Cooperating Unconditionally

(Clearwisdom.net) After studying the Fa, I've come to understand why tickets to the Shen Yun Performing Arts show are not selling well in our area. The reason is that we are not coordinating well, especially not unconditionally cooperating with coordinators. My understanding has changed after stumbling.

A few weeks ago, I went to Berlin to sell tickets. During this period of time, I came back to work in my city for a few days. One day, I made two small mistakes and my boss got mad at me. He yelled at me in front of a new employee. His words were like swords. He almost threatened to fire me. I told him I didn't understand why he reacted that way and tried to explain to him what had happened. He acted like I was disobeying him. He took the new employee with him and left me by myself.

Later, we were riding in a car. My boss was still angry and reiterated his point, attempting to convince me that he was right. I ignored him because I still didn't feel good about him exploding at me, thinking that he was very inconsiderate. He was disappointed by my attitude. When we arrived at our destination, he said goodbye to my colleague but waved at me offhandedly.

Through this experience, I came to understand what it means to unconditionally cooperate with others. I realize that when your boss confronts you, he doesn't care about his attitude, how you feel, or whether he has done wrong by you. His focus is showing you that he is unhappy with your performance and getting you to understand why he is unhappy, hoping that you will learn from your mistake and do things his way without taking his attitude personally.

I've come to realize that if I truly am a good person who uses the principles of the Fa as my standard, I must let go of my ego (whether or not I have been wronged), look within while not thinking about my being hurt, learn from the mistakes, do as my boss wants and unconditionally cooperate with him.

As I look back, I understand why I encountered such tribulations repeatedly. In the previous two projects that I took part in, I was also openly criticized by the coordinators, and I couldn't completely get over it. Just two days before I was reprimanded by my boss, I was at home thinking about how the coordinators had chewed me out the other day, and complained about how they were behaving like ordinary people. My heart was moved. Later on, I grudgingly went to the group Fa study, only because Master said we should.

Through this incident with my boss, I suddenly enlightened what kind of attitude I should have when dealing with coordinators, that is, being unconditionally cooperative! Regardless of who is right or wrong (even if they really did wrong by me), I must ignore my personal feelings. Instead, I must look within and learn from my mistakes, be considerate, and follow their orders, just like how I would deal with my boss at work.

As to whether coordinators have human attachments or not, how well or poorly they cultivate, or whether or not they use my idea, I shouldn't let this thinking get in the way. I must unconditionally cooperate with them and not look outward at others or demand that they conform to my way of thinking. The requirement for a genuine practitioner is about cultivating oneself, raising one's xinxing level, and looking within unconditionally to meet Master's standard.

If we get so fed-up by the coordinators and feel resentful and consequently don't want to participate in group Fa study, then I think this is a sign of not wanting to cooperate with them. It is because our hearts are moved and we don't want to let go of our feelings (and egos). The truth is, even with ordinary affairs, we can't stop going to work just because we are upset with our boss!

I know that when we are reprimanded or criticized, we feel bad. Then how can we let go of our egos and be considerate of the coordinators? What should we do? The other day, I read the lecture “Teaching the Fa in Canada, 2006,” in which Master addressed this issue:

“At the last West Coast Fa conference, didn't I talk about how a lot of Dafa practitioners aren't able to take criticism? They refuse to be criticized. As soon as others say something they explode, get upset, or start a confrontation with someone. They want to hear only pleasant things. So you just want to walk a smooth path, don't you? You want to ascend to the heavens with your big load of baggage? Isn't that in essence what you want to do? You have to let go of all bad, human thoughts and every type of attachment you have. Isn't not wanting to hear criticism an attachment? You want to hear only pleasant things, but how could that be? [Arrangements are made] exactly to have others say unpleasant things and see if you are moved. A god wouldn't pay any heed to what a human being said about him--you can't affect him. He wouldn't in the least try to figure out how what you do relates to him. He pays no attention at all, because you cannot affect him. Gods can control the human mind and lead humans to do certain things, not vice versa. How could human beings possibly affect gods? So if you wish to become a divine being, don't you yourself have to be that way? Don't you have to let go of those attachments? And don't you have to let go of those feelings of yours that can be stirred up by human beings?”

When I looked back at my past cultivation experiences, I noticed that we did well as a group for the first and second time I was in Berlin. We sold six tickets all because we coordinated well with each other. The third time, however, I didn't go to the group Fa study because I was complaining about the coordinators (later leading to my boss to criticize me). I realized that when I was in Berlin, because I didn't let go of my ego or enlighten to the Fa (of cooperating well with other practitioners), we didn't sell any tickets. The audience also didn't give good feedback. Cultivation is a very serious matter.

In addition to enlightening to unconditionally cooperating well with coordinators, I've also come to understand that we shouldn't always look at practitioners' attachments. For example, when I was in Berlin the second time, during my last day there, I saw an attachment that a practitioner had and wanted to share with her. She said, “Let's not share now. Our focus is selling tickets.” I think she was right. We should focus on saving sentient beings. In the end, I met two people who were interested in buying tickets. One of them said he would buy four.

Later, I recalled a passage from Master's lecture on “Teaching the Fa at the Meeting with Asia-Pacific Students:”

“With a lot of things, when everyone cooperates with each other they'll go better. I hope that you can focus less attention and energy on who has done well and who hasn't, who's good and who's bad, or how this or that person is--focus all of your attention and spend all of your energy on validating the Fa. (Applause) When all of you can cooperate with each other and do well in the things to validate the Fa, that's when you establish your mighty-virtue. When you are commenting on who's good and who's bad, gods won't even look you straight on.”