I No Longer Accept Bribes

(Minghui.org) I’ve practiced Falun Dafa for over 20 years. I’d like to tell you about my experiences while working for the township government for two decades.

As a government employee, many people offer me bribes. Because China is a dictatorship, people think it’s difficult to change. They are accustomed to this unspoken rule and silently go along with it.

But I practice Falun Dafa, and cultivators don’t seek benefits like ordinary people do. Self-interest is an attachment cultivators strive to get rid of. In my understanding, if we get benefits we haven’t earned, we may lose virtue.

Master said, “no loss, no gain.” (Lecture Seven, Zhuan Falun)

China is ruled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which is corrupt. Ordinary Chinese despise the CCP but dare not speak up. People feel powerless to change society but say they have no choice—they follow the trend to protect themselves.

Many people who come to my office try to bribe me, and sometimes offer me thousands of yuan. Due to my strong attachment to saving face, I found it difficult to refuse. In such an environment, whether you can be honest depends on your moral standards. It’s difficult for ordinary people to be unmoved in the face of self-interest.

I sometimes thought about how much work I had to do and yet my salary wasn't that high, so getting a few hundred extra yuan wouldn't hurt, right? Didn’t waiters in restaurants get tips?

I also thought: "I was persecuted because I practice Falun Dafa. I did not get a raise and I was not promoted, so aren’t these bribes some compensation? Besides, I don’t ask for it." I had all kinds of human notions and thoughts to make excuses for my greed.

In the big dye vat of ordinary people, it’s difficult to avoid being contaminated. If I didn’t practice Falun Dafa I wouldn’t have thought that taking bribes was wrong and I would have gone with the flow. However, the goal of our cultivation is to return to our true selves—not to seek fame and fortune among ordinary people. The desire for profit and greed is exactly what we cultivators want to get rid of.

When I accepted bribes, I felt unsettled. Buddha nature and my human thoughts constantly surged. Sometimes I thought angrily, "I don’t want to accept bribes. If someone wants my job they should take it." I went to the mayor and told him that I didn’t want to do this job. But the mayor, who knew I practiced Falun Dafa, said he trusted me and “I rely on you.”

Falun Dafa practitioners can put aside fame and fortune, not accept bribes, and are honest. By getting more things done, they reduce the burden on others. This was also a test of my cultivation. Wasn’t that a good thing? The public benefits and ordinary people would see that practitioners are different. Even if we can’t change society’s downward trend, our positive behavior allows people to see the beauty and kindness of cultivators who follow the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. They will see there’s hope for society and the future.

As practitioners, we should understand problems from the perspective of the Fa. Our mission is to use the Fa as our guide and cultivate ourselves well so we can help Master save sentient beings. A cultivator can only attain perfection if he lets go of attachments. We cultivate in ordinary society, and our words and deeds represent Falun Dafa. If we do a good job, ordinary people will see the beauty of Dafa. If we don’t do well when we tell people Dafa is good, they may say we’re no different from ordinary people or that we are even worse. Will they believe that Dafa is good? If we understand the Fa well, we’ll know what to do. We should not be confused and go with the flow or do something that cultivators should not do. Our positive words and deeds offer people an opportunity to know Dafa. At the same time, we can also use this as an opportunity to clarify the truth, help them quit the CCP, and save them.

When I finally understood this, I recalled who'd given me bribes and looked for them. It took me two days to return the money to all of them, about 100 people. I returned about 70,000 yuan. I told them that I’m a practitioner and I don’t accept gifts. One man had cancer. When I returned his 1,000 yuan, he was moved to tears.

I think practitioners’ righteous behavior is the best way to clarify the truth, becausse ordinary people can truly understand that Falun Dafa is good from our behavior. We are here to save people, and we should never forget our mission! After returning the money, I felt relieved. I’ve cultivated for so many years but only now do I feel that I can calmly let go of self-interest.

I’ll know what to do in the future—I won’t accept bribes. If people insist on giving me gifts, I will return them. Isn’t this a good opportunity to clarify the truth and save them?

In the final days of the Fa-rectification, I will firmly walk the path Master has laid out for me and hold myself to the standards of Dafa. I will be righteous, let go of my attachments, and do my best to save more people so that I can live up to my mission and return home with Master!