Firm belief in Master and the Fa is the path to overcome all difficulties

Firm belief in Master and the Fa is the path to overcome all difficulties
Marek Tatarko, practitioner from Slovakia

Honorable Master, dear practitioners,

I would like to share our experiences from organizing the Shen Yun Chinese Spectacular in Slovakia.

The decision to organize Shen Yun in Slovakia came slowly, and actually, at the beginning not all practitioners were involved, it was a project of a few enthusiastic practitioners. Many things were quite new for us, like theater searching, sponsoring, advertising, selling tickets, etc. But we decided to learn on the way and do the best we can.

At the beginning one question was pondering in our minds: “How shall we present this Gala to public? Should we promote it as an artistic performance, or shall we present it as a Dafa event?” We knew that the Falun Dafa Association should be the main organizer, but even though, as we looked at other countries, often an artistic or other organization was used to run the event.

Our Master saw our hesitation, so he sent us a hint. As we visited our public relations consultant and explained him that we would like to hold a Gala, he simply asked: “Why?” We explained him from different angles that we want to show traditional Chinese culture, beauty, etc. – he didn’t quite seem to understand. He told us directly, that his perception is, that we “in fact want to promote something else, but we are pretending to promote Chinese culture”. He said such an approach may bring problems to the promotion of Gala. He suggested to us to use a more plain approach, tell people who we are, and what we want.

I understood, that he pointed out an attachment in us. We were afraid to mention Falun Gong (or Association of Falun Dafa) as the organizer of the Spectacular, because we were afraid that it could stop some people from coming to see Spectacular. From past experience we had learnt that it is better not to mention Falun Gong directly, and we wanted to talk from an “independent” point of view. But from the reaction of the consultant we learnt one thing – the progress of Fa rectification is rapid and we should no longer be afraid to mention Falun Gong. The Dafa has its dignity – when we are afraid to mention Dafa, are we still keeping its dignity? Are we not seeking excuses for our attachments, especially fear?

We started to explain to the consultant that in fact this performance has the power to clear the dirt from people’s minds by pure beauty, obtained from dancers, because they practice Falun Dafa. He suddenly couldn’t find any arguments against us, because we were saying the truth, from the bottom of our hearts. Therefore, we understood that this is the right approach to use. After the decision, many things became very easy to explain, and it got much wider support from fellow practitioners, as they saw it is a Falun Dafa event. We could explain the truth about Chinese Communist Parties interference of other people, and people supported us. One radio even gave us an advertising campaign for free, after they learned about the truth of Falun Gong and saw the beauty of performance.

Another hurdle we had to overcome was a lack of resources. At the beginning, very few people were actually working on the project. We badly needed them for contacting sponsors, but they were simply not coming. What should we do? I knew there was something wrong with our group, but I was not clear on what it was.

I read the Zhuan Falun one night and suddenly stopped at the word “GuanXi” (relations) in the 1st lecture, where our Master tells us that the beings dropped from high levels, because they developed “a collective form of social relations” in which some of them developed selfishness. “This is it!” I knew at once this was the problem of our group. The people in the group developed different views and notions towards each other, they started to create groups, couples, gossip about each other, etc. In other dimensions this created obstacles between us, so that we couldn’t concentrate our power to one goal.

The solution was rather simple, although painful. Starting with me, I dropped the fear of what the others will think of me, the fear for my reputation, etc. and in a bigger group I openly talked about some attachments, with which I was currently struggling. The reaction was good, this time the people did not start to offend me – as I did many times in the past to them but quietly listened. Then another person talked about his issues, and another, and another. We started to think from other’s perspectives, and were trying to help each other.

Thus, the situation in the whole group changed, the atmosphere became more open and we started to trust one another. In a very short time people turned from being indifferent to supportive, and when the question of selling of tickets came by, all of the practitioners thought about the best ways in which they could help. I thanked our Master in my heart that he helped us to form a solid body.

The result was that in a collective effort of all practitioners we sold all of our tickets in about 3 weeks, and 1 week prior to Shen Yun performance there were no tickets left. The people I wouldn’t expect to sell tickets in fact sold most of them. This was another big eye opener for me, never underestimate fellow practitioners, and always try to create an atmosphere of good cooperation.

The Gala itself was very successful, and the audience thanked the Shen Yun performance group with a long standing ovation, the curtain went up a few times before the audience left the theater.

The Falun Gong association was openly mentioned when promoting the event, thus getting good reputation in the eyes of many people. I understood this is one of the things that should be achieved by the performance, that many people will praise Dafa, and thus be saved.

These are the most important experiences we learned when organizing the Gala. Our Master is always giving us hints and guiding our cultivation, but we must believe in him, and not be diverted by our human thoughts of fear or self-validation.

This is just my limited understanding at my current level, please point out anything improper.

Thank you Master, thank you practitioners.