consulate told them not to watch Shen Yun, saying that whoever watched Shen Yun would be treated as a Falun Gong practitioner and would be in trouble when they went back to China.
She was scared because she needed to go back to China with her husband soon after Shen Yun was to perform. A few other members from the same Chinese association came to our office one day to buy nine tickets. After helping them I called that lady and told her: “Your colleagues just came and bought nine tickets. Don’t be left out.” She later bought premium tickets.
We met a young Chinese gentleman one day when we were handing out Shen Yun flyers at the state theater. We gave him a flyer and asked him: “Have you heard of Shen Yun? Have you bought tickets yet?” He said he knew about it. He also said that his mother received a notice from her association which the consulate told not to see Shen Yun. However, his mom had already bought tickets.
The day before Shen Yun’s first performance in Perth, I sold six released VIP tickets which were all bought by Chinese.
Today when I recall the whole process, I feel a little bit thrilled. But when we were in the midst of everything, I didn’t feel anything. I just kept thinking about moving forward, moving forward, and being very determined to eliminate all evil factors that could interfere with Shen Yun’s performances.
I just had that pure and simple thought. Maybe this is the state of “melting into the Fa.” In fact, no matter how evil all this interference appears, it’s just a surface trick the old forces are playing. As long as we truly deny it from our heart, it won’t have any effect.
Master told us:
“Of course, we don't acknowledge any of the things that the old forces arranged--I as your master don't acknowledge them, and Dafa disciples of course don't acknowledge them either. (Applause) But after all, they did do what they wanted to do, so there's all the more reason for Dafa disciples to do even better and cultivate themselves well in the course of saving all beings. When you encounter ordeals during your cultivation, you have got to cultivate yourself and look at yourself--that doesn't mean acknowledging the ordeals arranged by the old forces and trying to do well amidst the ordeals they've arranged, that's not the case. We negate even the very emergence of the old forces and everything that they've arranged; we don't even acknowledge their existence. We're fundamentally negating all of their things, and all of, and only, the things you do while negating and getting rid of them is mighty-virtue. It's not that you're cultivating amidst the ordeals they created. Rather, you are to walk your own path well while not acknowledging them, not even acknowledging the elimination of their ordeals' manifestations. (Applause) So looking at it from this angle, what we need to do is completely negate the old forces. Dafa disciples and I don't even acknowledge the manifestations of their last-ditch efforts.” (“Teaching the Fa at the 2004 Chicago Conference”)
I think through the process of promoting Shen Yun, I truly understood and also deeply experienced the meaning of this Fa teaching on a certain level.
When we keep our righteous thoughts truly pure, cultivation becomes really simple. Master said:
“If upon encountering trying circumstances your thinking can be truly righteous, then, when faced with the evil’s persecution and when faced with interference, just one sentence of yours fortified with steadfast righteous thoughts can instantly make the evil disintegrate (applause), and it will make those who are being used by the evil turn and flee, it will make the evil’s persecution of you dissolve, and it will make the evil’s interfering with you disappear without a trace. One thought born of righteous faith is all it takes. And whoever can hold firm that righteous thought and go the distance will become a magnificent god forged by Dafa.” (“Teaching the Fa at the Western U.S. International Fa Conference,” 2005)
Dear fellow practitioners, let us cultivate solidly, follow Master, save more sentient beings, and work together to fulfill our prehistoric vows!
Thank you Master!Thank you fellow practitioners!
(Presented at the 2014 Australia Falun Dafa Experience Sharing Conference)