Cultivating the Mind Is the First and Foremost

Greetings Master, greetings fellow practitioners,

I'm from a big city in southern China. I obtained the Fa at the end of 2002 having been in Germany for one year. I would like to share with you some cultivation experiences.

Let Go of Human Attachments to Promote Shen Yun
I went to New York to help promote Shen Yun. The city where I lived was several hours' drive away from the city hosting Shen Yun. Practitioners were needed at every promotion venue. After I put my children to the nursery and school early Friday morning, I boarded a bus for Berlin to support Shen Yun. To save time, I'd go directly to the venue, leave my luggage there, and return home two days later on Sunday. At that time there was a huge snow storm. The bus travelled slowly. We were surrounded by blankets of gray. There were only one or two practitioners manning the ticket counter. It would be very undesirable to be late. I was very anxious, which did not seem to help at all. In the helplessness I could only study the Fa and send forth righteous thoughts.

The bus continued to travel slowly. It seemed that I would be late. I knew very well Shen Yun is sacred. We could only do well when we met the requirements of the Fa. When there was no alternative, I started looking inward and actually found a lot of human attachments. During the daily hustle and bustle, I did not remember the most important thing was cultivating the mind. What filled my mind was which practitioners’ words were unkind, which things did not go as planned, how my children made me angry, etc. I cried silently, “Master, I was wrong. I would like to let go of these attachments. Please Master give me a chance to save the predestined sentient beings there. It doesn’t matter if it is someone else's fault on the surface. I need to constantly cultivate myself. Like Master said in Hong Yin III,

"”He’s right,
And I’m wrong,”
What’s to dispute?"
(Who’s Right, Who’s Wrong” from Hong Yin III).

I didn’t know when the snow got lighter. The bus travelled much faster. I didn‘t miss the handover time by too much. We three female practitioners who lived together did exercises and studied Master’s new articles before departure. When we came back at night we did the exercises again and studied Zhuan Falun. We had no time to talk about other topics. It helped me a lot, like filling up the petrol before starting a journey. The ticketing venue was in front of a supermarket in a shopping center. The residents there did not appear to be mainstream but there were still people who were willing to buy tickets on the spot. A lady who once took part in the painting contest invited me out to dinner and introduced me to her boyfriend. I told them why I came to Berlin and showed them the Shen Yun promo clip. They immediately bought two most expensive tickets. The gentleman owned a chain of pharmacies. Each year he would invite his dozens of staff to an annual trip. He immediately asked whether he could get dozens of tickets together. As a result the dozens of employees of the pharmacy chain happily watched Shen Yun together.

After dinner on my way back to the accommodation, I got lost in the underground. I asked for directions from a passing student. He happened to be going the same way. Within a few short stops, I introduced Shen Yun to him. He was very grateful to take a Shen Yun flyer, promising to see the show with friends. It was almost ten o'clock at night when I got back to where I was staying. I took out the keys to open the door, but the door would not open. I knocked on opposite neighbour's door to ask for their help. There lived a couple, who tried to help me open the door to no avail. They invited me into their home. Naturally I talked to them about Shen Yun for a few minutes. They checked the calendar and happened to be available during Shen Yun performances. They immediately booked two tickets. Then my mobile phone rang. As it turned out, a fellow practitioner roommate was in and locked two sets of doors. She was too busy with other things to hear the doorbell or the mobile. How could this be? I was stuck outside, in fact, to save those two neighbors. It seemed every minute of that day was not wasted. Seeing my character was up to standard, Master led predestined beings to me.

Cultivate in the Process of Coordinating European Minghui Summer Camp
Since last year when the first Chinese Classical Dance Summer Camp for young practitioners was held in the UK, Germany and France, the children and parents alike wished to continue. But as the initiator I was very hesitant. Actually the difficulties and hardship didn’t intimidate me too much, but I couldn’t figure out where there was a problem. It manifested as the camp site in Germany had not been found two months prior to when the camp was supposed to start. I had the feeling that local practitioners was sarcastic and did not actively cooperate.

I felt helpless and harboured resentment, thinking of all the things others had done wrong. Complaints and accusations filled my mind. I felt very weak. The old forces seemed to have a hand to pull me down. I felt very frustrated and very scared. As I approached the brink of my tolerance, I asked Master to help me. I didn‘t know how to look inward. I put aside the phone, the mobile and everything to be done. I sat down to send righteous thoughts for half an hour at a time. When I got tired I did the exercises and studied the Fa. When there was less pressure in my head and my mind became clearer, I could find my attachments. I removed them one by one, denying them to be me from the bottom of my heart.

Then as I was asking the practitioner from Falun Dafa Association about something else, he suddenly told me to contact Shen Yun office to find the teacher for the camp. Soon Fei Tian New York decided to send a couple of teachers, a male and a female, to Europe. The three countries were unchanged as per the original plan. Then things seemed to become smooth, along with other practitioners‘ cooperation. At the end Fei Tian teachers even commented that Germany did well. In fact, this was one of my big loopholes. For the first year when none of Fei Tian schools‘ teachers could come, some practitioners reminded me the fastest route was via Master. On the surface I did not want to trouble Master, but there was always something not so dignified in my mind, e.g. benefiting from association with Fei Tian, calling the shots myself. When I identified these bad attachments, I returned to the righteous path.

One fellow practitioner parent, who had taken part in three Minghui summer camps in North America, inadvertently mentioned: "Your camp is not in the same league as the North America one. But it is no wonder since it is their ninth year vs. your second." If Europe was lagging so much behind North America, as a practitioner in Europe where did I fall behind exactly? I was a little ashamed. In fact we fell behind in cultivation, in not solidly cultivating the mind. This was reflected in all aspects. As for the camp, cultivation is the first and foremost. We need to ensure little disciples study the Fa, do the exercises, and send forth righteous thoughts. Guide older children to participate in clarifying the truth and Dafa projects. The dance, Chinese, and other courses are all secondary. We also teach little disciples the traditional, positive culture and traditional moral concepts in an entertaining way.

I have always felt that I have not done well in cultivation. I’d rather listen to those practitioners who have done well sharing their experience. It is also an attachment to seeking, a kind of selfishness. The process of writing this sharing has also helped myself to become clearer on Fa principles. Whatever we do is really done for ourselves. Master only wants our hearts of kindness. I hope my sharing can inspire some practitioners. I would like to cultivate diligently together with fellow practitioners.

Thank you Master, thank you fellow practitioners!