(Minghui.org) I have been practicing Falun Gong (also know as Falun Dafa) for 13 years. On March 15, 2016, something happened that taught me a huge lesson.
I went to a tourist site that day with four other practitioners to talk to people about Dafa and the persecution. We cooperated well and talked to four young people who agreed to quit the Chinese Communist Party and its affiliated organizations.
We five practitioners were later illegally arrested, taken to a police station and detained for 15 days.
The four young people we had talked to had reported us to the authorities.
I looked inward to try to understand why I was arrested and detained. Another incident came to mind.
A while back, two practitioners in our Fa study group mentioned that they were getting ready to leave for the United States. I expressed my wish to go as well.
One of them started talking about a financial investment scheme that she had bought into several months prior that was affording her a good source of income with high profits.
She was soliciting our interest and involvement. If I took her up on the offer, perhaps I may also go abroad. So I told her to count me in.
It cost 5,000 yuan, which I had to pay another person. The time and place to meet this person was arranged, and I set out for the appointment with the cash.
Another practitioner was also interested in joining, and came along.
I handed over the money to the person in charge, who made notes on his cell phone, but didn't give me a receipt. No information was given about what we were investing in or what the product was. I was beginning to feel a little uncomfortable.
The person in charge then told us that the practitioner who introduced us to the product would be responsible for us from now on.
By that time, we had been told how things work. We were to attract other people to join and get commission from their investment. I realized that the “product” was actually a pyramid sales scheme.
The practitioner that came with me did not enter into the scheme, and later told other practitioners about it.
When I went to our Fa study group, the practitioners reminded me that the pyramid scheme is a scam that exploits people. They recommended that I go to the practitioner who recommended the scheme to get my money back.
The practitioner had apparently recommended this scheme to many others. She had lost a lot of money in this scheme, but was reluctant to withdraw, hoping she could recoup what she had lost by bringing more people in.
The money I paid for the initial investment was not refundable, and I felt that I had been conned.
I only thought about the whole thing after I was arrested. I entered into the scheme because I was attached to the idea of going abroad, to making quick profits and to sentimentality. I was thinking that if I could make some extra cash, I could give some to my son.
I learned an important lesson: Cultivation is serious. I hope fellow practitioners can learn from my experience.
Comments from the Practitioner Who Forward this Article to Minghui.org
Our local practitioners have recently been informing others about another so-called financial investment scheme. One practitioner bought into it. The scheme takes advantage of others, as opposed to the Fa's principles of not hurting others.
Our local group has come to the understanding that the old forces took advantage of this loophole in her cultivation, leading to her arrest.
We wanted this article to be published on Minghui.org to alert other practitioners who may have bought into such a scheme. We believe this to be serious wrongdoing for a practitioner, and that the old forces will use this behavior as an excuse to persecute them.
Master said:
“Today at this critical moment in history, with every penny and every little [thing], what’s being revealed is your realm, your state of mind, and your attachments as a cultivator, as well as whether you can achieve consummation or not.” (“Fa Teaching at the 2015 West Coast Fa Conference”)
At a higher realm, genuine practitioners’ wealth, any justified reward, and every minute of life are all given by Master. Dafa resources are to use not for the sake of enjoyment and living a comfortable life but for saving sentient beings.
Genuine cultivators need to work toward the realm of selflessness. Our lives are for the salvation of sentient beings.
Category: Improving Oneself
