(Minghui.org) Greetings Master! Greetings fellow practitioners!
The transnational repression, a new wave of persecution against Falun Dafa by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), was already underway in summer 2024. I felt Fa rectification entered the final stage.
Master Li, the founder of Falun Dafa, wrote in June 2024,
“The truth is, we shouldn’t expect to not face ordeals as a spiritual discipline just because we are in a certain location; it’s just that they assume different forms. And during these ordeals, lives are being chosen to either remain or be sifted out in the end, and just as much is at stake for our Dafa practitioners.” (“The Ordeals Our Spiritual Discipline Faces”)
I was nervous when I read this, because I felt I hadn’t I done the three things well. So these words woke me up like a stick warning. I knew it is critical to catch up in the areas where I lagged behind.
In August 2024 I began to prepare for the new season of Shen Yun performances—I handed out flyers and other promotional materials. Looking back now, I clearly see that when I spent more time participating in Dafa projects to help Master save people, my mind was clearer and it was easy to let go of human notions. Since I had not caught up with the Fa-rectification, I knew I needed to spend extra time familiarizing myself with details.
During this process, I felt pressure. In my understanding, this pressure may come from karmic debts of the sentient beings I am responsible for. They are waiting to be saved, but I hadn’t done well to help them. They were suffering because of the old forces and, through my efforts to clarify the truth, I could help eliminate the elements that blocked them from being saved. I must catch up with the momentum of Fa-rectification.
Shen Yun hadn’t been held in Vienna since 2017. We began to sell tickets at shopping centers, including some we used to sell tickets in years ago. Many memories came flooding back as I stood there – it was indeed difficult to sell tickets back then and it went on like this for a number of years. I had to arrange things well with my family, plus looking after my son who was very young. I also had fear and other challenges when I talked with people at the time. I sometimes felt like I was being put through a meat grinder.
I also remembered the difficulties when I first began cultivating. I let go of some of them, but some were still there. For example, I was attached to food and, because of that, I was fat. I experienced extreme pain when I did the exercises. These thoughts make me think and, like I explained when citing Master’s words in “The Ordeals Our Spiritual Discipline Faces”, I need to resolve these gaps in my cultivation. Together with recent lectures from Master Li, I know I needed to do better in this new year and catch up.
So I began to look within and check how I did things and where I could do better. Master said,
“It will be done, however, only for students who come to genuinely cultivate; your simply sitting here does not mean that you are a cultivator. These things will be provided as long as you fundamentally change your thinking, and it is not limited to just these. Later on you will understand what I have given everyone.” (Lecture One, Zhuan Falun)
I’ve now come to understand that I was unable to resolve this because I was still attached to many things. In fact, the priority is not solving problems; rather I must fundamentally change myself. Because of human notions, I’m stagnating. I must become a new version of me – my true self. I must change my thinking by letting go of human notions.
In the past, I thought “selfishness” meant longing for something like a child. I now realize that selfishness means thinking or doing things with various attachments and human notions. I am living with the standard I had for myself. In fact, I could play various roles in this lifetime, but they are actually different from my true self. Only by recognizing this issue can I completely change and return to my true self.
The negative articles published in the New York Times influenced news media in Switzerland and Germany, and interfered with our ability to sell tickets in Vienna. About one week before the performance, I received a phone call from a number I did not recognize while I was driving home from selling tickets. I usually hesitate to answer phone calls from strangers, but I answered anyway.
It was a reporter from a major Austrian newspaper and she was friendly. She asked about the Shen Yun performance in Austria and the sponsor, the Falun Dafa Association in Austria. I explained how Falun Dafa is persecuted in China, why the CCP started the persecution, and why the CCP targeted Shen Yun. I also mentioned the benefits of practicing Falun Dafa and how the CCP persecuted the practice, including forced organ harvesting.
She was surprised to hear some of what I told her, and I felt she learned something new. When the call was about to end, she asked my opinion of the New York Times’ accusation against Shen Yun. I felt as if my throat was being strangled and my stomach was hit hard. Nonetheless, I was able to remain clear and explained I’d been helping to bring Shen Yun to Austria. Based on my interactions with the Shen Yun artists, I could not agree with those accusations. In fact, I said I thought the CCP was behind this, and it was using Western media outlets to defame Shen Yun and Falun Dafa.
She thanked me and was ready to end the call. I asked if she could give me her email address so that I could provide more details. She gave me the information and we ended the call.
I arrived home, but I continued sitting in the car as I thought about our conversation: what she asked, did I answer her questions well, was I too naive and did I say too much? My fear also grew. What if she wrote a very negative article? Wouldn’t it be my fault?
Then one thought came to my mind: maybe I should tell others I did not know about this conversation. I realized my fear was meaningless and laughable. After all, I just told her what I knew so that she could place herself well on this issue. I know being honest and sincere is important. So I went in and told my husband what happened. In the evening, I told some other practitioners and wrote the woman an email.
She replied to my email, but I did not hear back for few days. I thought she wouldn’t write an article about our interview. But the day before Shen Yun opened, she sent me an email saying she had been on vacation for a few days and she would publish an article. By that time, my mind no longer had uncertainty or fear because I just wanted to help save people. Even if she wrote a negative article, my and other practitioners’ righteous thoughts would not allow sentient beings to be affected. From the bottom of my heart, I hoped she would position herself well on this issue.
The article was published, and the reporter included a lot of publicity about Shen Yun and Falun Dafa. She also mentioned the New York Times accusations and added that the hosting organization denied them.
The performances started like this and there were still many challenges. But I focused on helping save people and tried not to think with human notions. This way, I calmly overcame the difficulties. Although a little tired, I feel fortunate because what we practitioners lose are negative substances.
Thank you, Master. Thank you, fellow practitioners.
(Presented at the 2025 Austrian Fa Conference)