(Minghui.org) I once heard a story about a customer in a restaurant offering the owner’s little girl something to eat. The little girl declined, telling the customer, “Mommy doesn't let me eat the food in our restaurant because it's bad.”
The story points out a sad yet true phenomenon in China: restaurant owners refuse to eat their own food, knowing exactly what’s in it. Similarly, builders don’t live in the houses they build, milk vendors won’t drink the milk they sell, and vaccine manufacturers wouldn’t dream of being injected with the vaccines they make.
When everyone is conning everybody else, everyone becomes a victim. The traditional virtues are disappearing in China. People are following the exact opposite of “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
The culture of bribery and deception has corroded everyone’s quality of life: kids whose parents don’t give gifts to their teachers are discriminated against at schools; patients who don’t bribe their doctors get poorer treatment. You can be scammed wherever you go.
As people navigate through these dark times, let’s not forget that there are people who still want to do the right thing and ask for nothing in return. They are Falun Dafa practitioners, and their behavior is truly an inspiration.
Falun Dafa, also known as Falun Gong, is an ancient spiritual and meditation discipline based on three core principles: Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. Dafa practitioners come from all walks of life and all social strata. They live by these three principles and hold themselves to high moral standards.
This is the third of a four-part series that profiles a selection of Falun Dafa practitioners and how they live according to Dafa's principles.
Contents:
Part I. Doctors Who Want the Best For Their PatientsPart II. Teachers Who Refuse to Be BribedPart III. Honest and Trustworthy Business Owners Part IV. People Who Return Lost Wallets and Other Items
(Continued from Part II)
Part III. Honest and Trustworthy Business Owners
In China, with the rapid decline of morality and the prevailing doctrine of materialism, many business owners sell counterfeit products and only care about making quick money, with no regard for their customers’ wellbeing.
However, there is another kind of business owner—those who run their businesses with integrity and treat their customers fairly. I would like to share some of their stories.
A Leather Store Owner
A Falun Dafa practitioner in Hebei Province owns a specialty store that sells top quality genuine leather apparel and accessories.
A customer made a big fuss in the store one day, accusing the shop assistant of selling her a jacket with a large hole in the front. Many other customers were present. The customer told the shop owner that she’d bought the jacket two days before and discovered the hole when she tried it on at home. She drove more than 10 miles to exchange it. Without contesting the validity of the customer's claim, as many other store owners would do in China, the practitioner gave the customer a brand new jacket.
After she left, the other customers commented that it would have been impossible for her to miss a big hole in the front when she purchased the jacket. The owner told them that Falun Dafa taught him to be considerate of others and that he wanted to give the customer the benefit of the doubt.
Owner of a Clothing Store
Ruyu and her husband, who live in Hebei Province, owned a small clothing store in their local city. She followed the Falun Dafa teachings and did business fairly, so her customers trusted her and her store became more and more popular.
But because she told her customers about how much she benefitted from practicing Falun Dafa, the police often came to harass her and illegally searched the store. The harassment continued until she and her husband finally had to sell their business.
After that, they opened another clothing store in a village. Their honesty and integrity quickly attracted more customers to their shop.
Ruyu follows Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance and has learned from the teachings of Falun Dafa to be a good person, so she is trustworthy and honest. That’s why their business is thriving.
An E-commerce Business Owner
Kang Ping runs a small e-commerce store. A customer once lied to Mr. Kang that he did not receive the merchandise he ordered and requested a refund, although Mr. Kang knew it was delivered by tracking his shipment.
Mr. Kang reminded himself, “I'm a Falun Dafa practitioner, and I should not resent anyone. I might have done something bad to this person before, and through this I've paid off the debt I owed him in the past.” So he offered a refund as requested.
There were also times when other customers overpaid him, and he made sure to send back a refund. Falun Dafa teaches him, “No loss, no gain,” so he never over-charges his customers.
A Small Grocery Store Owner
A practitioner who owns a small grocery store conducts his business strictly in accordance with the requirements of Falun Dafa, and his integrity has earned him a good reputation in the area. His customers comment, “Shop at the Falun Dafa store. The owner is a Falun Dafa practitioner, and he is a very good man. His prices are fair, and his goods are high quality.”
A woman sells clothes outside his store. Instead of paying him for using his space, she often found fault with him. He never held a grudge against her and treated her with compassion.
One morning when he was not in the store, the woman smashed his side door with a shovel and broke some goods inside his store. When he returned, he asked her calmly why she was so upset. She pointed at a big rock near his shop and blamed him for putting it there on purpose to keep her from using that space. The practitioner said, “Calm down and don't be so upset. I didn't put the rock there.” Just then, two men moved the rock away, and the woman stopped yelling at him.
Then someone asked, “How can you be so even-tempered? She occupies your space and is so unreasonable, but you don’t get angry at her.” He replied, “I am a Falun Dafa practitioner, and Falun Dafa teaches us not to fight back or argue with anyone.” A customers commented, “Falun Dafa practitioners are all good people. They don’t fight or compete for personal gain.”
A Tofu Stall Owner
A Falun Dafa practitioner owns a modest business selling soybean products in a small town. The teachings of Falun Dafa have taught her how to be a good person. She treats her customers fairly and never takes advantage of them. When conflicts occur, she remains calm and considers first where she might be at fault.
She tells people that lying is bad and that people should always be honest. She follows the traditional recipes and uses high quality soybeans, so people come from far away to buy her tofu.
A Restaurant Owner
Lian and her husband owned a small restaurant. As a Falun Dafa practitioner, she knew that she had to run her business ethically, although they were not making money in the beginning. She never accepted a penny extra from her customers. If she received counterfeit money, she burned it.
Since Lian treated her customers with such warmth, more and more people came to eat at her restaurant. There were often long lines of people waiting to get in and dine.
Lian was also kind to her employees, so they were happy to work for her. She took them in as part of her family. A customer once claimed that one of the servers stole her cell phone and threatened to call the police. To protect her employee, Lian paid the customer 500 yuan but did not blame the server for any wrongdoing.
Meeting with her employees the next morning, Lian trained them on how to communicate with customers. Her employees were deeply moved by her consideration, and soon after that incident, one of her employees returned 1,000 yuan that a customer had accidentally left on the table.
(To be continued)
