(Minghui.org) Greetings, Master! Hello everyone!
I help run a self-media program with other practitioners. I would like to tell you about my cultivation journey while producing the show. After I started producing the show, I felt even more strongly that nothing happens by chance. Every step we take is under Master’s care, who is always by our side.
Master said,
“From the beginning of heaven and earth, never has there been the grand cosmic phenomenon of the universe’s Fa-rectification; and from the beginning of heaven and earth, never have there been Dafa disciples. Master created this splendor and has led you to enter this historic moment. You should cultivate yourselves well, display who you are to your heart’s content while saving sentient beings, and do even better!” ( “Fa Teaching at the 2019 New York Fa Conference”)
When I first read this Fa Master taught, I felt greatly encouraged and thought, “Master has given us a grand stage to save all sentient beings. How fortunate, outstanding and gracious this is!” At the same time I also felt that once Master said it, there might be an arrangement for the next step.
Soon after, the CEO and other senior staff approached me and a few others to do self-media. I thought, “All this is really not a coincidence.” In the beginning I was a little excited and overwhelmed by the idea of doing self-media. I was faced with topic decisions and countless ways to present them—which one fit me and which one would get the channel going quickly.
Using Every Event to Clarify the Truth
The program launch coincided with Hong Kong’s protests against the extradition bill, which started almost at the same time, so the talking points were quickly decided. Everything was arranged, even the timing of the start of the program seemed very orderly.
Now it seems that Hong Kong’s anti-extradition campaign was the first step in a global “great awakening” to the [true face of the] CCP (Chinese Communist Party), followed by similar events—the CCP virus, the U.S. election, the coup in Myanmar, and now the CCP’s civil and military attacks on Taiwan. Every event is a headliner, every event is tied to the CCP, so we can use it as an opportunity to clarify the truth, and awaken the world.
Master said,
“It should also be said that however the world may seem to be, all of it is in the hands of gods, and there is an order to everything. Whatever chaos there is, is in fact made to be such by gods, and there is an order amidst the disorder. If you have doubts, then observe all of this carefully and see. Here, however, it is Dafa disciples that are to play the lead role. All beings are waiting for you to save them. They are providing you with circumstances in which to cultivate, and at the same time waiting for you to save them.” (“Dafa Disciples Must Study the Fa,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. XI)
Perhaps the use of self-media to clarify the truth today was planned long ago. Looking back, many of the things we did in the past, under Master’s careful arrangements, paved the way for the current channels and nothing was coincidental or in vain. One event was linked to another. For me personally, from my professional background to the various skills I learned in the media, all have become cornerstones of the show.
Because of my education and journalistic background, I was able to do everything from writing to editing, interviewing, and thumbnails. It helped the program get off the ground quickly. At that time there was a lack of manpower—if you did not know how to do all of it, the process would be delayed while waiting for help. There were many things to do. I had to focus so I couldn’t delay at all. At this point, I understood why another practitioner who had been doing self-media before me, would often talk to me in a hurry while holding his keyboard. Whenever I visited him he was writing. He was really in a hurry, and it felt like the seconds were as long as a year. But he always helps out with other things after he’s done with the show, which is really great. I also felt this time constraint after doing self-media and had the feeling of “a year has passed” when I look back.
Cooperating Smoothly
The coordinators in my team were always concerned about my workload. They were afraid that I would work too hard, so they actively helped find people to share the workload, for example, things like adding subtitles. In the beginning, we could not find people to help, so I added them myself. But the coordinator tried to help me share the work. She also had to edit and design several programs by herself, and coordinate those. She and another practitioner who had her own work to do, took turns helping to add subtitles. It was already night and time to go home—but instead they would stay and help me work on the show.
My program has late finalization. The coordinators on the team did not complain about the time I finished the content but instead worked quietly with me. They found two video editors who work in different time zones. One is in the central time zone of the United States, one hour later than New York. The other one is in the western part of the United States, which is 3 hours later than New York time. At the same time, my program was produced and broadcast on the same day, so the editor had to be a fast worker, which made it more difficult to find someone. It took a lot of coordination to find someone, but sometimes I didn’t know how much work they did behind the scenes.
Sometimes the feeling of being unsatisfied manifested. Sometimes it surfaced as jealousy, feelings of unfairness, and so on. I felt that I did not receive enough help, but along the way, it is actually the silent complement of the team members that made the program better and better in every aspect. Through all these experiences, I learned how to cherish others and humble myself even more.
Master said,
“While you might think that, “Hey, whatever the case, I’m doing Dafa things!” that’s not in fact so. You are actually just enacting the form of it, and you are not managing to save those people you should be saving, nor are the things that require you to all cooperate having the impact that they should. By all means don’t be like that. You definitely should cultivate yourself well; truly be like a Dafa disciple; deal with things by approaching them as a Dafa disciple would; and work together. Only then will things succeed.” (“Dafa Disciples Must Study the Fa,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. XI)
I realized that Master repeatedly stressed the point of how to cooperate with others when we work together, how to cultivate ourselves in the midst of conflicts, and how to improve our xinxing rather than trying to cultivating others.
Master said,
“Collaborate well in an open and dignified way. It doesn’t matter whose idea is the best. Even if someone’s idea isn’t good and hasn’t taken everything into consideration, you quietly make up for what’s missing! Do a thorough job! Only then would Gods see you as remarkable, and not to mention that you did it quietly! The key isn’t whose idea it is, but who has done well in their cultivation in the process—whoever cultivated himself would have improved.” (“Fa Teaching at the 2019 New York Fa Conference”)
I once had a xinxing test with a video editor on the team. She was very insistent on a detail for the good of the show. My attachment surfaced at the moment. In a stuck-up way, I said, “This is my show.” I was trying to tell her not to micro-manage. That conversation did not end well. The next morning, she took the initiative to send me a message in a graceful manner and said, “I sincerely apologize. I see where I didn’t do well. Please overlook my behavior.” I was very embarrassed and told her about my shortcomings. In this way, the conflict was resolved. It had just rained that day, and a beautiful rainbow appeared in the sky.
This is the mighty virtue of Dafa that allows us to correct our shortcomings and remove our attachments in the process of cooperation, and to move forward steadily. It may seem like a small thing, but there was a huge change on the inside.
Master said,
“You will be made to give up all of the worldly attachments that you hold onto. Any and all attachments you have must be ground down, and it will take place through any of a number of scenarios where you will be made to stumble or do poorly, and from these come to new spiritual insights. This is how you will make it through and succeed.” (The Fourth Talk, Zhuan Falun)
In the process of doing the show, there was also interference manifested on my body. For example, there was a time when speaking felt uncomfortable during recording, and I often mispronounced words. Suddenly, one day, I felt that Master had removed a lot of things from me. The recording became smooth, and my body felt very relaxed. I am grateful for Master’s blessing.
My Attachments Are Exposed
The biggest test for me is the traffic and subscription numbers. Especially after the U.S. election, a prominent social media demonetized our show. It seems that there was a suppression on the traffic of our channels belonging to the media, and the subscriptions became very abnormal. For a period every day, for however much it increased it would then decrease, not moving up. This was the hardest to endure and it was torturous.
The traffic and subscriptions are visible to the whole world, and the bad traffic not only made me feel that it would affect more viewers and prevent them from seeing the truth, but it also touched my attachment to ego. When the traffic is good, I feel relaxed and happy, but when the traffic is bad, I’m unhappy. I remembered the example Master mentioned in Zhuan Falun about a qigong master who cured a sick person. Master said,
“They think that they’ve healed someone and people start calling them a “master.” But it should be obvious that it’s an attachment. The fact that they get visibly dejected when it doesn’t go well is a telltale sign that ego and money are motivating them.” ( The Second Talk, Zhuan Falun)
I know my reaction is the attachment, but it’s really hard. Sometimes I stare at the traffic all night long. If it doesn’t run well, I can’t sleep or eat well, and I feel that I have to go through this kind of test like “ratings” every day, and it’s really torturous. Compared to the hardship of doing the show, the greatest pressure and frustration comes from the poor flow of the program, which shows how much attachment to my reputation I had. And many times it is using the human way, in thinking how to improve. But only when there is a better understanding of the practice, there will be miracles.
Let me give you two examples. One time, when my episode’s traffic was poor, I thought about the fact that I hadn’t studied the Fa that day, so I sat down and studied the Fa, not thinking about the traffic or the lack of it. The program ended up being okay. Another time, I thought during sending righteous thoughts, “That social media is a platform for us. Doesn’t it exist to help us save people? It’s not there to inhibit us, and if it has a negative mechanism, it should not work with the positive thoughts of Dafa disciples.” After sending righteous thoughts, the program really performed differently.
My understanding is that it was encouragement from Master to be more diligent and maintain a good cultivation state. In fact, it is really important to ensure a good state. When I am in a good state, I feel that the field around me is clear, and I have a strong sense of confidence from deep within. My mind is calm, relaxed, and steady. If you are not in a good state of cultivation, you will have all kinds of unstable factors in your mind, and your performance will also be bumpy.
I remember when the CCP virus first started in Wuhan, each episode was watched by more than one million people every day for 11 consecutive days, thanks to the joint efforts of the team. It was also during my good state of practice, where I read the Fa and did the exercises more. At that time, a fellow practitioner called me and asked me what my experience was with the increased traffic. Without thinking, I said something that seemed irrelevant. I said, do more meditation. The flow of the program is not directly related to the practice, but the reasoning is the same. If a practitioner is in a really good cultivation state, he will perform better in the project.
After the 2020 U.S. election, I felt that a prominent media platform did inhibit some of our channels. But my mind was much calmer. I did not lose sleep, and I could look at the difficulties more rationally. This shows that my attachment to reputation has been slowly worn down while working on the show. The performance of the program itself, whether it’s traffic or subscriptions, I feel is a result of different factors, so you can’t look at it in a single way.
I wonder what is good self-media? Is it necessarily good if there is a lot of traffic and a lot of subscribers? I think this is one measurement factor, but not an absolute one. What is more important? I thought of Shen Yun and wondered why it was so successful. Inspired by this and the teachings of Master, I slowly gained a personal understanding of what successful self-media is.
I think, on the basis of “positioning” the self-media, we can develop a lot of contents, related products, and different segments, and at the same time, we should have high requirements in terms of quality and pay attention to all the details to make it a mature product. The program will be ready to welcome more viewers. All the participants’ cultivation states are also very important.
I often ask myself, “Are you ready to make your show the kind that can attract millions of viewers, to achieve the quality of a million views? I don’t think so. There are some programs that have reached millions of viewers, but I think this is because of Master’s support and encouragement.
My current understanding is that instead of paying too much attention to traffic and subscriptions, it is better to focus on perfecting all aspects of the program details, including our own state of cultivation. When the next “moment” arrives, you may receive better results. We are no longer completely dependent on a certain media platform anymore, we have our own video sharing platform. When this platform is slowly improved in all aspects, our path will become wider.
Under Master’s care, our program team has come a long way, spreading the truth and reaching out to many people in the process. After watching our channel, some people have taken us into their confidence and told us their discontent with the evil Party and exposed the evilness of the CCP. Others also wrote to us asking how to resign from the Party.
In the first half of 2020, during the CCP virus plague, some regular viewers learned about the “Nine Words of Truth” through our channels: “Falun Dafa is good,” and “Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good.” This viewer was then interviewed by The Epoch Times and talked about the wonders of Dafa. Other viewers, after watching the program, started to get in touch with practitioners. Some began to practice Falun Dafa. Some even joined our media and became team members.
I sometimes think, “How much longer do I have to keep catching up with the program every day?” Sometimes I even heard fellow practitioners talk about when this period of time might be over. When I heard that, I felt a little bit of joy in my heart while feeling the time constraint, and I would think, “So I don’t have to write anymore right?”
Earlier this year I slacked off a bit. My car had two leaking tires, and I took it to a garage for repair. I thought to myself, “If the tires are leaking and the car belt is deflating, doesn’t this mean ‘slacking off?’” This is a reminder from Master that I should not slack off. Especially when I think about Master’s great expectations, there is no reason to slack off.
I remember when I had to go out to do an important truth-clarification task. Just before I woke up, I had a clear “dream vision.” I saw Master standing at the door, waiting for me and a few fellow practitioners who were about to leave the house. He prepared all the things we needed and put them neatly at the door. He stood there waiting for us. I couldn’t forget that compassionate scene for a long time, Master took care of every detail for us, like taking care of a child. He had everything ready and waiting for us. We just need to do our part.
Master said,
“This instant is precious beyond measure. Completing the last leg of this journey well is what's most magnificent. So for this reason, though during this stage your time is tight, and you are very tired and have little time to rest, when Master sees how many of you have managed to do well he can't help but feel gratified. And it is on this account that I thank you all....” (“Teaching the Fa in the City of Chicago,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. VII)
This is the end of my sharing. If I’ve said anything inappropriate please compassionately correct me.
Thank you, Master! Thank you, fellow practitioners!
(Presented at the 2021 Epoch Times and NTD Media Fa Conference)
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