(Clearwisdom.net) Since July 20, 1999, practitioners have voluntarily provided the money for truth clarifying materials. If practitioners do not give money voluntarily, they are not asked to do so. It all depends on everyone's enlightment. Sometimes I knew this was not right, but I did not understand it from the perspective of the Fa.
Six years have passed, and quite a number of practitioners continue to take copies of Teacher's lectures and articles without paying for the cost of the copy. It's become a habit for them. They never think where the money comes from to make these copies in this harsh environment. Even though some practitioners have brought up this issue, most practitioners act like they have never heard of it. They do not want to contribute money for Dafa material. Some ask for tapes and VCDs of Teacher's lectures. When they learn how much they cost, they do not want them any more. It has happened with both new and veteran practitioners.
I remember when I had just started to practice, before the persecution began, everyone paid one Jiao (1 Jiao = 0.012 USD) to cover the cost of a copy of each of Teacher's new articles. Everyone knows that practitioners pay for the copies, and they do not want others to pay for them. As practitioners, we all know that we should cultivate starting with being a good person. We start with the small things, because we all know the Fa principle: no loss no gain.
But why do we have this situation now? I have looked within and recalled my thoughts and actions in the past. I should not complain about others.
When the persecution started, it was very hard to get Teacher's new articles. In addition, many practitioners were afraid to take them. Some read the articles but did not dare to keep them, and there was no talk of passing them on to other practitioners. At that time, it was not so bad if they were taking the chance to read them, so I thought that money was not an issue as long as they wanted to continue to cultivate. The Fa-rectification process has now accelerated, and it has become very urgent to save sentient beings. We do not have much time to cultivate, so I felt that not paying was not a big deal. I did not look at this issue from the perspective of the Fa or use the Fa to measure my thoughts and actions, nor did I think about guiding new and veteran practitioners to look at this from the perspective of the Fa. So many practitioners just take Teacher's articles and have not thought that they should pay for them.
Recently I realized that, as a coordinator, my actions and words have the effect of guiding others. The responsibility of coordinators is huge. We, as coordinators, cannot do Dafa work using a human mindset and human sentimentality, otherwise we will mix human thinking into Dafa. We should measure our words and actions from the perspective of the Fa to truly "Understand the Fa from the Perspective of the Fa" and truly think about fellow practitioners.
"When every assistant spreads Falun Dafa, he must be responsible to himself, be responsible to the students, be responsible to society, and be responsible to Dafa." (Preface in Explaining the Content of Falun Dafa )
I have also enlightened that it is not only a matter of paying, but also a matter of personal cultivation. We are Dafa disciples in the Fa rectification period, and our cultivation path will be left for future practitioners, so this is an issue of whether we can leave a righteous cultivation path for future practitioners. It is very serious. Even though we may reach consummation tomorrow, today we still need to measure every thought and action from the perspective of the Fa and be truly responsible for the Fa.
Teacher said in "Non-Omission in Buddha-Nature" in Essentials for Further Advancement:
"You must be clear that the form of cultivation practice that I leave you can never be altered. Don't do anything that I do not do, and don't use anything that I do not use. In cultivation you should say things however I say them. Pay attention! Inadvertent alteration of the Buddha Fa is undermining it all the same!
"I also want to tell you that your nature in the past was actually based on egotism and selfishness. From now on, whatever you do, you should consider others first, so as to attain the righteous Enlightenment of selflessness and altruism. So from now on, whatever you do or whatever you say, you must consider others--or even future generations--along with Dafa's eternal stability. "
This problem exists in our area, and I am not sure whether it exists in other areas. I bring it up today in order to raise awareness among us. If there is anything inappropriate, please point it out with compassion.