I Have the Utmost Respect for Falun Gong

(Minghui.org) I am in my 40s and have a shop in the city that sells incense people use to pay their respects to Buddhas and Gods. I lost a bag containing money and valuables last year. Thanks to Master Li Hongzhi, the founder of Falun Dafa, I got it back.

An elderly woman who is a Falun Dafa practitioner found my bag and made a special trip just to return it to me. Although it was over a year ago, I still remember what happened. I will never forget this wonderful lady. I am forever grateful to Master Li for teaching people to be honest.

I was riding a motorcycle that day to buy supplies. I don't know what happened, but I lost the bag I was carrying. In it were my ID, cell phone, gold bracelet, and 6-7000 yuan in cash. I was very upset and re-traced my route at once to search for it. I thought: “It's over. I’ll never get my bag back. People simply are not honest anymore—there are no moral standards. Whoever finds it will be ecstatic. What hope do I have of ever retrieving it? I can only blame myself for being unlucky.”

That same afternoon, a woman in her 70s led by a person in the village came to my shop. Her leg was disabled and she sat in a wheelchair. She looked kind and healthy. She took out an ID and asked if it was mine. She said she’d found my bag and asked me to go with her to get it back.

I was jubilant. She told me she practiced Falun Dafa and followed the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. Her master, Master Li, taught to be considerate of others, so when she found my bag, her first thought was how worried the owner must. She knew she had to return it. She took the bag home.

Her son saw what was in the bag and refused to let her return it. They were poor and could really have used the money. He left the bag on the second floor and went out. Because her legs were disabled, she had never been upstairs. With great difficulty, she climbed the stairs and took the bag down. She found the ID and came searching for the owner based on the address. One of her relatives who lived in the village brought her to me.

I was touched by her story. In admiration, tears of gratitude streamed down my cheeks.

I followed her home. It was a dilapidated old property with barely any furnishings. She returned the bag to me and asked me to see if anything was missing. Everything was there: money, bracelet, and cell phone. She said, “I'm sorry, your cell phone card is gone. I searched everywhere for it. Perhaps my son was afraid you might call and look for your bag, so he took out the card and threw it away.” 

I said, “Thank you. If someone else had found it, I would never have gotten it back. I really don't know how to thank you. Can I give you a reward?” She said, “You work hard at your business to make a living. I’m just doing what a Dafa practitioner should do.” She refused to take it.

Returning home, I felt bad and bought gifts and visited her. But no matter how I begged her, she refused to accept them. I had no choice but to leave the gifts behind and depart quickly.

Speaking of belief, I am a Buddhist follower. I asked myself, “If I encountered something like that, would I go to the same lengths as that Dafa practitioner to make things right?” The answer is that I'm not as virtuous as she is. In the past, I’d met other practitioners who told me about Falun Dafa and cleared up the misinformation propagated by the communist regime, so I had a good impression of the spiritual practice. But since that day, after witnessing this woman's kindness, I have had the utmost respect for Falun Dafa and Master Li. 

I don't know if I can ever repay Dafa for how it has blessed me. On the occasion of Master Li's birthday, I would like to wish him a Happy Birthday. I salute the greatness of Falun Dafa. Thank you, kindhearted Falun Dafa practitioners.