Recognizing the Gap Between Myself and Fellow Practitioners From Their Attitude Toward Money

Written by a Dafa practitioner from China

(Clearwisdom.net)

I know a fellow practitioner who walks very steadily on her path of cultivation. She is very strict with herself and also does the three things well that Teacher requires of us. After July 20, 1999, in order to save money to clarify the truth and save sentient beings, she dines with her husband and daughter only when they are at home. Her family lives in a rented house while saving for enough money to buy one. Her husband works for others and her daughter goes to high school, so both leave early and get home late. When her husband and daughter come back, she says, "Please, have dinner together, I have already eaten."

She seldom eats grain. Every day she buys 6 bags of big radishes (2 yuan per bag) and lives on these radishes with a little salt. In this way, she walks a very long way to clarify the truth every day. Whenever she is hungry, she eats boiled big radishes, which do not really satisfy her hunger so she sometimes has to eat a few times a day. Under these conditions, she saved over over 10,000 "yuan" for validating Dafa. All that she earned by caring for others' children was devoted to Fa-validation.

Some fellow practitioners do not understand why she does this, but she just smiles at whatever others say. Although she is busy looking after children, she drops none of the three things Teacher requires. When the children are sleeping, she studies the Fa and does the Falun Dafa exercises. Normally, she can always find time to clarify the truth. Even on New Year's eve, when others are watching TV and making dumplings at home she still goes out to distribute truth clarification materials for over two hours.

She leads a very simple life. She never wastes food, clothing or other things used in everyday life, nor throws away anything improperly. She has not bought clothes for several years. Once, she came to my home dressed in clothes that I gave to another practitioner, who passed them on to her. At that time, I had very poor enlightenment. I said, "Those are clothes that I abandoned a long time ago." At these words, she again smiled. When I recall this incident now, I feel very ashamed. Although her wages are higher than mine, she has never spent even one cent extravagantly. Instead, she has spent all her savings in clarifying the truth and saving sentient beings--whereas I splurge whenever I see my favorite clothes and reward myself with a big meal that costs a lot when I am tired.

I also found that some fellow practitioners who have better economic conditions do not do very well in this aspect. They only consider how they themselves can live a comfortable life, and are reluctant to sacrifice for Dafa. Some even save money to leave to their sons and grandsons.

I'm writing this article only for one purpose. In aiming for maturity in cultivation and overall improvement, we should genuinely do well the three things Teacher requires of us. Meanwhile we cannot forget to get rid of our own attachments in various aspects. Every one of us should assuredly know in our heart that this fellow practitioner absolutely would not have done all these things had it not been for Teacher's compassionate salvation and her firm foundation in personal cultivation. So when we see or hear something, we all should examine ourselves in this aspect so that we will do better from now on. We should never forget to look inward ourselves every moment according to the standard of Dafa and view our fellow practitioners around us as a reflection; in this way we will become purer and assist Teacher better in Fa-rectification as a whole body, not disappoint the sentient beings and complete our own historic mission.

Above is my limited understanding. Please kindly point out anything inappropriate.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2006/9/30/138899.html

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