Israel: Only the cultivation and practice of Dafa allowed me to go through the tests

Part 1

Israel had 8 successful sold-out shows in 2023. This time I was the marketing manager and the local MC for the shows.

I had to practice a lot and was given good guidance by the Shen Yun team in New York, yet I faced some tribulations that came from my own attachments and tests I was faced with. Looking back some seem very odd, on the surface. 

I encountered a tribulation on the second show, the early show on our first double show in Israel – my mic shut off.

It happened as I placed my thumb on the button area when holding the mic and probably shut it off unintentionally, (although I don't remember doing so).

As my mic didn't work, the audience couldn't hear my first 3-4 words. My MC partner from Shen Yun pointed that out to me quickly, I smiled and said, “oh, thanks”, turned on my mic, and continued from the start of that piece.

I thought, how could that happen? As I had already stood on stage in front of large audiences many times, I know how to hold the mic and know the routine. My MC partner said she heard a 'click' right before going on stage, but she didn't think of checking that it wasn't my mic, a moment before we went on stage. How could that happen? So, I realized, there had to be a gap – a shortcoming – I had left open so that could occur, although I didn't know what that was, as during the show I was just doing FZN all the time and preparing for the next piece.

Then after the show, I felt like I had disappointed everyone. I felt ashamed and self-disappointment. I thought: "What would I say to my MC partner? What would I say to the Shen Yun MC's manager who trained me? What would I say to Shifu? I failed them". 

I thought Lady Yang's white scarf might be useful at this moment. (In the last show, there was a piece about Tang Emperor and Lady Yang. The scarf was handed to her so she would take her own life as retribution for the troubles she brought to the empire).

Then I figured out that my thoughts were focused on myself and on saving face. Why didn't I think about the audience? When it happened, I could have thought of a joke I could have said, for example: "just like a wise old Chinese man once said, 'always keep your mic on.'" That could have helped to move forward more smoothly.

But I didn't do that, as my mind wasn't free enough and compassionate enough to be there completely for the audience so I could give them my best without being worried about myself. So, this exposed my attachment as a result of what happened.

After that happened, my MC partner and I also started doing a routine just before going on stage for every piece, to make sure:

1. Mic on? – checked
2. Saying aloud who is first (for whoever starts talking first in the next intro) – checked
3. And – Jiayou!

Part 2:

A while ago in 2018, when Shen Yun first came to Israel and I was given the role of the main coordinator and MC, I had a dream. I was with a large group of people, and as we reached the sea no one knew how to proceed. I reached forward, took both of my hands and spread the sea so we could go through it. In the dream it didn't seem weird, and just like something I had the ability to do, and did it. I had a thought about how Shifu was allowing me to feel what it means to "save my own people".

This time I came to understand that this was also given to me as an ability I can use. So I developed a routine of "opening the sea with my hands" every show. Before the show started, I went behind the stage when people were coming in, stood in the middle behind the curtain and cleansed the entire auditorium for people, then invited them and drew them in to join Dafa and Shen Yun on stage, to be saved. 

During FZN in the auditorium. I saw small snake-like figures trying to interfere with people, with Shen Yun, and we had to constantly destroy them all. In one show my leg started shaking on stage, like my muscle started to "jump". It was suggested by a fellow practitioner to eat more bananas to give my muscles more energy, yet I also focused on my leg, doing FZN directly to remove this snake figure from it, again using my thoughts and my hand and the tools given by Master, until it disappeared.

The point is, although as westerners it might be harder to accept, we need to be more open to using supernatural abilities Master gave us, especially FZN, and truly have faith and understanding that it actually works, just like a normal phenomenon that we accept. Some of our dreams or visions were also given to us to see, and we should not ignore or treat these things as "just a dream". It might be a form of disbelief.

Part 3:

In one of the evening shows after that incident with the mic shutting off, my MC partner and I both felt "the audience tonight was more composed and quieter". It was like I could connect with them less and they were less reactive, and what I had done in the last shows didn’t "work" on them as well. I thought this audience was actually more high-end, more elegant, and came to an "evening show", they were more "watching" than "participating", less kids and families, so I needed to adjust.

So, my MC partner suggested being more in line with this atmosphere, more like a CEO, more elegant. I closed my eyes, focused and turned myself quickly, in my mind, into an elegant more high-society person, and wore my "elegant appearance"; then I was ready for the next intro. 

We came out, and after the first phrase about the meaning of the name Shen Yun, suddenly everyone started to clap really hard after I said: "The beauty of divine beings dancing", which hadn’t happened before.

We went off stage and my MC partner said: "When we reach the Shen Yun standard, the audience reacts like that". Then I said: "Thank you, but all compliments are tests and trials". Then she replied: "But I wasn't complimenting you, I just told you what you should do". I saw again this attachment to self, as I had taken that to be a compliment.

When we get not so good feedback, we should adjust for the audience; When we get good feedback, it's to acknowledge what we should do, for the audience. The heart should be focused with compassion for the audience, nothing else, no fear, nor complacency and self-satisfaction, or self at all.

The clapping in the middle of the intro continued in later shows, and even in other parts, like when presenting that Shen Yun has a new production every year, and one time even in the persecution intro, right after I said "this tradition continues today, with millions of people practicing 'Falun Dafa'."

Part 4:

A week or so before the shows, my throat started to feel sore. It felt like someone was holding me by the throat. At first, I thought it was due to pressure or excitement and that it would pass before the shows. It didn’t, it stayed the same. I was able to speak, but I had to change the way I spoke in order to make it. 

At first it seemed like a tribulation, but after 5 or 6 shows, it was gone. I found it harder for me to reach the same tone I had in the first shows with the sore throat. Then I realized, with my limited understanding, now it was actually a test. All this time Shifu was helping me, by holding my throat and raising part of it so I could speak how He wanted me to speak. Now, he was letting go and letting me do this by myself, without the help, thus I didn’t feel the hand on my throat anymore and it was actually harder to make the right voice. What seems like a "test" might be a blessing from above, and a so-called "blessing" might be the real test.

Most of the time when I managed to go through tests or improve from them, was when I devoted my time and priority to really study the Fa with my heart and mind and exercise well. It allowed me to look inward better, and search within, as well as to send forth strong righteous thoughts during the shows. 

This is a good reminder for myself at the times when the atmosphere is more relaxed. Only the cultivation and practice of Dafa allowed me to go from managing myself, go through the tests, and at the end be able to help others to rise and go through their own tests, and eventually truly help Shen Yun and Master in their journey to save people.

I hope this sharing can encourage others to be aware and search within, and give your all to the audience – the people that need to be saved.

Thank you, fellow practitioners, feel free to point out anything that is not according to the Fa.
Thank you, Shifu, for giving me this precious chance.

 

(Selected article for the European Fa-conference 2023 in Paris)