(Minghui.org) I didn't know how to cultivate when I started practicing Falun Dafa in 2012, but gradually I learned to act according the principles of “Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.” I would like to share my experience of eliminating my attachment to personal gain.
Job Choice
I work as a foreign trader for a Korean company in China. I have to take business trips frequently, which makes it difficult to look after my two young children. I was thinking of getting a job that doesn’t involve so much travel, and a friend later introduced me to another foreign company. It was a senior position that paid well. It seemed like an ideal job for me. It would also allow me to improve the living standards of my family.
The only drawback was that the company had an unwritten rule that employees usually have to work one more hour after work, and also work on Saturdays.
During the interview, they did agree that I would not have to work the extra hour during the week. But I attend group Fa study on Saturdays, which is the only opportunity I have to communicate with fellow practitioners. In addition, my current employer has invested a lot in me over the years of my employment, and my leaving would certainly have an impact on the company.
I thought about what Master said:
“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...” (“Non-Omission in Buddha-Nature,” Essentials for Further Advancement)
When I put myself in someone else’s shoes, it became easy for me to make a choice. I let go of my attachment to personal gain. I chose not to take the better salary, and instead stay with my current employer, since they had taught me so much.
Not Being Affected by Emotions
My mother died when I was eight months old, and my father later remarried. My stepmother disliked me, so I lived with my grandmother when I was young. When I went to high school and then college, my stepmother didn't offer me any financial support.
She made a big scene at home, and even threatened my father with divorce if he paid for my tuition. My father insisted on helping me, and my stepmothers empty threats didn't work.
I have a half-sister from my father's second marriage. We were treated differently at an young age. My father has two homes in his name, a two story house and a bungalow. My sister has lived in the two story house since she got married.
When I was at work on New Year’s Eve, my stepmother called, saying that she wanted to divide up the family property, and asked me to go back to my hometown to sign some documents.
I arrived at the place to sign, and the person in charge there handed me a document, which I quickly looked over. The document was to transfer the bungalow over to my sister.
My sister already lives in the two story house, and I wondered why they wanted to transfer the deeds of the bungalow over to her. They had never before spoken to me about this. Now they wanted to shut me out altogether, and just wanted me to sign the documents.
I would have been infuriated before, but as a Dafa practitioner I had to let go of self-interest and not behave the same as an ordinary person. So I just signed where I was asked to.
What puzzled me however, was my father’s behavior in all of this. He was the one who had backed me in the past, but he hadn’t said a word about this to me before. It hurt me.
I needed to get rid of sentimentality.
Having realized this, I no longer felt sad, and thanked my father and stepmother in my heart for working together to expose my attachments.
Considering Others at Work
When a salesperson in our company finds a new client at an exhibition, they are normally responsible for that client from then on. The salesperson then earns commission through any sales made to that client.
I went to an exhibition recently, and picked up several new clients. I was very happy. The commission I would have received from these clients would have helped me and my family greatly, but I decided not to keep them for myself. I instead chose to help a colleague who wasn’t as strong a salesperson as me. She was also in a difficult situation, and had a family to look after.
I gave my clients to her, knowing that it would help her tremendously, and still bring great financial benefits to the company.
After assigning these clients over to my colleague, the colleague said, “You are the only one who would do such a kind thing.”
The road of cultivation is full of difficulties and hardships, but without Master’s guidance I would still be buried in the muddy human world, struggling for fame and fortune.
Practicing Falun Dafa is my long-cherished wish, and going home with Master is my only wish!
Thank you Master, for continually cleaning my mind! Thank you Master, for teaching me to go the right way!
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Category: Improving Oneself
