PureInsight | December 25, 2016
[PureInsight.org]
Greetings, Master, greetings fellow Dafa disciples;
I obtained Dafa in 1996. The first time I read Zhuan Falun, I felt I really had read a book revealing heavenly secrets and happily joined in Dafa cultivation practice. Since then, 20 years have passed. Many experiences and scenes are still vivid to me. Under the protection and care of Master's compassion and the guidance of Dafa, my life is continually being purified and I am on my way to my true self.
Here, I would like to share with you my cultivation experiences in promoting Shen Yun and the ticket selling process.
Starting from the 2006 Chinese New Year Spectacular to today's Shen Yun performance, I have been involved all the way through. I remember at the beginning, we just had simple and pure hearts to save sentient beings. We wore ancient costumes at public events and held street parades to attract people and distribute flyers. Later on, we started to enter malls and set up booths to sell tickets. From a person who didn't like to talk, and was introverted, I have now become a major sales person. If it was not for cultivation, and under the guidance of Dafa, this transformation would never have happened.
‘Smile and Form a Kind Relationship’
When I first entered the mall, I was overwhelmed by the many people there. There are not many places like this in the US that have so many people concentrated in one place. Especially during Christmas shopping time, people come and go like waves. There were different kinds of people, from different walks of life. On the one hand, I was amazed by the wisdom of the Creator that every person just has five organs but on their faces, yet they all look different. On the other hand, I also saw how people live in a maze. They can easily spend a few hundred dollars to buy luxury goods, yet, they choose not to see a Shen Yun performance that could change their lives.
From the Fa, I know that when ordinary people pass by us, it is because of their pre-destined relationship with Dafa and is no accident. It might be a chance formed over thousands of years of lifetimes. They may not all have a relationship with me personally, but they all have a predestined relationship with Dafa, so I need to treasure that opportunity. I try to maintain a pure and compassionate status within myself. I welcome everyone passing by me with a smile that comes from the bottom of my heart. And I wish them to have a good future. Most people smile back at me. Even though some people first appear indifferent, when they see my smile, they smile back. I remember one day, when I came to the mall, other stores hadn't opened yet. I saw a gentleman passing by. I smiled and said hello to him. He hesitated and then smiled back at me. I asked him whether he had heard about Shen Yun. He said no. Then I introduced him to Shen Yun and we watched the video clips, looked at the program book, and he also asked a lot of questions carefully. In the end, he bought several tickets for his whole family. When I was filling out the form about where he learned about Shen Yun, he said: “I didn't plan to buy tickets. Then I saw your happy smile and was touched. Now I am very glad that I got the best gifts for my whole family.”
Even though most people just smile and pass by, I wish that this was a good start of a relationship with Dafa.
‘The Process of Selling Tickets Is a Cultivation Process’
The process of selling tickets is indeed a cultivation process. It has tribulations both physically and mentally. In the past, cultivators wandering around begging for food would encounter different people and different situation. They had to improve their xinxing as a cultivator. In the mall, we also face different people and encounter different situations that require us to maintain our xinxing to save sentient beings. While watching different people pass by, some are handsome, others are beautiful with happy families and lovely kids. When coming across different attractions in the mall, human mentalities often surface. People will react differently to your warm heart. Some are very interested in Shen Yun, but don't buy tickets; some are just polite on the surface and no matter what you say, they remain aloof. It seems never be able to touch their hearts. Some are emotionless as if you don't exist, some will ask all kinds of questions. Human attachments to fame, the competitive mentality and zealotry arise. We need to improve our xinxing and let go of these attachments.
To put myself in a good cultivation state, I enhance Fa study, SFRT and try to keep a peaceful and compassionate heart, most important is keeping a pure heart. When my heart is pure, people will be moved to tears during my introduction of Shen Yun. It might be that their knowing sides awaken at that moment, and they connect to a predestinated relationship.
But most ordinary people are weak and can be easily interfered with saying they will go back home to buy tickets. Then they will be interfered with once they are home and would forget. I have met some people who said they talked about going to see the show for several years, but they still haven't been to a show yet. So I like to have them buy tickets at the mall sites. Sometimes, though my intention of having people buy tickets on site is mixed with attachments to fame and complacency, once I have such attachments, my heart won't be that pure anymore and that is not in line with the Fa.
There was one incident that I remember and regretted to this day. One day, a lady wanted to buy tickets for her family, including her over 90-year-old grandmother. However, while she was selecting the seats, she changed her mind and said that she didn't want to buy a ticket for her grandmother anymore. She said she is too old. At that moment, I was afraid if I said something she would not buy any tickets at all, so I followed her and let her just buy tickets without buying one for her grandmother. After she left, I knew my heart was not that pure at the time. I felt very regretful for the grandmother and I should have tried my best to persuade her to include her grandmother's ticket, as that might be the last chance for her grandmother to connect with Dafa. I hope her grandmother has another chance.
At the same time, to serve customers better, I also spend some time reading Shen Yun websites, watch related videos, and get myself to know and understand more about Shen Yun. I also learn ordinary people's sale skills.
The ticket selling process also involves cooperation among practitioners; we try to support each other with righteous thoughts and trust each other. I also learned a lot from fellow practitioners.
‘Physically Challenging’
Master said in Zhuan Falun, “Working the body, tempering the will”. To sell tickets in the malls, sometimes I need to stay over 10 hours a day, and even longer during holidays. It creates tribulations and is physically challenging: I ended up with mouth ulcers, sore tongue, and toothache. They happened more often in the past, as at that time I was thinking it might be because of the karma from the crowd and from other dimensions in the mall, until one day I realized this should not happen, as they are all interference to prevent us from saving more sentient beings and the appearance is just a false illusion; after that, these kinds of things do not happen that often.
Many of us selling tickets in the malls for a long time have similar experiences: sometimes you feel very tired physically and mentally, and then suddenly Master sends a pre-destined person to you. After the happy customer buys the tickets, you suddenly feel physically energetic with a clear mind again. Perhaps we just did that little in this dimension, Master has done a lot for us in the other dimensions.
‘It Is Really Being Arranged by Master’
After gaining more experience, I gradually sell some more tickets. But then my complacency will sometimes come out. I feel I am capable. Once this comes out, I will tell myself: It is really being arranged by Master, we just need to be there with a pure heart to help them make the connection with Dafa. If we cannot do well, and we let the predestinated person pass by, we failed our responsibility. We cannot have any complacency within ourselves.
To be able to keep a clear mind and pure heart at the mall, I started to recite the Fa. I try to remember one paragraph at a time and then repeat it again and again when there are no customers. At one period of time, I found that once I remembered one paragraph, Master would lead one predestined customer to buy tickets. Every time I finish memorizing one paragraph, one person comes along to buy tickets. It is truly so that “Cultivation depends on one’s own efforts, while the transformation of gong is done by one’s master” (from Zhuan Falun).
The ticket selling process is a cultivation process; there are both hardships and happiness in it. Every time, when I see the happy and proud customers after they bought tickets, I am happy for them too. Whenever I hear customers say how they appreciate Shen Yun, how they like Shen Yun, I am very happy for them too.
I sincerely thank Master for giving us the chance to save sentient beings.
Thank you, Master!
Thank you, fellow practitioners!
Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/node/155040
