(Clearwisdom.net) I have a pretty good career with an enviable income that a lot of people seem to admire. But only a few fellow practitioners know the reason why.
A few years back, when my career was just starting, life was hard because I made very little money. At that time, we had difficulty making truth clarification materials in our area. There were not many material production sites, and demand was greater than the supply. In order to reduce the pressure on other practitioners and to respond to the call by the Minghui(Chinese version of Clearwisdom) website for having "materials sites blossoming everywhere," I used part of my meager savings to buy some printing equipment.
Sacrificing oneself with only the thought of saving sentient beings in mind, is there anything that could not be changed? Some people have said that I am predestined to be wealthy because I have more virtue, but this is not the essential reason. Before becoming a Dafa practitioner, I was homeless and lived hand-to-mouth. What I have now has all been bestowed on me by Teacher and Dafa. The money spent for saving sentient beings is replenished. It is just like practicing Falun Gong. What is lost is all regained..
Dafa practitioners should not live in poverty. Being poor is either persecution by the old forces or practitioners not doing well in cultivation. Some practitioners often talk about how much money they owe others, and some of them are attached to making money. They think that the more money they have the better. This strong attachment is as hard as granite. They are unable to step out of their human notions and are unable to selflessly save sentient beings. So who's going to change their living conditions?
A Dafa disciple has the sacred mission of saving sentient beings in the human world. If he or she is in a difficult financial condition, how could this mission be carried out? Isn't this interference and persecution?
As I recall, there was an article in "Minghui Weekly" about two practitioners that set up a material production site when both of them were in dire financial straits. They printed Falun Dafa informational materials with money they had scrimped and saved from their meager living expenses. Other practitioners wanted to contribute money, but they refused to accept it. Why didn't they take it? The help that the other practitioners were offering was also to save sentient beings and validate Dafa. Practitioners at the materials site, how could you refuse their compassionate assistance? Are we validating Dafa? Or are we validating ourselves? After refusing their assistance, isn't the "difficult situation" self-made?
When setting up a material production site, the finances have to be well managed. We definitely can't ask fellow practitioners for money, but refusing contributions is not the same thing. It is reasonable to assume that we can do the bookkeeping well, manage the money well, and make good use of the money. If you don't take anyone's money and the machine breaks down, you'd have no resources for repairs or replacement. That would be a waste of time and would jeopardize the process of saving sentient beings. Everything should be measured with Dafa principles for the purpose of better saving sentient beings. Doing it this way, even the most difficult problems will be solved naturally.
We shouldn't focus so much on how others view us, nor should we let their words interfere. Walk well the path for validating Dafa with righteous thoughts.
October 23, 2008