Cultivating Whilst Promoting Shen Yun is a Special Privilege

This is my first sharing for the UK Fahui. Having got the Fa in 2006, it is way overdue. So here I am in front of you, destiny has brought me here, with you my fellow Dafa disciples.

Master has taken me from the depths of despair to the path to home. But I must play my part to help Master rectify the Fa and save sentient beings, the privilege of being a Dafa disciple.

Cultivation is the key to success, our Master has taught us many times. So I try to follow this in my work for Dafa projects. There is not only the practical arrangements but the coordination and cultivation issues to bear in mind especially. In recent years I have worked on Shen Yun, becoming more involved as time has progressed.

I have always found working on the Shen Yun project to be a special privilege, and one that I have tried to engage with fully. My understanding of Shen Yun has changed over the years. If I look back to 2008, I can remember seeing it as a pure show that represented Dafa, although I have to say that my mind was not so solid then, so I had to fight with the human mentality. However now, with Master’s help, I have come to have a deeper understanding. This last year before going into the promotion period, we received the news from New York that to tell people of the values of Shen Yun is the focus. With this in mind they had produced some presentation material. Master had emphasised to us the importance of speaking to people. My understanding was that if we spoke using the gong given to us by Master, with the heart to save people, telling them the values and aspects of Shen Yun that makes it so special that they as beings, who are waiting for the words to be saved, will want to go to see Shen Yun.

In 2011, the Shen Yun tour was not so successful from the presenter’s point of view, not really making the inroads into mainstream as was needed, with very low ticket sales. It was a heart breaking time, to feel the sadness leading up to Shen Yun’s arrival, and yet not wanting to speak out so as to bring down the attempts to keep positive and wishing for the best outcome. We had to do better and down to Master’s compassion we had another chance.

I was allocated the role of co-coordinator for Shopping Centre promotions. The mainstream was our target. I felt more clear on whom the mainstream was this time round, it was just a matter of how to target them. We were also conscious of maintaining the Shen Yun brand, one of high class, purity and perfection. We had made some good and bad decisions last time, so using that experience we tried to fine-tune our approach.

As a matter of course, we endeavour to fundamentally clarify the truth to those we meet, to ensure that they can make the right choice. It seems to help eradicate interference and make things go smoother. We always try to speak to the decision maker, to clarify the truth to them, as this provides the best outcome according to experience.

Right from the first promotion, we instilled the need to have dedicated people doing FZN during the promotion, and also for team members to take their break outside of busy times, and also to send FZN and study Fa if possible during this time out.

Another aspect that was introduced this year was getting together before starting the promotion each day, to share the focus, highlight any issues and ultimately then to put hands together as the Shen Yun performers do, and in unison say the words in Chinese “Help Master rectify the Fa, and Help save more sentient beings” three times. It was very powerful, and one practitioner shared how it left tears in their eyes, and through the promotion they felt the one body energy of cooperation. Each disciple was helping each other. If one disciple needed the Shen Yun photobook to show the photos, another would come over with it. Or maybe the tablet computer was needed to show another video; again somebody may bring it over. When selling the tickets, another could speed things up by filling in the receipt if they were free. It reminded me of one of the Shen Yun performer’s videos, wherein there are some backstage scenes that show how each performer helps each other, whether it be holding a light, or assisting with costume. After all we are assisting Master, and should abandon our self.

As we moved forward with these promotions it became more and more clear that in the busy places, we needed more people to FZN according to our understanding. So we tried to increase a little, but also we became more and more structured in our rotation of staff. Being on a promotion can be a long day if you are there all day, sometimes 12 hour days, and we may not have had enough staffing to allow half day shifts for all. So rotation is important, not least because the cultivation state is very important. Without it we could not do so well. It is clear that after standing talking for a while one’s energy level can wane; the best course of action is to take time out and to study Fa and send FZN, and then return.

We are not ordinary people doing Dafa work, but cultivators of Dafa and the emphasis of our work is different. We should have the heart to save these sentient beings and apply it, then the higher beings can help with our work, and Master can magnify our efforts, the effects are greater, the success is greater. How to balance this with what on the surface seems a pursuit of ticket sales is actually a means to an end: to save more sentient beings. The professionalism, the sales techniques, the business approach is all part of the picture, but it is all glued together and supported by righteous thoughts and a good cultivation state. For example, according to my understanding, the field at a promotion site is the responsibility of the attendees, no matter what state it is beforehand, as soon as we have that booking approaching we need to prepare. My fellow coordinator shared that ticket sales were less on the opening day as a rule, and then picked up the next. Of course it is not good to have this as a fixed mind-set, but if this is the case then how can that be changed. Why is it this way? I would actually prepare the site by sending FZN the day before we begin there, laying the foundation for a successful beginning to the promotion, clearing away all interference so that the predestined people will come to the centre and see our stand and want to find out more and book tickets. There are so many little things that can get in the way, interference can come in all shapes, sizes and directions. So maintaining and sending righteous thoughts is crucial.

I myself have a sales background, but many of the team do not, and to see them talking so well to people was wonderful to see. Of course having the world’s greatest show to promote helps. When we go out to promote Shen Yun I feel we are its ambassadors, it representatives. How can we do it justice? It is the most pure, divine experience on Earth, the most precious jewel, the most exquisite beauty, in fact it is of course beyond words. Again, we have to be at our best in all ways, and this means that our dress, our display material, our presentation must be to that standard. As we have tried to keep improving, our standard has gone up, but there is always room for improvement.

This was really brought home to us when we approached what has to be the most attractive large shopping/leisure centre in the UK, which is in London itself, with a footfall of about half a million shoppers a week. Nowhere had we seen such professionalism than here. We in fact tried to do something with this venue last time, with little or no budget, bearing in mind the rates are around £10,000 plus per week. They were not able to help us, I guess we hadn’t reached the point where they would just roll over and we did not have the deal as far as sponsorship goes to offer them. I also cannot help but think that maybe we were not up to the standard to make it happen.

This time around we had some budget, and several fellow UK practitioners had suggested we should go there. We did manage to negotiate a huge discount by offering tickets and advertising in-kind. It seemed to be a different experience; last time it felt so cold and yet this time they were more helpful. We had introduced the show to them last year and clarified the truth in relation to Shen Yun.

Our position in the store was great, right next to the high end shops, a perfect branding match. It was strange that in my mind from last time I felt that if we were going to be there we had to be in that place, and now we were. They also made more concessions such as we should have used a false flooring, which would have been very expensive, but they waived this for us too.

We had high hopes at this venue, and so we needed all staff to be the most professional they could be. There were several rules, such as always having the leaflet holders topped up, - no bad thing- having good housekeeping, tidying up littered flyers etc. so the rules actually helped us to improve. We also tried to instil in all the need to have tidy counters, if there are too many books or scattered flyers it looks bad, a more minimal display looks better.

At this venue, I recall one day which was a bank holiday, the centre was quite busy. Our stand was packed with people, for at least 5 solid hours or more, it was constant. I remarked to another practitioner, this is how a Shen Yun promotion should be, people almost queuing to find out about Shen Yun and to buy tickets. That day we sold our highest ever total of tickets in one day, at a shopping centre. I know we had several sending FZN, this I am sure also played a good supportive role.

The remarkable thing is that when you are selling tickets so readily you seem to have more energy, and the reverse can happen when things are not going so well. The time just flew by. Why can it not be like that all the time? Perhaps it can.

What can happen though when it is busy, procedures can drop, things can go missing if you are not careful and this is why we believe it to be important to have procedures well established. It is an area for us to try to improve next time. However, overall it went very well.

What was striking at the promos was the number of, what appeared to be, predestined people, so many with an interest in China or Asia, in one way or another. I remember some specific individuals. One that comes to mind is a Chinese lady who had wanted to speak to one of our Chinese female staff.

Apparently she at first had some negative mind-set, querying the connection to Falun Dafa, but after some explanation seemed to appreciate and understand the situation. In fact she went further she said that she thought our promotion of traditional culture was giving it the respect and dignity it deserves. She went further to say that she thought that all of us who were presenting Shen Yun were ‘gods’. Quite remarkable.

Another lady was English, quite a sensitive being, very into Japanese culture. When she saw the pictures in the Shen Yun photo book she said, “I just have to go” or similar. It was quite a dilemma for her as she did not appear to have much money. Being sensitive, she said she could sense the energy from the Shen Yun materials we had. Before she left she had to hug one of our costumed females, and just cry, saying through tears “thank you so much”.

One more story is of the response from children this year. Everywhere we went children stood only a few feet from the TV screen transfixed by the Shen Yun promo video we played. One group of 3 girls aged around 7, were like this. They were saying ‘Wow!’ together almost in unison. I asked them how it makes them feel watching the video. One replied, ‘It makes me feel all warm inside’.

In fact there were several people I witnessed who broke down into tears at our promotion stands. When explaining Shen Yun to them, you could see their eyes begin to well up.

One boy aged around, 10, was standing only 4 feet from our screen, taking it in turns to look at the screen and the leaflet he was holding. It turned out he was waiting for his father. I started a conversation with him regarding Shen Yun, and noticed he had 3 Chinese characters on his jumper. I asked a Chinese colleague what they were as he did not know. The Chinese characters translated as God Loves Me! The first character Shen was the same as in Shen Yun. This was amazing to see this boy so glued to the Shen Yun video, and to have those words. It reemphasised to me that all are waiting to be saved.

He seemed really pleased to be told this. Then his father came back and we recounted the story to him. He seemed in a hurry so could not really talk too much more about Shen Yun, but I made sure to say to him ‘you must take him to see Shen Yun, he really wants to go.’ I hope they did go.

As per Master’s guidance, we emphasised talking to as many people as possible, being aware that this is what counts.

I recall many times people were going to walk by but I actually managed to get them to stop and listen. On one day in particular I remember 2 couples I got to stop. They actually bought top price tickets there and then, when they heard all about Shen Yun they just wanted to go.

Although our promotion stand was better come the end, we can see where we need to step it up further. All of this I believe goes hand in hand with our improvement in cultivation and understanding of Shen Yun.

In summary, we have had a better year in shopping centre promotion than before, the general cultivation state of all UK practitioners has clearly improved which has meant a more cooperative environment with more ticket sales. The training we have done together has helped a lot too, and should continue. Before we got the venue we had group sharing and Fa study together. This continued with the training sessions and national Fa study. Also, early morning group Fa study was maintained online. Several other sharing opportunities and Fa study sessions happened too.

People on the site worked together overall as a team, as one body. As we improve individually I am sure that this improves the situation still further, to a deeper level. The team has worked hard to achieve what we have, on one occasion working in a very cold semi-outdoor centre in the city, we had to stand for many hours, to represent Shen Yun as best we can.

We had 5 shows that were all full houses on average 90% full, but not sell outs. We still have a way to go. No one team can live on an island and succeed, it needs to be one body. All of the efforts that I have mentioned have contributed to our team’s achievements. Figuratively speaking we have ‘taken many ordinary people’s hands and lead them, with care, to Shen Yun’, but next year we need to do better, and that starts now.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who contributed to the UK Shen Yun performance. Wherever you are, thank you.

Most of all, thank you Master for giving me this opportunity.