(Clearwisdom.net)
Greetings, great and compassionate Master!
Greetings, dear fellow practitioners!
Qualities and Responsibilities of a Coordinator
I used to be an assistant coordinator for our practice group and am now one of the main coordinators in our area. There have been times over the years where I stumbled and even fell in my cultivation. I have many things to share from my experiences being a coordinator, but I will only share the main points here.
1. Studying the Fa Well Is Most Important for a Coordinator
Studying the Fa well is the most important thing. Teacher reminds us again and again to study the Fa in tranquility, study the Fa often, and study the Fa well. Teacher told us to take the Fa as teacher. Teacher also said:
"Each of you is like an Assistant." ("Fa-Lecture During the 2003 Lantern Festival at the U.S. West Fa Conference")
As Dafa disciples, we all understand the basic meaning of this. However, there are still practitioners who tend to look up to the coordinators, especially if the coordinators' social status is similar theirs. Therefore, coordinators who don't study the Fa well are not only hurting themselves, but also hurting others. On the contrary, coordinators who study the Fa well not only secure their own safety, but also help stabilize the local cultivation environment.
One practitioner in particular had been doing very well clarifying the truth. She was also a local assistant. One day when we were sharing our cultivation experiences, she said, "I will only take assignments from you" [implying that I was the only person whom she trusted enough]. I asked her, "If I opposed Dafa, would you do the same?" She said she would take the Fa as teacher in that case. I thought to myself, "It's easy enough to say we 'take the Fa as teacher,' but to genuinely take the Fa as teacher we must follow Teacher's Fa principles." In that moment, I gained a deeper understanding of how important is it for coordinators to study the Fa well. When I study the Fa at home, I spend most of my time reading Zhuan Falun and Essentials for Further Advancement. If time permits, I also read other Dafa books. In our Fa study group, we are focused on Teacher's new lectures and articles and study the Fa systematically in the sequence listed on the Clearwisdom website.
2. A Coordinator Should Be Clear about His/Her Own Role
After Teacher's new lecture "Be More Diligent" was published, some practitioners said we should have a principal coordinator in our area. Some asked me to take on that role. At first, my thinking was that the Clearwisdom website acts as kind of an intangible principal coordinator. But if that's true, then what is the purpose for having coordinators? Thinking about it a bit, a coordinator is supposed to eliminate barriers between practitioners, set up truth-clarification materials production sites, distribute resources between different sites so as to properly balance the burden on each site, bring back fellow practitioners who stopped practicing and encourage those who don't step forward, and be responsible for encouraging overall cooperation as one body.
A coordinator should have good credibility among local practitioners so that he is in a better position to help eliminate barriers. One practitioner in my area is very active and also very talkative. Because at one point she deviated from walking an upright path, some practitioners shunned her and would often gossip about her. I spoke with them and defended her diligence after coming back to Dafa. After that, I saw the barriers between her and other practitioners start to disappear. She worked very diligently and did well cooperating among practitioners, and eventually became a good coordinator herself.
Due to the current situation in China, it's necessary to set up Fa study groups and production sites for truth clarification materials so that they may spread like flowers blossoming everywhere. It is a coordinator's responsibility to work well with other practitioners, help some of them become coordinators themselves, take the Fa as teacher, and cultivate according to our great way without form. Therefore, a coordinator should not only study the Fa well, but also be familiar with the practical details of downloading materials from websites and producing truth-clarification materials. Only in this way can he/she help more practitioners to set up production sites. There is a saying, "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." I have a specific method when teaching fellow practitioners. First, I write down every step of the operation and teach them how to do it one step at a time. Second, I watch them do it and help correct any mistakes. This way, even the older practitioners who are not very literate can learn quickly. Later they can also teach other practitioners how to make the materials. The more practitioners who have such skills, the safer it is for the whole area. Such practitioners improve quickly in cultivation. Once a new production site is up and running, I will not go there except under special circumstances.
A coordinator should also emphasize the importance of bringing back fellow practitioners who gave up practicing and who no longer step forward. Teacher said:
"...that the number of lives to be saved before the final moment arrives has not reached the amount it should; and that there is still a portion of Dafa disciples that hasn't kept up. That is the key reason why the end of this undertaking still hasn't been enacted." ("Be More Diligent")
All Dafa disciples were at one point Teacher's relatives. We are one body. We should think about how to bring back fellow practitioners who have stopped practicing and who no longer step forward. It's also what Teacher wants.
There are many reasons why some practitioners aren't able to keep up with the Fa-rectification process. But is there any reason within ourselves? Recently, a practitioner who hadn't been practicing since July 20, 1999, visited me and asked for some Dafa books to read. He said that someone else wanted to read them, but I knew that he was really asking for himself. I gave him all of Teacher's lectures and articles. Several days later, he said to me, "Teacher's article 'My Version of a "Stick Wake-up"' is aimed at me." I suggested that he join our Fa study group. When he heard that there was still a Fa study group, he was very surprised. He worked in the police department. Another practitioner who was a friend of his was also a policeman. This friend practiced at home, but told others that he had stopped practicing. Sometime after July 20, 1999, he had asked me, "My friend stopped practicing Falun Gong. Are you still practicing?" I replied, "I will to the end." Later on I ran into him again, but I didn't try to persuade him to come back to Dafa. But, thankfully, now he is back and wants to resume cultivation. I am deeply grateful to compassionate Teacher! Teacher doesn't want to see any practitioner lag behind! I also thought of some practitioners who are actually still practicing but who tell others that they have given it up. If they could openly tell others that they are still practicing, it would definitely encourage them. I haven't done well in bringing back fellow practitioners who stopped practicing. Though I was aware of how important it is and shared my concern with other practitioners, still, not many of them came back to Dafa. In the process of trying to persuade them to come back to Dafa, I noticed that my fear of losing face and their refusal to listen to the truth was a source of interference. I eventually lost my confidence after having tried and failed several times. In the future, I will make a great effort to let go of my attachment to saving face so that I can finally awaken the most selfless and altruistic side of me.
3. A Coordinator Should Be Responsible with Money
Nobody except for the coordinator himself or herself knows how the money is handled. It is a test for the coordinator to spend the money responsibly. If their minds are not righteous, problems will occur. There was a practitioner who didn't do well in this respect and was persecuted. My way of dealing with money is to keep my own money and the money donated by practitioners separate. I keep enough money in reserve to help set up two additional production sites. I will not accept any more donations from practitioners once I reach this point. After a production site is set up, the practitioners who run it are responsible for the day-to-day expenses. I only provide support if a production site is having financial difficulty. I also ask that once a site coordinator can afford to support the production site and make the truth-clarification materials himself/herself, he/she should not accept donations from fellow practitioners.
The Power of Cooperating as One Body to Clarify the Truth
A couple at my workplace are both middle managers. I had told them about the truth about the persecution of Falun Gong many times, and they eventually quit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its affiliated organizations. However, they always responded by slowly shaking their heads and telling me that I was getting political. Though I wasn't fully able to make them understand the truth, I still had a good relationship with them. Differences aside, they seemed to be able to appreciate the good qualities of Dafa practitioners. Some time later they went on a trip to Hong Kong and met some practitioners who clarified the truth to them. The couple eagerly agreed when the practitioners asked them to quit the CCP. When the couple came back, they were very excited and talked about the "three withdrawals" event [the worldwide movement of withdrawing from the Chinese Communist Party and its two affiliated youth organizations] in Hong Kong and the legal charges that had been leveled against Jiang Zemin to bring him to justice. I realized from this that if we ourselves aren't able to make others understand the truth right away, we can't let ourselves be moved by the world's people. We should just focus on representing Dafa well by being a good person and therefore lay a good foundation for fellow practitioners who may later clarify the truth to them. We should firmly believe that Dafa practitioners will save people who have predestined relationships with Dafa and always remind ourselves that we are Dafa disciples in the Fa-rectification period.
Seeing the great changes my two colleagues went through and the positive effect that the charges brought against several evil CCP top officials has had made me understand more deeply about one point: Everything is making way for Dafa. Practitioners all over the world are one body.
Please compassionately point out anything you find inappropriate in what I've shared from my cultivation experiences.
Thank you, great and compassionate Master!
Thank you, dear fellow practitioners!
