Letting Go of Myself to Harmonise with the Group, in Participation of Shen Yun Product Sales

Greetings Master!
Greetings fellow practitioners!

My name is Ying. I obtained the Fa in 1998 in China and moved to Sweden in 2001.

Over the past years of Shen Yun’s European tour, I usually worked for the logistics team. In April this year, when Shen Yun was performing in three large cities in Mexico, I was asked to go there, since a North American practitioner who was in charge of Shen Yun product selling was too busy with local Shen Yun issues, so I took over her job. My deepest feeling about this journey was: it’s a basic requirement to complete my own work well, but what is most important is to cooperate well with others as a whole.

I would like to use this opportunity to share my understanding with fellow practitioners. Please compassionately point out if anything is inappropriate.

Understanding and Cooperating with Each Other
Two days before Shen Yun arrived in Mexico, almost all of the practitioners from North America and Europe were in place for the logistics. A coordinator introduced several key points about the local situation to us:
• There are big cities with large populations
• The security in these cities is not good
• Shen Yun’s timetable in Mexico is intense
• There are few local practitioners and they are not wealthy.

Therefore every year, from promotion to logistics, Shen Yun work is supported by foreign practitioners.

It was my first time to participate in Shen Yun product sales in Mexico. Although I did some training and preparation before I travelled there, it was quite stressful and I worried that I could not complete the job and would fail in my mission.

While Shen Yun was touring Mexico, I was working with a Chinese practitioner in her 20’s from North America. We had different strengths and complemented each other. Her English is pretty good and she knows Shen Yun products quite well, while I have some financial background so I am somewhat good at managing money. However, as none of us can speak Spanish, we needed to work closely with a local practitioner in sales. I could say the three of us all had our own strengths and weaknesses, but the job could not be done without any single one of us. Only when we understood each other and fully utilised our strengths could we become an effective body and sell all the products.

Although the average income in Mexico is not high, there was always more than four thousand audience members, without a spare seat, and the theatre was packed for each of the five performances at Auditorio Nacional in Mexico City. Before and after the performance and during the break, our Shen Yun shop was always surrounded by passionate Mexican Shen Yun fans. In spite of being super busy, we felt honoured and happy.

Traffic in this city is really bad, so turning up late happens frequently. Sometimes it really made us helpless and even stirred my attachment of complaint. Once, a Mexican practitioner was over an hour late. And not was she late, but she also wore very casual clothes. Since I was already very anxious after waiting for such a long time, seeing her not dressed properly made me even more frustrated. I started to complain and asked another practitioner to contact the coordinator to send us someone else to help.

At that moment, the audience had already started to enter the theatre. I forced myself to calm down. As a veteran practitioner, I knew my state was not right. I tried to adjust myself to face the sentient beings that were waiting to be saved, with my best appearance.

When the performance began, I sat down and reflected on my actions, about why I complained and why I reacted like I did. One reason was because I was afraid that it would affect saving sentient beings if the sales work wasn’t going well. However, when I looked deeper within, I found attachments to status and to results, and to completing my job successfully. I wanted to show off that I’d used my annual leave from work and travelled all the way to Mexico to support this project. Aren’t these attachments that need to be eliminated?

At the time, I completely calmed down. Shouldn’t we eliminate selfishness and assimilate with the new universe’s qualities in our cultivation? Working together to fulfil our mission of saving sentient beings, shouldn’t we cultivate just to become selfless and altruistic? I should be more thoughtful towards others.

Many local practitioners in Mexico obtained the Fa quite late. As new practitioners, how precious that they are able to break through and step forward to join Fa-rectification. It is truly worth being cherished! As a veteran practitioner obtaining the Fa before the persecution, I should let go of myself and be compassionate and tolerant of others. After this, I got along better with Mexican practitioners, and I also learnt several simple sentences in Spanish so that I could interact with customers.

Security in Mexico is not that good. Shen Yun products are very precious, and we needed to always carry the cash we got with us at all times. During work, we needed to have enough awareness to spot problems and remind each other not to let the old forces exploit our loopholes.

Master brought many predestined people to us, purchasing the products to show their support of Shen Yun. For the sake of promoting Shen Yun products and Chinese divine culture, we would always sort out problems that we encountered in sales so that we could share and exchange ideas with each other, or explore the Shen Yun website to learn more.

The toughest period for us was every time Shen Yun went to a new city. We needed to form a temporary new sales team with local Mexican practitioners, and for many it was our first time to cooperate with each other. My English is not good and if I needed to work with Mexican practitioners who do not speak English either, we could only use Google Translate to communicate. But this did not obstruct our collaboration. None of us is perfect, but we could all understand and tolerate each other. However, after we had been though challenges and started to work well together it was time to travel to the next city again.

It is such a team made up of temporary members that was able to sell out almost all products at 11 performances in Mexico without any mistakes. What a miracle!

This was all because of the tolerance, collaboration and diligence of everyone. I deeply feel that whatever circumstances or situations we encounter, only by letting go of self, complementing each other and accomplishing tasks could we complete Shen Yun perfectly. In fact, many things are done by Master and helped by Gods, instead of our own abilities. This however has shown our cultivation, diligence and attitudes of saving sentient beings.

Suffering is Part of Cultivation
Master said:

“A Great Enlightened One fears no hardship
Having forged an adamantine will”
(“Righteous Thoughts and Righteous Actions” in Hong Yin II)

On my trip to Mexico, this is the sentence that I remembered the most, and I had a very deep understanding about it.

When I first arrived in Mexico, because of some of the altitude in some cities, it seemed that even a little bit of work could make me exhausted and my nose often bled. Afterwards when a coordinator told me that Shen Yun dancers dance on the mountain with more than a 2000 metre altitude every day, I realised that it is fairly common to get altitude sickness. Apart from this, muggy weather and bad sanitary conditions in Mexico caused frequent vomiting and diarrhoea on the first few days.

I remembered a Shen Yun dancer. She could only drink some simple porridge because she didn’t feel well. Seeing her tired look, I was really worried about her being exhausted. In spite of that, the righteous thoughts of saving sentient beings supported her to step on the stage as usual. When I sat in the auditorium witnessing her bringing a sincere smile and best performance status to sentient beings, I was so moved.

When Shen Yun was touring Mexico, from the Shen Yun artists to participating practitioners from different countries, everyone suffered both mentally and physically. But we still stuck to our posts all the time, fulfilling our vows. These are also part of improvements and breakthroughs in our cultivation.

Once, a Canadian practitioner and I hitchhiked to the market for grocery shopping for the kitchen. On the way back, the truck was filled with goods, so we had to sit in the back. The air was sultry and the truck was bumping along, which almost made me choke.

As this was happening this practitioner still kept sharing with me as usual, and she told me that sitting at on the back is actually very common in Mexico. After bumping along for more than 40 minutes, the truck finally arrived at the kitchen.

When we were carrying the stuff to the kitchen, I felt a flow of heat suddenly come over me. It must have been at least 50° Celsius inside. Our chefs were all sweating, but still continued with their work. The kitchen environment there was very different to those in Europe. Watching fellow practitioners’ working hard, I found my attachment to comfort and felt deeply that only the Way could create such Dafa practitioners with adamantine minds.

Others’ Business is My Business
There was one point in my time in Mexico that gave me a very deep feeling that everyone was selfless to help others. Since the number of practitioners coming to help was limited, each of us was responsible for several tasks at the same time and we helped each other wherever needed.

The transportation equipment in Mexico is not developed. The method of ironing clothes is still stuck in the past. All the clothing needs to be ironed each time Shen Yun arrives at a new city. One can imagine the huge amount of work needed. We were always staying up late. But as long as we could make time, everyone was helping without any complaint.

The last night of Shen Yun in each city was always the most difficult. Many things needed to be carried onto Shen Yun’s truck during the night, so that we could drive to the next city the following day and prepare for the next set up.

I can still remember that day when the performance just ended. Loads of brochures needed to be carried to the truck and moved to the next stop. At the beginning there were only three of us carrying them box by one box. Other practitioners saw us and joined in. In no time, there was a group of people. Later when Shen Yun dancers passed by after dinner, they also joined in. We and the Shen Yun artists formed a long “human great wall”. We just stood still and passed the boxes easily one by one on to the truck. That scene was really touching! I understand that every one of us is part of one body.

During the last performance in Mexico City, when I sat on a temporary seat at the corner in the front, I looked back and saw the whole theatre fully packed with five thousand people. I was astonished and moved to tears.

Comparing in studying and cultivating, this journey to Mexico made me realise the gap between me and fellow practitioners. The Shen Yun spirit shown by the performers, and the righteous cooperation and hard work by those practitioners from North America and other areas were encouraging to me.

Living in a cosy environment, it is very hard to keep the feeling of urgency like “this instant is precious beyond measure”. If we do not cultivate ourselves well, take our responsibilities and fulfil our missions, it will be a regret that we could never make up for in the future! Let us remind each other, keep diligent together and save more predestined people!

Thank you Master!
Thank you fellow practitioners!