By a Falun Dafa practitioner in North America

(Clearwisdom.net) Teacher is personally using the form of the Spectacular to save sentient beings, and we as practitioners must harmonize what Teacher wants with all our efforts. The Spectacular has been going on for a period of time now. Some cities have already completed it, and some cities still have the important task of selling tickets. Some practitioners said that the Spectacular is different from our other activities in which we introduce the Fa, as it has a rigid target and that is to sell tickets. Other practitioners said that so far, Teacher has not told us in detail how to sell tickets this year, and that we need to enlighten based on the Fa. Based on fellow practitioners' sharing, the following are a few thoughts that I had on the topic.

We often hear fellow practitioners saying that there are lots of tickets to sell for the Spectacular, but that time is short. Because some practitioners lack confidence and think they cannot sell tickets, as in the case of New York, they find it very difficult. If we look at it from the angle of everyday people, it is indeed very difficult. People who have watched the show know that it is world-class, but because the Spectacular is not yet well-known everywhere, not many people truly know what it is. The CCP is still slandering us and interfering, we do not have funding for large-scale advertising, and many practitioners work full-time or do other projects. In addition, it is hard to spend lots of time on ticket sales and so on, so it is indeed too difficult when looked at from an ordinary person's perspective.

Of course we know that it can be done successfully, as we are cultivating and rescuing people through this method. We are not restricted by ordinary people's principles. The key is whether we are able to abandon ordinary thinking and operate with practitioners' righteous thoughts and compassion.

First, are there really too many tickets for the Spectacular? We all know that it is the purpose of the Spectacular to save sentient beings. All the people in the world are waiting for Dafa, and we have to remember that we are offering them salvation. Looking at it from this angle, the tickets for the Spectacular are not numerous enough, especially since we know that the time for rescuing people is very limited. After all, we are snatching people away from the old forces. Master said:

"The people who have come to this world are waiting for you to save them!" ("Fa Teaching at the U.S. Capital")

There was a saying in ancient China that "when Han Xin leads soldiers, the more the better." I personally think that we should not think that we have too many tickets.

In regards to the limited time, we all know that the mighty power of the Fa and its divine power are not restricted by this human dimension, where things can be done in a flash. The question is whether our mindsets are pure enough and can completely display the mighty power of Dafa. If we cannot do this, then the result will not be fully satisfactory. That is not because Dafa's mighty power is insufficient, but rather because we have not done well. Some cities have held the Spectacular for the first time this year, and have not had any difficulty selling tickets. Whether we do well or not is the key to success.

This depends on whether we truly believe in Teacher and Dafa, understand the Fa's principles, and can exhibit good coordination and cooperation. Of course, these are all cultivation issues. The key is that we must change our notions, look at the issues as practitioners, and do things with the mindset of practitioners.

Some fellow practitioners thought that the shows are events that take place in the forum of ordinary society, so we should run it solely using management methods of ordinary people. Then some practitioners felt puzzled when they did everything well according to the standards of ordinary society in promoting the show, but received very poor results. We know that the show is not just an event for entertainment in ordinary society. The true purpose is to save sentient beings. So in reality, we are not working on an ordinary show. When we totally depend on and use methods of ordinary people to promote the show, we turn our show into an ordinary event.

Now, more and more practitioners have realized how important our show is, so we have to really give it our full attention. Our show is not an ordinary event, but for saving sentient beings. Therefore, we have to put our whole hearts into it and do it with compassion to save sentient beings.

Some fellow practitioners noticed that many of us did not put much effort into promoting our show and felt that the show is not our responsibility. They also may have thought that it is enough as long as we are participating or helping with the show in some way. The show is our own responsibility. Even when we cannot directly participate in the show's promotion, we should still support it with our righteous thoughts. Saving sentient beings is our responsibility. In the end, everything we do is really for our own sake. The Fa is mighty and solemn. How can we do it well if we don't get into it wholeheartedly?

When we really put our hearts into the show, our righteous thoughts will manifest the power of Dafa. Once, we shared experiences over the Internet regarding the promotion of our show. Some practitioners shared a story about a female practitioner who came to New York and helped with the promotion effort. She went to a big company and the security guard at the front door didn't allow her to enter the building. She then clarified the facts to the guard and in the end, the guard let her in. But another guard at the second door stopped her again. She continued clarifying the facts. Later she had a chance to meet with the general manager of the company, and he told her that he had only ten minutes to talk with her. She clarified the facts to the general manager and talked with him for three hours. At the end, the general manager understood the facts and ordered 600 tickets for his employees.

Another related problem that is much more common and harder to recognize, is that we are often satisfied when we do things well.

It is important to fulfill our responsibilities, but we shouldn't be satisfied with ourselves when we do it. As we know, hosting such a big show is a collaborative effort by the whole group. It is not just the responsibility of a few practitioners. Recalling the process of how we promoted our local show this year, I realized that I was so focused on how well I did that I ignored coordinating with the group.

As veteran practitioners, we should not only do well the things that we are directly responsible for, but also truly accept responsibility as a coordinator. We should be responsible not only for our own Fa-rectification efforts, but also the efforts of the entire group. We should focus not only on our own cultivation progress, but also the group's progress. If we only focus on our own efforts and cultivation, we still have not truly given up the attachment of selfishness.

It is the same with other Fa-rectification projects. If we do not put our whole hearts into the project at hand and cannot take responsibility for the group, we are only thinking of ourselves.

It's not enough for us to only do things together. We have to be on the same page spiritually and mentally. This means that we need to exchange and share ideas with more practitioners, and it requires coordination and cooperation. Master pointed out in particular "the work of coordinating each region" and "coordination problems" in "To the France Fa Conference." This requires from us that we genuinely set aside ourselves and validate Dafa.

The requirements for us should be getting higher and higher, as we have been cultivating until today. We cannot rest on our achievements in the past, and we cannot be satisfied with having given our best effort. We need to constantly improve ourselves and look inward to find problems.

We often encounter different opinions or debates about the subject of cooperation with each other. When disagreements come up, some practitioners don't want to be involved and try to avoid the issue, which hinders the communication among practitioners. Then everyone does things on their own and feels happy about giving their efforts, but in the process we didn't genuinely set aside ourselves and act as one body. We didn't make an effort together, and we were not really together. As a result, the overall effect was less than ideal.

A more widespread problem is that practitioners all know that Master requires us to coordinate well with each other. Our knowing side knows and understands that we must coordinate well, while our human side still has some attachments. So there is the phenomenon where practitioners are supporting Dafa activities superficially but complain in their hearts, which does not meet the requirements Master set for us: "...regardless of what your personal opinion is, set aside your attachments and cooperate." ("To the France Fa Conference")

When we are coordinating with human attachments, we will be disgruntled and have grievances, blame each other, and so on. Then our coordination is only superficial, while our minds do not really support others. Such "superficial support" is obvious to other dimensions, and these become loopholes that can be taken advantage of by the bad factors. For example, during experience sharing regarding the Holiday Wonders, some practitioners complained about the coordinator and argued over the venue to hold the show. These practitioners had also held different degrees of grievances about the promotion and selling of the tickets. Thus the overall effect was weakened, despite great personal efforts.

Another issue that undermines the overall coordination to some extent is that some fellow practitioners are more willing to cooperate with certain practitioners and less willing to cooperate with others. In writing this article, I looked inward and recognized my own problems in this respect. This differentiation is an attachment that is supposed to be eliminated. Selective cooperation is obviously not what Master requires from us.

Master said in "Fa Teaching at the 2007 New York Fa Conference":

"Cultivate yourself well and save sentient beings. Both are important, for sure."

"One's individual improvement is still first and foremost."

"No matter what you are doing, be it clarifying the facts or doing projects that validate Dafa, you must first put cultivating yourself well as top priority; only then can the things that you do be more sacred, for then you are a Dafa disciple, and are doing things as a Dafa disciple to validate the Fa."

In order to really coordinate and cooperate well, we must look inward and unconditionally search within ourselves for issues. We must validate Dafa with a truly pure mentality and act as one body.

Master explicitly requires us to do the three things well simultaneously. With their tight schedules and the pressure that they are under, some practitioners are prone to being affected by human concepts. They often spend almost all their time doing things, thus reducing the time for Fa-study, let alone doing the exercises. They become impatient, anxious and even easily angry, which causes problems among practitioners. It is essential for us to be effective in validating Dafa and saving the world's people. We cannot be busy just for the sake of being busy without thinking of the outcomes. This kind of phenomenon is widespread at present.

Master said in Zhuan Falun,

"Any time some kind of interference comes along in your practice, you have to look within for the cause and find what it is you still haven't let go of."

When we have difficulties and trouble, when we encounter resistance in validating Dafa, and when we are confronted with difficulties in the selling of tickets, we cannot only "try to do more things," we have to stop and look within for the cause.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2008/1/16/170400.html