I give out the English Epoch Times at a busy downtown intersection every Thursday morning. Two other practitioners are there from 7:30 to 8:30 and I take over from 8:30 to 9:30 when one of them goes to work and the other to school. I give out about one bundle; sometimes more, sometimes less. I usually have 120 papers left to deliver to stores along Yonge Street. Since the papers are too heavy for me to take home I have to wait for the stores and restaurants to open at 11 o’clock so I go into a mall to have my breakfast and do the standing exercises.
One Thursday in February it was snowing lightly when I got to the intersection. I was surprised when I didn’t see the practitioners there and there were no Epoch Times either. My first thought was that the practitioner who drops off the paper had missed our site again, as it had happened once before. I thought it was odd that the co-ordinator who organized the routes had not called to tell me as he did the last time. I went to where they usually drop the papers and sure enough the bundles were there. I realized the practitioners had not come. I kept looking at the bundles wondering how I was going to fit them all in my little cart. I managed to put 150 newspapers in it and put the rest in grocery bags. Finally I was able to get all the papers to the subway entrance and at 8:45 started to hand the papers out to people emerging from the subway.
The snow was heavier now and the wind was much stronger. It was very hard to hand out the paper because everyone was hurrying to get out of the wind and snow. I could not even hold up the paper without it getting wet. As the snow and wind got worse I went and stood under the overhang where it was drier and just held up one paper at a time so that the sentient being who is destined will see it. I kept sending righteous thoughts but my thoughts were not very righteous at that time. I was feeling very anxious. By 9 o’clock the snow was so bad that I decided to call the co-ordinator to see if anyone was coming to pick up the papers. He said there was no one but he would try to see if anyone could do it. I was really worried because I knew that I could not possibly pull my cart and carry the grocery bags full of newspapers to cross the street to go into the mall where I could wait until the stores open.
As the snow got worse, I felt I must look inside myself to see why this was happening and what I needed to do to rectify the situation. Sometimes we look into our hearts but we don’t see anything. That’s because we don’t want to admit that we have not been good and there are things we must let go of. When I looked inside I knew what was wrong. It was this very selfish heart of mine trying to let others take on my problems. I just didn’t want the responsibility of the papers. I knew what I had to do to rectify the situation. As soon as I made my decision the wind got weaker and the snow was lighter. I called the co-ordinator and apologized to him. I told him that I could handle it myself. This was my responsibility. How could I allow someone else to take on my responsibility? Sometimes we run away from the things that we are afraid of and for me it is responsibility. When we face our fears and let go of the dirty things our xinxing will rise and miracles will happen.
By now the snow had miraculously disappeared. Even though I could not hand out all the Epoch Times, I gave out more than I had expected. I know that the Epoch Times is a life-line for sentient beings but, for me, it is my cultivation. I am very grateful that Master has given me the opportunity to save sentient beings by giving them the Epoch Times and I am very thankful that I have this cultivation environment where I can raise my xinxing.
As I continue to write my experience, I feel a sadness come over me. Master arranged such good cultivation environments for us. We should all come out to help. I remember Master said (just my words and my understanding) that our media are very important, including Sound of Hope radio, NTDTV, and the Epoch Times, both English and Chinese. I believe all our projects are of equal importance. There is not one that is more important than another. Master said that it is very important to save Chinese people and I know that our Radio, NTDTV and the Chinese Epoch Times save the Chinese people directly and the English Epoch Times is doing the same thing in a different way.
Master said in [Further Remarks on “Politics”] ……
“along with the lies it has fabricated about Falun Gong during the persecution, have led some who have blindly complied with the CCP--and in particular those who know full well that this is persecution but has sold out to the CCP on account of self- interest ”.
My understanding is that Master is referring to both Chinese and Western people. The CCP is getting support from greedy politicians in the western countries, from big corporations and many other different businesses. These people are blinded by the financial rewards from the evil CCP. They can’t see the sins they are committing against Dafa and all sentient beings. Without support from the free world sustaining it the CCP cannot survive. It will die. It is up to us to make these people aware of their sins. It is our responsibility to wake them up so that they can see the truth and be saved. Because I understand it this way, I know how important the English Epoch Times is. In order to reach more people, we have to build up our circulation. When we don’t understand the importance of a project, our heart will not be in it and it doesn’t work no matter how hard we try.
When someone takes an Epoch Times paper from me, I don’t see just one person being saved. I see many people being saved. It is like the domino-effect. When we give out the Epoch Times it doesn’t seem like much at this human level, but if we could see into other levels and dimensions, millions and millions of dimensions, we would see the changes and transformations of all these sentient beings having been saved because of the English Epoch Times that we gave them.
I ask all those practitioners who can, to please come out and help. Sometimes we are tired and don’t want to get up in the morning and some practitioners don’t want to give out the English Epoch Times because they think it is hard for them as they don’t speak English. If your heart is righteous and you have the wish to save them, all you have to do is smile. Your righteous field will attract all the sentient beings who have a pre-destined relationship with you. If you don’t come out they will not have a chance. I remember Master said in one of his lectures, (just my words and my understanding only) his Fashen will send all the sentient beings with pre-destined relationship to us but we must be there in order to save them.
Thank you