PureInsight | March 24, 2012
Experience Sharing at the 2011 European Fa Conference
[PureInsight.org] Esteemed Master and fellow practitioners,
I have practiced Falun Gong since the summer of 2009 and am deeply grateful for being able to step onto my cultivation path.
Looking back over the past two years, I realize that my way of thinking has changed. When stepping onto my cultivation path, I had no idea what cultivation was all about, but I felt an energy emanating from the practice. My realization that one will receive unconditional help when one believes in Master was a turning point for me. I became steadfast and from then on advanced steadily in my cultivation.
2011 Shen Yun Performances in Austria
After seeing the Shen Yun Performing Arts show in Austria in 2010, I was touched by the artists’ selflessness. From then on I understood the importance of Shen Yun and I decided to concentrate on promoting Shen Yun to the Austrian public.
I’m a cook in a health food store and I leave for work at 5 a.m. every day. I recognized from studying the Fa the importance and urgency of promoting Shen Yun to mainstream society. Therefore, I decided to change my lifestyle and do everything in my power to overcome sleepiness after returning home from work, so I could take part in public events. This way I could promote Shen Yun to more people.
Master said in “Dafa Disciples Must Study the Fa” in Washington DC: “No matter the ethnic group, when Shen Yun came to perform, all that the people there knew were ballet companies, the opera house, or the symphony orchestra. They didn’t know who Shen Yun was. So that was the period of time when Dafa disciples were able to play a significant role.”
While at an event to promote Shen Yun, a young Soprano invited me to a theater performance, which provided me with an opportunity to learn more about classical music. At the same time I gained access to people from art circles. I felt strongly that I should invite the music theater’s director to Shen Yun as a VIP guest. I attended three piano recitals to get the chance to talk to him. I sent forth righteous thoughts throughout the performance. During the intermission I tried to network with other audience members and introduce Shen Yun to them. It was rather difficult to get close to the director. But this was a great opportunity to associate with people from different backgrounds. In the end, I handwrote a note recommending Shen Yun and also gave him some flyers. I noticed when talking to him that at times he listened and at other times he was rather brusque. I felt that there were many ups and downs with him. This made me realize the importance of not being upset by superficial appearances, but to strengthen my heart so I could save him. When I told him that we wished to invite him as a VIP guest he said that he wasn’t quite sure if he could make it as he and his wife had another appointment on that date, but he would let us know. I assured him that we would send him an invitation.
The next time I saw him, I asked about the invitation and he said that he hadn’t received it. I realized that after telling the coordinator about the invitation I put it out of my mind. I met the theater director again when I was distributing Shen Yun flyers outside the opera house. He told me that he still hadn’t received the invitation. I realized that my part in the matter was not completed by assuming that another practitioner would send out the invitation. I had to maintain a constant thought about the matter until the invitation got to the theater director. I told myself not to leave a gap for the evil to prevent us from saving another sentient being.
Master said in the recent lecture in Washington DC 2011: “As soon as your thinking aligns with a particular type of being, it will be able to instantly exert an effect on you. Yet you won’t be aware of where your thoughts are originating from, and will still think that it is your own will. But in fact, it was precisely your attachments that resulted in those things having an effect on you, and that led to their strengthening your attachments.”
I promised to take the matter into my own hands and would personally deliver the invitation to him. It was rather difficult to get in contact with him again, but finally, I got to hand him the invitation personally. This time, I was able to get him truly excited about Shen Yun and he promised to come and see this show and bring his wife along.
After the performance, they said that they had truly enjoyed the Shen Yun show and the theater director offered help in promoting the show. He told me later that he and his wife had actually cancelled another commitment to go and see the Shen Yun show. He was impressed by my persistence and was touched by me wearing my heart on my sleeve. He also realized that I wasn’t quite sure how to go about things and so he decided to help us. This made me see clearly the importance of doing things from one’s heart when it comes to saving sentient beings. People can feel the true thoughts sent out by one’s mind.
This experience helped me to gain more confidence. Although I had no experience with people from the upper class, I understood that determination and opening my heart would be the key to accomplishing our task. It is true that Master arranges everything. All I have to do is to be confident that I can accomplish a given task. Thank you Master for providing me with this opportunity.
There was another time when I experienced Master arranging everything wonderfully and giving me a hand in bringing people to see Shen Yun. One lady I had met during a promotional event invited me to an evening Christmas exhibition. As I get up at 5 a.m., I felt it would be troublesome to go to an evening event. To make sure I attended, the lady called me and reminded me. I thought this was a great opportunity to introduce Shen Yun to people. While at the Christmas event I realized that the lady and her husband played golf and some of their acquaintances that attended the activity were part of the upper class society. I left some Shen Yun flyers at the exhibition area and tried to talk to the couple about Shen Yun.
Luckily, I was able to arrange a date when I could introduce Shen Yun in more detail. After the activity, I sent the couple the link to the Shen Yun website so they could see the promotional video. The next time I went to meet them in their office, the husband said that he was deeply impressed with what he had seen, so he immediately sent a newsletter about Shen Yun to all of his business associates. Originally, he and his business partners wanted to give a reception at the time of the Shen Yun performance. Unfortunately, his partner was traveling during this time.
Actually, his wife’s only interest was to have me join her as a business partner. I didn’t think that I wanted to go into business with this lady as I already had a job, and so I felt a little uncomfortable. But, I took this as a hint to stay in touch with these people. Therefore, I participated in different events that they arranged, which allowed me to tell more and more people about Shen Yun. In the end, they were in the audience of the Shen Yun performance with thirty others. The company they own is large and there are many people working there waiting to be saved. I hope that I can do better the next time Shen Yun comes.
Master said in “What is a Dafa Disciple” at the 2011 New York Fa Conference: “As you know, I have said before that the people in this world—which encompasses all beings that have a connection with Fa-rectification—are not so ordinary. All have come for the Fa-rectification, were formed for the Fa-rectification, and were forged for the Fa-rectification. Nothing is accidental, and in the future you will see this.”
In retrospect, I now see clearly that Master was beside me every step of the way so I could do well in my mission.
Promoting the Fa in the Republic of Seychelles
Last year I met a lady from the Seychelles islands while I was at a Falun Dafa booth during an African festival in Vienna. I handed her a French language newspaper about Falun Gong. As she was very interested, she returned the next day. I gave her Zhuan Falun, which she started to read immediately. She had almost read the entire book by the time the plane touched down in her homeland. We stayed in contact via email and she asked me several times to visit her. I thought this was not a coincidence and I felt a strong desire to introduce Falun Dafa in Seychelles. Therefore, I decided to accept her invitation.
This was truly a challenging situation for me. In the past I was too timid to travel on my own, because I had limited English and didn’t know French at all. But the wish to introduce Falun Dafa in that country strengthened my resolve. Without expecting anything, I trusted Master to guide me.
Master said in “To All Students at the Nordic Fa Conference”: “So in clarifying the truth, don’t wait, don’t rely on others, and don’t just hope for changes in external factors. Every one of us is creating history for the future, that’s why everyone is not only participating in group activities, but also taking the initiative to look for things to do. As long as something is good for Dafa, you should take the initiative to do it, take the initiative to work on it.”
With a lot of help from fellow practitioners I put together a selection of materials that would help me in my truth clarification efforts. I was ready to go on my assignment, taking Zhuan Falun, the introductory book Falun Gong, informational material, and the “Little Bee” exercise music player.
Interference quickly started on my way to the airport. I lost my mobile phone. I use the mobile phone as a watch. It reminds me when it is time for sending righteous thoughts and I also have the exercise music on it. I felt completely separated from my daily life. Then, I remembered why I undertook this trip.
After arriving at the airport I noticed many Chinese people and realized that I could offer them salvation. Also, not many people are in a rush when at the airport so there was time to talk about what’s happening in China. I distributed many Chinese and English flyers to them.
After I arrived in Seychelles my acquaintance couldn’t be seen anywhere. Fortunately she had arranged for someone to pick me up. We had a long drive to her home. It took me away from the beautiful beaches and tourist places one sees in photos. We drove into the mountains. The lady lived on a mountain, which was quite far from the city. It was far from any regular road and one had to traverse country roads in the middle of a forest to reach it.
I was shown the simple and humble life of the natives. At that moment I was thankful to Master for showing me that I live a comfortable life and that I was still attached to comfort, coziness, and feeling secure. I still held many such attachments in my heart.
These attachments are an outgrowth of selfishness. Even if I’m rarely at home, I know that my comfortable home is waiting for me. Now, I was given the opportunity to let go of these attachments.
To visit the town, one needed a car. My friend made frequent trips to the town, which was great, because it gave me the opportunity to tell people about Falun Gong.
I rarely went inside the stores with my friend. Instead I waited outside distributing Falun Gong leaflets and talking to people. When a police officer passed by I clarified the truth to him, gave him a flyer, and asked him to read it from beginning to end. He could feel in his heart what was good and what was bad. He thanked me and gave me a thumbs up. I had no difficulties distributing the flyers. I even got into a deep conversation with some people and many thanked me by shaking my hand.
Master had arranged everything well. In the end, my friend decided to take me to her daughter’s home during the second week. This provided me with the opportunity to bring Dafa to more people. After arriving, I looked forward to exploring the surroundings and the nearby town. It was very easy to make contact with the locals and many were quite interested in what I had to tell them. In a nearby hospital I gave the doctors some flyers.
Then, another bonus came my way. I found the only University in Seychelles. While trying to find those in charge, I was told that I had to wait between one and two hours. I used that time to find a nice location on the school grounds to send righteous thoughts and do the five exercises. I was very happy when I heard Master’s voice and tears welled up in my eyes. Master said in Zhuan Falun: “Cultivation depends on one’s own effort while the transformation of Gong is done by the master.”
Back at the school’s office, I was told that the person in charge had not returned yet. The students were on a break and a group of students gathered at one place. At that moment an inner voice told me that I should go there, so I walked towards the students. I gave them a flyer and told them about Falun Gong and the persecution. We were in deep discussion about organizing the first exercise group in Seychelles. Unfortunately, time was short. One of the students asked me to come back at 11 a.m. the next day. She promised to talk to one of her professors to request some time, so more people could have the opportunity to take part in the exercises.
The next day there were twenty students when I arrived. I distributed almost all of the Falun Gong materials I had with me. I had exercise music CDs and the exercise video that showed them the movements. I also got to talk to the professor. Unfortunately, I had only one copy of Zhuan Falun with me, which I gave to the student representative. It was wonderful to see their happy faces. I heard recently the group still exists and more and more students have joined.
While still in Seychelles, the professor suggested ways to improve our organization so that more students could join. A poster depicting the persecution was hung on a bulletin board so all the students could read it. They all were very sad to see me return to Austria.
I could feel the longing of people that were predestined to learn about Falun Gong. Therefore, I understand even better the urgency to save sentient beings.
I will keep improving, so I can help in Shen Yun efforts and to bring Falun Dafa to the world’s people.
