Giving Up an Acre of Land

(Minghui.org) My family had two acres of land in our rural hometown. One acre was allocated to my father, and the other one to me. I moved to the city at the age of 16, and my registered residence moved along with me. We should have lost the one acre of land, as it was registered to my rural residence.

However, we were able to keep the two acres of land because the local police department had made a mistake. We then rented out the one acre and collected some rental income each year.

My mother and I later began practicing Falun Gong. As we learned more about the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, we realized that we should adhere to the principles and shouldn't seek profits that were not rightfully ours.

We removed my rural residence registration with the local police department in 2003 and gave up the one acre of land that was listed under my name.

Our family and friends said things like, “You have given up an acre of land! Think about the subsidiary from the government and the rent you can collect from it every year. In addition, the land would be yours for 30 years according to the policy. Think about how much money you will lose over these 30 years! You are stupid.”

“We are Falun Gong practitioners. We should think of others at all times,” my mother replied. “I hadn't understood this principle and had occupied the land for 17 years. I had taken what didn't belong to me. I'm simply returning the land to the rightful owner. I don't consider it a loss.”

Our family and friends understood our perspective and stopped feeling sorry for us.

My father doesn't practice Falun Gong, but he understood us. He also applied the principles of the practice in his daily life. We burn counterfeit bills whenever we encounter them in our fruit business so they won't circulate further and harm other people's interests. We have burned thousands of counterfeit currency over the past ten years.

Sometimes my father receives too much change when he buys wholesale fruits. He once received 600 yuan [~US$90] in additional change, but he returned the excess. The wholesalers were very thankful, as such deeds are quite rare in today's China.