Collecting Business Debts with Compassion

(Minghui.org) A colleague and I were called into the boss's office right after I got work. He told us that one of his clients had accumulated a debt of over 200,000 yuan during the past three years, and he needed to figure out how to collect it.

Some charges owed were not specified in our contract with the client, and my boss was worried that we would not be able to collect everything. I then recalled two previous instances in which I had helped collect debts for my boss before I had become a Falun Dafa practitioner.

A thermal underwear manufacturer owed us 30,000 yuan. After several unsuccessful attempts to collect the debt, my boss decided to use force to pressure the owner of the company.

He sent someone to stalk the owner and to get his home address. With a group of people, we then went to the owner's home and tricked him into opening the door.

We threatened the owner and his family, especially his child. In the end, the owner was scared and promised to pay back the money within a few days. This type of intimidation is often used by the Chinese Communist Party, and my boss had been a government official before becoming a businessman.

I asked him back then why he didn't try to get the money back through legal means. He said that it was useless to go through the courts, as one often won the case but lost the money in legal fees. His words had a big influence on me at that time.

Several years after that, my business partner ran off with our company’s money. By threatening his family, a friend and I forced my business partner to come back and return most of the stolen money. I later heard that his father had a heart attack because of our threats.

I believed that the business world was full of tricks and fraud, which operated under “jungle law.” I truly believed that the weak were easy prey for the strong.

However, my “sophisticated” skills in the business world did not really make my life easier. It was quite the contrary. Both my mental and physical health were declining. Thus, I began seeking spiritual fulfillment and wondering about the meaning of life.

The Compassion of a Cultivator

My friend, who was working at a debt collection company, gave me a DVD about Falun Dafa in 2006. He later sent me Freegate software to break through the regime’s internet censorship, and I was able to download Master's lectures and exercise videos.

I began practicing Falun Dafa on my own and was able to connect with local practitioners a year later. Through practicing Falun Dafa, my character changed tremendously, and I understood the meaning of life. Master said,

“We have said that no matter how much human moral values have changed, this characteristic of the universe, Zhen-Shan-Ren, will forever remain unchanged. If someone says that you are good, you may not really be good. If someone says that you are bad, you may not really be bad. This is because the criteria that evaluate good and bad have been distorted. Only one who complies with this characteristic of the universe is a good person. It is the sole criterion that determines a good or bad person, and it is recognized by the universe.” (Zhuan Falun, Lecture Four)

I realized that I had drifted far away from this universe's characteristic of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. My worldview was totally wrong. Master also said,

“All professions in human society should exist. It is an issue of the human heart not being righteous, rather than one's occupation. There was a saying in the old days, “Nine out of ten merchants are fraudulent.” That is a saying of everyday people. I would say that this is a matter of the human heart.” (Zhuan Falun)

As a practitioner, I was now determined not to commit the same wrongdoings as before. I suggested to my boss that we should talk to him and discuss what he owed us. He agreed.

My colleague and I visited the client the next day. On our way there, my colleague suggested that I pretend to be an associate of a known reporter in the media. I refused to do so.

Upon arrival at the client's office, the first thing I said to him was: “We understand that you have been under a great amount of pressure these past few years; would you like to share with us your concerns and troubles?”

The client was surprised and started to tell us his problems. He spoke about the larger economic environment, the disloyalty of business partners, the discouraging government policies and the mistakes he had made.

I shared my opinions based on my understanding of Dafa's teaching and Chinese traditional culture. He found what I said very agreeable and was very open with us.

I encouraged him to face challenges righteously, which would get him through the difficult time. In the end, he signed a repayment agreement.

The client soon visited us at our office. He told us that our last visit had a great affect on him because we didn't scream and scold him or threaten him like other companies would do. It was the power of Dafa and its compassion.

Traditional culture has been seriously ruined in contemporary China. The society is full of deceit, viciousness, and fighting, while normal relationships have been severely distorted, just as Master said in Zhuan Falun:

“Nowadays, whether in state-run companies or in other enterprises in this country, interpersonal conflicts have become quite distinctive. In other countries and throughout history, this phenomenon has never occurred before. Thus, clashes over self-interest appear to be particularly intense. People play mind games and compete for a tiny bit of personal gain; the thoughts they have and the tricks they use are vicious. Even being a good person is difficult.” 

From my own experience, I know that Falun Dafa is a righteous cultivation way. It uplifts people’s morality and improves mental and physical health, as well as harmony in relationships.

Hence, Dafa practitioners are able to endure and uphold their beliefs, despite the communist regime's defamation and suppression over the last 17 years. There are more and more people practicing Falun Dafa, which helps to provide an environment of purity.