The Cultivation Story of a Taiwanese Advertising Account Executive

By Ms. Huang Ziling

(Clearwisdom.net)

I once signed up for a marketing class to hone my skills. Little had I expected that my life would completely change less than three minutes after the class began.

The speaker was a very successful marketing professional from Taiwan, who now lives in the United States. The tip for achieving success that he shared with us was contrary to everything I expected. "Think more of others," he taught us. I was moved by his heartfelt sincerity, and decided to learn from him. Since then, I have been taking marketing lessons from him every half a year each time he travels back to Taiwan. I once heard him explaining the truth about the universe and was very impressed with his knowledge. Then he introduced the book Zhuan Falun to me. He suggested that I read the entire book through in one cohesive effort. But I actually left the book on my desk for two weeks because I was not prepared to do so.

Then a miracle happened.

I had been smoking cigarettes for over 20 years. In fact, I needed to smoke at least ten cigarettes each day. Shortly after I got the book Zhuan Falun from him, one day I forgot to smoke for the entire day. When I finally thought about smoking at night, I tried to smoke, but it smelled and tasted horrible. I forgot to smoke the next day as well. Again, I detested the smell of the cigarette when I tried to smoke that night. Thus I quit smoking before I even opened up Zhuan Falun.

Two weeks after I quit smoking, I asked the man who gave the marketing seminar the secret of his successful career. He replied, "The answers to all of your questions are in the book Zhuan Falun." Knowing me as an extremely impatient person, he thought of a way to prompt me to read the book. He said, "I will give you three choices. Can you finish reading Zhuan Falun in a week, in three days or in a day?" His words were encouraging and stirred up my curiosity about Zhuan Falun, so I made up my mind to finish reading Zhuan Falun in a day. I started reading Zhuan Falun past midnight the next day and stayed up all night reading it. When I finished reading around 5:00 a.m., I realized that this is what I had been looking for all my life. I believed every single word in Zhuan Falun. Then I immediately experienced something that Teacher says in the book. I saw many heads clinging to the outside of my window. I asked for Teacher's help right away and the heads disappeared instantly. When the sun came out, I went to look for the closest group practice site to my home even though I had stayed up all night. When I arrived at Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall, I heard very warm and peaceful music from afar. I followed the music and found the group practice site. A friendly lady taught me the five exercises of Falun Gong right away. That very evening, I attended a Falun Gong practitioners' group Fa study for the first time. When I shared my recent experiences with them, many of them burst into tears. I thought to myself, "These people are indeed different. Only those who have 'Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance' at heart would truly understand. They were crying happy tears because they knew I was going to depart from the sea of misery forever. A new life was about to be born!"

I am an advertising account executive. I used to enjoy business travel because I would get opportunities to see different places. The only drawback was that tears would keep coming out of my eyes involuntarily when I drove long hours home from the business trip because my facial nerves were damaged when I was little. The long hours of driving also caused my feet to hurt and go numb. After I started my cultivation practice in Falun Gong, I would memorize and recite Teacher's new articles during the long hours of driving. My work colleague would read one sentence at a time, and I would repeat the sentence. Before the business trip ended, I would have memorized an entire article. I now feel energetic and alert even when I have driven long hours and even when I have just finished a most exhausting business trip. The problems of involuntary tears and sore feet have disappeared without a trace. For the past three years since I started to practice Falun Gong, I never had to renew my health insurance card and never had to go see the doctor because I have been perfectly healthy. [Note: In Taiwan's health insurance system, each Taiwanese citizen gets an insurance card with six blank boxes on the back of the card. The hospital will stamp one box for each medical treatment. When all the six boxes have been stamped, the patient needs to get a new card with another six blank boxes on the back.]

Supplementary Reading: Research Report in Taiwan Illustrates Power of Falun Gong to Improve Physical and Emotional Health while Reducing Health Care Expenses (Photos) http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2003/1/1/30401.html

I am a professional advertising account executive. One can make a lot of money in this field if one is a successful. Before I started my cultivation practice in Falun Gong, I was not really doing my job as an advertising saleswoman. Instead, I was frivolous with the company budget for socializing with the clients and had a great time entertaining the clients with the money. I was also overcome with my vanity. I insisted on wearing outfits and accessories by famous designers. I lacked responsibility. All I cared about was having a comfortable life to fill the hole in my heart. Since I started my cultivation practice, I have been trying to conduct my speech and actions according to Falun Gong's cultivation principles of "Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance." I started to treat my clients as friends and relate to them with sincerity. As a result, I started to have many real friends.

Not long ago one of my colleagues felt that I had stolen his clients and fiercely demanded that I kneel down and beg for his forgiveness. I thought to myself, "If I can help him vent his rage and make him feel better by kneeling down to him, I am willing to endure his bullying." When my kind thought came forward, he suddenly stopped his fit of anger and took back the words he said. When I let got of my attachments to fame, wealth and sentiment, I passed this test of my moral character. Then my telephone rang. It was a client calling to tell me that he had decided to let us handle his advertisement.

To be a responsible advertising account executive, I believe I must understand and like my clients' products. I work for a newspaper, and my revenue relies entirely on my advertisement sales. I once refrained from all sales calls for a week in order to carefully read newspapers and compile information needed for the sales calls. Because I let go of my own interest and wealth, and thought of nothing but my clients' interests, I was prepared to lose sales for a week in order to better service my clients. Never had I expected that four clients would call and ask to advertise with us in that week. The four advertising contracts totaled 60,000 NTD, or 18,600 USD. This was something unheard of before I started the cultivation practice. In the past, I had to socialize with each client for at least half a year to secure an advertising contract. It would take many afternoon teas and many hours singing in karaoke bars to get an advertisement contract. Nowadays I often get an advertising contract in a much shorter turnaround time. Sometimes I will get a contract in just one meeting with a client. I cherish each meeting with my clients; therefore, I introduce Falun Gong to them besides talking about advertising. I have won the trust of my clients with my sincerity.

I would burst into tears each time I read Teacher's new articles and facts of the persecution against my fellow Falun Gong practitioners in China on the Internet. Then one day I came across the following passage:

"Assisting Teacher in his journey in this world."

(From "Assisting the Fa" in Hongyin. Provisional translation subject to further improvement)

I thought, "I have not done my share of work to assist Teacher in his journey in this world. From this day forward, I shall help promote Falun Gong, clarify the truth about Falun Gong to the world's people, and call for the end of the persecution against Falun Gong practitioners in China. As a professional in the field of public media, I can easily see through the techniques that Jiang Zemin's group has used in its propaganda against Falun Gong. Because Jiang Zemin's group has deceived so many people with the footage of its staged self-immolation act on Tiananmen Square, I decided to help clarify the truth about Falun Gong with my camera. I began to study photography. I hope to portray the beauty of Falun Gong with my photographs. Hopefully people will see the truth of Falun Gong when they see these beautiful pictures. One morning I brought my camera with me to a group practice site to take photographs of practitioners practicing the Falun Gong exercises. When the photographs came out, many Falun rotating in the sky above the practitioners showed up on the photographs. Cultivation practice in Falun Gong is truly magnificent.

One day I got a call from the owner of a consulting firm specializing in offering training courses to help people develop their potential abilities. He called to tell me that he was moved by a newspaper report on Dr. Imoto's experiments on water crystals. Dr. Imoto discovered that water exposed to kind thoughts could form beautiful water crystals. He told me that he had been looking for scientific findings in this area. He added that he would not only choose this newspaper report as part of his teaching materials, but also publish his advertisement in our newspaper. His colleague and co-owner of the consulting firm agreed with his decision and paid for all the advertising expenses. At first, they ran modest-size advertisements in our newspaper every other week. After a period of time, they increased the size of their advertisements and ran the advertisement every week. We have a very good working relationship. Despite his busy work schedule, I wanted to help him start his cultivation practice in Falun Gong. So, one of my colleagues, a fellow Falun Gong practitioner, visited his office with me. We took a laptop with us and played the video of the first lecture. Because he was very busy that day, the playing of the video was constantly interrupted by incoming telephone calls. So we changed our strategy and invited him to join our group Fa study the following month. While we were at his office, I told his colleague my cultivation story, which piqued his interest in starting his own cultivation practice in Falun Gong. In the end, they both attended the nine-day Falun Gong class. After the head of the consulting firm started to study Falun Gong's books, the introductory text that he wrote for their company's advertisement became more meaningful. I reminded him to attend the group Fa study nearest to him no matter how busy he might be. He promised me happily that he would.

I will usually introduce Falun Gong briefly to my new clients. If they express interest in learning more about Falun Gong, I will give them truth-clarification VCD's or other materials as gifts. I once made a business call to the owner of an advertising firm. After we finished our business, I started to tell him that Falun Gong has been warmly received in over 60 countries around the world and talked about the beauty of Falun Gong. Next I played the truth-clarification video programs that my fellow Falun Gong practitioners made. He was astonished to learn that people who practice Falun Gong and try to become better people are subject to torture in China. He felt there is nothing more senseless than the persecution. He said that he wanted to play the videos to his daughter when she came back from school. He also told me that he knows a thing or two about the problematic environment in China because some of his clients are doing businesses in China. According to his clients, there is no guarantee of personal security.

Another client of mine had a different response at first when I shared with him the truth about Falun Gong. He said, "It's fine if you wish to practice Falun Gong, but why do you have to tell me about the horrible persecution." I replied, "If we were to remain silent and watch good people suffer from torture, we would be assisting the bad people in their wrongdoings. Other good people and a good person like you might be targeted as the next victims. Besides, I feel obliged to introduce this wonderful cultivation practice since we have the predestined opportunity to meet each other." Then I told the business owner, "You might not believe the story because you haven't read Zhuan Falun. But I can tell you from my own experience that Zhuan Falun is the most profound book I have ever read. Only those who have read Zhuan Falun will understand how profound it is." Little did I expect that he would immediately ask to learn Falun Gong. The only difficulty is that there is no Falun Gong nine-day class near his home. In the end, we held a nine-day class at his home.

No matter where I travel, I pass out truth-clarification VCD's to people I meet. To help the world's people learn the truth about Falun Gong, I ask them to watch all the video programs with a peaceful and open mind. I also ask them to play the VCD's to their friends and family. I once gave a parking lot attendant a truth-clarification VCD and told him that I practiced Falun Gong. The next time I parked my car in his parking lot, he came up to me and said, "How can Jiang Zemin's regime be so cruel? I cannot understand why they persecute these kindhearted Falun Gong practitioners. It is so evil!" He then thanked me for giving him the VCD and helped him understand so many things. He asked me how much he owed me for the VCD. I told him it's free and, if he wishes to express his gratitude, he may tell others that Falun Gong is good.

Each day is created for the Fa and every person has come for the Fa. Therefore, everyone I meet every day should know the truth about Falun Gong. Falun Gong has forged a new life for me, so my greatest wish is for the Chinese Communist government to end the persecution against Falun Gong and for everyone to learn Falun Gong.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2004/10/26/87611.html

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