(Minghui.org) After moving to the United States in 2017, I needed to find a part-time job. I had many concerns when looking for jobs. The job could not interfere with making Falun Dafa truth clarification phone calls before 10:00 a.m. every morning. Then, I needed to dedicate time to Fa study and doing the exercises.
I wanted to use my morning hours, as I am clear-headed and productive at that time of day. My family members come home in the evening, which then makes it difficult to have a quiet time. I also needed to take care of my business in Canada during the daytime several days a week. I started looking for part-time jobs thinking that I would leave everything to Master.
Three employers from different industries were interested in me. One employer hired me on the day of the interview. I knew Master arranged it. The job involved both sales and customer service. I had the opportunity to get in touch with upper-middle-class families. The manager scheduled me to work in the afternoons and evenings. My two days off during the week happened to be the days that I needed for my business in Canada. Master arranged everything.
Establishing Karmic Relationships with Clients
There is no coincidence in meeting someone through work for a Dafa practitioner. All the beings we meet are the ones Master wants to save. I come across various types of families, from new immigrants to local residents through work every day. Years of experience in sales for Shen Yun Performing Arts turned me into an excellent sales representative. Even though it was an everyday product, I treated the clients like Shen Yun customers by introducing company products, providing recommendations and helping their families benefit from our products.
Many clients appreciated and noticed the difference between other sales representatives and me, because I always thought of my clients first. When they talked about health problems or their viewpoints on certain social issues, I would introduce Falun Dafa and give them the link to the Dafa website. My clients were glad to get free exercise information. Master arranged for them to get to know Dafa this way.
I never learned everyday people’s sales skills and techniques, I just do what comes naturally. Selling Shen Yun tickets is the best sales experience. I learned to treat people with the sincerity of a cultivator. I was the top sales representative in our department and it has been a year since I took that job. I not only met many sentient beings over the past year but also generated over one million U.S. dollars in revenue for the company.
Establishing a Karmic Relationship with Colleagues
In my department, people come and go. A new colleague would join the department after a former colleague was introduced to Dafa. Master arranged for them to establish a karmic relationship with Dafa. Almost every colleague showed interest upon hearing of a cost-free Buddhist cultivation way. Many of them wanted to learn the exercises. The four exercise DVD's I purchased were not enough, so my colleagues had to take turns borrowing them. I would lend the English version of Zhuan Falun to the ones who seemed more destined.
Improving Xinxing During Conflicts
There are many opportunities to improve xinxing at work. I persuaded a female client to apply for a financial product. When her application was denied, she blamed me, making false accusations for over an hour in front of everyone in my department. I was overwhelmed by this sudden incident. Both my strong self-esteem and competitive mentality surfaced, and I could hardly endure this humiliation. I tried to control myself.
The client was still mad the day after and complained to the manager about me for an hour over the phone. Weeks later, she came to our department and cursed at my manager. Though everyone said that she lost her mind, I am a practitioner, and whenever conflict arises, I am at fault. After looking within, I found my attachment to personal gain. I had continued to push her to get the product despite her unwillingness. I failed to consider her first.
Master said:
”Whenever you encounter a problem, you should first consider whether others can put up with this matter or if it will hurt anyone. In doing so, there will not be any problems. Therefore, in cultivation you should follow a higher and higher standard for yourself.” (Zhuan Falun)
I am not an everyday sales representative, but a practitioner, I should be vigilant about the attachment to personal gain and always consider others first. As soon as I calmed down, my resentment towards this client disappeared.
Getting Rid of Selfishness to Help Colleagues
In a typical sales team other than among sales managers, no one would help other sales representatives given that this is a competitive environment.
All my sales experience comes from selling Shen Yun tickets. Master gave me the wisdom. Therefore, my sales performance was far above that of other colleagues. My attachment to personal gain started to grow when the manager collected weekly sales summaries. I wanted to retain my sales record, therefore, my competitiveness attachment grew stronger.
As some of my colleagues’ sales performances were not satisfactory, the manager would issue warnings to pressure the employees. I noticed some colleagues were struggling and I wanted to help them, but my selfishness prevented me from doing so. I was not that selfish when I first joined the company, and I also did not care that much about my own sales performance. I was solely focused on treating every client with sincerity. I was alerted by this subtle change.
I had the wish to help others, but I did not because of the attachment to personal gain, jealousy, and selfishness. The human notions and attachments were easily exposed. Master said, “Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is the Sole Criterion to Discern Good and Bad People.” (Zhuan Falun)
I could not fool myself. Maybe Master saw my urgency in wanting to remove these attachments and he made this arrangement for me. Soon after, the sales manager said the department sales performance was not good enough due to the lack of teamwork and told everyone to help each other whenever we could. Even everyday people realized the importance of coordination and cooperation. Wasn’t this the perfect opportunity for me to get rid of selfishness?
I received more returns after letting go of the attachment of personal gain. I started helping colleagues with difficulties, telling them about my experiences. A colleague saw me help another one getting good sales performances several times and defended me by saying the clients should belong to me. I smiled and said that colleague needed this more than I. The colleague that defended me did not speak to me much before, but after this incident, our relationship improved. She also became the first one that borrowed the Dafa exercise DVD. Many colleagues sensed my kindness and appreciated my assistance in producing better sales performances. They showed willingness when introduced to Dafa. Co-workers from other departments started borrowing exercise DVDs and Dafa books.
A few days ago, the manager said: ”You know, I said to help each other within the department, but only you and I are actually helping this team. Other people still remain the same.” I smiled and thought that this is because I’m a Falun Dafa practitioner. When letting go of selfishness and helping others, one will receive something much better. One year later, my sales performance is still the best on our team.
Making Truth Clarification Phone Calls to China
It’s been over 10 years since I started calling Mainland China to clarify the truth every day. In the beginning, I experienced a problem – more people hung up the phone before I even started to talk. During the Washington, D.C. Fahui, the speeches of the congressmen at the rally deeply moved me and gave me more inspiration. The congressmen expressed their respect for Dafa, for Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance, and demanded that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) stop the persecution. Their voices of justice resonated with me. I really hope people from China can see it and hear it, too.
I hoped they can see how the Western mainstream society, even the whole world, has such respect for Dafa. Thus, I was determined to use my own words to convey such a picture: “Dafa spreads all over the world. Dafa is the pride of China!” This would be the breakthrough point to my bottleneck. People have listened to the truth all these years, but the cosmos changes, the situation changes, so do the people. Injecting new perspectives from time to time would help to clarify the truth better.
When I got home, I re-organized my thoughts. I put what I saw and heard in Washington, D.C. into the new truth-clarification materials, including the respect of mainstream society towards Dafa and their approval of Dafa disciples’ decade-long peaceful truth clarification. I want my listeners to feel as if they were there to witness the grand occasion. And I have seen results. People listened to my phone calls longer.
A Quiet Listener Touched by My Sincerity
When I made a phone call to a man, I kept talking for over 10 minutes clarifying the truth, but he did not respond in any way about quitting the CCP.
“Sir,” I said,”you know that earlier this year, in Washington, D.C., in front of Capitol Hill, many congressmen joined our rally and delivered speeches. They didn’t come as a higher level official, but as Falun Dafa’s friends to support Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. They did this because they were so moved by Dafa practitioners’ perseverance and kindness.
I continued, “These political elites have been working for over 10 years to urge the CCP to stop the persecution, calling out to the precious Chinese people. Many congressmen said Falun Dafa brought health, moral improvements, and hope to people around the world! It is the CCP that should lose sleep. Lies and violence could not shake the belief of Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance. Practitioners, despite the risk of arrest or worse, continue to face evil with kindness. They never stopped, they never complained. This spirit has moved and inspired people from China, and from all over the world. Many people chose to walk with them. The days for a government of lies and violence are numbered!”
“On the day of the rally, the resounding voice of justice was echoing at Capitol Hill. It was such a historical moment and such a grand scene, I will remember it forever. As a Chinese, I felt so much pride. Justice and conscience are beyond the boundaries of nations, beyond the difference of races. The congressmen truly wanted China to be better, that’s why they stood out calling for an end to the persecution. As Chinese, shouldn’t we ourselves know the truth? Falun Dafa never asks for money or power, nor do they desire political recognition.”
“We are clarifying the truth to help people because Dafa taught us that life is precious, people came from the heaven, everybody came for a purpose, and the gods treasure our lives. I really hope that our precious Chinese people could quit the CCP, keep away from disaster so evil beings won’t be able to implicate us. Heaven is watching. The gods only care about our hearts, quitting the CCP is to show the gods our courage. Will you quit?” I silently prayed for Master’s help. After a moment of silence, the gentleman finally said “okay, okay, I’ll quit. I was moved by your sincerity.”
Benevolent Thoughts Changed a Swearing Man
Another time, I made a call back to a person who sent many profane text messages to us. I looked inward, as to why this happened to me? I realized that I still have the competitive mentality, and the thoughts of differentiating people by their inner quality, I especially do not have enough kindness towards those making impertinent remarks. The root cause of people showing unkindness to me is my own unkindness.
Master said,
“As you know, when a person reaches the Arhat level, in his heart he is not concerned about anything. He does not care at all in his heart for any ordinary human matter, and he will always be smiling and in good spirits. No matter how much loss he suffers, he will still be smiling and in good spirits without any concern.” (Zhuan Falun)
I understood that the people are not only calling out for our help, but also a means to let go of our own attachments and cultivate our benevolent compassion. I asked for Master’s help and cleared my mind, I told myself to use my best attitude to treat this sentient being.
I said, “My friend, after reading your text, I felt that we are being wronged. We are good people but we are so misunderstood!”
Then, I continued to talk about how the former Chinese leader Jiang Zemin's group fabricated the self-immolation case at Tiananmen Square and made up all kinds of lies to defame practitioners. Politicians are so corrupt and doing all kinds of evil. They even harvest organs from living Falun Dafa practitioners. Their ultimate purpose is to destroy people and instill hatred for the Buddhist law. I also talked about the fact that people in over 100 countries respect Dafa.
Finally, I said, “Falun Dafa is the glory of China in this world. As a Chinese living in America, I feel so much pride. Please don’t be deceived by the Party. We were born of the same root, why torment each other? I hope you have a great future and hope you can respect the Buddhist law.”
He finally was awakened and kept saying “I won’t misunderstand, I won’t misunderstand!” I ended the call with blessings.
I didn’t expect people who wrote such profanity would also have a knowing side. If I had held on to my notions, my complaints and impure thoughts when calling him, the result would have been completely different.
I came to understand that people act in different ways. They won’t necessarily say kind words because we are saving them, as the evil is blocking people’s knowing side. Therefore, benevolence is a must. We can’t hold any bad thoughts and let our notions prevent us from forbearing and being benevolent. We are their only hope.
(Presented at the 2018 Mid-US Fa Conference)
