The issue of how we, as Falun Dafa practitioners, deal with money is quite important, and as I noticed that some practitioners are taking it a bit lightly, I would like to share my understanding in order to point out some problems and to suggest how we could improve.
While there are exceptions, the issue of practitioners asking for money from other practitioners, or staying in fellow practitioners' homes for extended periods of time is something that needs to be addressed at this time. It also seems that this issue is much more prevalent among westerners, especially young college students, than among Chinese practitioners.
To begin, I would like to share two quotes from Master:
"While [Dafa disciples] clarify the facts, [some people] squander the money Dafa disciples have scrimped and saved for making materials. I have always taught you to think of others first in everything you do, but does that even cross your mind when you use Dafa disciples' money or possessions? The evil takes advantage of the slightest gap and glares menacingly at every single word and action of yours. Whatever you're attached to, that's what the evil beings will strengthen, and when your mind is off they will make you irrational. Everyone is putting out for Dafa, and yet some people shamelessly ask for compensation from other students. Are you cultivating? Who are you negotiating terms with? Why do you come across as nothing like a cultivator? And how are you going to establish a cultivator's mighty-virtue?" (From "Teaching the Fa at the 2004 Chicago Conference")
While the above Fa may be very clear to some practitioners, I can see that it is not for others. Some practitioners are doing pretty much the very things Master is telling us not to do. What is worse, they may encourage others to do the same in the name of the Fa, and this can have a negative influence, especially for new practitioners.
While clearly there are a lot of projects and things to do, with some practitioners having money, but not the time, and others having the time but not money, arrangements are sometimes being made to buy tickets, pay for housing, etc., for others to go to different places to clarify the truth. Several practitioners have offered to contribute to many projects, and this includes helping other practitioners who cannot afford trips. However I wonder if some have taken advantage of this and not really respected the efforts, selflessness and kindness of other practitioners so some practitioners think they don't need to work, that they can just travel around, asking fellow practitioners to pay for their meals, stay in practitioners' homes and ask them for travel money? Other practitioners with large families work very hard and have very little but have no second thoughts about giving everything they have to help the Fa-rectification. Have the practitioners who have taken from them carefully considered this?
I had the experience and heard from others who had similar experiences that helping practitioners by giving them money does not always have a good effect. If our behavior is not proper, the evil can take advantage of this, with the excuse of "no loss no gain. One solution might be for the practitioners who can go places to borrow the money and then pay back the practitioners who helped them -- even if it is only $50 or $100 per month. This would help close the loop, encourage the practitioners to get a job to pay their debts, and it would keep things balanced. It would also make them appreciate more the efforts and sacrifices made by others.
It is unfortunately too tempting to be controlled by money, or to feel special, and develop the thought, "Why should I work for $7 or $10 an hour when practitioners can pay for me to go all over the world and spread the Fa?" Or, "I am special, others are paying for me. I don't have to work, just clarify the truth and do Dafa things."
Everything is explained and every question is answered in Zhuan Falun.
"At the beginning, this person was very good. When she cured illnesses for other people, they would give her money or some gifts--all of which she might turn down or refuse to accept. Yet this person could not resist contamination from the big dye vat of everyday people. Because these reverse cultivation people had never gone through genuine xinxing cultivation, it was very difficult for them to conduct their xinxing well. Gradually, this person would accept small gifts. Later, she would also accept big gifts. In the end, she would even be offended when the gifts were few. Finally, she would say, 'Why do you give me so many things? Give me money!' She would not be pleased if given too little money. Getting an earful of other people's flattery about how capable she was, she would also not respect qigong masters from righteous schools. If someone said something bad about her, she would be upset. This person's attachments to fame and self-interest were all developed. She considered herself better than others and extraordinary." (Zhuan Falun, Lecture 3)
For practitioners who are helping others with money, while they may have big hearts and are only thinking of helping others, they also need to consider if they really are being responsible to those practitioners and to the Fa, or if they may be creating difficulties for their fellow practitioners. I know of several cases in which practitioners have been negatively affected, and different attachments were formed after they received money in this way. Just like in the example given in Zhuan Falun, in the beginning they may not accept it, but later may start asking for it.
Others are asking aggressively for money, and if one practitioner doesn't give it to them, they ask someone else. They have the mentality that it is good for practitioners to help them, so they pursue it, and they feel they deserve to have others support them. Others live in practitioners' homes for long periods of time, without really putting forth a strong effort to be independent. They just move around from one place to another like this.
We need to look at these issues seriously and be responsible to ourselves and to the Fa. We are also setting a model for the future mankind, of how they will cultivate, so we need to establish the right path.
Let's all look inside even if the situation seems to remotely apply to us.