(Minghui.org)
Greetings, respected Master! Greetings, fellow practitioners!
Unlike previous years, the way Shen Yun was to be promoted this year was a bit different in the UK due to the special location of the theater. Therefore, practitioners were asked to promote Shen Yun in the regional areas assigned to them. I was appointed as a coordinator in the Cambridge area, which was indeed a big challenge for me.
As an ordinary person without coordination skills, I would have simply refused to work with other people. But as a Dafa practitioner, I came to see that it was my opportunity in the course of my cultivation practice, by which Master not only wanted me to be tempered by the front-line duty but also wanted Cambridge Dafa practitioners to improve and be uplifted as one body through the process of promoting Shen Yun to save more sentient beings.
Although we encountered a lot of interference and tests in the project, our belief in Master and Dafa was unshakable. As one body, Cambridge Dafa practitioners, by supporting one another and continually negating the old forces’ arrangements, took every step firmly on the road of cultivation to honor our pledge.
Here is my report of how Cambridge Dafa practitioners were tempered and elevated their xinxing levels in the promotion of Shen Yun.
Part I: Every Practitioner Is an Outstanding Coordinator
By the time I was appointed as the coordinator for the Cambridge region for our Shen Yun promotion, I had run into a dilemma. A few months before, I had accepted an invitation from a German cultural association run by practitioners to hold seven lectures on how to improve health within five days during the Chinese New Year.
I was keen to go there to save as many sentient beings as possible utilizing the fascination of mainstream society with Chinese traditional culture. In addition I was hoping to learn from their experience in the promotion of Shen Yun, since the German cultural association, with lots of interaction with Western mainstream society, had helped Shen Yun Performing Arts take to the stage triumphantly several times, even though there were only five adult Dafa practitioners and two young Dafa practitioners coordinating it.
Unfortunately, I was due to give my lectures at the same time I was to take up the responsibility of coordinating the distribution of Shen Yun leaflets in the Cambridge area. Who could replace me if I left the post? I decided to talk to my fellow practitioners in the Cambridge area about my time conflict problem, and I gained their complete understanding and fabulous support.
A fellow practitioner in charge of a media project offered to undertake the job of coordinating the tedious work of distributing Shen Yun leaflets in spite of the piles of writing tasks awaiting him. Meanwhile, the other practitioners all came to help with the project. In particular, a new practitioner took the initiative to get involved in the distribution of Shen Yun leaflets.
He not only chauffeured fellow practitioners to and from different districts in Cambridge to assist with the leafleting, but also delivered the leaflets himself and arranged for other practitioners to do the same. He told me that he had originally been frail and brash, and that, if he had not practiced Falun Dafa, it would have been an impossible task for him.
Part II: Unwavering, Selfless, and Heartfelt Dedication to Shen Yun Promotion
The trip from Cambridge to the area where we were responsible for delivering Shen Yun leaflets was inconvenient. It would take us about 7 or 10 hours by train or by bus for a roundtrip and only 4 hours by car, so we decided to drive. A new practitioner was the only one of us who could drive. He was ready to take on the job of driver and make it an opportunity to elevate his xinxing. He was quite clear that he had to handle the pressure and stress that came with the job.
One day when we were about to set out to distribute leaflets, the news came that his wife, a non-practitioner, and his two young children were all sick at home. However, he made the decision without hesitation that he would drive us to the area as planned.
Then something else happened to him. The day before he was to drive Cambridge practitioners to distribute leaflets, he fell, and his arms and knees swelled up. He thought to himself that it would be terrible if he could not help the next day.
Soon after he realized that thought was wrong and should be denied. Miraculously, the next day everything went quite smoothly for him physically; however, his car broke down in the rain in the next morning.
He persuaded his wife to take and pick up their children from school without a car, borrowed her car, and drove us as usual to the places we were supposed to deliver the flyers. He said what Dafa required was his first priority, that to treasure Dafa was to treasure his own life.
Because the opportunities to go out by car were limited, we had to seize every chance to distribute Shen Yun leaflets. To save time and improve efficiency, each one of us took a suitcase or carried a big backpack filled with materials to be distributed that day. We went separately from street to street, ignoring the sore legs and aching feet from the long and tiring walk. We took hardship as joy and the interferences were nothing to us as Dafa practitioners, for whom looking inward was the only path whenever encountering tribulations.
A female practitioner, though in her 60s, offered to join our distribution team. Carrying a big heavy backpack filled with flyers, in spite of her aching feet, she went round the streets for the whole day just as the young people did. She felt happy to be able to participate in Shen Yun promotion in order to save more sentient beings. She considered it a great honor for a Dafa practitioner to do something to assist Master in Fa-rectification and that such opportunities would become fewer and fewer in the future.
To help a young couple with two young children get the opportunity to deliver Shen Yun flyers and honor their pledge, she volunteered to take care of their children while the couple got involved in the promotion project. She dedicated a lot of effort to helping coordinate the Shen Yun promotion, which was, as a result, was carried out smoothly and effectively in the Cambridge area.
Seeing our shortage of personnel and insufficient interaction with mainstream society, a practitioner who had been based in Cambridge before offered to help us with Shen Yun promotion.
As she helped fellow practitioners enter mainstream society in Cambridge, Shen Yun ticket sales significantly increased. In the meantime, some Cambridge practitioners offered her a car and the cost of car maintenance and refueling for the promotion of Shen Yun. To get easy access to Birmingham where Shen Yun Performing Arts was going to be staged, Cambridge practitioners offered to rent buses to take the Cambridge audience to Birmingham.
These are just a few examples; each one of our fellow practitioners in Cambridge managed to put down his or her own self and make up for his or her weaknesses to get along with the working group in an attempt to successfully facilitate Shen Yun promotion.
Part III: An Opportunity to Experience Master's Merciful Care and Concern
As long as our hearts are with the Fa, we will never get lost. This is because Master is near us all the time, taking care of us.
I have a poor sense of direction. One day when I reached the entrance of a roundabout in a residential area, I put down my suitcase filled with leaflets by the side of the road. Then I took out a big bag and filled it with flyers. I thought to myself that it would be easier if I carried only one bag while delivering flyers. The households around the roundabout were my first target. I the discovered that behind those households were many paths extending to where we had planned to go to distribute more flyers.
I started to go from door to door in the new area and soon noticed that I was running out of leaflets. If I walked back to the entrance to get more from my suitcase, it would waste a lot of time. I wondered what I should do. It suddenly occurred to me that it would be wonderful if I could use supernatural powers to get more leaflets from my suitcase. Master said in "Teaching the Fa at the Western U.S. International Fa Conference in 2005":
“Human society is in delusion, and people cannot see how the cosmos truly is or the real situation of beings. That's how beings are at this level, but the situation during the Fa-rectification is presided over by Dafa and it changes according to what is required so that Dafa can save sentient beings. The fact is, at this time Dafa practitioners have to do divine things, because for Dafa disciples their personal cultivation is no longer first and foremost. Saving sentient beings and reconstructing the colossal firmament during the Fa-rectification are the purpose.”
So Dafa practitioners have supernatural powers that can be used if the righteous thought, rather than an ordinary person’s thought, is powerful enough. To make the flyer distribution more efficient, I recited Master’s verses or sent forth righteous thoughts while I was delivering the flyers. Now that I had almost run out of leaflets, I asked Master for help so that I would have enough flyers to distribute to every household in the residential area or to allow me to get more leaflets by sending them over to me.
All the leaflets in my hand were gone before I realized it, and no new ones had appeared. I understood that I had to walk back to the junction to get more leaflets owing to my righteous thoughts not being pure and powerful enough.
So I looked around to check the location to make sure I could find the exact place I had left to come back to. Just then, I saw my suitcase lying there across the street! I could never thank Master enough for this most extraordinary and overwhelming blessing!
Part IV: Promoting Shen Yun with the Purest and Most Sacred Mentality
We believed that it was our great honor to be able to participate in Shen Yun promotion, that it was a fleeting opportunity given by Master with immeasurable compassion for us to save sentient beings, and that there would be no opportunity like this again. We had to promote Shen Yun with the purest and most sacred mentality.
Any impure mindset would affect the success of Shen Yun promotion and the salvation of all beings as well. Initially we allowed our practitioners’ relatives who knew a little bit about Falun Dafa to give their help in leafleting, fearing that we could not meet the deadline with our limited numbers. Obviously, we dealt with the problem with an ordinary mentality. As a result, our car broke down on the way back, and it took five hours for us to get home.
Because none of us could drive, we asked a non-practitioner to drive for us. Consequently, the satellite navigation system in the car caused chaos for us and took us further away from our destination. In the end we got back to Cambridge but did not deliver any leaflets.
Due to not being very close-knit in the early stages of promoting Shen Yun, we encountered a lot of interference and problems. For instance, the car satellite navigation system broke down or the tires went flat while we sat in the car talking about things unrelated to Dafa cultivation.
Finally we came to see how serious and sacred Shen Yun promotion is, that it is to save sentient beings! After that we started to study the Fa and send forth righteous thoughts in the car on our way to deliver Shen Yun flyers, and there was no longer a problem. We were pleased to see that both the leafleting and other Shen Yun promotional activities went well in the Cambridge area with the turnout rate being among the best.
Part V: Cooperating with Other UK Practitioners
Although we were short of hands, Cambridge Dafa practitioners still contributed their efforts to helping fellow practitioners in other regions with Shen Yun promotion. Meanwhile, support from other regions poured in for the Cambridge Shen Yun promotion team.
For instance, one practitioner from Cambridge worked as a coordinator most of the time at the center of UK Shen Yun promotion, to keep contact with theaters. Another practitioner from Cambridge moved to Birmingham at the very beginning of the UK Shen Yun promotion. He took a key and active part in distributing the leaflets there and at the same time he offered to cook for other practitioners.
In the early stage of Shen Yun promotion, some Cambridge practitioners thought that, due to the regional arrangement this year, all practitioners based in Cambridge should help with the promotion in Cambridge instead of other regions. By exchanging ideas, we realized that Dafa practitioners in the UK were one body. The success or failure of the UK Shen Yun promotion was a test for all Dafa practitioners, including whether we had abandoned our selfish attachment to parochialism, and, that sufficient support was supposed to be given by us to those who played greater roles in Shen Yun promotion, no matter where they were.
Perhaps it was because we had abandoned the selfish attachment for the benefit of Shen Yun promotion in Cambridge that we got a lot more support from fellow practitioners in other regions, particularly London. Indeed, Shen Yun promotion activities within the urban area of Cambridge were only launched successfully due to support of practitioners from other regions.
In other words, the success we achieved in the promotion of Shen Yun in the Cambridge area resulted not only from the efforts of Cambridge Dafa practitioners, but also from the efforts made by every UK fellow practitioner who had put down his or her self in dedication to the coordination of Shen Yun promotion. It was Dafa that united us as one body. It was Dafa that helped us put down ourselves unconditionally to assist other UK fellow practitioners in the great achievements of Shen Yun promotion.
Thank you, our revered Master!Thank you, all fellow practitioners!
