Los Angeles, U.S.: First Southern California Media Cultivation Experience Sharing Conference

(Minghui.org) The Los Angeles Branch of New Tang Dynasty (NTD) and The Epoch Times media group held the First Southern California Media Cultivation Experience Sharing Conference on November 26, 2023. Sixteen Falun Dafa practitioners talked about how they eliminated their attachments while working for the media. They also said that, when facing difficulties, they were able to correct themselves following Dafa, maintain the upstanding conscience a media person should have, and convey true information to the world.

The 2023 EMG (Epoch Media Group) Socal Cultivation Sharing Conference was held on November 26.

A practitioner talks about his experiences.

After the practitioners recounted their touching experiences, attendees said they gained a lot. Everyone said they personally witnessed the power of Dafa, and they are even more grateful for Master’s care, which they felt every step of the way. It also made them cherish the opportunity to practice in the media.

Eliminate Jealousy

A former business owner joined the English Epoch Times in 2017 and serves as project coordinator along with handling other responsibilities. He said that the endless work brought on one trial and tribulation after another, which made him neglect looking inward, especially when it came to eliminating his jealousy.

He said that, as a coordinator, it’s easy to point out the shortcomings of certain team members and blame them. “My understanding is that some accusations may come from jealousy. When I have negative comments about someone, I appear superior to them, but this comes from jealousy and extreme selfishness.

“When I was growing up, it was difficult for me to accept that others were better than me.” He understood that jealousy was a strong attachment that he had to eliminate, because jealousy makes him focus on others’ shortcomings—it’s not about seeing the good in others. After noticing this shortcoming, he paid more attention to behaving according to the principles Master outlined in Zhuan Falun.

He also witnessed the extraordinary power of Dafa. He had to drive two and a half hours to another city to attend a dinner and introduce the Epoch Times. He unexpectedly encountered traffic jams along the way and had to take a shortcut that put him on a narrow mountain road. As he drove, the road became narrower and narrower, the traffic conditions kept getting worse, and his mobile phone had no signal. He looked inward for his problems and asked for Master’s blessing.

“As I continued driving, the road became wider and wider, and I got closer and closer to my destination.” He finally arrived safely, but the normally two-and-a-half-hour drive took four hours. He thought he’d lost this opportunity to clarify the truth, but the event organizer told him, “Hurry up and eat a few bites, because they are going to listen to your speech.”

“I can’t believe they delayed the speech for me,” he said.

Young Supervisor: Master and the Fa Give Us Everything

Wang Ziyi has been in the media for eight years. She said that, as a young supervisor, she always thought that she had no ambition to become an official, but when she heard compliments, she felt vaguely happy, which in the long run also encouraged her jealousy. When she saw something that another person did but was not in line with her own idea, she felt conflicted. She thought her idea was better and she doubted the other person’s ability.

At first she ignored this reaction. Fortunately, through continuous Fa study and listening to the sharing of other practitioners, she began to look within and realized: “When others praise me I should accept it with an open mind, because everything I have is given by Master and the Fa. I just want to use my abilities and wisdom so I can complete my mission.”

She gradually discovered her resentment. She said that, in the past, even when small things happened, such as being passed by someone while driving, she complained. “I realized that not only do I easily blame others, I’m also impatient and even use double standards to measure others.” When things didn’t go her way, she felt resentful, which directly affected her mentality in dealing with problems.

During a department sharing session, what a practitioner said surprised her. The practitioner said, “When I heard complaints and dissatisfaction about someone, my initial response was ‘How could so-and-so be like this?’ This kind of thinking already stirred up my own attachment, and I even started to discuss it, instead of looking inward to see what I did not do well.”

After she heard this, Ms. Wang began to wonder if the same was true for herself. “I’ve gradually been able to stop and consider if it’s necessary to say something, or if it will hurt someone. Sometimes after I realize it, I can stop before I speak.”

In today’s complex society, she is grateful that she has Dafa’s guidance to remind her and eliminate her bad thoughts so that she can calm down and examine her own problems.

Conflict Disappears After Looking Within

Zhang Yong, a former postdoc at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, was responsible for producing advertisements and filming videos after joining the media. After being transferred to a new department a year ago, he had the opportunity to get rid of his attachment to reputation as an intellectual.

“Before I did advertising, most of it was done by one person from start to finish. This time, many people worked together on the project. It was the first time for me, and it was also a good opportunity to improve my skills,” he said. He explained that coordinating with several people offers many opportunities to test one’s character.

“Once, after I finished writing a script, my colleague watched the teleprompter and sat in front of camera. As he was talking, he suddenly expressed dissatisfaction with a sentence and felt it was not colloquial enough. He got angry and stopped the filming.”

“I was surprised and felt uncomfortable. I thought, ‘I wrote the script and sent it to you a long time ago. You didn’t read it beforehand. You only read it when we began filming, but you blame others.’ At the same time I also knew that the time had come to improve my xinxing.”

Mr. Zhang thought of Master’s teachings in Zhuan Falun about cultivating xinxing. He realized that when things happened suddenly, one cannot just look at what is right or wrong on the surface. The key is to discover one’s attachments and cultivate oneself. He said it touched his attachment to reputation, which caused his thoughts to become unbalanced.

“When I looked at it with righteous thoughts, there was no problem. I quickly adjusted my mentality and calmly said to my colleague, ‘Sorry, I didn’t think carefully when I wrote the script and didn’t pay attention to the dialogue. How about changing it like this?’” The colleague immediately adjusted himself and said with a smile that it was fine.

After that, there were no more problems in the cooperation between the two, the filming was successfully completed, and a conflict was resolved instantly.

Cultivate Diligently

Rudy is a new practitioner and recently joined the media. He said that, after he started practicing Falun Dafa in 2020, his life underwent a huge change. The special wonder of Dafa was particularly significant and obvious when he first began practicing. When he had various human thoughts and attachments in his daily life, with Master’s blessing, he was able to maintain righteous thoughts at all times.

However, slowly, he found that he began to slack off on his cultivation, “I noticed that after a while, I unknowingly slacked off. I didn’t study the Fa much, didn’t do the exercises enough, and I didn’t clarify the truth much. My righteous thoughts and actions also began to slacken, and my effectiveness in saving people also began to decline.”

This kind of laziness made for lot of challenges. Sometimes, things at work, at home, etc. made him anxious, which also prevented him from having enough righteous thoughts or improving his xinxing—and even prevented him from doing his best when writing articles.

He remembered that the best solution to overcome the many challenges was to try to do the three things every day. “I had to restore my mentality to the state of diligence I first had and study the Fa as much as possible.” When he did this, he found that many problems were easily solved.

Although practicing cultivation in ordinary society does have great challenges, Rudy said that whether he works at the Epoch Times Media Group or reads the Fa and practices the exercises with fellow practitioners, he feels extremely lucky. “I am in a field of righteous thoughts built by fellow practitioners. We stay away from the hustle and bustle of the world and all kinds of disputes.”