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From 50 Cents to 5000 Yuan By a Dafa practitioner in Hebei Province, China
(Clearwisdom.net) In today's society people view monetary items as extremely important. How
much money one possesses seemingly decides his social status. But for cultivators of Dafa, the
attachments to money and personal gain are things we are getting rid of. Since 1997 when I started
to cultivate Dafa, Master has been continuously guiding me to elevate myself. The following are some
of my experiences that I would like to discuss and exchange with fellow Dafa practitioners. 1. Not taking advantage of unfair situations One time when I went shopping, the cashier gave me change with 50 cents extra; I did not take it
seriously at the time and left the store riding my bike. I fell on my way and I suddenly realized
that Master was telling me something. I went back to the store and returned the extra money. Later I
was twice given extra change, and I returned it. 2. Not to picking up anything left by others that does not belong to me One night on my way back home after watching a Dafa video tape at a Dafa assistance center, I saw
a big electric hand drill left on the road. It was quiet and nobody was around. I realized right
away that this was a test, because my husband was an electrician and he needed a power hand drill at
that time. I walked away without a second thought. 3. Dropped in a dye vat I helped a construction team get a building project. They made some money and wanted to share it
with me. I politely refused. They then gave me the ceramic tiles left over from the building
project. The ceramic tiles were worth 1000 Yuan. At that time my family was building a house and
were in need of ceramic tiles, so I accepted the offer. When I was riding my bike home on the day I
had the ceramic tiles delivered to my home, at a road crossing, vehicles continuously drove by one
after another and stopped me from crossing. I came to realize that I was wrong. I remembered that
Master said in "Environment"
(Essentials for Further Advancement), "Every attachment for you to remove in your cultivation practice is a wall, standing there
and blocking your path of cultivation practice. " 4. Taking pleasure in helping others Once I went to visit a friend. It happened that their child had been involved in an automobile
accident. They were very anxious about it and were in need of money. I did my best and offered some
money in my capability to help them. Another time I visited my relatives; they were in need of money
for building their house and were worried about where to borrow the money. I then offered my help
and loaned the money to them. I thought that it was not a coincidence that I ran into these
situations. It was to see if I could maintain my benevolent mind and to see if I could let go of the
attachment to money. 5. Letting go completely at ease My family built a new house and we paid for it right away. But a year later, a few bricklayers
suddenly showed up and said that we owed them 1300 Yuan for the building work. I made phone calls
and found out that the bricklayers had wasted time during the building work and their boss had
withheld part of their pay. According to the law of society, I did not have to pay them anything.
But I am a Dafa practitioner and I should think according to the principles of Dafa. On one hand
they were making their living with hard work, with mud all over their faces and dripping sweat; on
the other hand it could be that Master was balancing the debt I owed at different levels. I then
paid them 1300 Yuan without a second thought. I also used the opportunity to introduce Dafa to them.
They were so happy that they did not know what to say. The second day their boss called me and said,
"You are really a good person! Let me buy you a meal in a restaurant!" I said, "You
don't need to do that, let me buy you a meal. Please remember that Falun Dafa is good!" He kept
saying, "Good! Good! It is good! I also want to practice Falun Gong." I came to understand
that I had done the right thing this time and it was like I had also gotten rid of a layer of
ordinary human attachments. It was just like Master mentioned in "Non-Omission" (Essentials
for Further Advancement): "The Fa has different requirements for cultivators at different levels. Sacrifice is
evidenced by one's being detached from ordinary human attachments. If a person can indeed calmly
abandon everything with his heart being unaffected, he is actually at that level already." 6. Only look at the heart My daughter came back home to live with me for about half a year. She asked me to take care of
her money. She would take some money when she needed it. Half a year later when she was leaving, she
told me that her money was 5000 Yuan short. I thought then that this was not a coincidence; probably
I owed her in previous lives. I then gave her the money. But in my mind I couldn't let it go. I
thought that I raised her, and she did not give me any money, but instead, she made off with a
year's worth of my retirement money. It took me about half a year before I could let the thought go.
Master said in "Non-Omission"
(Essentials for Further Advancement): "There is sacrifice in forbearance. Being able to make sacrifices is the result of improving
in one's cultivation." After I let go of my thoughts, my son-in-law came to visit us during the Spring Festival; he gave
me 6600 Yuan and said it was a present for the parents-in-law. I then came to realize that this was
another test Master had arranged. It was not to have me to lose any money, it was to look at my
heart. The above mentioned experiences made me understand a truth Master taught us in Zhuan Falun, "... the entire cultivation process for a practitioner is one of constantly giving up human
attachments." Master arranges us to live among everyday people, not for us to live as everyday people, but for
us to get rid of the human attachments while living in the society. We should, in the only chance in
over tens of thousands of years, direct all of our thoughts and conduct according to the Fa at every
moment. Let us not disappoint Master's expectations! Please benevolently point out any mistakes. Posting date: 4/13/2003 |