(Minghui.org) I read an article on Minghui recently about taking good care of Falun Dafa books. I agree with the points brought up by the author because I have observed similar situations. Dafa is sacred and we have all benefited so much from it. If we have these kind of loopholes, the old forces may take advantage of them and cause serious problems.
I would like to discuss a situation related to this, and that is, we cannot give someone Dafa books to store for us and then abandon the books without further thought.
My Mother
Earlier this year, my mother, who is also a practitioner, moved to another house. While helping her organize her things, I saw a large number of Falun Dafa books and printed materials from Minghui. Most of them belonged to other practitioners who had asked her keep the items at her place for a short time. But a long time passed and they did not come back for them, so my mother does not even remember who they belong to.
Seeing that some of the books were dusty and had moisture damage and some had even turned yellow, the other practitioner who was helping us became very upset: “How could they [other practitioners] do this? As practitioners, we should at least respect the Fa and Dafa books.” She said to my mother, “In the future, tell them to keep their own books; otherwise, if they are not properly cared for, you are also at fault.”
Looking through the books, I saw that many of them were printed years ago. I thought that these practitioners must have bought newer versions and given the old ones to my mother. They may have said or thought about having my mother store the books just temporarily, but what happened to the books is far from ideal.
Reasons for Storing Books in Other People's Homes
Some practitioners have said, “Your place is big. Can I keep these Dafa books here for a while?” There could many reasons to say that. These practitioners really could have limited space at home, or they could be fearful of keeping a lot of Dafa books. But whatever the case, we cannot leave these books somewhere without further thought. Suppose we left money or valuable items at a someone else's home. Would we follow up or just forget about them? Dafa books are more precious to us than money, so why have they been treated so disrespectfully?
It is true that my mother is partially responsible for the damage to the books that other practitioners left at her home. Just as are the practitioners who left the books with her. If your home has limited space, why not consider reorganizing your things and removing nonessential items? If we give books to another practitioner to store because of fear, how long should we wait for this fear to fade away?
Because of the persecution, some practitioners have sent Dafa books to relatives or friends in the countryside. The places these non-practitioners have to store the books, such as barns, could be damp and infested with vermin. We know Dafa books are very important to us. How could we do something like that?
Assuming that our relatives or friends will take good care of the books like we do or that maybe they will take even better care of them than we would is simply self-deception.
Respecting the Fa and Following the Fa
Many practitioners in China want to see Master at Fa conferences like the practitioners outside of China have a chance to do. We all know we should respect Teacher and the Fa. If Master was coming to visit us, each of us would clean our home and get prepared. Shouldn't we have a similar attitude toward Dafa books? In addition, Master's Fashen is with us all the time. And each word in the Dafa books could be Master's Fashen. Shouldn't we be serious about this issue and have a pure mind?
In Journey to the West, it took a tremendous amount of effort to obtain the Buddhist scriptures, but the Dafa books we have today are far more valuable. Many practitioners have suffered a great deal or even lost their lives to safeguard the Fa. Considering what we have all been through, shouldn't we have a better attitude toward Dafa books?
The above are my personal opinions. I hope we can all do better in regard to this issue.
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Category: Improving Oneself
