Cultivating While Working as a Parking Lot Attendant

(Minghui.org) Master said, “Everyone has a job and must do it well.” (Lecture Eight, Zhuan Falun) I found a new job last April as a night shift parking lot attendant. There are only a few staff members, but their interpersonal relationships are quite complicated. The workers’ pay is less than minimum wage, but they fight for fame and gain. This has been my new cultivation environment.

I decided to cultivate myself whenever there was a conflict. I wanted to pass on sincerity and kindness to the next person in a seemingly ordinary job, all from the little things I did.

New Job Was Ready for Me as Soon as I Found My Shortcoming

My job search hasn’t been smooth in recent years and I could not find a steady job. One job might have a good salary but would take too much time. Another job might be more flexible but didn’t fit my skill set. I seemed to be always searching for a new job and it made me very tired. 

Another practitioner pointed out, “A Falun Dafa practitioner won’t starve.” I thought so too. Cultivators are all blessed and should be able to find jobs. But why had my job situation been so difficult? In the past, my aim was too high. I wanted to find something at my skill level and I was too picky about the salary and the work. I finally realized that I hadn’t thoroughly eliminated these attachments or maybe I still had other attachments that I hadn’t identified.

I do technical work for Dafa projects. So in the past, I wanted my job to involve technical work and I also wanted ample free time. Even though on the surface it seemed like I was putting cultivation first, in fact, I was unintentionally mixing cultivation with an ordinary job.

Master (Falun Dafa's founder) said, 

“We know well that in cultivation we are to actively cultivate ourselves, and that in our everyday lives we need to conform as much as possible to the ways of ordinary people’s society. So you have to separate your everyday human job from your cultivation—you definitely should draw a distinction between them. Work is work, and cultivation is cultivation.” (Teachings at the Conference in Switzerland) 

Master also said, “There is no precondition for cultivation, and one should cultivate if one wants to.” (Lecture One, Zhuan Falun) 

But I bundled ordinary work and cultivation together instead of separating them. Isn’t that adding an extra condition for cultivation? No wonder my job search had not been smooth. It was due to my attachment and I was not clear on the Fa principle. 

After I realized this, I soon received a phone call from a fellow practitioner’s husband. He told me about a job and asked me to go take a look. I went on the day scheduled, and I began working that same night. It was a night shift job as I had wished, and it would not interfere with my Dafa-validation work during the day. I knew it was Master's compassionate arrangement. I think it went so smoothly this time because I was able to straighten out the relationship between work and cultivation. In our work, we encounter things that help us improve our xinxing, but work is not cultivation. 

Not Fighting Over Things

When I first began working there, all of the cabinets were taken and some co-workers had even taken two or more cabinets. The file cabinets in the office were all taken as well. Normally one would expect the manager to give me a cabinet for my personal items. But she didn’t, and none of the co-workers relinquished their extra cabinets.

I didn’t say anything. I thought as a Dafa practitioner, I should not fight for it. I just stored my daily necessities and toiletries in a shoebox. 

The majority of the warning columns in the parking lot were broken due to collisions. Some were missing the top caps. I brought some tools and materials from home. I first put some sand on the bottom of the columns so that they could withstand the wind. I then used a soldering iron to make several holes in between sections and tied them together with ropes. Lastly, I cleaned each column and taped them to make them waterproof. Just like that, the warning columns were fixed.

The water boiler in the office made a lot of noise because the bottom of it was stuck with sand, asphalt particles, and other things. Because of the debris in the bottom, it took a very long time to boil water. I used a flat-headed screwdriver, a knife, and a steel ball scrubber and cleaned it little by little. I then submerged it into a liquid cleaner to further clean the bottom. From then on, it boiled water much faster and no longer made any noise.

I also brought from home curtains, mats, and cleaning cloths. Even though the manager never said anything to me, she noticed everything I did and praised me to the others.

Heart Not Moved When Facing Material Interests

I usually drink tea because I work the night shift. I bring tea leaves in a small jar and leave it on the table. Every night I drink one pot of tea, so I have a pretty good idea of how many tea leaves I use every day.

Then I discovered that the tea leaves in the jar were going down faster than the amount I consumed, but I didn’t think it was a big deal. One day, my co-worker Ying told me, “Liu has been drinking all of your tea. Since he started working here, he always drinks the others’ tea. Everyone knows it and locks their tea in the cabinet. Only yours is on the table.” I smiled and said, “It’s fine that he drinks it. At least it’s not being wasted.” Before I practiced Dafa, I drank a lot of tea from work and I even took some home. I thought maybe it was just a way for me to repay the debt.

Another time, a co-worker was off for one day and I substituted for her. The accountant told me, “You will get paid for one extra day this month.” However, when we got paid for that month, I didn’t get the extra money. Ying said, “Didn’t you work an extra day last month? Why didn’t they give you the extra money? We are not making much and we are relying on it for food! You’d better ask. If you don’t, the accountant will just think that you didn’t notice and won’t give it to you.” I said, “She’s quite busy, maybe she just forgot. It’s not a big deal.” I didn’t really think about it at all. Then after a month, I saw I was paid an extra 50 yuan. The accountant told me that she totally forgot about it last month. 

Master said, “If something is yours, you will not lose it.” (Lecture Seven, Zhuan Falun) 

It was not a big incident and did not involve a lot of money. For a cultivator, it was a test for an attachment to material interests.

One customer pays a monthly rate and leaves the parking lot every morning at 6 a.m. I remember the owner, the car’s plate number, and the car’s color. One morning a vehicle left around that time, but I didn’t see it clearly through the curtain. So I let him out without thinking. A few minutes later, the car that normally leaves every morning came to the gate, and I realized that I let out another car without him paying. I connected to the system and saw that his payment should have been 10 yuan. I took out 10 yuan and put it in the drawer. I felt that it was my mistake, so I should pay it back.

Showing a Practitioner’s Kindness

Not long after I began working there, a young lady with her little daughter came to me and wanted to borrow 10 yuan. She said, “I came here to buy some meat buns for my child, but I forgot to bring money.” I took out 10 yuan and gave it to her and I asked her if it was enough. She said, “Thank you, it’s enough. I’ll pay you back.” I was new then and I told my co-worker about this.

Ying said I was foolish and that the lady tricked me. I thought, “If 10 yuan can resolve the worries of someone, isn’t that great?” It turned out that she did come back the next day and paid me back. She probably told her husband about this, and every time he comes to park his car, he always warmly greets me.

According to our shift schedule, this year’s Chinese New Year Eve happened to be my day off. My co-worker Zhang asked me if I could substitute for him. He said his wife is disabled. I agreed. Ying said to me, “Don’t do it for him. Whose family doesn’t have something to do on Chinese New Year!” I said, “It’s okay. It’s not a big deal.” Ying’s family had a gathering on the day after Chinese New Year, and she asked me to swap with her, and I agreed as well.

When Zhang came back, he said, “I feel bad that you worked my shift on New Year’s Eve. I’ll give you 20 yuan extra.” I only took 50 from him and gave him back the extra 20. He was very appreciative.

Later on, I heard that he actually went on vacation, but I didn’t mind. I thought that as a practitioner we should just do what’s best for others.

There were very few cars to park during the pandemic and the business at the parking lot basically stopped. But our parent company didn’t allow us to close because we were also responsible for the security of a neighboring residential area. So the manager asked others to take off from work and only she and I still worked. She worked the day shift and I still worked the night shift. My shift normally started at 9 p.m., which made her shift a bit longer than mine. I thought, “As a practitioner, we should always think for others.” So I suggested that we could each work 12 hours. Even though it meant that I had to work an extra 1.5 hours, I thought we must always follow the standard of the Fa. 

I normally have one day off every week, but since there were only two of us working, I had to work every day of the month. When we got paid, she gave me an extra 200 yuan. I said, “Our company is hit pretty hard by the pandemic. It’s okay if you don’t give me the extra money.” She said, “You worked for four extra days and you earned this money. I really appreciate that you thought about me and the company.”

It rained very hard one night, and the standing water was higher than my knees. One car came to park around 2 a.m, so I went to help them. It was a “shared car” with three college students. This is a special type of short-term rental car. The drivers would just leave it in the parking lot and move on. The three students only had one umbrella. I asked them to wait a moment and I went to the office to get two more umbrellas for them so that they wouldn’t get wet. I told them to return the umbrellas the next day to the daytime staff. They were very grateful.

The next morning I told Ying. She sighed and said, “Can one trust college students?” I laughed and said, “I trust that they will bring them back. If not, I’ll replace them. I won’t let the company take the loss.” It turned out that they indeed brought them back the next day.

I always believe that people are naturally good and I wanted to share my kindness with others.

Looking Inward and Cultivating Myself 

While I looked for a job I noticed the security people wore uniforms. I thought, “I hope I won’t need to wear a uniform if I work for a security company. If I have to wear a uniform, I’ll tear off the CCP’s logo.” It turned out that I indeed don’t have to wear a uniform here and can wear regular clothes.

In the parking lot, we are called all kinds of names and people don’t respect us. Sometimes customers are drunk and curse at us, and other times people purposely insult us. When this happens, I just recite Master’s Fa, “No matter how much loss he suffers, he will still be smiling and in good spirits without any concern.” (Lecture Nine, Zhuan Falun) I don’t take the insults personally and try not to think about them.

Some people like to honk when exiting the lot. Sometimes when I’m just slightly late in lifting the bar, the driver honks repeatedly or even holds the horn down. At first, I got upset and thought, “It’s not like I won’t let you out! Can’t you wait a couple of seconds? Why do you keep honking? What’s so urgent?” But then I would think about myself. From time to time, when I encountered fellow practitioners who were slower than me or worked in a different style, didn’t I want to rush them? Wasn’t I just like those who liked to honk?

Impatience is also an attachment. When someone is impatient, he is losing his wisdom and unable to endure things. This is really a cultivation issue. I thought, “It’s very possible that they have something urgent and need to hurry. If I can help them gain a second on their schedule, isn’t that great? I must help people and I can’t be selfish.”

Once I needed to swap a shift with a co-worker, but none of them wanted to help and everyone said they were busy that day. I felt unbalanced and thought, “You all like to come late and leave early, but I never point it out. When all of you asked me to swap shifts, I always agree to help. Now I need help this one time, and all of you are busy? This is the first time I’ve ever asked!” But then I thought, “Aren’t I a cultivator? Isn’t this pointing out my attachment? Isn’t this helping me improve?” So I rescheduled what I needed to do.

Another time the manager left me a note. She said that during the night I must go with the vehicles to make sure they park properly. Sometimes they parked in the middle of two spots and that would affect parking during busy times in the day. I was a little annoyed when I saw it, “Why is she so meddlesome?” Just a couple of days later, she added more things to my workload including watching the electric bikes and cleaning certain areas, which was not the night shift’s responsibility. 

I was a bit upset at first. But then I thought, “Is this coincidental? Isn’t this a good thing? It’s time for me to improve my xinxing again. None of these things was big, but together they tested me on whether I would allow others to criticize me and whether I was willing to improve. If I only want to do the tasks that belong to me, and didn’t want to do more, then wasn’t I selfish and had an attachment to ease?” 

I also had a similar issue in Dafa projects. I only liked to do things that were within my normal task range—otherwise, I would not do it. But when a practitioner asked for something, if I refused it, then he would have to find someone else; if the second person also refused, he would need to find another person. It would end up involving so many people and wasting so much effort and time of Dafa practitioners, which are all Dafa’s resources. Thus I thought that I should take care of it if I could. All of this is related to cultivation.

Even though there are many things that I still don’t do well and I haven’t reached the Fa’s standard, I have the heart to try to do well and I have the wish to always improve myself. I will continually cultivate myself on all the little things, use every opportunity to improve myself, and fulfill my mission.