I Paid Back an Old Debt After I Began Practicing Falun Gong

(Clearwisdom.net) I am a young practitioner in mainland China, and I have been practicing Falun Dafa for over ten years. Looking back on myself and my surroundings, Falun Dafa has fundamentally changed so many people and made them better people. Falun Dafa practitioners have done countless good deeds, a natural reflection of their elevated moral bearing and the improved mental state acquired through cultivation practice. They do not behave this way so that others will think well of them; their good behavior is as spontaneous as breathing. I know what I should do after I have reflected on Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. On the rare occasions that I was unable to meet the right standards, I felt unhappy, while I would feel happy and relaxed when I was able to live up to them.

Once, I was having a conversation with one of my former classmates who is a government employee. As I was saying that Dafa has changed countless people for the better, my former classmate said in an excited and confident tone, "Impossible, there cannot possibly be people that good nowadays!" I understand that because of the everyday realities of fierce competition and fighting for personal gain, he had come to develop such thinking.

I then told my former classmate a true story that happened to me. After listening to it, he remained silent for quite a while, obviously deep in thought. I could tell that he was touched. We grew up together, and he could not question the genuineness of the story because it had happened to me, his good friend. Many years have passed since I told this story, and I still remember his expression.

There are still many people who have misconceptions and misunderstandings about Falun Dafa. They either hold on to their own notions and limited knowledge, or they believe the CCP's lies. I will tell the story to you in the hopes more people can have the correct view of Falun Dafa.

I used to work at a government agency prior to practicing Falun Dafa. I was contracted to a section of our factory, selling the product made there. I often had to make purchases at the factory and pay the cashier. Once after making a payment, I did not count the money and just put the bills into my purse. I did not count the money until I was doing the bookkeeping and discovered there were over nine hundred yuan extra in change. I could not believe it. I recounted the goods and confirmed that indeed, there was extra money. I had a feeling that the cashier might have given me the wrong change. My heart did not feel quite right, but that feeling was quickly replaced by greed and excitement.

During those times, I thought about getting rich every day. I thought; who cares, I did not rob or steal, the money should be counted in person, you cannot ask for it afterwards, finders keepers. I was very happy after getting this unexpected fortune, as my salary at the time was only three hundred yuan a month.

Sure enough, the cashier called me later and asked me about the money. She said her books were short, and that she had asked many people already, and asked me whether I paid my payment in full or not. I was nervous, but even my family members said, "Deny it! You did not do it on purpose. She did not count the money right. Many people bought things there that day. She cannot do anything if you deny it." Therefore, I calmly said that I had paid in full for the goods I received.

I spent the money. I did not feel ashamed at all. Nobody brought it up again after a while, and I forgot about it too.

Not long after that, I started practicing Falun Dafa. Master taught me to be a good person, to be a person that is better than a good person. As I read "Zhuan Falun", I reflected on the standards of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. I slowly eliminated many of my bad thoughts and habits, corrected my behavior, and changed from a short-tempered, small-hearted person who likes to haggle over every penny, take advantage of others--from someone full of worries and illness--to a good tempered, big-hearted person who can think of others, and is happy and healthy. As a Falun Dafa practitioner, I changed from inside out. After I started to cultivate, the tremendous changes happening to me were witnessed my family and friends. I treated others genuinely. I worked hard and was recognized by both my employer and colleagues--including the cashier.

Shortly after I started to cultivate, one day while I was reading "Zhuan Falun", I suddenly remembered the extra nine hundred yuan the cashier gave to me, I truly felt uneasy in my heart. I must have lost a lot of De for this ill-gotten wealth. I thought about all the bad things that happened to me after I took this money: I got sick, my motorcycle was stolen, I lost money, and had other bad luck. The money I spent on these things exceeded the nine hundred yuan. At first, I did not think that the unlucky events were connected to taking the nine hundred yuan. I thought they just happened by chance. If someone told me that those events were related, I would have thought he was being superstitious. Now that I cultivate Dafa, I know that good and bad deeds have consequences, which is proved by reflecting on the events that happened in the past few decades of my life.

My mind struggled at that time. I thought, "Should I repay the debt? It would be very embarrassing." I had firmly denied taking the money, it had been a year or two since that incident, and we got along very well. "If I return the money, how would others see me?" I hesitated for a long time. I thought about it again, "I had done that before I started to cultivate, we have all forgotten about it already, now that I am cultivating, I shall never do such a thing ever again. In addition, I already had been punished and I just need to be strict with myself later." Just like that, I stopped thinking about it.

However, after awhile, as I cultivated for a longer time, I remembered it again. Master taught us that we should think of others all the time.

"You should always display compassion and kindness toward others and think of others before doing anything. There will not be any problem if the first thing that you will think of, whenever encountering a problem, is whether others can put up with this matter and if it will hurt anyone. Therefore, you should follow a higher and higher standard for yourself when you practice cultivation." Official translation, Zhuan Falun, English Version, Second Edition.

I was thinking the cashier was short such large sum of money, she must have endured a lot of pain. I now understood if I were afraid to face this matter because of fear of losing face or feeling embarrassed, then not only would I have contradicted myself, but furthermore, I would not be able to live up to the truthfulness in the Fa, and that I had not followed a higher standard.

At the time, the CCP had already spread rumors about Dafa on TV. I had a slight hesitation, I felt the pressure, but I thought again, everyone knows I practice Falun Gong, and everyone has seen my behavior. Regardless how the TV and newspaper fabricate lies about Dafa, I still expect myself to follow Master's Fa. There is nothing wrong with being a good person.

Since our factory was building new apartments, we used all our money as a downpayment There was only a little over one thousand yuan in my bank account, so I talked about this matter with my family. My family also practices Dafa, so they supported the idea of my returning the money. I could not remember the exact amount I owed, so I just took out one thousand yuan from the bank. The next day, the cashier was the only one in the office. I returned the money to her, and apologized sincerely. I clarified to her that I decided to return the money only after I started to practice Falun Gong. I told her that I hoped that she would not be fooled by the rumors on TV and in the newspaper. She stared at me, wide-eyed and speechless.

Later, she found me and told me her husband invited me to their home for a visit. He wanted to thank me. She said, " I cannot imagine that such good people exist in the world." During our conversations, I learned that her husband and her fought about the shortage of money on the books. She cried many times about it. I felt even worse after hearing this. It is true, at the time, I had caused harm to others because of my greed. I did not even know that I had done a bad deed. I might still be doing this kind of thing if I had not practiced Dafa. I refused her invitation because I did not want her to be thanked for doing this.

Afterwards, I was arrested and detained. The cashier said a lot of good things about me to the policemen, and the policemen had more respect for Dafa practitioners after hearing her stories.

While clarifying the truth about Dafa, I was detained and sent to a forced labor camp in 2001. I had to write a "self-reflection report" every week at the labor camp. I used this opportunity to write the specific examples of all the physical and moral benefits that I had experienced so that others could learn the truth about us. However, after reading them, the prison guard said, "You are bragging about yourself," and would not believe what I had wrote. I thought, "In fact what I wrote is not even one tenth of my cultivation experience of the past few years." I cannot blame them. Thinking back, I might not have believed what I wrote if I had not practiced cultivation.

In this immoral social environment, people lie, guard against each other, and would even harm their own family members. Conditions are equally severe in the workplace. With years of exposure to CCP propaganda, many people in mainland China really do not believe that there are still good people in the world. They believe they must fight others for gain and power. Therefore, many people think Dafa practitioners are fools when they hear that practitioners want to be good people. Many also believe that Dafa practitioners have political aspirations when they hear practitioners speak up about the truth of the persecution of Falun Gong.

However, everyone who still has a conscience will approve of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. Who does not want to be treated with honesty? Who does not want a compassionate and forgiving environment during the exhausting fight for fame and personal gain? People who truly understand Dafa practitioners know that a pure land exists wherever Dafa practitioners are, including the policemen I had interactions with. Many of them had their compassionate side open after interacting with Dafa practitioners for a long time. Deep inside, they know that Dafa is good, and they know Dafa practitioners are good people. The policemen either had no choice, were under pressure, lost their conscience because of fame and material gain, or were deceived by the continuous lies from the CCP. They were involved in the persecution of the Falun Gong practitioners, and they have deeply harmed themselves. Dafa practitioners do not blame or hate the police who hurt them because they know the consequences these police will later endure. Some practitioners truly wish the police would think about their own future and not get involved in this persecution, withdraw from all CCP organizations, and stay safe.

Material gain and winning personal interest can only satisfy a person momentarily. They cannot bring the long term happiness that comes from within. I talked about this with my former classmate of mine. He is a wealthy businessman and he agreed with me.

Why do we come to this world, facing an unknown future? Will there be happiness or disaster? What do we do now? Find some truth clarifying materials made by Falun Dafa practitioners and find the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party. Pick up a copy of the book Zhuan Falun and read it with a calm heart-you will have all the answers.