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Discussing Money with Mainland Chinese Practitioners (Clearwisdom.net) One of the Falun Dafa cultivation principles is that one
should refrain from pursuing money and material things. This means that not only
can one let go of personal attachments and pursuit for having money and material
things, but is also related to the manner in which Dafa is introduced to the
public and how responsible practitioners must be during the period of the Fa
Rectification. Teacher discussed this matter many times from different angles,
and put special emphasis on how the local volunteer assistant centers should be
managed in relation to Dafa conferences, and projects that clarify the truth to
the public. In order to help us walk our path well without blemishing it during
the Fa-rectification period, master also discussed the issue of managing money
between fellow practitioners. After July 20, 1999, the beginning of the persecution of Dafa practitioners,
a number of difficulties related to money began to emerge, such as accumulating
money that may reflect negatively on Dafa. Secret agents who mingled with
practitioners when practitioners needed money to make Dafa materials used this
occasion to gather information for the Chinese government. Many practitioners
became so used to receiving monetary aid from others when producing
truth-clarifying materials that they developed the idea that "making these
materials was all that they were required to do in order to validate Dafa" and
that it was acceptable to receive assistance from others. For example, one practitioner who was in charge of making truth-clarifying
materials experienced some difficulties with his family members (all were Dafa
practitioners) due to his inappropriate way of handling the relationship between
doing Dafa work, holding a job and family responsibilities. He refused to accept
advice from his family. Not looking inward, he wrongly assumed every suggestion
they made was external interference. His financial situation became rather difficult because of his inability to
deal with work related issues after him being persecuted. He was unable to
handle the relationship between Fa-rectification and work properly. Even after
he got a job, he couldn't be effective in his work and thus failed to earn an
income. When his wife (also a Dafa practitioner) tried to persuade him to do a
more effective job, he used Teacher's Fa lectures in his arguments with her
about not being attached to money. He accused her of being overly attached to
money, and that she did not see the Fa-rectification as the priority in her
life. (He mistakenly assumed that making truth-clarifying material was all he
needed to do to validate the Fa.) His wife tried to discuss this matter with him
many times. However, given his strong attachment to his viewpoint, he was unable
to communicate with her. Their difficulties grew more severe. Knowing that he had financial difficulties and that his wife was very
troubled about their finances, practitioners often provided him with financial
help. In reality, his wife's salary was quite good. But when practitioners gave
him money, he didn't tell them the truth of his situation and accepted money
from them, because he didn't want to take money from his wife due to his ongoing
conflict with her. Below is Teacher's response to a question in his "Lecture at US East Coast Fa
Conference": "Question: If a person accepts well-intentioned gifts from fellow
practitioners over a long period of time, is the person losing his virtue
(de) indefinitely? Teacher: I'll give you an example. A student's family all of sudden gets
into financial difficulties. For a cultivator, this hardship may exist
because he owed this debt from the past. During the karma elimination
process, he must bear this kind of thing. But it shouldn't last very long.
I'm saying that this may be what the situation is. Therefore, some students
feel that he's having such a hard time and that we need to help him out. How
should we help? Everyone contributes money, gives money to him, and provides
for his family. Well, this person thus stops working. In addition to
studying the Fa, he stays at home and lives on their money. A little later,
he stops studying the Fa: "Go ahead and bring the money over. I'll just keep
living like this." Think about it, everyone. You do of course have
compassion, but you can't treat these matters this way. Everyone has his own
tribulations. You can assist him out of compassion by helping him find a job
or by temporarily attending to some emergencies. But you absolutely should
not do so over a long period of time. You would disrupt the path I arrange
for him. It would become impossible for him to practice cultivation. In the
end, he would stop his cultivation practice. He would stop looking for a
job, and he wouldn't want to solve the problem as long as he had money to
spend: "Everything will be ok as long as you bring me money every month."
Then, I say, what are these students doing? "Gift giving? What's gift giving? Say someone gives you something. Why
should someone you don't know you give you things? Oh, you know them since
you're all students. Can expensive things be casually given among students?
Why? You should have a reason! If they aren't expensive things, why are you
being supplied with them continuously over a long period of time? Why? Why
do you accept them? Is it because you can't abandon your attachment to
greed? Are there other reasons? Why don't you try to find them? This is
unacceptable. This Dafa of ours doesn't involve money or possessions. No
money or possessions are involved. You have come to practice cultivation.
All of you sitting here, I won't ask you to pay a cent. Why should other
people give you things, but you yourself just can't let it go? I want to
raise a particular subject. All those who work for Dafa, and all those who
work for Master: Regardless of the reason, you absolutely cannot accept
anything from students. Things that are to be transferred to Master must be
given to Master to handle. Do not take the liberty of handling these things
on your own, keep them for yourselves, withhold them, or open letters or
other things for Master in private." The path of cultivation is a solemn one, especially in the last stage of Fa-rectification.
To understand clearly from the Fa and purify our humanness from our thoughts, we
should clearly recognize what meets the standard of the Fa and what does not. We
shouldn't use Dafa work and the obstacles we encounter because of xinxing
problems, and thus bring harm to Dafa unwittingly. Furthermore, we should not
think that since all-important matters are being handled satisfactorily the
small things carry no importance. Cultivation is a process of letting go of
attachments. The Fa-rectification cultivation is to rectify everything in the
old universe, which includes our every impure thought. Any un-righteous thought
will, if not relinquished, cause one's effort to be for naught. When a practitioner gives money to other practitioners, he or she should do
so according to the Fa. Should we automatically give our generous help to a
practitioner who spends too much time on Dafa work and thus causes himself or
herself financial hardship, without first considering whether the actions of
this person are within the teaching of the Fa? Do we use this severe persecution
as an excuse to relax our cultivation? Is it because we trust this particular
practitioner so much that we can overlook his attachment and thus hurt the Fa?
Is it because this practitioner had faced the evil and overcame this obstacle
that he has earned credit that allows him to do things not based on the Fa? So
what becomes of the practitioner who donated the money? Is he or she helping
other practitioners or is he or she promoting the attachments of others? When he
or she gave money to others, did he or she consider whether his or her actions
were based on the Fa? Did he or she consider the manner of spreading Dafa? If we
behave this way, will others in the future follow our behavior? Isn't this a
serious problem? Every practitioner should think this over very carefully. During the Fa-rectification period and under the severe persecution in
Mainland China, how do we correctly deal with the problem of finding a job?
There is an article published on the Minghui website on December 3, "We Need to
Change Our Notions When Looking for a Job" (English version:
http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2003/12/15/43158.html), which
validates Dafa from practical experiences and would be very helpful for
practitioners under this severe environment. Many practitioners thought that during the final stage of Fa-rectification,
the most important thing to do was to clarify the truth of the persecution for
the public. So they hoped to find work that would not be too time-consuming, but
instead would pay enough to provide for a living that will allow ample time to
devote more time to truth clarification projects. They had very strong
attachments to this issue. Although their thoughts were noble because they
wanted to rectify things and save sentient beings, they did not fully understand
the inner meaning of Fa-rectification. It seems to them that Fa-rectification
means to do more Dafa work. My own understanding is that the real meaning of Fa-rectification
is to make life righteous, to make the old universal law righteous. Its
manifestation in this world is for practitioners to study the Fa, cultivate our
minds, send righteous thoughts, and clarify the truth. While we right ourselves
in our own working environment, we also clarify the truth about the persecution,
uncover evil, and bring our surroundings closer towards the righteous, which is
helpful for laying the foundation for Fa-rectification. Undertaking truth
clarification projects is a means for us to clarify the truth to people--what
really makes this work is the Fa, because when our moral character is elevated
and when we unify with the Fa, the great Fa will again manifest in this human
society through our cultivation. If images of Dafa practitioners appear in every human living environment,
then how effective will clarifying the truth be? Actually, whether we are
creating Dafa materials, interrupting a defamatory propaganda against on that is
broadcast on TV, or suing Jiang globally, our pure mind and compassion expressed
through our truth clarification projects and activities for Dafa will actually
negate the evil character of the persecution, and let people know the facts and
be saved. This is the manifestation of the Fa in human society. Actually, normal
work will not interfere with our truth clarification projects for Dafa. When dealing with every aspect of society, all situations become more mature
and benign, Projects for Dafa will be done better and more efficiently. In answering a question dealing with the issue of work, Teacher gave some
guidelines in, "Lecture at the Australia Fa Conference": "Student: As a university student who practices cultivation, how can I
keep making progress with diligence? Some disciples have suggested that not
going to college and joining the workforce may result in a better
environment for cultivation. Teacher: I'd say that this would be a horrendous mistake. I understand
that some people will become overly excited when they see the truth,
especially when I teach the Dafa today and have taught so many heavenly
secrets. Upon obtaining the Fa one will become excited and it's easy not to
balance well the relationship between cultivators and everyday people. To
cultivate while conforming to everyday people's society to the maximum
extent is not just a simple sentence, this is the Fa! It's interconnected
from every angle and perspective. I know that there will be more people
studying Dafa all over the world in the future, billions of people studying.
When I first taught this Fa, I already knew what the result would be. With
that many people all coming to study, if no one works or goes to school, can
this be allowed? So, I thought about that stage before I began teaching this
Fa. The question of how to allow people to cultivate in everyday people's
society is of great relevance. So, neither your work, nor your business,
your school studies, or any other aspect of your life will interfere with
your cultivation. You need to go about your work and studies as usual. Your
work and your studies are absolutely not cultivation, but as a person who
practices cultivation, your improved xinxing will manifest itself in
your work and studies. This is the relationship. So, wherever Dafa students
are, people will all say that, as a person, you're just so wonderful. This
is the state that's a reflection of your cultivating while conforming to
everyday people's society to the maximum extent. If you can't achieve this,
it means that you're not acting according to my words, to Master's
requirements. If you don't even listen to what I say, then why do you still
call me Master? I wouldn't teach you to walk down a path that's not good.
Since I've taught this Fa, I must be responsible to it. In fact, I treasure
you more than you treasure yourselves, because you exist together with
Master. You're the most magnificent Gods of the future, the exemplary models
of the new cosmos, and mankind's hope for the future. By all means, don't,
once you study the Fa, stop doing everyday people's things. As for things
that Dafa doesn't allow, if you don't do them, it shows that your
enlightenment quality is good. If you don't do an everyday person's normal
job, then there's a problem that's produced by the attachment of zealotry." Dafa cultivation is not about dealing with money and material things. To a
great extent, it cultivates our self in human society. During Fa-rectification
period, we do our best to clarify the truth; no one shall use the names of
Teacher, Dafa or Dafa workers to collect money. Otherwise, they will be
violating the principle of Dafa cultivation, discredit Dafa, and allow depraved
people to exploit others. Every one has their own cultivation path and mentality to cultivate. Each
person has his or her own predestined relationships and karma, so each person's
tribulations will be different. Perhaps we all have different things to
cultivate before reaching the final step, which explains why we will encounter
different environments. But we can truly cleanse ourselves, pay our karma based
on the Fa and to validate Dafa, melt in Fa and achieve righteous thought and
righteous behavior. Let
me end my discussion with Teacher's article, "Non-Omission in Buddha-Nature": "You must be clear that the form of cultivation practice that I leave you
can never be altered. Don't do anything that I do not do, and don't use
anything that I do not use. In cultivation you should say things however I
say them. Pay attention! Inadvertent alteration of the Buddha Fa is
undermining it all the same! I also want to tell you that your nature in the past was actually based
on egotism and selfishness. From now on, whatever you do, you should
consider others first, so as to attain the righteous Enlightenment of
selflessness and altruism. So from now on, whatever you do or whatever you
say, you must consider others--or even future generations--along with Dafa's
eternal stability." The above is my personal understanding. Please kindly advise if you find
anything improper. Posting date: 12/31/2003
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