Digging out the roots of validating Self, and conforming to Western society
whilst working on the Films project
By Melbourne Western Practitioner
Greetings revered Master！
Greetings fellow cultivators！
Over the past year I have gradually become more aware of the intentions behind my words and actions. I realised that I had a strong attachment to validating myself, even though it was often deeply concealed. I was not only attached to validating myself, but also my ideas and notions.
In “Fa Teaching at the 2016 New York Fa Conference,” Master said: “…those of you who’ve come overseas, quickly learn as much as you can from Western people, or, from Chinese who’ve been in the United States for a long time. Ask them how to interact with people. Ask them more about things you do not understand, and quickly turn your way of thinking around. Otherwise, you cannot do anything in this place, and if you do things that have a negative effect, it is equivalent to bringing harm.”
As a native Westerner and one who is embedded in many facets of everyday society, I have long felt the need to clarify the truth by means that conform to the normal ways of society. When I read this section of Master’s Fa, and when I have read subsequent passages along similar lines, in a sense, I have felt validated. However, for a long time I was unable to recognise this as an attachment.
Whilst on the surface, the attachment could easily be justified as following Master’s words as Master does talk about the issue in several lectures, much deeper down it was actually the attachment of validating myself. I would hereby like to share the following experiences with practitioners in order to help fellow cultivators who might knowing or unknowing still harbour the attachment of Validating oneself or their ideas and methods.
- Coordinating our local Letter from Masanjia screening
Last year I coordinated a screening in Melbourne for the film, Letter From Masanjia. At the time when I took on the project, I was already quite overwhelmed with my everyday job and other projects I was working on. As the practitioners that were working on it previously were also overloaded, I thought that my husband and I should just make the time and take it on. In the past, I had been reluctant to step forward to take on any coordinating roles as I just preferred to work hard to support projects in the background, without shouldering the ultimate responsibility of whether the project succeeded or not.
However, at that time many projects needed new coordinators, and I couldn’t always just step aside leaving others to fill the void. I also felt that it would not be difficult for me to do, as I had previously helped quietly in the background for many other film screenings.
However, after I agreed to take it on, I realised that the producers did not want us to screen it in the same way that we had done for nearly every other film in the past, that is, hiring a hall to screen it on a projector. Rather, they wanted it screened and marketed via a cinema, essentially in the same way as a General release film.
Initially, I felt burdened as there was a lot more work to do, and I didn’t know much about the workings of the film industry. However, I soon felt incredibly grateful. Master was forcing us to step out of our comfort zone and attachments to make us conform to everyday society’s methods, and by doing so, we could help Master save more sentient beings.
What I didn’t realise at the time though, was that underneath my heart to save more sentient beings, there was also a strong attachment to Validating myself, and this manifested in my understanding that we should do our best to conform to ordinary society.
- Preparing for the screenings
I investigated the independent theatre scene in Melbourne and made some enquiries. Several didn’t get back to me at the start, and those that did mentioned that I would have to submit a detailed marketing plan for the film and obtain an Australian Classification. There were no detailed written marketing plans put together by the production company for such a purpose, and so I would have to create one from scratch. Also, I had never applied for a Classification before, nor did I have time to read through the pages and pages of the Classification Act to decipher what I needed to submit. I just didn’t know how I was going to find the time to put all this together, it wasn’t as simple as I had first thought.
I persevered with the Marketing plan and with feedback from others, managed to put a detailed one together. Upon enquiring about the Classification from the Government agency responsible, they mentioned that I could apply for an exception to the fees from the Communications Minister.
As I had been looking at things with a human mindset, I incurred lots of interference during the process of obtaining the Classification, but at the time did not recognise it as such. Whilst asking the Classification Board for guidance, a new staff member there would direct me to do one thing, and then when I would do it, another staff member would say that it was not the correct way to do it, and this would go on and on.
Sometimes the wait for processing their mail and submissions would take more than a month, and given what I had done was not always correct, it would take several months even to get to the stage of the final online submission for the Classification. It was only at that stage when their whole online system stopped working and wouldn’t allow users to upload anything on a newly created account. They thought it was very strange and they eventually realised they had a glitch in their software. It was only then that I realised that all of these things that were slowing the process down were interference, and that I should actively eliminate it. Finally the software worked again, and we could complete the final step.
While this was taking place, other states started booking venues to host their screenings. I realised not all were booking cinemas like we had originally been asked and I found myself feeling uneasy. I would think, “Why did I have to do all the hard work to follow the Production Company’s wishes, when some other areas continued to do things in the way we used to?” I felt some competitive mentality and a bit jealous. “They should listen to the producer’s wishes, they are taking the easy route!”
I had also done lots of work in the background to obtain the fee exemption and Classification to conform to Australian Law, but some areas were disregarding it. Whilst the need for a Classification was never really enforced by the non-cinema venues we had previously hired, every one of the cinemas that I had approached strictly enforced the need for the Classification as a condition of screening, regardless if it was a private hire or a general release.
The funny part of this however, was that multiple other cinema venues were hired in different states to screen the film, and unlike my experience, they were not asked to produce the Classification upon booking the venue. I realised that it was all in my mindset. I was attached to doing things that conformed to normal society methods. I justified this in my mind as following the law, but behind that was the attachment of validating myself and my way of doing things.
I am a cultivator of Dafa, and whilst I should be aware of everyday people’s methods to conform to society’s norms and laws, I should not be attached to them whereby I’ve formed a notion that limits the project from divine assistance.
My attachment of validating myself and my ways also manifested in the promotion of the film. When booking the cinema, without a second thought, I booked the largest cinema there was at Melbourne’s leading Independent Cinema complex, confident without a single unrighteous thought that we could fill the cinema, despite having a much shorter period of time than normal to sell the tickets.
We tailored a promotion campaign that targeted a certain demographic and geographical area surrounding the venue.
However, with less than two weeks left before the screening, only 3 tickets had sold, and 2 of those were mine as I was testing the ticketing system. For a moment then, my righteous thoughts suddenly turned to fear. We had sold only 1% of the tickets, and to break even due to our spend on the marketing and venue hire, we would have to sell nearly all of the 240 tickets.
When looking within, I wasn’t that concerned about the financial loss, and searched deeper as to why the tickets weren’t selling. Once again, the attachment of validating myself had surfaced. I was fearful of losing face if we didn’t get many attendees, especially as I insisted on having a cinema screening to resemble a regular film experience as much as possible. I had also previously been very vocal to the practitioner body to follow the producers wishes and not arrange their own viewing parties. In addition, I had held the project up for several months as I unsuccessfully sort to obtain a General Release in cinemas, and the interference in obtaining the Classification. I was worried that practitioners would have no idea of the work done in the background for no apparent result, and would therefore think that I was lazy: I was fearful of losing face.
Master said: “There’s something you must pay attention to: you are validating the Fa, not validating yourselves. A Dafa disciple’s responsibility is to validate the Fa. Validating the Fa is cultivation, and what you remove in the cultivation process is none other than the attachment to self; you can’t, instead, go and exacerbate the problem of validating oneself, even if you do it unwittingly. When you’re validating the Fa and cultivating, that is a process of removing self, and only when you do that are you really validating yourself. That’s because ultimately you have to let go of all your human things, and only after you’ve let go of all your human attachments can you step out from the throngs of everyday people.”
“Teaching the Fa at the Meeting with Asia-Pacific Students”, Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. VI
After I enlightened to this and was able to let go of the attachment, the majority of the practitioner body really got behind the project. Ticket sales instantly picked up, and by the time of the screening day, we had only a handful of tickets left, which were sold in the final minutes before the screening started. I had also let go of my initial concern of the planned promotional strategy not being followed and materials being distributed all over town. After letting go of the attachment of validating myself and doing things my way, it didn’t bother me at all.
Master just arranged the materials to be wherever they needed to be, and I was grateful beyond words for every practitioner that fully put their heart behind promoting the film. It was no longer “my project” but rather a vessel that all Melbourne practitioners could utilise to help save their sentient beings.
I also enlightened that I was getting caught up in the formalities of the human world and, using Master’s Fa to validate my opinion and look outwards, rather than look inwards to see how I could improve.
- Watching Master’s lecture: Fa Teaching Given to the Australian Practitioners
A couple of weeks after the Letter From Masanjia screening, it was arranged for us to watch the 2007 lecture: Fa Teaching Given to the Australian Practitioners, at big group Fa study. I hadn’t watched it for many years so I was glad to have the opportunity again. I volunteered to bring the computer and DVD to screen it from, but that afternoon just before study, I parked my car down a street that was soon to become a Clearway. When I went back to find my car after my last job for the day, it had been towed away to a compound, along with the computer inside and the DVD for Fa study. Although I felt quite silly and sorry to my husband because of the large fine I incurred, I was not that moved and very thankful to Master as the Fa study room was only a short Tram ride away and I could still get there in time. Additionally, another practitioner had also previously volunteered to bring his computer and DVD too, so thankfully we could still all watch it. Clearly the old forces were trying to interfere and didn’t want me to enlighten to what I needed to by watching it again.
That evening, when watching the lecture, it was as if I had never watched it before. I realised that previously, I had not been listening to Master’s words in the lecture to look within to improve my xinxing, rather I could only recall the parts that validated my opinion and notions, that was, the section where Master suggested the Chinese should learn from the Westerners as they know the society.
I was shocked and disappointed in myself when I realised I had only taken in the Fa that validated my notions. Then I realised that Master gave me many other reminders too. A fellow practitioner often emailed out their criticisms of other individuals on the group list, and often quoted Master’s Fa in doing so. I felt that it was incredibly disrespectful to use Teacher’s Fa in such a manner, and I wondered why this practitioner wasn’t looking within. That night watching the lecture again, made me realise that I had been doing the same, albeit in my head, but nonetheless I was still using Master’s words to validate myself and my notions.
I listened intently that night and enlightened to so many things that I couldn’t remember from before. In that lecture, Master even spoke about practitioners Validating themselves instead of Validating the Fa, and that practitioners were studying Master’s Fa to excuse their attachments instead of improving themselves, however I had not previously taken these things in.
Conclusion
I have enlightened through these experiences that what really matters is one’s heart, and this is what the Gods see. Master guides us in His teachings how to cultivate and better save sentient beings, and we should read it in a state of wuwei, without intention, and with the heart to improve ourselves to become divine beings, not validate ourselves to remain human. Of course we should abide by the laws of our society, and I still understand that we should indeed speak and conduct ourselves in ways that everyday people can understand.
This is my current understanding at my own level. I invite practitioners to kindly point out anything incorrect or inappropriate.
Thank you benevolent Master！
Thank you fellow practitioners！
(中文翻譯)
在参与影片放映项目中符合西方社会状态，挖出证实自我的执着
文：墨尔本西人大法弟子
尊敬的师父好！
各位同修大家好！
在过去的一年里，我逐渐更加清晰地认识到了藏在自己的言语、行为背后的意图。我意识到，我对证实自我有着强烈的执着，尽管它常常被深深地隐藏起来。此外，我并不仅仅执着于证实自我，还有证实我的想法和观念。
师父在讲法中开示：“到了国外的，你们赶快的多学学西方人、或者是在美国呆时间长的华人，问问他们人与人之间怎么处事。多问问他们你不明白的，赶快把思想扭转过来，不然你在这个地方什么都做不了，做了起反作用，就等于是破坏一样。” [1]
作为一个本土的西方人、一个融入到日常社会诸多方面的人，我一直觉得，通过符合社会正常状态的方式来讲清真相是很有必要的。当我读到师父这一段讲法以及后续相关讲法的时候，在某种意义上，我觉得自己的想法得到了证实。然而，在很长一段时间里，我没能认识到，这是一颗执着心。
从表面上看，这种执着很容易被认为是遵从师父的法，因为师父在几次讲法中确实讲到了这个问题，但在更深层次上，其实是我对于证实自己的执着。借此机会，我愿意与同修分享以下的经历，帮助那些已经意识到、或是还没意识到，而仍执着于证实自己、证实自己的想法或是方法的同修。
一、协调本地的《求救信》影片放映会
去年，我负责协调墨尔本的《求救信》电影放映会。当时接手这个项目的时候，我应对日常工作和其他（大法）项目已经相当吃力了。由于负责前期工作的同修也是超负荷工作，我觉得我和先生应该抽出时间来接管项目。过去，我一直不愿意迈出这一步，来承担协调人的角色，因为我只愿意在幕后努力地支持项目，而无需承担项目最终成功与否的责任。但是，当时很多项目都需要新的协调人，我不能总是靠边站，让别人来填补空缺。我也觉得这对我来说应该并不困难，因为在此前，我已经多次在幕后默默地协助过其他影片的放映会。
然而，当我同意接受这个项目以后，我意识到制片人并不希望我们按照以往的惯例来放映，也就是租用大厅、通过投影仪放映。相反，他们希望通过电影院進行放映和推广，基本上，就是像发行一部大众电影。
起初，我觉得负担很重，因为要做的工作多了很多，而且我对电影业的运作也不太了解。不过，很快我就感到无比的庆幸。师父促使我们迈出舒适区和依赖心，从而帮助我们符合常人社会方式。这样做的同时，我们还可以帮助师父挽救更多的众生。
然而当时，我并没有意识到的是，在我想挽救更多众生的内心深处，还有着对证实自己的强烈执着，这就体现在我对我们应该尽力去符合常人社会状态的理解中。
二、为放映会做准备
我调查了位于墨尔本的独立经营的剧场，并多次询问。刚开始，有几家剧院没有回复我，有的则要求我提交一份详细的电影营销计划，并取得“澳大利亚分级”（Australian Classification）。制片公司并没有一份现成的详细书面营销计划，所以我必须从头开始拟定一份。而且，我以前从来没有申请过（电影）分级，我也没有时间去阅读一页页的《分级法案》（Classification Act）来分析出我需要提交的内容。我完全不知道怎样才能抽出时间应对好这一切，这并不像我当初想象的那么简单。
我坚持制定着营销计划，结合他人的反馈，设法整理出一份详细的计划。在向政府负责机构询问“分级”事项时，他们提到，我可以向通讯部长申请豁免费用。
由于我一直以常人的心态看待问题，在取得“分级”的过程中，我受到了很多干扰，但我当时并没有认识到这一点。在我向分级委员会（Classification Board）咨询的过程中，那里的一位新员工会指示我做一件事，然后就在我要付诸行动时，另一位工作人员又会说这不是正确的做法，这样的情况一直在持续。有时，等他们处理邮件和提交的材料要等一个多月，而事实上，我所做的事情还不一定都是正确的。到了最后在网上提交“分级”（申请）的阶段，我花费了几个月的时间。而恰恰在那个阶段，他们的整个网络系统停止了工作，不允许用户在新创建的账户上上传任何东西。工作人员觉得很奇怪，最终他们意识到是自己的软件出现了故障。这时我才意识到，这些拖慢進程的事情都是干扰，我应该积极清除它。终于，软件又能正常工作了，我们得以完成最后的步骤。
在这期间，其它州也开始预订场地来举办他们的放映会。我意识到，并非所有的项目负责人都像我们最初被要求的那样去预定影院，我发现自己感到不平衡。我会想，“为什么我要千辛万苦地遵循制片公司的意愿去做，而其他一些地区却继续按照我们过去的方式去做？”我感到了这些争斗的思想、还有些嫉妒。“他们应该听从制片人的意愿，他们选择的是容易的方法！”
为了获得费用豁免和“分级”以符合澳大利亚的法律，我在幕后也做了很多工作，但有些地区却对此不以为然。虽然我们之前租用的非电影院场地并不要求影片获得“分级”，但我接触过的每一家电影院都将“（获得影片）分级”作为放映的条件，并严格执行，不管是私人租用还是常规放映。
然而，有趣的是，当项目负责人在其他州租用电影院放映该片时，与我的经验不同，他们在预订场地时并没有被要求出示“（影片）分级”。我意识到，这都是我的心态问题。我执着于按照符合正常社会的方式去做事情。我在心里把这样做的理由说成是遵守法律，但这背后是对证实自己和证实自己的做事方式的执著。
我是一名大法修炼者，虽然我应该了解常人的做事方式，从而符合社会的规范和法律，但我不应该执着于这些方法，从而形成了一种观念，这会阻碍项目获得神佛的加持。
我对证实自己和自己的做事方式的执着也体现在电影的推广上。在预定电影院时，我不假思索地预定了墨尔本领先的独立电影院中最大的一家影院，尽管卖票的时间比正常情况下要短得多，但我没有一丝不正的念头，对剧场满座充满信心。我们指定了一个针对影院周边特定人群和地理区域的推广方案。
然而，在离放映还剩不到两周的时候，只卖出了三张票，其中两张是我买的，当时我正在测试售票系统。那一瞬间，我的正念突然变成了恐惧。我们只卖出了百分之一的票，由于我们在市场推广和场地租赁上的开销，要想达到收支平衡，我们几乎必须将二百四十张票全部卖出。
审视内心，我其实并没有那么担心经济上的损失，我便更深入地去寻找门票卖不出去的原因。证实自己的执着心再次浮现出来。我害怕如果没有多少观众到场，就会丢了面子，尤其是我坚持要在电影院放映，以便尽可能地符合常规的观影体验。此前，我也曾向同修极力主张，要遵循制片人的意愿，不要自己安排观影会。此外，由于我在电影院争取全面放映（许可）不成功，以及取得“分级”方面的干扰，我把这个项目耽搁了好几个月。我担心一旦没有明显的效果，同修会不知道我在幕后做的工作，因而会认为我懒惰：我怕丢面子。
师父在讲法中开示：“大家一定要注意一个问题：你们在证实法，不是在证实自己。大法弟子的责任是证实法。证实法也是修炼，修炼中就是要去掉自己对自我的执著，不能够反而助长这种有意无意在证实自己的问题。在证实法与修炼中也是去掉自我的过程，做到了你才是真正的在证实你自己，因为常人的东西最后你们都得放下呀，放下常人的一切执著才能够走出常人。” [2]
在我悟到这一点、并能够放下执着之后，竟有大部分同修开始支持这个项目。票房立即回升，到了放映当天，我们只剩下少量的票，而它们也在放映开始前的最后几分钟全部售出。我也放下了最初的顾虑，担心推广策略没有按照计划進行、宣传资料被随处发放。在放下了证实自己的执着心、按照自己的方式做事的执着心后，我一点也不担心了。师父就会把资料安排在需要它的地方，我对每一个全身心投入电影推广的同修，都有说不出的感激。它不再是“我的项目”，而是所有墨尔本同修都可以利用的机缘，帮助拯救他们的众生。
我也悟到，我陷入了人类社会的形式当中，利用师父的法来证实自己的观点，向外看，而不是向内看和寻求自我提高。
三、观看师父讲法录像：《对澳洲学员讲法》
在《求救信》放映结束的几周后，在大组学法期间，我们观看了师父在二零零七年的讲法录像《对澳洲学员讲法》。我已经很多年没有看过了，所以很庆幸又有了一次机会。我主动提出带来电脑和DVD来進行放映。但就在学法前的那天下午，我把车停在了一条街道上，而那里即将進入禁止停车的时段。当我做完当天最后一项工作回去找车的时候，车已经被拖走了，连同车内的电脑和学法用的DVD也被拖走了。虽然因为自己招致了一大罚款而觉得自己很愚笨、也对先生感到抱歉，但我并没有十分动心，还十分感激师父，因为那时我距离学法房间只有很短的电车车程，我还能及时赶到。此外，另一位同修此前也主动提议把他的电脑和DVD带来，所以我们依然幸运地观看了录像。显然，旧势力企图干扰，不想让我从再次观看录像，从中悟到我需要提高的东西。
当天晚上，观看讲法录像的时候，我就像从来没有看过一样。我意识到，以前我在听师父讲法时，并未听从师父的话从内心找、提高自己的心性，而是只能回想起证实自己观点和观念的部分，也就是师父提出的：华人应该向西方人学习，因为他们了解那个社会。
当我意识到，自己只记住了那些证实了自己观念的法理时，我感到震惊和失望。后来我才知道，师父还给了我很多其他的提示。有一位同修经常在群里发邮件批评组内的其他人，还经常引用师父的法。我觉得这样借用师父的法是非常无礼的，我很奇怪这位同修为什么不从内心找原因。那天晚上，再次观看讲法录像，让我意识到自己也一直在做着同一件事情，虽然是在我的脑海里，但我还是在用师父的话来证实自己和自己的观念。
那天晚上，我听得很专心，悟到了很多以前想不起来的东西。在那次讲法中，师父还讲到修炼人证实自己而不是证实法，修炼人为了给自己的执著找借口去学习师父的法，而不是提高自己，然而，我以前并没有领悟到这些内涵。
结语
通过这些经历，我悟到，真正关键的是一个人的心，这才是神看的。师父在讲法中引导我们如何修炼，如何更好地救度众生。我们应该在无为、无所求的状态下读法，用心去提升自己，成为神；而不是证实自己，留下来当人。当然，我们应该遵守社会的法律，我依然明白，我们确实应该以常人能够理解的方式来说话、做事。
以上是我目前在个人层次上的理解。如有不正确或不当之处，请同修慈悲指正。
谢谢慈悲的师尊！
谢谢同修！
注：
[1] 李洪志师父著作：《二零一六年纽约法会讲法》
[2] 李洪志师父著作：《各地讲法六》〈亚太地区学员会议讲法〉