Clarifying the Truth to Colleagues at Work

[PureInsight.org] (Toronto Fahui 2006)
I was very fortunate to obtain the Fa in 2002. During the past four
years, I have been extremely honoured to have changed from a selfish
ordinary person to a Dafa disciple of the Fa-rectification period. I
thank Master for this never-to-be-repeated opportunity, to join the
ranks of saving sentient beings during Fa-rectification. In my sharing,
I would like to discuss how I have clarified the truth to colleagues at
work.



1) Handing Out Chinese and English Epoch Times

I work in the Quality Assurance Department of a Toronto vehicle parts
company doing CMM testing. At work, I give out both Chinese and English
Epoch Times newspapers every
week at the same time. By now, there are already more than 100 regular
readers of both papers at my workplace, and everyone knows that I am a
Falun Gong practitioner.



When I first started giving out newspapers, I only handed them to
offices near me. Later however, I realized that there were also a lot
of Chinese workers on the assembly line, so I began making use of my
lunch time to hand out papers in the company cafeteria. In order to
attract more people, I told them that I was a volunteer for the Epoch Times,
and that I would also write some articles for it once in a while. As a
result, whenever I handed out the papers, they would ask me curiously,
"Which article did you write this time?" When I began writing fewer
articles as time went by, I had to tell them instead that, "This was
written by my husband or that was written by a good friend of mine."
Nevertheless, by then, they had already become "hooked" on the paper
and it did not matter anymore whether I wrote or not.



Currently, there is a group of people who wish to obtain both language versions of the Epoch Times.
Some say that their husbands want to read the English version while
others say that their neighbours are Chinese. Some also tell me that
while they read the English version, their parents would like to read
the Chinese version.



Once, a male employee from mainland China asked me, "How much money do
you earn each time you give out this paper?" I replied, "Not every
person regards money as so important." Embarrassed, he said, "Doesn't
the U.S. government give you money?" I knew that he was a victim of the
Chinese communist Regime's propaganda so I began clarifying the truth
to him. Afterwards, he took a copy of the newspaper and said, "Since
none of the other papers contain anti-Communist articles, I might as
well just look at yours." After some time, he came up to me and said,
"Now, not only do I take your weekend editions, I go to the supermarket
and get all the daily editions as well! It looks like I have become
more hardworking than you. You should be distributing daily editions as
well."



There is also a Quality Assurance worker who works on the night shift and always asks me to save a copy of the English Epoch Times
for him. Once, I forgot to do it and he came to me the next day
complaining, "Why didn't you save a copy for me? I had to search
through all the garbage bins throughout the company and even then I
could not find one!"



A Caucasian colleague also told me once, "This paper is written so
well! Why don't you charge money for it? You can start with me; I'll
pay you for this paper. If you're embarrassed to collect money from
others, I can do it for you too!" When I explained to him the reasons
behind the set-up of the paper, he looked at me, tearing, and said,
"You are truly great. If I could, I would like to say thanks on behalf
of all the persecuted Chinese people."



Once, when I was distributing the special edition of the English Epoch Times,
a Caucasian colleague came up to me and asked, "Are you against the
Chinese government?" I began telling him about the nature of the
Chinese Communist Party, and how the evil party has been persecuting
Falun Gong. After he understood the truth, he said, "It looks like you
are representing another type of voice for China."



There have been occasions when I had to leave Toronto to participate in
activities on Fridays, collect the papers and distribute the papers on
Mondays. I would say, "I am terribly sorry. I am late in distributing
the papers." Some colleagues would say, "No problem, that's fine. Your
newspaper contains good information because what it contains cannot be
found anywhere else. To me, whatever I have not read before is good
news."



Another Caucasian colleague also told me that, "I have a double feeling
of happiness whenever I see you." I asked him jokingly, "Why is that? I
don't think I look pretty?" He answered, "Well first of all, whenever I
see you, it means that it's Friday and the weekend is just around the
corner. Secondly, whenever you arrive it means that I will have another
copy of the Epoch Times to read."



Once, when I was distributing the newspapers, a fellow worker walked by
while reading the paper and uttered to himself, "These are truly a
group of compassionate people." I felt very touched, knowing that she
has already understood the truth from the paper.



Once, during lunch time, I saw almost everyone in the cafeteria with their heads bent over their copies of the Epoch Times.
The entire room was silent without any conversations at all. The only
sound audible was the sound of flipping pages. It is no wonder that a
colleague told me that, "You have transformed our lunch time into
newspaper-reading time." I was filled with indescribable joy seeing
another group of awakening sentient beings.



Due to the popularity of the newspapers, words of praise and gratitude
flooded in and it was not too long before my attachment to joy and
showing off surfaced. Once, I forgot to distribute the papers during
lunch time, thinking that, since everyone already loves the paper,
distributing them during work time should be no problem. After that, I
began distributing the papers during work time. On the second day,
colleague A came up to me and said, "Is Colleague B a good friend of
yours?" I answered yes. Colleague A continued, "Then how can she speak
such bad words about you in front of everyone? She is telling people
that you always do your own things during work time. She even said that
she is going to complain to Human Resources. I think you should not
befriend a person like her anymore." I was stunned and started to
cry.  Colleague C is a good friend of Colleague B and me. When she
got to know of this incident and knew that I was very sad, she came to
comfort me. After comforting me, she said to me suddenly, "Didn't you
say you are a cultivator? Forgiving her should be no problem right?" I
was enlightened immediately, and from then on, I treat Colleague B
liked a good friend as before as if nothing had happened. Not long
after, B came to me and said, "I only said it for fun, I did not
complain to the HR department." I replied, "To tell the truth, I should
thank you. It was I who had done something wrong, or else you would not
have such thoughts. Thank you for your reminder. I will think twice
about my actions in the future."



Master has once told us that, "Your path is, and I think you've all
seen this now, actually very narrow. If you deviate just a little bit
you won't measure up to the standard of a Dafa disciple. There's only
one very righteous path we can walk on, and we can't deviate even just
a little bit, because this is required by history, and required by the
lives of sentient beings in the future cosmos. The cosmos in the future
can't have any deviation or errors due to your having omissions during
the Fa-rectification, so it's important for you to walk each and every
step well during your own validating the Fa" ("Teaching and Explaining
the Fa at the Metropolitan New York Fa Conference")



After this incident, I truly became enlightened to the fact that our
cultivation path must be walked righteously without any deviations. I
thank Master for once again giving me an opportunity to walk my own
path right.



2. Distributing Petition Letters and Petition Forms

During every petition event, I would use the petition letters for
clarifying the truth at work. For instance, the letter to our Canadian
Prime Minister and Members of Parliament to appeal to China to halt the
persecution of Falun Gong, rescue orphans of Falun Gong practitioners,
support the landing of New Tang Dynasty TV etc. I would always go
collecting signatures at my workplace with these petitions.



While collecting signatures for rescuing orphans of Falun Gong
practitioners, a colleague who has two children wrote with tears in her
eyes on the letter to the Prime Minister to "Please give your greatest
help to these children!"



Other colleagues have also asked me, "What can I do to help these children?"



Some colleagues responded furiously, "The Chinese Communist Party (CCP)
is truly inhumane! It does not even spare these innocent children."



While collecting signatures to support NTDTV, a colleague asked, "Is
this television channel anti-Communist?" I replied, "It just speaks the
truth and reports the facts." He said, "Just like the Epoch Times? Then I will definitely sign it!"



Another colleague said, "I would sign anything you ask me to. I know that you are always doing good things."



A Caucasian colleague told me after signing his name, "I am not a
Chinese, nor do I speak Chinese. However, we all live on the same
earth, therefore, we should support anything that is righteous, right?"
I answered, "Yes, you are truly noble."



A Vietnamese colleague asked me while signing his name, "Will I get
arrested and thrown into prison if I sign this? My grandfather signed
his name for a righteous cause decades ago and was thrown into prison
by the Communists in Vietnam. He stayed in prison for an entire life as
a result." Before I had a chance to answer, he answered himself, "But I
know that nothing like that would happen in Canada. That's why I dare
to sign my name."



My departmental manager who understands the truth has also been very
supportive of my activities at work. He loves to read our English Epoch Times.
This time, he came to my table and stared at me, "Just how many
positions are you working in, in total?" I replied, "In any case I am
not the CEO of NTDTV." After signing his name, he said, "Give me
another letter, I want to bring it home to my wife (my manager's wife
is Chinese), she watches Chinese TV channels everyday."



A mainland Chinese colleague asked me after signing his name, "Now that
you have a newspaper and a television channel, what's next?" I replied,
"We also have a radio station, called 'Sound of Hope'." He was stunned
for a moment before shaking his head and saying, "then it looks like
the CCP is really going to die out soon."





3. Sending Emails to Colleagues Encouraging Them to Visit Clearwisdom and Epoch Times Websites

I have been using all my work vacations to participate in Fa
Conferences and Dafa activities. Every time I return from these
activities, I would also tell my colleagues about what I have done.



After coming back from the L.A. Fa Conference this year, I used email
to communicate my activities to my fellow colleagues. This is what I
wrote: Greetings to all my fellow colleagues, I most sincerely
recommend the following link to you. This is what I have done over the
weekend in Los Angeles. You can even find pictures of me on these
webpages. These links that I sent out included both English and Chinese
reports of the L.A. Fa Conference on Clearwisdom as well as the Epoch Times Websites. There were also reports on the Celestial Band.



In the beginning, many colleagues were simply busy looking to find me
in the pictures. There were non-stop calls asking me where I was and
which instrument I was playing in the band. I replied, "You can find me
right after you finish reading all the reports and pictures." Not till
the end did I reveal myself, "I'm in the picture taken in the
Fa-Conference." My colleagues zoomed into the picture until they
finally found a pin-sized picture of me. Nevertheless, by then, they
had already seen and read all the reports and pictures. They were
already exclaiming, "Your band is utterly majestic!" Others said,
"Maybe we don't have to wait for your newspapers so eagerly the next
time, we could just read it on the internet instead." Some colleagues
walked over to my table and sat down, asking for a thorough
introduction to Falun Gong. What's even better is that some colleagues
have come in to ask some questions that they felt embarrassed to ask
previously, and I answered all of them one by one.



The fact that they are my colleagues in this life shows that we have
very strong predestined relationships. I will definitely try my best to
save all of them.



After the Sujiatun incident, Toronto practitioners decided to go 
and appeal on Parliament Hill. I took a day off on very short notice to
participate in the hunger strike and also made some reports. Before I
left, I told my colleagues with tears in my eyes about the atrocities
committed in Sujiatun. After coming back from the hunger strike, I sent
all my pictures and reports to my colleagues. When I was eating in the
lunch room, I saw a plate of good food that my colleague had especially
made for me, I burst out in tears. I was reminded of the thousands and
thousands of fellow practitioners in mainland China who are suffering
tremendously, as well as the old practitioners who are on a three-day
long hunger strike outside Parliament Hill. I could only mumble these
words, "Thank you all for your concern. I'm terribly sorry but I don't
have any appetite." Without a word, my colleagues silently began to
tear as well. One of them said, "Don't worry you can eat it whenever
you want."



The awakening and sympathy of sentient beings can only be obtained
through our clarifying the truth. If our fellow colleagues, people that
we see everyday, are not able to hear the truth and are left behind in
the Fa-rectification, how great a let down would that be? We have to
make use of our time well and use all kinds of methods to clarify the
truth to them.



4. Cultivating Myself Well to Validate the Fa

I had walked into Dafa for the purpose of curing my health problems.
After cultivating for two weeks, all of my sicknesses and health
problems vanished. Afterwards, I began avidly telling my colleagues
about the beauty of Dafa. Many of my colleagues have read Zhuan Falun
and have learned the five sets of exercises from me. However, none of
them persevered in continuing to cultivate. Once, a colleague of mine
fell very sick, and I told her, "Didn't I tell you to practice Falun
Gong with me? Then you wouldn't be in so much pain." Then, two weeks,
later, I had very strong sickness karma, and was in a lot of pain. This
colleague saw me and said, "Didn't you say that you would not fall sick
anymore after practising Falun Gong? Why are you in so much pain now?"
I replied, "I am sorry, for I have born grudging intentions
against  you when you were sick, so I am repaying the bad karma
now." As this colleague of mine has read Zhuan Falun before, she understood what I was saying and smiled back, "Then it looks like you are improving your xinxing."



I have three weeks of vacation each year, and I use them mostly for
Dafa activities and Fa Conferences. By November last year I had
finished all my vacation days, however, the HR department in my company
told me that I still had two more weeks of vacation left. I knew that
they had made a mistake and gave me extra vacation. I thought: Isn't it
good then? I can use these two more weeks to participate in more Dafa
activities. However, immediately after I had this thought, my righteous
thoughts emerged: I have to walk my path straight for I cultivate
Truthfulness. I notified the HR immediately. The HR department knew
that I was a Falun Gong practitioner and told me, "Many people come
barging into the door asking for more, I've not met anyone who gives
vacations back. You have done really well." Later, when a colleague
asked me, "Why don't you take it anyways? It's not even your fault." I
explained, "You all know that I cultivate according to the principles
of 'Truthfulness, Compassion, and Tolerance.' I cannot take anything
that is not rightfully mine." My colleagues smiled, "it looks like you
are really truthful then!"



Sometimes, my work requires me to write a computer program to test
quality so that the assurance department can conduct quality tests.
Sometimes, the QA department workers tend to delete the programs I
write out of a folly, and I would have to rewrite the entire program in
another one or two days. There were several times when I could not bear
it anymore and complained to them. Once, a program of mine was deleted
again, and the QA worker walked up to me timidly and said, "Sorry I
have deleted your program again. But today is Friday, you won't be mad,
will you?" My initially frown dissolved and I smiled back. After
re-writing the program, I sent an email to all my colleagues thanking
them for their cooperation. That particular QA worker was very touched
and replied with an e-mail to me saying, "Thank you so much for your
understanding. You have truly kept to your principle of Forbearance in
Falun Gong's teachings of 'Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance.'"



Once, another fellow colleague asked me, "You run around all of North
America all the time. Do you get any reimbursement or do you pay for
all your expenses yourself?" I replied, "Of course I pay it from my own
pocket." I paused before adding, "It's just like if you want to go to
heaven, will you take money from someone else's pocket?"



Surprisingly this colleague replied, "If you think that spending money
can allow you to go to heaven, even if you were to spend you own money,
you won't be able to go to heaven, because this is an attachment." I
was stunned for a moment, and replied, "You are right, I shouldn't have
said such a thing." My colleague continued, "Not only should you not
say such a thing, you should not have such thoughts even, for
otherwise, you will not be able to go to heaven." I was very touched
and said, "Thank you so much for your reminder; I will definitely get
rid of such thoughts. My Master has taught us in Zhuan Falun
the principle of 'attaining naturally without pursuit.' I will
definitely improve in my future." In the end, this colleague gave me a
pat on my shoulder and said, "Not bad, you have pretty good
enlightenment quality." Watching my colleague walk away, I conjoined my
hands and thanked Master, "Thank you Master for your enlightenment and
encouragement!"



Master teaches us that, "Human society is a good place for cultivation,
since everything here can lead to attachments. Precisely because of
this, a person who is able to step out of it and get rid of all his
attachments to human society is magnificent and is able to reach
Consummation." (Essentials for Further Advancement II)
I will do my utmost to follow Master's teachings. Every environment is
a good cultivation environment for us. To me, my work environment is
even more special. All my actions and words are under the surveillance
of my colleagues and so the requirement of me is even greater. I will
cherish this wonderful cultivation environment and do my best to save
all these predestined colleagues of mine.





(Paper from 2006 Canada Falun Dafa Experience Sharing Conference in Toronto, May 28, 2006)