(Clearwisdom.net) Greetings Master! Greetings fellow practitioners!
After Shen Yun finished their shows at the Royal Festival Hall in 2008, there were some lingering issues because some practitioners had invited reporters from ordinary people’s media. Since then, it had been rather hard to find a first-class venue for Shen Yun in London, which gradually turned into a knot, hard to untie in the hearts of Dafa practitioners. On the surface, it appeared to be an attachment to the biased report by ordinary people’ media. In retrospect, it is in fact an issue of wavering in our belief in Master and in Dafa.
It seemed to have taken a long time before we came through. In 2009, the theatre we found was too small and conditions were less than satisfactory. In 2010, Shen Yun performed in Cardiff in Wales, and although the theatre is top-class, the impact there could not be as great as it would be in London.
Soon came 2011, and the strategy for venue booking became a priority issue to consider. The UK Shen Yun coordination team needed to decide whether to stage Shen Yun in London or elsewhere. The reality was, it was easier to find a venue somewhere else, and it was a real challenge to book a venue in London. We had not been able to make a breakthrough for the previous two years.
London has over a hundred theatres of various sizes, and London's West End is as well-known as Broadway as a performing center. However, only five or six theatres meet the requirements of Shen Yun, and these theatres by and large only stage fixed performances. They do not show much interest in short-term shows from elsewhere. Moreover, they are usually booked out years in advance. We never seemed to get any reply to our applications.
In 2011, we needed to stage Shen Yun in big cities and for longer periods of time. The UK coordination team of more than ten practitioners, both Chinese and Western, started to have regular Fa-study and sharing, and we came to a common understanding that we would focus only on London and only on first-class venues. There was no way out and we would spare no effort. When the goal was set and clear, we analyzed the reasons for our previous failure: (1) The coordination team did not have enough confidence in getting a first-class theatre in London; (2) we still had lingering fears about the biased media report in 2008; (3) our understanding of Shen Yun was also inadequate. These three points evidently reflected the problems in our cultivation – our righteous thoughts were not strong enough and we did not have enough righteous belief.
When we found our shortcomings, we started to deal with them together. We realized that to do the three things well is the crucial part for every Dafa disciple in assisting Master in Fa-rectification. As for our coordination team, we must also make efforts in doing well the three things.
Studying the Fa well; improving xinxing and strengthening righteous thoughts
Master told us in his message “To the Brazil Fa Conference”,
“Only by studying the Fa more can your righteous thoughts be ample, and only by studying the Fa well can a Dafa disciple fulfill his or her historic mission.”
Since members of the team are from various places, we studied the Fa online 2-3 times a week; in addition, we came together to study the Fa in London once every two weeks. Through Fa-study, we deepened our understanding of Master’s Fa-rectification and the salvation of sentient beings through Shen Yun. Master told us in Zhuan Falun,
“The above are the two reasons for not being able to increase gong. Without knowing the Fa at high levels, one cannot practice cultivation. Without cultivating one’s inner self and one’s xinxing, one cannot increase gong. These are the two reasons.”
We realized that if we wanted to make a breakthrough in booking a venue, our coordination team must look within as one body and improve our xinxing together. There were both Chinese and Western practitioners in the coordination team, and for a long time, because each had developed some opinions about the other, everyone learned to be a bit cautious in dealing with each other. However, the superficial harmony was far from true harmonious cooperation in a real sense, so it became a matter of urgency that the coordination team improve our cultivation state and raise our xinxing standard.
When we came to a common understanding about the importance of the cultivation of the coordination team itself, and regarded working for Shen Yun as a precious cultivation opportunity, there was an obvious improvement in our cooperation as a whole. One Western practitioner used to be at odds with the way a Chinese practitioner talks. During a sharing, she was very grateful for the good cultivation environment in the coordination team and said she no longer took to heart the way other practitioners talk and she treated each opportunity to work with others as a very good cultivation opportunity.
Through Fa-study, we gained a clearer understanding about the biased report by ordinary people’s media. What the ordinary people’s media said could not have much impact, and it was our worries and attachment to the matter that had truly interfered with us in our validation of the Fa. Master said in “Fa Teaching Given at the Epoch Times Meeting”,
“When I say ‘the appearance stems from the mind,’ by that I also mean that the difficulty stems from your overstating the importance of the matter itself and seeing yourself in a lesser light. Don’t take any such things to be a big deal, for with something as significant as saving sentient beings you should just do what you are supposed to do, going about it in a composed manner. When you encounter things that don’t sound so good or that aren’t what you hoped for, don’t take it to heart, and just nobly and confidently do what you are supposed to. If you don’t let the evil’s interference sway you, bad factors won’t arise from you, the evil will become trivial, you will become towering and massive, and your righteous thoughts will be ample. That’s truly the case.”
Through much Fa-study and sharing, we got rid of our worries and attachment to reports by ordinary people’s media and replaced them with righteous thoughts and righteous belief in Master and in Dafa.
Booking the best venue
After we decided on London as the city to host Shen Yun in 2011,we needed to choose a theatre. There is also difference in the five or six suitable theatres in terms of rank, specifications and size. Should we divide ourselves into groups to contact each theatre or should we focus all our attention on the best one and make a breakthrough? Through Fa-study and sharing, we agreed to focus all our attention on the best theatre in London. London Coliseum is a famous theatre in the city center, with over one hundred years of history, an ideal venue for Shen Yun. We made it our target theatre.
After we set our goal, we started to contact the theatre and sent them the latest materials about Shen Yun, and waited for an opportunity to talk to them in person. However, a few months went by and we did not receive any reply.
Time passed by and we realized that we must not just wait passively; we needed to find the reason that let to such a situation. Master said in “Teaching the Fa at the Washington, D.C. International Fa Conference” (2001),
“From the beginning I knew that the old forces would interfere with this. Things seem to have no order, but actually they're very well-ordered.”
We felt that elements of the old forces seemed to have got hold of certain human attachments of Dafa disciples and separated us from the theatre with a net, which we did not know how to break through at the time. But we believed that through constant Fa-study, Master would drop us a hint.
So, in relation to venue booking, what were our human attachments? Through Fa-study we realized there were two main aspects: one was we were using human notions to treat and understand Shen Yun; the other was that sometimes we only paid attention to our efforts in booking the venue on the surface dimension and forgot that the basis of our efforts was saving sentient beings.
During Fa-study and sharing, we found that there were gaps among coordination team members in our understanding of Shen Yun, and one or two were still not sure about the performances depicting the persecution of Falun Gong. Instead of avoiding such issues, we had full sharing on the basis of the Fa. From the uncertainty about Falun Gong programs, we found the attachment to fear, and rectified our understanding about the Shen Yun performance.
Clarifying the facts face to face and make breakthroughs with righteous thoughts
While we kept looking within, letting go of our human attachments and improving our cultivation state as one body, we also humbly asked advice from professional show brokers about how to communicate with the theatre in a professional manner. One professional person who had watched Shen Yun before gave us many good suggestions. Later, through our communication with the theatre, we felt deeply that when we had more professional bearing and manners, it was much easier to gain trust from the theatre.
Complete sincerity can affect even metal and stone. The improvement in Dafa disciples' cultivation state and in our xinxing as one body led to changes in the environment. After a few months' waiting, we finally received a reply from the theatre and they arranged a time to meet with us. The coordination team made full preparations and rehearsed on the Sunday before the meeting. Practitioners simulated the meeting scene and asked the practitioners who would attend the meeting various questions, and we used our collective wisdom to perfect the answers that were not good enough.
The meeting with the theatre management went very smoothly, and the original time set for one hour was extended by another half an hour. We introduced the spectacular events of Shen Yun’s global tour and gave them a full account about the facts of Falun Gong. All the questions the theatre manager had, including the biased report, were easily resolved. Practitioners present at the meeting could feel the conference room was filled with strong righteous thoughts and harmony. While the meeting was going on, all UK Dafa practitioners were supporting the team with righteous thoughts; some local practitioners also came to a nearby park to send forth righteous thoughts at close range to eliminate any interference to ensure the success of the meeting. At the end of the meeting, the manager told us happily, “We have decided to accept your application and we shall try to help you find a time for your show in 2011. At the moment, March and May are booked up, but we shall see if there is any opportunity that a troupe cancels their show, and we shall have your show.”
Even though we made some breakthrough at our first meeting, we did not slacken in our hearts, because there was still only a hope, and we must not relax our efforts. Still, the initial breakthrough further strengthened our belief: We have taken the right direction. As long as we keep going and keep looking within to purify ourselves and strengthen our righteous thoughts, things would go smoothly. As Master’s poem said,
“When one is attached to nothing
The path underfoot is naturally smooth"
(“Unimpeded” in Hong YinII)
After the initial meeting, we established regular contact with the theatre, however, the path was not always smooth. The manager told us that a show broker who had booked the venue earlier had a bit of financial problem and might cancel the booking, and the time was just the week we wanted to have. However, later we heard that the show broker did not want to give up the booking and wanted to replace the performance with something else. The broker and the theatre seemed to be negotiating. The theatre also made it very clear to us: They are happy to have Shen Yun, but because the other show broker had booked earlier, the theatre could not force them to give up, and the theatre could only wait till the other side gave up the booking themselves, before they could give us the show time.
During that period of time when there were constant external interferences, the coordination team was very confident at heart, and through our initial breakthrough, practitioners had a deeper understanding about believing in Master and in Dafa. We believed that as long as Dafa disciples held strong righteous thoughts, all would have the best arrangement. We did not waver either when we kept receiving changing messages or when we had not news for weeks. We focused our attention on Fa-study and sharing to make sure that our righteous thoughts as one body were not affected. We felt deeply in our sharing that it is Master who is rectifying the Fa and everything will be decided by Master.
Withstanding the test: righteous thoughts demonstrate mighty power
One Thursday morning, we received a phone call from the theatre manager, who said, “I’m very sorry I have some bad news for you. The show broker is prepared to sign the contract next Tuesday and your chances are very slim now. However, before the contract is signed, everything could change.”
When I heard this news, I thought: Is this another test for us as one body as to how to deal with the situation? Are we to follow ordinary people’s arrangement and do nothing? Or are we to deny the interference and test from the old forces with Dafa disciples’ righteous thoughts? Different attitudes will lead to different results. Why did the manager say that everything could change? Wasn’t it Master who was giving us a hint via the manager’s mouth? No matter what, I thought that that weekend was very important and we must make good use of it.
I sent out a message to the group email list of UK Dafa practitioners, notifying them that we would have Fa-study and sharing on Friday evening in London. We would have Fa-study and sharing online on Saturday evening with all Dafa practitioners in the UK and another Fa-study and sharing on Sunday during the day in London, and we would discuss the current situation and the importance of believing in Master and in Dafa. At our third sharing, in addition to Fa-study and sharing, we also sent forth righteous thoughts together to deny all interference to the theatre from evil elements, and at the same time we sent a compassionate thought to the show broker, asking him to give way to Shen Yun and telling him it was the best choice he could make for his future.
The effect of our three-day Fa-study was very good, and every practitioner felt that our hearts were melded into one and formed a very strong righteous field. Every practitioner who shared talked about their righteous thoughts and their firm belief in the Fa. An elderly practitioner from mainland China said in tears, “This is the first time in years since I came here that I was moved to tears by the righteous thoughts and unity of Dafa practitioners in the UK.”
There was no news from the theatre on Monday; on Tuesday afternoon the theatre manager called and said that if they did not hear anything from the show broker on Wednesday, the show time would be ours. On Wednesday at lunch time, the theatre manager called again and said: “I’m very pleased to let you know, get ready to sign the contract.”
We finally got an ideal venue for the 2011 Shen Yun performance in London. This process has left many valuable experiences for us. But this is only one part of our Shen Yun project. Whether we can do Shen Yun well depends on whether we can base everything on the Fa, and have righteous thoughts and righteous actions.
Each time I recall what happened during that period of time, I still feel astonished by the amazing power of Dafa. As Fa-rectification period Dafa disciples, when we truly listen to what Master says, miracles will happen one after another. This is because Dafa is capable of achieving everything and Dafa’s power is everywhere.
Thank you Master! Thank you fellow practitioners!
