(Clearwisdom.net) Practitioners in mainland China are suffering persecution. Due to the pressure on us, we often have great difficulty in our cultivation. This is a bad thing. However, if we look at it reversely, it gives us an environment where we can truly cultivate ourselves. Whether a person is diligent or not will be exposed thoroughly under such an environment.
Dafa practitioners who are diligent will know that they have passed a remarkable period for their personal improvement. They know that history has given Dafa practitioners responsibilities not only for their own eternally personal and pure consummation, but also for them to save more sentient beings. Therefore, they wholeheartedly dive into "doing the three things well" --- Fa study, sending forth righteous thoughts, and clarifying the truth. They save money from their daily life and help to set up material centers. Some even set up family size material centers. In Baokang county, there is a senior citizen practitioner who is over seventy years old. She does not have any income. She eats potatoes almost every day. She saves the money her daughter gives her little by little, and then gives the money to fellow practitioners who prepare materials. A three year old young practitioner whose name is Yuanyuan saved the allowance given to him by his relatives and gave the money to other practitioners, saying he wanted them to use the money to save more people.
However, some fellow practitioners are still maintaining the stage of personal cultivation. They only study the Fa and do the exercises. They may also read articles on the Clearwisdom website, but they view themselves as onlookers. They do not compare what they do with the Fa. They are afraid of their own benefit being hurt. They are afraid of this and that. These kind of people are only interested in Teacher's Fa lectures and are not interested in other truth-clarification material. They do not support Dafa financially.
My understanding is that we are cultivating during the Fa rectification period. We should have gotten rid of fame, interest, and passion during the personal cultivation period before the persecution of Dafa on July 20, 1999. Practitioners who work on preparing truth-clarification materials have stepped out from the persecution and participated in safeguarding Dafa. They have suffered direct persecution. Later on, they saved their money in un-wealthy conditions and donated their money to set up material centers. They take money and wealth lightly. On the contrary, some fellow practitioners are much more financially wealthy and they receive free truth telling materials on a regular basis. They use the excuse that Teacher does not want Dafa practitioners do fund-raising and thus they feel perfectly at ease.
I remember before the persecution, as Teacher's new articles were published, we all made copies for our own use. It cost sixty to seventy cents a page to make those copies. It would cost more than ten dollars to print a whole book. At that time, we paid from our own pocket. However, during the seven years after the persecution, many new articles have been published, in only Fa lectures we have over thirty standalone books. If we say that there is no relationship between themselves and distributing truth telling materials, then they should at least pay for those Fa lecture books.
My understanding of fund-raising and donations is that they are two different things. The Teacher does not allow Dafa practitioners do fund-raising among Dafa practitioners. Dafa practitioners in China have strictly followed Teacher's words. When material centers were in a difficult situation, they did not ask for a penny from Dafa practitioners. However, the blanket of truth telling materials did not come down from the sky. They are all from their own donations. That is their great kindness in safeguarding Dafa and saving sentient beings based on their light view of money and personal gains.
Of course I am not trying to persuade fellow practitioners to donate money to the material centers. Compelled behavior is not cultivation. Dafa material centers have passed the most difficult stages. The purpose of raising this question under today's comparably improved environment is to remind some fellow practitioners that they should cultivate their attachment to personal gains before the end of Fa rectification. In the meantime, they will also build up their own mighty virtue during the very difficult Fa rectification period.
Don't we want to get rid of all attachments? During the most severe time of the persecution, countless Dafa practitioners let go of their own personal fame, life and death. They stepped out to validate Dafa and safeguard Dafa. They grasped the time and tried to clarify the truth to save more sentient beings. Some of them lost their jobs. Some even lost their lives. Some fellow practitioners are still illegally detained in prisons, forced labor camps and brainwashing centers. Some of them were forced to leave home. Some practitioners were persecuted to live in poverty with broken families. However, with hearts as solid as rock, those practitioners' firm belief in Dafa terrified the evil forces. They left real manifestations and marvelous records for all Dafa practitioners, helping Teacher to validate Dafa and save sentient beings.
September 3, 2006
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