(Clearwisdom.net) It has been eleven years since my home became a materials production site. We started with an old-fashioned, manually operated copier, and then bought a semi-automatic copy machine. We later upgraded the copier, added a digital all-in-one printer, and we now have a semi-automatic stapler. We have been able to operate with wisdom based on our cultivation in Dafa. The materials we printed grew from small to large quantities, from little information to a variety of information, and from a single item to multiple items. We can print any type of materials, guarantee the quality and quantity of the material and its timely delivery, and also provide technical support to other production sites. Under Master's benevolent guidance, we have been able to operate smoothly.
--- By the author
Greetings Benevolent Master! Greetings fellow practitioners!
I'm a veteran practitioner. The five of us, including myself, my husband, and sons began practicing Falun Gong in late 1997. It has been eleven years since my home became a materials production site. We started with an old-fashioned, manually operated copier, and then we bought a semi-automatic copy machine. We later upgraded the copier, added a digital all-in-one printer, and we now have a semi-automatic stapler. We have been able to operate with wisdom based on our cultivation in Dafa. The materials we printed grew from small to large quantities, from little information to a variety of information, and from a single item to multiple items. We can print any type of materials, guarantee the quality and quantity of the material and its timely delivery, and also provide technical support to other production sites. Under Master's benevolent guidance, we have been able to operate smoothly.
Studying the Fa Well and Clarifying the Truth with Consistency
The process of producing truth clarification materials is also a process of elevating one's xinxing. Master enlightened us during the process, and we gained wisdom as we continued to study and recite the Fa, cultivate and elevate ourselves, and enlighten to the principles of the Fa.
At first we printed single-page leaflets, edited them, and made small booklets. As time went by, the demand for materials increased. Back then, the coordinator said, “This place needs materials, and that place needs materials too.” There was so much work that we hardly took a break. We were fortunate to be able to study, recite, and manually copy and write the Fa before the persecution began on July 20, 1999, as years of doing that helped us build a solid foundation. I was able to memorize Lunyu, Hong Yin, and Essentials for Further Advancement. When I was tired I recited “Tempering The Will,” when I was confused I recited “Cultivating Amidst the Delusion,” when I was inattentive I recited “Rational and Awake,” when I was moved I recited “True Nature Revealed,” when the bad elements were rampant, I recited “What's to Fear?,” and when I experienced interference, I recited “Drive Out Interference.” When I did not have time to study the Fa, I utilized my free time at work to study the Fa and recite what I could on the way to and from work. When I was tired from making information materials, I would think, “I'm a Dafa practitioner and a divine being. I came here to save sentient beings and to accomplish a sacred and great mission. Please help me Master.” After that I would feel energetic and finish my tasks successfully.
During the past eleven years of producing informational materials, the difficulties, conflicts, and interference we encountered were dissolved under Master's guidance.
For example, during the printing process, when we placed the wrong paper, placed the paper in the wrong direction, or when the machine was not printing, we received hints that pointed out where the problem was, so that we could correct it in a timely manner. When we studied the Fa as a formality or did not study enough, and rushed to finish the work, we were bound to make mistakes. When the machines “knew” we had attachments, they would not give us hints, and allowed us to keep making mistakes. It was a waste of ink, paper, and time, and we had to reprint the materials. It was a similar situation when we added new items to the material. The machines seemed to “understand” their mission and did their best. We really appreciated it and took care of them. There were many more miraculous events that occurred and principles of the Fa that we understood, but I won't list them all here. We witnessed the true meaning of Master's recent lecture, “Dafa Disciples Must Study the Fa.”
As we continued cultivating, compassion filled our dimension, and thoughts of kindness, forgiveness, and forbearance emerged. I remember one time, before retiring from my job, Practitioner A's group needed some materials. At the time, we were printing on weeknights from 7:00 p.m. to midnight, and all day on Saturdays and Sundays, and even then, we could not keep up with the demand. She called me the day before and told me the amount of materials she needed, and I printed them the same evening. I asked my relative to help cut the paper. The paper was manually cut back then, and it was a difficult task. This relative helped us a great deal in the last two years, and eventually became a practitioner as well. We finished her order by 9:00 p.m. the next evening, and Practitioner A came to pick up the materials. At the same time, Practitioner B showed up and said, “I just received a call from a practitioner from out of town and said she needed the materials. She is already here and will leave tomorrow morning.” I gave Practitioner A's materials to the out-of-town practitioner. Practitioner A said to me, “I placed the order first. Why did you skip me and give them to someone who came later?” I didn't explain and replied, “This is a special situation. I'll print yours tonight and give them to you tomorrow.” She said, “Our group has already made plans to distribute the materials in another city.” I replied, “Please forgive me. I will make them now.” Nevertheless, she was not happy about it and left. I thought, “I was so busy making materials and barely had time to eat, and Practitioner A just complained and criticized me.” Although I thought about it, I was not upset. Later Practitioner B told me, “When Practitioner A went back empty handed, other practitioners blamed her and made her cry. Practitioner A was ashamed that she did not cultivate well, and felt bad for you as well.” (This group of practitioners did a good job distributing a lot of materials in many large areas. They have truly fulfilled their responsibilities as Fa-rectification Dafa disciples). I asked Practitioner B to relay my message, “Please tell her to not worry about it and forget about what she said to me. She was being responsible for sentient beings and not being selfish. I don't blame her at all.” I thought we hadn't coordinated well at the time. We later improved the way we coordinated with each other, learned to look at others' strengths, forgive others' shortcomings, and became more tolerant and considerate of each other, and thus naturally displayed the extraordinary nature of Dafa.
Treasuring Dafa's Resources and Planning Accordingly So That We Can Accomplish More Things
We try to spend less money and do more, and improve efficiency while guaranteeing quality. This is the long-term goal of our materials production site.
For example, when we made plastic amulets (1), we had to make them pretty, and there was a large demand for them. The plastic was a bit thick and we manually cut it with scissors. We cut a sheet of plastic at least twice, and if that didn't work, we cut it four times. Afterwards, we cut the four corners to make it round. It was a laborious and time-consuming task.
In 2008, we tried to improve the technology and equipment for making the amulets. We searched for a small, inexpensive, and easy-to-use electronic plastic cutter. The electronic plastic cutters were standardized, but the size of our amulet was not. We had to contact a manufacturer and ask them to make a machine that could cut the size of our amulet. Initially, the manufacturer was concerned that the new mold was not going to fit into the machine because the measurement of the amulet was very small. However, the mold was successfully designed and made, so we could cut the plastic once and fit the prints on both sides of the amulet. The new machine helped us save a lot of time and resources. This showed that practitioners could do extraordinary things with the power of Dafa behind them. The extraordinary power of Dafa is manifested through the projects that practitioners do.
There is a saying amongst everyday people, “It's easier said than done.” Practitioners, however, are capable of doing well in any project they are involved with. This year, a practitioner suggested that we print color pictures on our booklets and fliers. Initially, I hesitated and looked at the suggestion with human notions. I thought, “Our machine is not equipped to do that. All the truth clarification materials are from the Minghui website. Either way, we are saving people, so does it matter whether it's black and white or in color? Why does it have to be in color?” Another challenge we had was that some coordinators wanted a quarter page of B5 format material, and not A4 format, because it was easier to distribute B5 format materials. We had to set up a new typesetting to print B5 format materials. We eventually stopped doing that because it was so time consuming. In addition, the Minghui website already had materials for A4 format booklets for us to download and print, without making any changes. If we didn't do this well, we would not have enough time for Fa study. If we spent too much time making materials then we would miss Fa study.
I was bothered by the suggestion. I asked myself, “Is the practitioner's suggestion good and reasonable? Should I take his suggestion or not? If I do, that means we have to spend more money to buy a color printer, and spend more time and energy to get the job done.” I was not able to calm myself to study the Fa and kept thinking about the suggestion. I really didn't want to spend more time and energy to make the changes. I could not let go of the thought and I was interfered with. I wanted to change my state of mind and truly study the Fa. It was not until I read “...all depends upon whether you can endure, sacrifice, and suffer.” (Zhuan Falun) that I found the problem with my xinxing, which was that I could not change my human notions and did not want to endure or suffer. I studied the Fa with my family and had a discussion with them. My husband said, “As long as we can improve the quality of the materials, it's okay if we have to work harder.” My son said, “Let's do it. It is really not that hard. As long as we are saving sentient beings, there is nothing we cannot achieve.” As soon as my state of mind changed, my body felt light and comfortable. It was like,
“...And human notions change,
The degenerate things purged,
Brightness now shines forth.”
(“Born Anew” from Hong Yin)
We all agreed and tried to figure out which product was best. We needed the least expensive but the most productive product. My son went online to search for an all-in-one digital color printer and color cartridges. The ones that had a good quality color printer were at least 15,000 yuan or more, and we did not have that much money. The cheaper ones required more work and frequent changing or cleaning of the cartridges, and we did not have enough space in the house to store them. It was also cumbersome to add color cartridges to the all-in-one digital printer, as it required at least three colors (red, yellow, and blue), and each color cartridge cost about five to six thousand yuan. In addition, the number of prints depended on the number of colors, which raised the issue of print setting. Each paper had to be printed four times on a small layout. If the roller printed out different sizes, then the print was wasted. We figured there would be a lot of waste and there was no guarantee of the quality of the color print. Moreover, we had to spend time picking out the bad prints. It was a project that required more time, energy, and money.
We later all thought of the same thing, to improve on the usage of the machine we already had. Initially, we printed the quarter page A4 format color booklets and gave them to practitioners to distribute. At the same time, we tried to use the all-in-one digital printer and the ink jet printer to make colored truth clarification materials. We first used the all-in-one digital printer to print the characters in black, then we used the ink jet printer to print the colored pictures. The experiment was successful. The all-in-one digital printer did a better job printing the characters, and the ink jet printer produced better quality color images. We used both machines to mass produce colored materials. It was faster, and saved us time, energy, and money, but most importantly, it helped practitioners clarify the truth to people. In order to increase the printing speed of the pictures, we bought another printer. We created a typesetting for the quarter page B5 format booklet, chose information from Minghui website, and inserted fliers with new information. According to practitioners' feedback, the new booklet had the right size, good content, nice pictures, and people liked reading them. I'm not saying that we cultivated well, I'm just talking about our cultivation process. When we study the Fa well, we gain wisdom and enlightenment, rid ourselves of attachments, transform our human notions, and achieve good results.
Materials Production Site Coordinators Must Place Dafa First
Studying the Fa well enables us to clarify the truth effectively and ensures the safety of the production site. We use only one contact to communicate with each other. The production site only needs to communicate clearly with the coordinator in regards to important matters. The coordinator then communicates with Practitioner B. Practitioner B is young and naive, and in order to fulfill her responsibilities, she tries her best to do her job. Although we had to change coordinators several times, practitioners have been responsible and have done their job well. Especially in the last few years, Practitioner C, a 70-year-old practitioner, has never complained about her work. She took the Fa as Teacher and placed Dafa first. She cultivated her speech and went with the natural flow of things. Although we changed coordinators many times, she never talked about previous matters with the new coordinator. Other practitioners did not know who was the coordinator. Sometimes, when coordinators had different opinions, practitioners B and C would bring us the feedback, and we would remind everyone to study the Fa more and have righteous thoughts. We printed experience sharing articles from the Minghui website and distributed them amongst practitioners, and we shared and helped each other to improve. We sent our reply to other practitioners via B and C. This way we formed a communication channel and solved the problem in a timely manner. We strictly followed the Minghui website's advice to manage the production site using only one contact. I realized that this was a safe, rational, and a wise method to safeguard our truth clarification projects. It was also necessary to eliminate our attachments of wanting to show off. There were also practitioners who wanted to meet us, and they had to rid themselves of their attachment of curiosity and cultivate their speech. This is why we have been able to run the production site smoothly over the past eleven years.
There are still many attachments that I have not eliminated. We are, after all, cultivators on the path to divinity, and face all kinds of tests. Most importantly, we must place Dafa first and fulfill our mission to save sentient beings.
For example, during the past two years, some practitioners asked that we print information from sources other than the Minghui website. At first, we did them a favor and printed some. Later, practitioners made more requests like this, and even after I declined several times, they still brought these requests. I realized that this was because we didn't adhere to the principles and allowed practitioners to do whatever they pleased. We were not being responsible to the Fa and fellow practitioners, and allowed them to fall. Cultivation is a serious matter, and we had to be truthful and remind them of the issue. Therefore we printed related articles from the Minghui website and shared them with practitioners. We exchanged our thoughts and helped each other elevate our understandings. Subsequently, things like this did not happen again, and practitioners supported and cooperated with our work at the production site. We realized that the part we did not cultivate well, along with our attachments, formed an obstacle for practitioners.
Fellow practitioners, everything we do is to fulfill our historic vows. Every obstacle we break through is the result of our xinxing elevation.
We are here to save sentient beings and accomplish a sacred and great mission. As long as we use our hearts to do these things, Master will bestow on us with supernormal capabilities, and the problems will be solved. When I think about it, Master has been helping us break through each obstacle, and has allowed the production site to run safely and smoothly. I realized that as long as we truly cultivate Dafa, follow Master's instructions, and remember the Fa in our hearts, Master can help us do anything. As long as we study the Fa well, have righteous thoughts, and believe in Master and the Fa, then Master will protect us. We are sincerely grateful, and words cannot describe our thoughts. We can only pay it back with our actions and do the three things well.
Please kindly point out anything inappropriate.
Note: (1) Amulets – In China, practitioners sometimes "clarify the truth" by giving people something small to wear or cherish, bearing a few words reminding them of the goodness of Dafa.
