PureInsight | March 14, 2012
[PureInsight.org] Greetings, Master! Greetings, fellow practitioners!
I have been calling China to clarify the truth about Falun Dafa together with other practitioners over the last year. During this process, I have improved significantly. In addition, in the past few months, I have also put a lot of effort into promoting Shen Yun. When introducing Shen Yun to people in shopping centers, there were several incidents that really touched me. They reminded me to let go of my human notions and really meet the requirements a Dafa disciple. In addition, I also found such experience has helped me a lot with clarifying the truth to China. Here I would like to share this with everyone.
1) The Story of Nine Tickets
One day we were selling tickets in a shopping center. It was cold and snowing, with very few shoppers around. We introduced Shen Yun to people from 10 am, but had not sold any tickets, although it was close to 9 pm, the closing time for the shopping center. We usually sold several or even dozens of tickets per day at this location. I began to worry and did not know what to do. I then realized this was a human notion so I tried to let go of it. However, my righteous thoughts were not strong enough. I opened Zhuan Falun and looked at Master’s picture for encouragement. I was then able to calm down and wait for people to come and buy tickets. Several minutes later, a well-dressed mother and her three children came inside the shopping center. Probably seeing that there was not much time left, she hurried to get her shopping done and did not accept our flyer at first. We were not upset and began to send forth righteous thoughts. Soon afterwards, they stopped at a vendor near our table to buy shoes. I noticed the lady was wearing high-end clothes and she looked very happy, unlike most other shoppers who only focused on their shopping, she kept kissing and hugging her children from time to time, as if her whole heart was focused on them. I took an opportunity and, while holding a flyer in my hand, said to her, “This is a beautiful show suitable for children and the whole family!” She stopped out of curiosity. I showed her the 30-second Shen Yun promotion video and she liked it. I then explained to her further, “This is a great show with purity, beauty, and positive energy. It is truly reviving the 5000-year Chinese civilization and this is their 7th year on tour around the world, with dancing and legends—it allows the audience to truly enjoy the great culture of China’s past.” I continued, and spoke each sentence with my heart, while other practitioners sent forth righteous thoughts, she was moved and picked her seats. She mentioned that there were many people in her family and she wanted to check with them first before buying the tickets. I suggested to her that she could buy some of the tickets now and buy the rest later, she bought two and said she would come again the next day to buy the rest. Later, I heard she came the next day and bought another seven tickets.
We were very happy for this family and knew that Master was helping us along. I also realized that, upon encountering difficulty, if our heart falters and we do not have righteous thoughts, it would make the situation even worse. In Zhuan Falun, Master said, “Cultivation depends on one’s own efforts, while the transformation of gong is done by one’s master.” No matter whether calling China to clarify the truth or selling Shen Yun tickets, it is really up to our righteous thoughts.
2) From $50 to $160
One day, a practitioner introduced Shen Yun to a couple. They were impressed, but did not buy any tickets immediately. Ten minutes later, they came back and we continued to tell them about the show. I handed them the Shen Yun picture album and heard that the husband was once in tears when watching an opera. I told them Shen Yun is even more touching because the artists were performing from their hearts with a high artistic level. I told them we had the best seats available at $160, so that they could truly enjoy the orchestra and costumes as well. He agreed. His wife, however, began to worry saying it was too expensive. He explained to her that this could be their best Christmas gift ever. His wife then agreed. They bought the tickets and left. Later, a practitioner told me that the couple had been planning to buy the $50 tickets. Because I did not know that, I recommended the $160 tickets to them.
From this, I also learned something. In the past, especially because of our own shopping habits, we were hesitant to recommend the highest-price seats to customers. However, promoting Shen Yun is so sacred, how can we treat this with human notions? In “Dafa Disciples Must Study the Fa,” Master said, “You really don’t need to think too much about it—rather, go about it with confidence and dignity. You’re a Dafa disciple. Don’t you realize that you are saving people? Is Shen Yun’s ticket really not worth that amount? It is! I will tell you (applause), if a company in mainstream Western society put on a show as first-rate as this, do you know how much they would charge for a ticket? In any city the lowest price would be $500 per ticket. (Applause) We haven’t set the price that high, so what are you afraid of? You aren’t trying to get more money out of people. Rather, you are truly saving them.” From then onwards, we naturally recommended high-price seats first and it worked well.
I deeply felt that promoting Shen Yun is similar to calling people in China to help them quit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). We may come across situations when the ticket selling is slow, just like when some people are hesitant to quit the CCP when we call them. At those times, if we treat the situation with human notions, it would make it even worse. It requires our righteous thoughts to change the situation.
As we continued to improve, the situation also improved. When selling tickets at that shopping center on the last day, out of the 16 tickets we sold, 10 were at the highest price. Things went smoothly and we did not have any difficulty. We realized that we had to make a lot of effort letting people really know the value of Shen Yun. One day, after we introduced Shen Yun to a customer, he said $160 was not expensive, since the show was so good, it was worth more than $1000. From this, we knew that we had to let go of human notions. With faith in Master and the Fa, when we do things according to the Fa, we will see the power of Dafa.
3) Conclusion
With help from Master, we sold about 93% of the tickets and the remaining 7% were mostly high priced ones. Although we gradually let go of our attachments to ticket prices, it was somewhat late and it caused some losses. We need to do better, and by removing human notions, fully do things according to the requirements of the Fa. This way, we will be able to save more sentient beings.
Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2012/1/5/79727.html
