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Where Our Funds Come From By a Falun Dafa practitioner in Beijing
(Clearwisdom.net) Various Chinese Communist Party (CCP) propaganda
publications vehemently defame Falun Dafa, doing everything in the Party's power
to demonize the peaceful practice and divert public attention from the horrors
of the persecution and other evils done by the Party. In such propaganda, the following lie is often repeated: "The materials
made by Falun Gong practitioners to clarify the facts about the
persecution are are all funded by anti-China forces from outside China."
This is an utter fabrication. For eight years, particularly in recent years, the money that I have handled
amounts to more than 100,000 yuan. Not one cent has been provided by any kind of
"force" or "organization," it has all come from the savings
of Falun Gong practitioners. For example, in order to purchase printing
equipment and warm winter clothes for fellow practitioners who had become
homeless to avoid further persecution, one practitioner provided 50,000 yuan on
two separate occasions. Another who works as a pharmacy director at a major hospital paid 10,000 yuan
of her savings to obtain the freedom of a practitioner who was kidnapped by
authorities. [Editor's note: One should resist extortion.] She
contributed a further 20,000 yuan towards making Falun Gong materials. Among the
practitioners I have come to know, there is not one who hasn't offered cash to
print more materials to clarify the truth. All contribute according to their
means, be they great or modest. All give from their hearts to do what they feel
is right. The most unforgettable experience for me was with a practitioner in her 60s.
Her husband has passed away, and she receives a monthly pension of only five or
six hundred yuan. Living expenses are high in Beijing and she still has an
unmarried son, yet she once contributed five hundred yuan for materials,
nevertheless. We returned the money to her three or four times, and repeatedly
told her the material site was not short of money, and we would not accept her
money because many of us were financially better off than her. To this she
replied, "This is my heart to save sentient beings. You must accept it even
if you don't want to." We were so touched by her sincerity that we had no
choice but to accept the money. One night, I happened to see her looking through
rubbish dumps for plastic bottles and cardboard, and realized she was trying to
make some money by collecting recyclables. I watched her and could not hold back
my tears. This sight is forever imprinted in my heart. As I persistently refused
any further financial offerings from her, she never donated money through me
again. However, according to another practitioner, she has made more donations
through other people. There is another practitioner who had been illegally sentenced to forced
labor for more than two years. During that time, she was beaten until she lost
her consciousness on numerous occasions, and became emaciated. After she was
released, in order to save money, she lived a frugal life, hesitant to eat or
drink well, and would not even buy eggs. She had worn a pair of pants for more
than ten years until they became stiff, and still would not buy a new pair. The
money she thus saved was offered to print materials. A fellow practitioner
visited her, taking some eggs and nutritious food. She told her, "If you
continue to live such a frugal life, and lose more weight, you will affect the
image of Falun Gong practitioners." Only then did she agree to eat better
in future. I knew of another practitioner who had a very small pension. Her husband
controlled the money in her family. However, every time her husband gave her
money for groceries, she would spare one or two yuan, and after a period of time
she would offer the amount saved to make more truth clarification materials. Others purchased large quantities of stamps to mail materials to individuals
and workplaces. They offered salvation to a wide range of sentient beings, and
fully demonstrated the power of Falun Gong practitioners as one body. Many practitioners would not even buy bottled water, and often carried plain
boiled water when they went out. They feel the money for one bottle of water can
be used to make a number of copies of material. Falun Gong practitioners have
such pure and compassionate hearts. Each would try their very best to save
money, and put their individual sums together. With sincere respect for Master
and the Fa, and great compassion to save sentient beings, they have built a
priceless and everlasting gold mountain, to ensure that materials that clarify
the facts can continue to be spread to cities and villages, to the hearts of
sentient beings who yearn to be saved.
Posting date: 2/22/2008 |