(Minghui.org) Greetings Master! Greetings fellow practitioners!

I’ve been working at the New Era Printing Factory for two and a half years. Another practitioner called me three times, asking me to come. The practitioner said that the printing factory needed help and he asked if I could help out for three months. I thought that the printing factory dealt with ink and dust, so the work was not suitable for me. However I thought that since it was a Dafa project and I would only work there for three months, so I agreed.

I started out on the night shift. After the first day, I thought I might last for just three days, not three months. Nearly 100 decibels of noise, the smell of ink and paper dust everywhere—not to mention the high temperature inside the workshop—it was so hot you could fry eggs on the machines. I felt very uncomfortable. My previous work environment was clean and comfortable. 

The transportation to the print shop was also inconvenient. I had to walk 15 minutes to the subway station, and then walk in order to carpool with a fellow practitioner to work. Every day I made a four-hour round trip and then walked home at 4 a.m. in the dark. It’s especially hard when it’s windy and rainy. I felt discouraged, but since I promised to be there for three months, I should keep my promise. I didn’t expect that I would be able to stay and keep doing it.

When I first joined the Fa-study group in the printing factory, I saw Master’s solemn Fa-image smiling at me in the study room with such happiness and infinite compassion and expectation. The other practitioners said, “This is a good place to cultivate, a melting pot, a place to refine one's cultivation.” After a while, I truly realized why this was a good cultivation environment.

“Tempering the Will” (Hong Yin)

For two years, I walked the toughest path of my cultivation. In each tribulation, my understanding side said: “This is cultivation.” But my human side thought: “Why make it difficult for yourself? Other practitioners can take your place.” But every time I was about to leave, our compassionate Master saw that I had not enlightened and hinted to me again and again.

Soon after I arrived, I was preparing boards in the layout room. Another practitioner took a pile of documents and said I shouldn’t do that. I was confused and I didn’t understand what was happening. I thought, “I’ve just arrived, how can I work like this?” When I was ready to send the board down, I stood at the elevator on the second floor and looked down. I saw a humble-looking senior employee, sweating and working busily at the machine. I was deeply touched. These fellow practitioners do not seek fame or profit. I don’t know how many years they have persistently worked here. Compared to them, I suddenly felt so insignificant—I couldn't I even tolerate a little bit of grievance. 

Six months later, my position changed and I was suddenly responsible for many things. One was arranging the finish typing—placing the subscribers’ addresses and sending out the newspapers on time every week. Our company suddenly lacked manpower, and I had to do it myself. I was asked why I did it myself, and I was told to find someone else. I said, “I don’t know anyone here, it is even difficult for the practitioners who have been here for more than ten years to find a person, not to mention a newcomer like me.” I felt some resentment in my heart.

I realized that whenever I encountered tribulations or challenges in my cultivation, I used everyday people’s reasoning of right and wrong. I remembered to examine myself to see if I had the attachment of competition, zealotry and the mindset to validate myself. But every time I encountered difficulties, my first impulse was to use everyday people’s reasoning of right and wrong. 

I calculated working hours, production capacity, loss, staffing, and production. I improved some working methods, and I saved our company tens of thousands of dollars per month. Our production capacity increased several times, which is a considerable amount spread over a year. When I mentioned this a few days later another practitioner said something that I thought was very negative and made me feel very aggrieved. I didn’t say anything. But that practitioner repeated it two more times, and I couldn’t tolerate it any more. 

I recalled what Master said in Zhuan Falun, “But often tensions like these won’t count or achieve what they are meant to, or help you to improve, if they don’t actually bother you.” (The Fourth Talk, Zhuan Falun)

When I got home, I sent a message to that practitioner, saying that I thought the effectiveness of my work was obvious. The practitioner messaged me back saying that I misunderstood him. I suddenly realized that my fellow practitioner’s unintentional words sounded thunderous to me because they exposed my attachment to validating myself: I thought I made achievements and I wanted to be praised. In fact, our abilities were given to us by Master. I should not claim the credit. My life is given by Dafa, otherwise the illnesses I had before I practiced might have taken my life long ago.

I wondered why whenever I encountered something that was not to my liking, I either don’t cultivate my speech or I just want to leave. Whenever I encountered a problem I don’t want to elevate myself in cultivation. Instead I want to run away or avoid it. Why did I always have to look for who was right or wrong in everything I did? This not only hurt me it also hurt my fellow practitioners.

Master said, 

“Don’t argue left and right, and don’t emphasize who’s right and who’s wrong. Some people are always stressing that they’re right, but even if you are right, even if you’re not wrong, so what? Have you improved on the basis of the Fa? The very act of using human thinking to stress who’s right and who’s wrong is in itself wrong. That’s because you are then using the logic of ordinary people to evaluate yourself, and using that logic to make demands on others. As gods see it, for a cultivator to be right or wrong in the human world is not important in the least, whereas eliminating the attachments that come from human thinking is important, and it is precisely your managing to eliminate those attachments rooted in your human thinking as you cultivate that counts as important.” (“Fa Teaching Given in Manhattan,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. X)

Early last year, I felt like I was standing at a crossroads again. I told myself, “Let me get around this tribulation.” I was at the parade in Brooklyn that day, when I saw a fellow practitioner coming towards me. I hadn’t seen her for a long time. She greeted me with a smile and asked, “How are you?” I sighed and said, “I'm okay.” She suddenly hugged me and whispered in my ear, “Don’t say anything, I know everything, Master is forging your mighty virtue, you must persist, persist.” It was like reciting a poem. I immediately understood that our Master was using her to enlighten me. My human side thought, “What do you know?” I was just about to speak, wanting to vent the grievances in my heart, but she did not wait for me to say anything. With a smile, she waved her hand and left.

I stood there frozen with her words echoing in my mind. My understanding side continuously told me that Master was using her to enlighten me. I was sad, and teary-eyed. Her words echoed in my mind. I made our Master worry again. I understood that any conflict was an opportunity to elevate myself. I should not run away from tribulations.

Soon after I returned, I still felt that there were hurdles everywhere. I felt powerless and wanted to leave again. 

However Master appeared in my dream: Practitioners sat at a long row of tables. We were ready to start the meal, and a plate was placed in front of each person. All the practitioners who worked in the factory were sitting next to Master. I sat alone at a table on the far side. Master asked practitioners to move my table directly across from him. Master and I sat facing each other. I said, “Master, I really don’t have any strength.” Master encouraged me. I woke up feeling cheerful. Master's words and infinite compassion were deeply imprinted in my heart. During the worst time of the pandemic, I always felt encouraged to keep going in my toughest moments. I knew I could do it because I had Master.

Many things happened afterwards, and sometimes they happened because of my human attachments. I’ve managed to come through, but it was after passing too many heart-breaking hurdles. Time after time, I made our Master worry about me. But Master constantly enlightened me, and took me one step at a time on the path of my cultivation. Just like a parent helping a child to learn how to walk. Can’t I just run? Yes, I can!

Perseverance Amid the Pandemic

At the end of March last year, we started printing the special edition on COVID-19. I was told that every time we had a major printing job, unexpected things happened. I knew we needed to overcome the hardship. When the printing task was most intense and troublesome, some practitioners appeared to suffer from sickness karma. 

I knew that the special edition must not be delayed, and the project coordinator often said, “We are the last step. The efforts of other practitioners must not be ruined in our hands.” This statement greatly impressed me. I know that our newspaper is the sword to destroy evil. The truth would save sentient beings. 

Because some fellow practitioners were on leave, our workload increased multiple times, and almost all the work fell on me. The factory operated on a three-shift schedule non-stop, yet I still had to coordinate and deal with all the production tasks, personnel assignments, cost management, interface of the various processes and departments, the machine’s minor operational problems, delivery dates, etc... I even helped with small details such as: which co-worker needed to car-pool, which co-worker had no food, or who was in a bad mood.

I worked back to back day and night shifts. I went home to take a shower and sleep for three hours before I returned to work. Working in a high decibel noise workshop, I had to shout every day to the extent of losing my voice. I was also under mental and physical stress as we were also short of staff to cover shifts. One day when I needed to confirm something with fellow practitioners and they did not answer my message and calls, my anger and grievance finally surfaced. 

In addition, I was lagging behind in Fa study and doing the exercises. I was exhausted from working 17 or 18 hours a day. I felt like a non-stop spinning gyro. I also suffered swollen feet to the extent of having trouble putting on my shoes as a result of walking and standing too much. I often missed meals and sometimes didn’t get a chance to drink a cup of water the entire day. Every time I passed the water fountain, I said to myself: Dayu passed by his home three times, but did not enter; I passed the water fountain three times, but did not drink. I felt that drinking water and going to the washroom was too time-consuming. 

There are always things after things urgently waiting for me to deal with them. More importantly, as the newspaper is time-sensitive, I could not delay. 

I was anxious, aggrieved, angry, and thought, “Why does so much work fall on me, a small woman, and why aren’t you guys considerate of me?” Hungry and thirsty, I sat in the dining room that evening and ate some rice with water while shedding tears. When a fellow practitioner came in and asked me about my work, I felt embarrassed. I quickly said one word and left. I never cried in the past, but I was so tired that I cried. At that moment, Master’s enlightenment echoed in my ears again: “Master is forging your mighty virtue, be sure to persevere.”

On Saturday, a practitioner volunteered to help me type the addresses, but the machine kept getting stuck. I couldn’t fix it, and the practitioner in charge of the equipment couldn’t fix it either. My goal was to print 40,000 copies, but we only ended up printing less than half. When I got home that night, I felt that my state of cultivation was wrong. After sending forth righteous thoughts, I started studying Fa. The more I read, the better I felt.

Master said, 

“The ordeals, xinxing tests, and the rigors of cultivation that you have met with were all part of your walking your own paths and successfully establishing yourselves. Of course, success for Dafa disciples is not simply a matter of self-liberation, and it was not for themselves that they came here. Rather, they shoulder the mission of saving sentient beings.” (“2012 International Fa Conference at the U.S. Capital”)

Isn't the position I’m currently in the opportunity Master provided for me to establish myself? I cannot come short at this critical moment. After I had this realization I felt very relieved. On Sunday morning I returned to work happily and continued to type addresses with fellow practitioners, and the newspaper insertion line also worked very well. As a result, more than 40,000 copies were printed at once. 

The next morning, I saw the practitioner in charge of the equipment repairing the newspaper insertion line, and I asked him, “The machine is fine, what are you doing?” He said, “There is no belt in the machine. I need to install it.” I was surprised and asked, “No belt? Then how did I get 40,000 newspapers printed using this machine yesterday then?” He laughed and said, “I don’t know.” I understood at once that it was Master, it was Master who saw that I had elevated a little bit. Master was helping me and encouraging me.

Another time, I wanted to go home early after everything was arranged as I was very tired. I felt quite happy being able to go home earlier. However at midnight when I was sending forth righteous thoughts in the office, a fellow practitioner called and said he had not rested well during the day and wanted to go back early to rest, and asked me to find someone to cover his shift. I was very upset and thought, “You want to go back after just one hour of work? It’s already midnight, where can I find someone to take over?” Then, I thought of taking the shift myself despite the fact that I felt my body really had reached the limit. I did not know if I could stay up the entire night. I replied unwillingly, “Okay, you can go, I’ll cover.” But my understanding side told me: “I am so selfish! I was not considerate of him.”

Master told us, 

“I also want to tell you that your nature in the past was actually based on egotism and selfishness. From now on, whatever you do, you should consider others first, so as to attain the righteous Enlightenment of selflessness and altruism. So from now on, whatever you do or whatever you say, you must consider others—or even future generations—along with Dafa’s eternal stability.” (“Non-Omission in Buddha-Nature,” Essentials For Further Advancement)

Master told us to cultivate and attain the righteous Enlightenment of selflessness and altruism, and to put others before oneself. When I thought of this, I was ashamed of the thoughts I just had. I let go of my own selfishness. I let go of that resentment. I no longer felt wronged. The moment I stood in front of the machine to cover his shift, my whole body suddenly felt refreshed. I almost thought I was overtired, and this was a hallucination and thought, “Have I gone numb? Am I about to faint?” But after experiencing it, it wasn’t that at all. I was pleasantly surprised by the feeling of refreshment. 

I felt Master saw that I enlightened and took away my tired substance instantly, it was our compassionate Master who once again bore the trouble for his disciples. The practitioner next to the machine asked, “Are you okay?” I said, “Yes, I'm fine.”

Every newspaper we print can save a life. In these last days, we cannot delay the salvation of all sentient beings because of our own selfish thoughts. 

That morning as I left work at sunrise, I asked myself as I had so many times before: “Am I able to keep going on like this?” I recalled the words that the Master said to me in my dream, and my answer was, “Certainly!” I thought of the full cooperation and support I received from all my fellow practitioners at the printing factory, and my answer was, “Yes!” When fellow practitioners saw that I ate instant noodles every day, someone brought me a bowl of carefully prepared porridge one morning. Another practitioner brought a cake and the most beautiful flower for me. One practitioner made exquisite snacks and wrapped them specially in tinfoil and left them for me.

Every little thing touched me deeply and they will never be forgotten. With the help from Master alongside the joint efforts from the media and the printing press among the volunteers of fellow practitioners, tens of millions of copies of the life saving newspapers were delivered to thousands of households on time. Thank you, Master! Thank you fellow practitioners!

Master said, 

“...no matter how busy you are, you cannot neglect Fa-study. This is what fundamentally assures that you move toward Consummation and do Dafa work well.” (“To All Students at the Nordic Fa Conference,” Essentials forFurther Advancement II)

Master has repeatedly told us that we should study the Fa well. I want to cultivate myself well, so I must keep up on reading the Fa and practicing the exercises. In order to always remind myself, I record my state of learning the Fa, practicing the exercises and sending forth the righteous thoughts on a daily basis. The most basic thing is to study a lecture of Zhuan Falun, send forth the righteous thoughts at the 4 times and complete the 5 exercises, and participate in group Fa studies twice per week. If miss one thing, I try to make it up. However, I discovered that sometimes, I am still not doing everything well.

Conclusion

I feel at all times that Master is watching over me and protecting me, and that everything is being done by Master. When I was translating Zhuan Falun, I cannot remember how many times very precise words suddenly came to me. A fellow practitioner would say in amazement: that’s the word, how did you come up with it? After handing out truth materials in a dark alley, the lights of a parked car suddenly lit up and illuminated the road ahead for me. After we finished distributing truth materials in the middle of the night, the bone-chilling cold water in the pipes suddenly turned warm. After we finished taking our showers, the warm water stopped. On the way to spread the Fa, rainbows followed us for two or three hundred kilometers and surrounded us. I feel Master’s compassionate care at all times.

Looking back on my 19 years of cultivation, I have gone through a journey with twists and turns but under the care of Master. It is our Master who is forging our mighty virtue and paving our way back to heaven. Whenever I think of this, I know I can never repay Master’s compassion. I know I still have a big gap from Master’s requirements, but I will do well within the limited time, to fulfill the vow of assisting Master to rectify the Fa and save sentient beings. I will live up to Master’s compassionate salvation and the expectations of all sentient beings.

No words can express my gratitude to Master, so please let me say again from the bottom of my heart, “Master, thank you!”

Thank you Master! Thank you everyone!

(Presented at the 2021 Epoch Times and NTD Media Fa Conference)