Cultivation Experiences in Promoting Shen Yun

Greetings Master, Greetings Fellow Practitioners

I obtained the Fa in 1997. I live in Norway. Due to various factors, Shen Yun performances have not been held in Norway for the past 15 years. After years of hard work by fellow practitioners, we finally achieved a major breakthrough last year. We secured a theater in Bergen, western Norway, and successfully held a Shen Yun performance there in April of this year. Now, I would like to share with you my cultivation experiences in promoting Shen Yun.

Clarifying the truth is the universal key, and promoting Shen Yun is also about clarifying the truth

We had always hoped to have Shen Yun booths in the malls so we could promote Shen Yun face-to-face. We faced various obstacles. There were no local practitioners in Bergen. I work remotely for The Epoch Times, so I am relatively flexible in my work days. To better promote Shen Yun, I moved to Bergen. However, applying for a booth required more practitioners from out of town to participate. Traveling thousands of miles away was challenging for other practitioners, as travel and accommodation are significant expenses. Conventional commercial booths require significant expenses, and most of us couldn't afford them. 

Later, while walking around the mall, a practitioner stumbled upon an activity room that could be borrowed free of charge from the city government. The room, located on the second floor of the mall, was a suitable location, so we borrowed it from the city government and held cultural activities promoting Shen Yun, including folding lotus flowers and writing Chinese characters. We didn't sell tickets and weren't involved in commercial activities, however, many people were interested in traditional Chinese culture. We introduced Shen Yun to attendees, explaining Shen Yun’s values, and recommending them to see the performances.

However, the number of people passing by was limited. After two sessions, many people told us that they had already taken the flyers. I thought, perhaps we should break free from our current situation and find a better location with more traffic. I searched online for various possibilities and eventually found a local Christmas market in a Facebook group. We applied for a booth and successfully promoted Shen Yun there.

We tried applying for booths at other shopping malls in the same way. Fellow practitioners emailed and called the malls, but received no response. I realized we should go to the malls and meet with the managers face-to-face to introduce Shen Yun. Our goal was not to seek their help, but to clarify the truth to them, introduce them to Shen Yun, and help them clear their minds of negative thoughts about the performance. Shen Yun's pure kindness and beauty is telling the local residents about the CCP's persecution of kindness and conscience.

Soon after, a female practitioner from northern Norway came to help out with the promotion. She lived with me at the time, and every morning after practicing the exercises and studying the Fa, we would visit businesses, hoping that their owners would buy Shen Yun tickets as Christmas gifts for their employees. On our way home, we passed by a shopping mall. I thought this was a good opportunity. The Norwegian practitioner is good at communication, so I discussed with her whether we could get a booth there. She agreed immediately, without any reservations. We met with the mall's manager, introduced Shen Yun, and talked about our previous events. The manager was very happy to promote Shen Yun and gave us a free booth as part of a cultural event. 

On our way home, we passed another large mall in the city center, where we also successfully met with the manager. He was a little hesitant about giving us a booth, as they had never done this before. I told him that we had already been offered bookings for booths from another mall, and that Shen Yun promotes traditional Chinese culture, and I believed that visitors passing through the mall would be interested in seeing the performance. Ultimately, he agreed to give us booths, again without asking us to pay. Shortly before the performance, we invited the mall managers to attend the Shen Yun performance as VIPs. Many of them watched and gave positive feedback.

Looking back on the entire process, it seemed like we were being blocked by difficulties, but when we tried to overcome them without any reservations, Master opened doors for us. 

In “Teachings at the 2004 International Conference in New York”, Master said: "No matter how hard it is, there is a path for you to take, even though it is a fairly narrow one." 

I realized that as long as Dafa disciples are not afraid of difficulties and act with righteous thoughts in their cooperation, no difficulty can stop them. At that time, many practitioners from other places came to our area to promote Shen Yun. Master saw our sincerity. With Master's blessing, our tickets sold very well before Christmas. The originally planned two performances were expanded to three.

Improving Xinxing Amidst Conflict, Clearing Interference with Righteous thought

Many local mailboxes have "No Ads" labels. To avoid complaints that could impact the theater's performances and future collaborations, we've adopted the American doorknob promotional method. Everyone comes to Bergen from other cities, a long journey. Most practitioners don't drive, and I can't drive either. The city is mountainous, and in winter, snow makes the roads slippery, making the mountains even more challenging. We carry heavy Shen Yun flyers up and down hills, hanging them on doorways from house to house. Harsh weather, steep terrain, and a shortage of personnel and resources pose significant challenges to promoting Shen Yun.

Working with fellow practitioners is marked by conflicts and xinxing tests. I helped coordinate promotional activities locally, always striving for perfection and not wanting to disappoint fellow practitioners who came to Bergen. Practitioners' promotional schedules were tight, often changing, and it was impossible to be certain of the exact number of participants. Sometimes, when I looked at the registration form and saw so many practitioners signing up, I started to worry about not having enough Shen Yun flyers. We needed to order more flyers and plastic bags for doorknob hangings, and I worried that there wouldn't be enough time for shipment. Sometimes, when I saw no practitioners had signed up and many tickets hadn't been sold, I started to worry again, worrying about not being able to hang up the Shen Yun flyers in time. I hoped more practitioners would come so we could do more promotion to help sell tickets. I unknowingly got caught up in the superficial work and forgot to look inward and cultivate myself during the process. I also unconsciously transferred this pressure onto other practitioners until they reminded me.

During this process, we also encountered interference from evil forces. Complaints were sent to the theater regarding the doorknob hangings, and local mainstream media began to smear Shen Yun. To maintain long-term cooperation with the theater, the coordinator ordered the doorknob hangings to stop. At the time, several Chinese practitioners had come from out of town. Because they can't speak Norwegian well, the only thing they can do is to hang doorknob flyers. Now that doorknob flyers were stopped, the practitioners, who had made such a great effort to come, couldn't do anything else. Imagine how disappointed they felt.

A fellow practitioner who had come to the area planned to stay for two months and hang flyers on doorknobs until the Shen Yun performance ended. However, upon arrival, he was forbidden from doing so. He accused me of not being responsible to the practitioners from outside the area who had come to do promotion. I felt deeply wronged at the time, as it wasn't my decision. However, I comforted the practitioner, telling him not to worry and not to dwell on it. My conversation with him still carried traces of human attachment and blame, and it ended on an unpleasant note.

Ticket sales were slow after the additional show, and many were still unsold. I deeply regret not having taken advantage of the time to hang more doorknob flyers. During that time, while working with fellow practitioners, several practitioners challenged me with tests, and all sorts of negative emotions flooded in. Although I understood they were helping me improve my xinxing, I sometimes couldn't help but be swayed, saying things that weren't in line with the Fa. I apologized to the practitioners later, but after all, I did not pass the tests so well. I felt very sad during that time, and I felt like the evil from another dimension was constantly pressing into my dimensional field. I shared my suffering with a fellow practitioner, telling her how isolated and helpless I felt and how I didn't know what to do. The fellow practitioner encouraged me not to be negative and to clear my mind of any unrighteous thoughts. 

With Master and the righteous gods by my side, how could I be isolated and helpless? The path ahead wasn't necessarily blocked; there were always other paths that could be taken. She told me to calm down and study the Fa and send forth righteous thoughts. Her words reminded me that I had been caught up in my work, studying the Fa less, and my righteous thoughts weren't strong. I began to intensify my Fa study and sending forth righteous thoughts.

Later, we began delivering flyers to mailboxes. We placed truth-clarification flyers in mailboxes with “no ads”-label, and we placed Shen Yun flyers in mailboxes without any labels. We also applied for booths in more shopping malls, large and small, across various regions, and held events. I visited all the shopping districts I hadn't visited before. Because fellow practitioners who had jobs took their vacation before the New Year, there were fewer practitioners promoting Shen Yun after the New Year. There were only three of us, including me. Time was very limited, and we raced every day to promote Shen Yun. One practitioner was undergoing physical karma elimination, yet she still dragged heavy stacks of flyers out daily to distribute. Another practitioner and I also had media work. We went out during the day to promote Shen Yun and returned home at night to continue our work.

When we encountered this interference, I reflected on it from the Fa: “Why was the evil able to interfere with us? Was there a flaw within us as a whole?” I thought about our mindset when we were hanging flyers on the doorknobs. Were we doing it with righteous thoughts, or with fear and concern, worried about complaints? Different thoughts will lead to different results. 

Master said in Lecture four of “Zhuan Falun”: "We have said that good or bad comes from a person’s initial thought, and the thought at that moment can bring about different consequences." 

Could it be that our excessive fear of complaints is actually causing interference? Some practitioners haven't come to the local area to promote Shen Yun. Are there attachments behind this? For those practitioners who didn't participate in the doorknob hanging, are they not supportive to the method used? Are there any human notions hindering the overall situation? I shared my reflections with fellow practitioners, hoping we could identify our flaws. We should send forth righteous thoughts to eliminate the unrighteous factors in our mind, and also to eliminate all factors that interfere with the Shen Yun performance and hinder the salvation of local sentient beings.

I discovered that I have attachments to getting things done and to validate myself. I realized that these human thoughts and attachments are obstacles in our process of validating the Fa. They not only affect our cultivation and cooperation with fellow practitioners, but also serve as an excuse for evil factors to interfere with the Shen Yun project and the salvation of sentient beings. I must eliminate them with righteous thoughts.

Master said in “Teachings at the Midwestern U.S. Conference”: “In other words, your current cultivation is connected to this entire Fa-rectification affair."

From the Fa, I understand that our individual cultivation state, whether we can look inward and improve our xinxing when encountering conflicts with fellow practitioners, and whether we can handle interference with righteous thoughts, all influence the effectiveness of Shen Yun's promotion. When Shen Yun performers perform with pure thoughts, their performances can achieve the greatest impact in saving people. Promoting Shen Yun also requires Dafa disciples to improve their xinxing during this process, operating with a purer heart and righteous thoughts to achieve effective promotion. With a compassionate heart, the energy field emitted can clear people's minds of erroneous thoughts. 

The effectiveness of promotion is also closely related to the level of truth-clarification efforts in the local area. People who have received truth-clarification flyers show increased interest in Shen Yun flyers. In areas where we haven't distributed truth-clarification flyers, many local residents express apathy and a lack of interest in Shen Yun. I understand that if we send righteous thoughts while distributing Shen Yun flyers and hanging them on doorknobs, with the benevolent intention of hoping that sentient beings in the area will be saved by watching Shen Yun, then those factors that influence them from watching Shen Yun and being saved will also be eliminated. If, instead of focusing on the salvation of sentient beings, we become absorbed in our work, dwelling on our physical fatigue, on our complaints about others, and validating the Fa with various human attachments, then our outreach efforts will be greatly diminished.

Eliminating Human Thoughts, Righteous Thoughts Unleash Miracles

Once, a fellow practitioner and I discussed applying for a Shen Yun booth at a shopping mall, but realized there were no good spots available. The only space available was outside the library in the mall, where not many people usually pass by. We discussed whether to apply anyway. I pointed out that we hadn't been to that location before, and perhaps someone destined to see it might pass by the library. So, we applied for that location. 

The day before the event, I told my fellow practitioner to bring more flyers. She explained that because of the location, there wouldn't be many people passing by, and didn't think it was necessary with many flyers. In addition, neither of us had a car, and we had to take a bus from the warehouse to a distant mall with a trolley loaded with the TV, flyers, display boards, and other materials. Bringing too many flyers would be too heavy and difficult to carry. I told the practitioner that just because it was a library, we shouldn't assume there wouldn't be many people. We might have many predestined relationship people passing by, so we should bring more flyers just in case. The practitioner was a little impatient, saying there wouldn't be many people, so we didn't need to bring too many flyers, so I didn't say anything more.

The next day, after arriving at the mall, we confirmed our booth location with the security guard. The security guard wasn't sure where our assigned booth was and asked us. At that moment, both my fellow practitioner and I had the same thought: “Instead of telling the security guard that we were at the library entrance, could we ask the security guard to take us to an empty space inside the mall?” However, as practitioners, we cannot tell falsehoods. We both rejected that improper thought. My fellow practitioner showed the security guard the email with the booking confirmation, which indicated it was outside the library. 

On the way to the library, we passed by the busiest area of ​​the mall. My fellow practitioner and I both thought it would be better if our booth was in a more high-traffic area. Upon reaching the library, the security guard saw that there weren't many people there, and wanted to confirm the email again. Our approval in the email mentioned that the security guard would arrange our booth based on an empty space in the mall. In the end, the security guard took us back and set up our booth at the entrance to the supermarket, where there was the most traffic.

The day before, my fellow practitioner hadn't prepared many flyers. I assumed she'd taken some extra, but it turned out she hadn't. We moved to this high-traffic spot, and it was clear we didn't have enough Shen Yun flyers. I didn't complain to her, but instead offered to go to the warehouse to get more flyers. On the way there, I reflected on the entire process and searched inward to see if any hidden resentment remained in my thoughts. If so, I sent forth righteous thoughts to clear it away. The return journey from the warehouse to the mall required changing buses. The first bus was delayed by 10 minutes, and based on the bus schedule, I'd already missed the next bus, and the one after wouldn't arrive for another hour. Hoping not to delay those predestined to receive Shen Yun flyers, I couldn't help but think: "If only there were an extra bus." By the time I reached the transfer platform, there was indeed one, and it seemed as if it was waiting for me, so I arrived at the mall smoothly.

Our event was a complete success that day. Afterward, my fellow practitioner apologized and thanked me for not complaining about the lack of flyers. I was also incredibly happy. Through this event, we've all improved our xinxing and helped more sentient beings in the mall receive Shen Yun flyers, creating opportunities for salvation. 

We originally received a less favorable spot, but during this process, my fellow practitioner and I rejected negative thoughts and hoped to reach more people. Master saw our wishes and helped us secure the best spot. Under seemingly impossible circumstances, a miracle unfolded.

Conclusion

Shen Yun is helping us save local sentient beings, and the process of promoting Shen Yun is one of elevating xinxing. 

As Master said in Lecture Nine in “Zhuan Falun”: "It is not very easy for one to temper oneself physically and mentally." 

This is a golden opportunity Master has arranged for us to improve ourselves and validate the Fa. For the salvation of sentient beings in our celestial bodies, we must let go of our human attachments when promoting Shen Yun. We must embrace a sense of urgency, do our best, and, above all, give our utmost effort, to live up to Master's compassionate salvation!

If there is anything inappropriate, please kindly point it out.

Thank you Master, thank you fellow practitioners.

(This article was presented at the 2025 Nordic Fa-Conference)