(Minghui.org) Master Li Hongzhi said,
“You have gone against the strong tides of this world. But things aren’t simply what they seem, if you think about it. The entire cosmos is facing elimination, and everything has deteriorated. And yet you have managed to go against such tides! Anyone in this world who is able to have positive, virtuous thoughts is remarkable. Wouldn’t you agree? The merit of someone’s positive, virtuous thoughts is relative to the kind of social environment he is in and its moral baseline. In times past it wasn’t that significant if someone did something good, since most everyone had wholesome thoughts and excellent moral values; just about everyone was like that. But in today’s world good and evil are jumbled together, or are even turned on their heads. If you can still view things with virtuous thoughts—if you still have virtuous thoughts—then you are extraordinary.” (“2018 Fa Teaching Given in Washington, D.C.”)
I understood from the Fa that no matter what environment we are in, as long as we follow what Master said, do not fear difficulties, and not only go against the flow but transcend beyond that, all difficulties will be only temporary. As long as we believe in Master and the Fa, everything will be resolved.
My family’s sole income was originally from selling fruit at a stall smaller than ten square meters, tended by my husband and me. As I am a Dafa practitioner, I treat people well. Our business is quite good, and other stall owners are quite envious.
In the later half of 2016, with the excuse of adjusting the market structure, the market owner re-allocated the stalls. The stall allocations should actually be based on a voting system, but the owner eliminated this allocation system and used his authority to re-allocate the stall locations. This allows the stall owners to bribe the owner, which is called a gift. Even if a stall was in bad location, the market owner still wanted a bribe. When the bribe was agreed upon, the market owner often wished to gain more from the deal and pretended that someone else wanted the location. One of the stall owners even came down with symptoms of a stroke because of this system. To make matters worse, the new vendors had to network, which included higher authorities.
I discussed the matter with my husband. If we did not give them money, we would definitely not get a “good” location. My heart was conflicted as the whole family depends on the stall’s earnings. If we are not able to earn money from the stall, how would the family survive? For those few days, the anxiety made me very worried, and my husband also lost his appetite. Luckily, as we did not need to sell fruit during those few days, I studied the Fa every day to clear the non-righteous matter in me.
After reading Master’s Fa,
“Confident and magnanimous, I rectify the colossal firmamentHuge is the adversity that accompanies me as I journey Heaven and EarthCredit and honor are not what is on my mindAs I rectify heaven, rectify earth, and rectify all livesTrue thoughts, a grand wish, and diamond-like willRecreate with one thought the enormity”(“In One Thought,” Hong Yin Vol. II)
I suddenly knew what I should do about the stall. Since I am a Dafa practitioner, why don’t I believe in Master?
Master said,
“As people engaged in spiritual practice we have all the more reason not to be like that. We believe in letting things happen naturally. We know that we won’t be deprived of what is rightfully ours, and shouldn’t labor to get what is not.” (The Seventh Talk, Zhuan Falun)
Therefore, my husband and I had a discussion with the market owner about this issue. We asked him to give us the stall that we wanted, and we were told to wait. When we left, someone asked us what happened. We explained that this was how the market owner hoped to get a bribe.
“I am an old tenant here,” I said. “No matter what, they have to allocate a stall to me. I thought, “I must take the righteous path and not ruin my reputation as a Dafa practitioner.”
We had another discussion with the market owner. Instead of giving the money, I said, “I am an old tenant here.” His face changed immediately and said, “So what if you are an old tenant here?” This person lowered his head and said no more. After a while, he pointed to a dead corner where nobody goes and said angrily, “Then I will allocate this location to you.” I looked in the direction where he pointed. It was very near the toilets. I thought in my heart, “How can things be sold there?” My husband said, “Sir, won’t you reconsider?” The market owner said, “What is there to reconsider? Take your leave quickly and don’t hinder me in my work!” My husband’s face changed.
That night, when we reached home, my husband said, “Why don’t we give them some money. Since we are living in this degenerated society, if we don’t follow the rest, we won’t be able to sell all of our goods. How will we survive then?”
My heart was also in turmoil, as I feared that nothing could be sold at the allocated location, so wouldn’t that be the end of our family? However, I persisted in the thought that I am a Dafa practitioner and I must “Following Master in Fa-rectification, working against sinister tides.” (“Following Master,” Hong Yin Vol. III)
I knew that we definitely could not pay bribe money. If we could not sell goods there, we would do something else. If everything else failed, we would go back to our hometown and farm the land. In addition, there is Master and Dafa. If it is mine, I will not lose it. If it is not mine, I will not get it, even if I fight for it.
We packed our goods and prepared to move to the new stall location. Some asked us if we could sell our product at the allocated place. The monthly rental fee was also very high. They thought we should somehow get the money together and bribe the owner. There were some better locations which they would rather keep empty than give to us.
“I am a Falun Dafa practitioner,” I said, “so I will definitely not go along with the flow. I will only abide by the principles of “Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.”
After our move, our sales did not go well, and a lot of food spoiled after a few days. My husband sulked for the whole day and kept saying, “How can this work out? We better go home.” I felt very bad in my heart and also thought, “How can we quit now? If we quit now, won’t we be throwing away the few tens of thousands for the stall rental that we have paid? If we quit, we can’t get back the rental fee. To add on, I am a Dafa practitioner, how can I forsake the sentient beings here? I need to clarify the truth to people.
Just then, I thought, “Isn't this the evil forces trying to stop people from hearing the truth. Thus, I stopped what I was doing, and started to send forth righteous thoughts, “I am a Dafa practitioner. Everything of mine is arranged by Master and I will definitely not allow the old forces to disrupt us from bringing the truth to sentient beings. Our lives will definitely not be affected by the amount of crowd that the location gets.”
I then told my husband, “Let’s persevere as Dafa practitioners. We will definitely not be in a dire state in life if we are on the righteous path!” In my heart, I pleaded with Master to help me, and allow me to keep this platform for truth clarification.
I have since been more strict with myself. As long as there is a customer, I treat him or her as someone who is predestined to hear the truth. A few days later, more and more people were passing by our stall. An old customer who had not been visiting our stall for half a year came by one day, smiled, and said, “I do not know why but I just turned left and turned right just to look for you today.” I thought in my heart, “Thank you Master! This is Master’s help. I must not waste any opportunity and must clarify the truth thoroughly to everyone.” Since then, my small stall started to function as before.
I dress clean and neat, am polite, keep smiling, and maintain a calm tone when I talk. I try to show the benevolence that I have cultivated in Dafa to everyone, and tell them about the truth and goodness of Dafa too. Of course, our earnings increased over time.
The other vendors are full of envy when they see that our stall has a consistent stream of customers and our business is prospering. Many people said, “This Falun Gong practitioner is really super. She can actually sell her goods in a dead corner. She is really capable!” As I have been selling goods in this market for the past 25 years, every stall vendor knows that I practice Falun Gong and everyone will call me “Falun Gong” instead of by my name.
I try to abide strictly by the Dafa principles “Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance” at every moment, and I treat well every customer who comes by the stall. If they buy fruit for their elders, I will recommend and praise them for their being filial to their elders. I will also tell them stories related to filial piety towards the elders. I tell them that we will all grow old someday and our behavior now is setting a good example for our children, so our children will also be filial to us in the future. As there are gods watching over us from above, the heavens are watching our every move. They will record the sacrifices and efforts that you have made, and this is also the workings of the natural law where good will be rewarded while anything evil will be punished.
Then, besides telling people the wisdom of the ages, I also clarify the truth. My older customers often said, “Why do I feel very relaxed when I come to your stall?” I answer them, “Because Master said, 'Bathed in divine light, conduct and thought become right.'” (The Sixth Talk, Zhuan Falun)
I tell them that my energy field can correct all the incorrect conditions, “so of course you will feel relaxed.”
I have been selling goods here for more than 20 years, and many people know me. Since I started my cultivation in Dafa, my body has changed. My skin became more tender and healthy, and I looked younger and prettier. There will often be people saying, “Since I have known you, you have not aged but have become even younger instead.” I answer by saying, “This is the result of cultivating in Falun Dafa.” In this way, many people have also started to cultivate in Dafa.
In order to help more people understand the truth, I will remember the details about those frequent customers such as the level of their understanding of the truth about Dafa, whether they have quit the CCP, and if they accept that Dafa is good. If I gave them a Dafa book to read, I will remember whether it is time to teach them the exercise movements, and so on. As these customers are my frequent patrons who keep returning, I tell them about Dafa in bits and pieces. Without realizing it, many have Dafa on their minds, and after some time become Dafa practitioners.