Undivided Attention: What I Learned While Selling Shen Yun Tickets

(Minghui.org) I was selling Shen Yun tickets at a Christmas Exhibition yesterday, and I learned an important lesson about staying focused and letting go of attachments.

A practitioner on duty with me told me that delicious, inexpensive salmon was being sold at another booth. Other practitioners had mentioned the salmon as well. I wanted to buy some, and the other practitioner urged me to go and do so.

Suddenly, the English words “undivided attention" arose in my mind. The words lingered for a long time, and I was not able to get rid of them. I was awed by the phrase. I therefore did not leave. I said to myself that I should not miss any predestined people, and it did not matter that I did not get to buy the salmon. However, I did not look within to find my attachment or eliminate it.

Probably because I did not let go of my attachment, the practitioner again urged me to go and buy the salmon. I still did not dare to leave. I then saw an elderly woman whom I had previously introduced to Shen Yun. She was with two other people who had Shen Yun fliers in their hands; they stopped close to our booth and talked about Shen Yun in another language.

One of them kept saying “no” to the elderly woman. I started to send forth strong righteous thoughts towards them. They debated for a long time, but she eventually came over to me and said that she had decided to buy a ticket. I felt relieved. Luckily, I had not left the booth and missed my predestined appointment with this woman.

After I finished the sale, the other practitioner again urged me to go. I felt relieved and thought that I could leave. The practitioner gave me directions, but I could not find the salmon booth. I felt that I had done something wrong and should return quickly to sell tickets. How could I have I left the Shen Yun booth so easily?

However, my attachment to food was still affecting me. I circled the area several times and finally found the booth, but the inexpensive salmon was sold out. I randomly picked up two other packs that cost more. On my way back to our booth, I had an intuitive thought that due to my attachment, the salmon would not be tasty.

As soon as I arrived at our booth, a woman was passing by in a rush, looking straight ahead. I greeted her, and she realized that someone was talking to her. She said that she was thinking of buying tickets because her son wanted to see the show. She took a flier and said that she would buy tickets online. I was surprised. I would have missed her if I had returned one moment later. I again contemplated the two words “undivided attention.”

I tried the salmon, and it was not tasty at all. I sat down and reviewed what had transpired. I realized why the two words “undivided attention” had come into my mind so vividly and why I was struck by the phrase. My knowing side knew that it was a hint from Master who was asking me not to miss any opportunity. Sometimes I felt that I had talked to so many people and worked so hard, that it was okay to miss one person. Yet it might be the only opportunity for that person to know the truth.

Tears rolled down my face. I felt ashamed of myself for having such poor enlightenment quality. How many people had I missed during my cultivation? I dared not think too much about that question. As a Falun Dafa practitioner who had accepted the mission of saving others, if I did not try my best, would I not be committing a crime?

When I realized that I had received a clear hint from Master, I felt ashamed and remorseful. I was being taught a lesson. Even everyday people emphasize undivided attention and non-distraction. I should save sentient beings like a divine being. What is a god like? A god is selfless and without human desires.

Why was I not able to reach people? Why was I often ineffective? Because I still have human attachments, which are carried in my words. As Master said:

“...many people practice qigong with wrong thoughts on their minds. Though they are practicing a standing exercise there with their hands and legs shaking from fatigue, their minds are not at rest. One is thinking: "Prices are going up. I have to go shopping after finishing the exercise. If I don’t hurry up, things will be more expensive." (Zhuan Falun)

With human attachments, my words will not have power and will not remove the other party's attachment – an attachment that might be keeping them from understanding the truth. Perhaps the people whom we were trying to sell tickets to were instead buying the salmon because of our thoughts!

Master said:

“As I mentioned before, when you speak to others with your own goals in mind, wanting to change or persuade them, no matter how reasonable your words are, other people will have a hard time completely accepting them. Nor can the words move people’s hearts. Why? Let me tell you: It’s actually because the words you say contain all of your thoughts. Your sentences have complicated thoughts included in them, such as your human emotions and desires, and even those many attachments of yours. That makes your words not so powerful and rather diluted. Also, people often look at things from their own viewpoints when they say things to others, and those might not conform to the Fa of the universe. So in this respect they lack the power of Truth. Moreover, when speaking to others, people add things to protect themselves so that they won’t get hurt. In other words, the intention behind your words is no longer pure, then. And as a result your words get really frivolous. But when your mind can truly become tranquil, when your attachments get less and less, or when the distracting thoughts get less and less, then you’ll find that your words have power. Why was it that when I spoke about non-action I mentioned that you shouldn’t interfere with things that shouldn’t be interfered with? That’s because your words already have power, and words with power can change people. It doesn’t matter if your changing someone seems right, you might be doing something wrong. You don’t know the truth since what your eyes see is superficial, and since you can’t perceive karmic reasons from the past. Your mind will become increasingly pure as you reach higher levels. What your thinking brings forth then, and what you say, will be extremely pure. The purer and simpler they are, the more they conform to the principles of that level of the universe. The words you speak then can instantly pierce people’s hearts, strike the depths of people’s thoughts, and strike the more microscopic part of their existences. Now isn’t that going to be powerful?! ” (“Teaching the Fa at the Conference in Switzerland”)

When the other practitioners urged me to buy salmon, I should have become alert. Why did they keep saying this to me? It was because I had an attachment.

Each year I participate in Shen Yun promotion, and my cultivation state has improved as a result of doing so. Thank you Master for giving me these opportunities.