We Cannot Spend Fellow Practitioners' Money

By a Falun Dafa practitioner in China

(Clearwisdom.net) After I was released from a forced labor camp, I found out that my wife, who is also a Falun Dafa practitioner, had left home and gone into hiding to avoid being taken to a brainwashing center. To reduce the financial stress for our children, I immediately started looking for a job, although I had not recovered from the torture at the forced labor camp yet. But the police kept disturbing and harassing me. They frequently went to my work place, and the homes of my children and my relatives. Later I discovered the whereabouts of my wife and joined her in hiding.

We were financially crippled and had to live on our only income, my wife's monthly pension - four hundred yuan. When fellow practitioners heard of our situation, they donated money and sent between a few hundred to a thousand yuan to us. During our three years in hiding, we received more than five thousand yuan from fellow practitioners, but we have not spent even one penny on ourselves. Then why did we accept the money in the first place? Because some practitioners were very insistent when giving us the money. We did not want to have a fight with them on the street, so we just took it and kept it. The continuous persecution over the past several years had caused some material centers financial stress. Practitioners cut their living expenses to donate money to the material centers. Therefore, we do not feel that we have any right to take practitioners' money. This money can only be used for saving sentient beings. So we accepted the money as contributions and we only acted as middlemen while keeping it.

We live on our limited pension. Every month, we took two hundred yuan from our pension and used it for Dafa: for example, mailing truth-clarification letters, buying double sided tape, self-adhesive envelops and to pay for commuting expenses. As long as it is not raining, I ride my bike out to clarify the truth to people. I take the truth clarification materials and posters with me. I send forth righteous thoughts before leaving home. My wife keeps sending forth righteous thoughts when I am out. On my way home, I pick up vegetables that are thrown away by the farmers and sell them. Besides not looking good, these vegetables are just fine and even fresh. So not only did I clarify the truth, but I also solved the food problem. I also pick up water bottles. Selling ten bottles can give me enough money to mail out a truth-clarification letter. At the end of the year, we picked up many fish intestines from the fish market. We cooked them to get oil. This way we had enough oil for seven to eight months. We thus use the money we saved to save people. Before the Chinese New Year, every family prepares meat dishes for the celebration. I picked up several dozen fish heads that were thrown away and fried them for our New Year's meal.

Two years ago, I was offered a job caring for a senior and a small child for a rich businessman in another city. The pay was fifteen hundred yuan a month. It was quite a lot for someone with no income like me. However, we were not moved. We came to the human world to assist Teacher to rectify the Fa and we are to reach consummation and return with Teacher. We should not waste our time to earn things that we don't need. It would be difficult for us to get truth-clarification materials and even Teacher's new article if we had moved to the other city. So I did not take the job. At that time, we were quite effective in truth-clarification. As long as we wanted to do it, no matter how many truth-clarification materials we received, we were always able to disseminate all of them. We realized that this was the environment that Teacher developed for us. Of course I am not saying that we should not work at all. "The paths of cultivation are varied" ("Unimpeded" from Hong Yin II). At our age, we just do what we can do.

In 2005, I was warned by someone who had inside information that the police were looking for me. My wife and I packed Dafa materials while sending forth righteous thoughts. Then we left immediately without taking our clothes and daily necessities, and escaped.

At the new place, fellow practitioners gave us enormous and thoughtful help. They brought us clothes and daily necessities. For new clothes and food, we estimated the market prices and recorded them. Then we spent the same amount of money on doing the three things.

I have been many places. Some material centers are struggling to have a continuous operation. Each one has its own situation. Some practitioners are very conscious about saving and not wasting, but others do not pay enough attention to saving, especially paper. I am not trying to praise or criticize anyone. I think that when we are really thinking about sentient beings, doing the three things well, then we can do what is necessary for the material centers. If someone does not cherish the money contributed by practitioners, but spends the money lavishly or even for himself, that is not right. Even spending a penny for himself is not right. That is greed, the characteristic of the old universe - selfishness, a form of evil. It's something that we must get rid of.

The above is my shallow understanding. I welcome practitioners to point out anything inappropriate.

March 19, 2007

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2007/3/20/151133.html

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