(Clearwisdom.net) I am a practitioner from a rural area. Here, I would like to share my experiences in cultivation. Since I started practicing Falun Dafa, I have always followed the principles of "Truth, Compassion and Forbearance" and am kind to others. I always try my best to help people who are in need. Although my family makes a living from farming and I have in-laws who need our help and a child who attends middle school, I think that everyone needs help and care from other people. Therefore, I am always glad to help others.
A friend of mine asked to borrow over 50,000 yuan from me for various reasons including hosting a banquet, seeing a doctor, building a house, buying a car and covering other daily expenses. I only had 20,000 yuan and did not have that much money to lend him. He asked me to ask my other friends and he said he would return the money in three or five months. Out of sympathy, my husband asked around and borrowed over 30,000 yuan to lend him.
Time passed by and he did not return the money although he had enough money to pay back the debt. I thought to myself that since I borrowed money from others, although I did it for another person, I still needed to return it because I am a practitioner and should always think of others. He, however, did not return the money. But this should not be an excuse for me not returning others their money. Therefore, my husband did farm work in summer and worked temporary jobs in winter to save money. We needed money to make flyers telling the facts about the persecution, and we also needed to save enough to pay back the debt.
Several years have passed, and neither this person nor any of the other people who borrowed money from me paid me back.
Still, I still saw the problem from the point of view of human notions and felt that these people must have some legitimate difficulty paying back the money. Later, a fellow practitioner heard about the situation and shared her opinion with me: "We should not see the problem with human notions. We are Dafa practitioners and our money should be spent on clarifying the facts about the persecution and saving sentient beings. The old forces have taken advantage of your kindness. They control those people who borrow money from you but do not pay you back so that you are unable to do what you need to do. Just thinking in terms of doing good deeds is also an attachment and the evil is utilizing every loophole. This is exactly their policy towards Dafa practitioners, namely, 'defame their reputation, destroy them financially and eliminate them physically.'"
After listening to her, I realized that I should ask those people who did not pay back the money, and who thus interfered with Dafa work, to return the money. Meanwhile, I should study the Fa and send forth righteous thought to eliminate the internal and external interference. It is the Fa-rectification period and not personal cultivation as it was before the persecution began in 1999. Therefore, we should put truth clarification and saving sentient beings as our top priority.
March 15th 2005