Cultivating While Working on NTDTV Programs

Greetings Master! Greetings fellow practitioners!

I would like to share some of my experiences and understandings gained while producing NTDTV programs. Doing TV production is the same as doing any other project. We all have our own path to take to save sentient beings, and in the process, we will encounter various cultivation issues.

Only by Letting Go of One's Self Can One Be Worthy of the Mission of Saving Sentient Beings

From a non-practitioner's point of view, I'm a very capable person. I also understand that my interests and hobbies and all that I have learned in society are for doing my media work today. However, because of my capabilities, I have also become rather arrogant.

At the 2009 DC Fa Conference, a fellow practitioner said in his sharing, "The reason that an ocean can take in all rivers is because it puts itself at a very low level." A month ago when I was in a valley, I saw shining stars all over the sky. Then I recalled that in a small town only several hundred meters away, simply because there were some street lights, I could not see as many shining stars. Suddenly, I realized that if I were attached to showing off, then I would never be able to see the radiance of others. I myself was just like a street light, and it was actually rather weak, but because of my attachment to self, it appeared to be very strong. In fact, the skills we have now have all been bestowed upon us for validating the Fa. So there is no reason to feel complacent, and there is no attachment that cannot be relinquished.

I am from Belgium, and we do a lot of news reports on the European Union (EU), especially during EU Summit meetings. As we are getting more mature in news reporting, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is also sending more and more reporters here. Sometimes, these people are sitting in the same room with us, listening to our conversation; some even asked us how many of us were working there. So we have had to pay extra attention to our words and actions when covering EU summit news. At a recent summit conference, we had already notified headquarters of our news reporting plan. However, we missed the deadline for one news item, and the work was not used. Later, a coordinator in Europe told me, "This kind of news puts a lot of pressure on the reporter and the broadcaster; we do not need to use it." I replied, "But it is very newsworthy, it'll make me really uncomfortable if we do not use it." Although I said it half jokingly, my answer revealed my own problem. Why did I feel uncomfortable? Because I wrote the story, and I thought it was important. My competitive mentality manifested, and I wanted to produce more work than the Chinese reporters.

On the other hand, when working on some stories in China, although they were more relevant to truth clarification to Chinese people, and the type of story was banned in China, I was less enthusiastic. I treated my weekly assignment as a mundane task, even somewhat of a burden. Clearly, I lost sight of the big picture, and did not consider the real need of NTDTV in the entire Fa-rectification process.

Master said in "Stealing Qi" ("Lecture Eight" of Zhuan Falun),
"Because he has a bad intention and steals something from others, though he has stolen something not good, he has also committed a deed that loses de. Therefore, he will give you de."

When I was reading this paragraph a few days ago, I was shocked, and I realized that the key point was not what we do, but our mentality when doing it. If our heart is not pure, it would not have the effect of saving people; instead, it would tarnish such a sacred mission.

Maybe Master saw that I had not gained a thorough understanding, so I had another unforgettable lesson during the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The day was full of activities in the European Parliament. We could not possibly create a program for each activity. So I discussed with a fellow practitioner and suggested that we hold a press conference. But he thought that all the activities were important and that we should cover every one of them. I was not happy to hear his opinion, thinking that he had no idea how hard I had to work afterward to complete the production, and that he just wanted to charge ahead singlemindedly. I began to object angrily.

Sensing my emotion, he said calmly, "In fact you are the same every time. Whenever the pressure builds up, you cannot stand it. How can you take on bigger responsibility?" I argued that if it could not be done, there was nothing I could do. He said, "Look at you now, in every sentence you say, there is 'me' in it. You only think of yourself." Although I still argued, driven by my own notions and attachments, my attachments had been revealed, and I heard myself saying, "I cannot get it done." "I want to get someone to help me." "No one helps me." "I don't know what to do." Everything was about "me."

When I went back to the media centre, I gradually calmed down. I realized that he was right. As my heart calmed down, the news report was done very smoothly. In the afternoon, the fellow practitioner told me, "In fact, the Fa is harmonious and accommodating. If we do not look at things from our own angle, and as long as we do our best to save sentient beings, everything will be arranged for us. But oftentimes, our own notions block us from accomplishing our goal."

I felt a shock as he said that. Looking back, I felt I had been pretty diligent in this period of time and had done a lot. However, no matter what I did, I still centred it around myself and felt somewhat complacent: See, I'm quite diligent; I have improved; I'm doing pretty well. "I'm very capable and a winner." ("The Mentality of Showing Off" from "Lecture Six" in Zhuan Falun)

However, I seldom considered what Master wanted, or thought about my mentality and how to do things in a way that was truly assisting Master in Fa-rectification. I realized that my foundation was set wrong. Furthermore, when I was making judgments from my own angle, I failed to have a strong faith in the Fa.

When I read "Reverse Cultivation and Gong Borrowing" again in "Lecture Three" in Zhuan Falun,

"Because one's life is created in the space of the universe, it is assimilated to Zhen-Shan-Ren, the characteristic of the universe. Its nature is kind and benevolent. Nonetheless, after the number of lives increases, a social relationship forms. As a result, some people become selfish or bad and cannot stay at very high levels. They must drop to a lower level."

I realized that in fact the amount of selfishness one has is the most fundamental measure that determines one's level in the universe. The attachments I stubbornly clung to for a long time were in fact these bad things.

We Need Cooperation in Our Projects

Because of my strong attachment, I did not like working with others. For example, when working on some special reports, I had my own ideas. Other people's ideas were viewed as interference with my plan. Two days ago, a few important tasks came at the same time. Facing the heavy workload and the short time to complete it, I was at a loss. In the evening, the NTDTV staff had a group study, and we studied "Fa Teaching Given at the NTDTV Meeting." When answering a question raised by a Canadian practitioner, Master said,

"If it still doesn't work, then it probably means that conditions still aren't ripe. If your efforts go well, though, and things work out, then it means that you have cooperated well."

In fact, Master had repeated the same concept many times. Whenever practitioners said they had difficulties and did not know what to do to, Master always said "cooperate." Suddenly I realized that Master asked us to do well with our TV programs, and it was not to be done in a manner where we have one or a few capable people, but rather, where we work together and allow more people to participate.

After the meeting, I shared my thoughts with a fellow practitioner. He suggested, "You can let people know what needs to be done. Even if nobody has time to help you, at least your heart is open." The next morning, I thought about it again and again, and still felt that there was too much to do and that we did not have enough time. While I was thinking about how to ask others to help me, it suddenly dawned on me: "Your thinking is still based on your needs; you should think from the angle of saving sentient beings."
Immediately, I understood the key point. I should not think entirely about how to accomplish the tasks, and whether to ask others to help based on the workload. Even if I had the time and energy to do it all, I should still invite others to participate, as this is necessary to save people. We have come from different cosmoses and each of us is unique. Our different capabilities can complement one another's. If a program is done through joint efforts, it carries beautiful messages from many worlds, and our audience will benefit even more. The new universe requires us to be selfless, to look inside ourselves and to support each other.

That day, I started to send emails to the group asking for help. In the process, I truly experienced what the fellow practitioner said: "Your heart is open." I was no longer attached to how much others could help me and no longer worried whether I could finish the tasks.

I would like to mention a small story that touched me deeply. During the anniversary of the Berlin Wall's fall, I watched the NTDTV's BBS station. I saw that in addition to reports from Germany, news reports also came from Sweden, France, Belgium... Practitioners from all of these countries were working for the same goal at the same time. I felt that the contributions from fellow practitioners had built a net, just like Master said in "Heavenly Circuit" in "Lecture Eight" of Zhuan Falun,

"In the end, thousands of energy channels will join together and turn one's body into one without any energy channels or acupuncture points; they will join together to make one whole body. This is the ultimate purpose of opening energy channels."

Working at NTDTV with a Heart to Save People

As a reporter, one can meet many people whom we might not have a chance to contact in our daily truth-clarification activities. As a journalist, one cannot clarify Dafa's facts directly, but this does not mean we have no opportunity to save people. During news interviews, we often tell people we are an independent Chinese media. When we tell them that we are not affiliated with the CCP regime, people usually show strong interest and support.

This also has something to do with our mentality. In the past when I produced news programs, I only considered what we needed. Recently when covering events at the EU Parliament, I suddenly had a new idea: I should look for people unfamiliar with NTDTV. Interviewing these people presents an opportunity to save them. When we have the will to save sentient beings, people with predestined relationships come to us one by one. Even some people who appeared to have no relation with our news came to us, and they turned out to be linked to other projects for saving people.

During interviews at the Berlin Wall anniversary, we gave copies of the "Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party" to some Polish MPs and the spokesperson for the EU President. The spokesperson was really surprised when he heard that more than 60 million people have quit the CCP and its associated organizations, and suggested that we have coffee together to talk about it in detail. Perhaps we had the heart to save sentient beings and cooperated well; the news program we made that day was requested to be sent to the secretary of the EU Chairman. In a reply letter, the secretary told us she watched the news and felt that the interview was very good. In fact that day I was a novice as cameraman, the time was too short for me to choose a better distance. However, the end product was fine. Based on my limited skill, it would have been very difficult to capture such a good moment from an ideal angle.

Our TV programs usually consist of main themes and background materials. Some programs (made by Dafa practitioners) may appear to have no direct relation with truth-clarification, but they are still embedded with messages that are pure and kind, and they provide benefits to people. When I was doing a program that had no direct truth-clarification content, I asked a Western practitioner on the project whether it was worth our effort. He told me a story. When he was making a program about windmills, he had a dream in which he saw a huge windmill sitting on a gigantic lotus flower, and it was extremely beautiful. He came to the understanding that the program was made to save the sentient beings in the windmill industry.

In fact, all lives in nature have intelligence and they cherish contacts with us. Once we saw a beautiful flower, and when we zoomed in to record a close-up shot, the flower started to dance left and right, but the other flowers next to it did not move at all.

Last month, I experienced a severe tribulation that was very hard to endure. I spent the whole week studying the Fa and doing nothing else. Seven days later, I was completely recovered. I felt like a newborn baby. In the past, I always thought that I was not a strong person when hardships hit me, and I often felt hopeless when I was not diligent. Now I know it was not like that. I simply did not know how precious this Fa was. When one truly realizes how precious the Fa is, he will become more diligent.

Master said in "Teaching the Fa in the City of Los Angeles":
"If it's a Dafa disciple who cultivates himself very well and who manages to rationally understand what Dafa is, he will surely work at it with considerable effort and not let up when it comes to this."

To summarize my experience: We must put more effort in studying the Fa. Regardless of how much you have studied so far, just study a bit more, and it will take you to another realm.

Thank you, Master! Thank you, fellow practitioners!