(Clearwisdom.net)
I Started Saving with 50 Cents
I am a 9-year-old Falun Dafa practitioner, and I'm a third grader. I am not particularly diligent, but I can be considered a veteran practitioner. Both of my parents started practicing Falun Gong when I was born, so obviously I became a young practitioner. My home is always busy and many people come every day to study the Fa. My granny said that I was rather playful when I was young. If I saw anyone falling asleep during Fa study, I would walk over and tap them on the face. At times, the person would be startled. One of the ladies was a bit embarrassed. So every time when she felt sleepy again, she would stand up to read.
When China banned the practice of Falun Gong in July of 1999, my parents went to Beijing to appeal and were both locked up. I was left at home with my aunt. I was only two then. My aunt said I missed Mom a lot but never cried. Four months later, Mom was released, but Dad was sentenced to one year of forced labor. Those policemen often came to our home to threaten us, and I hated them for it. My aunt told me, "We are cultivators and should not hate people. We feel sorry for them because they have done a lot of bad things and will have to pay for it eventually."
In 2003, both my parents left home to seek work. I was put into my great aunt's custody. I had just entered kindergarten. When I saw other children eat lollipops or other snacks, my craving for my favorite foods got the better of me. On several occasions, I stole money from my great aunt to satisfy my craving. One day, my great aunt discovered my bad behavior. Instead of punishing me, she took one of Teacher's books and read it to me. She also taught me to recite Teacher's poems. Through regular Fa study, I got rid of my bad habits. I even gave the money I got from relatives on Chinese New Year to my great aunt to help with clarifying the facts.
In the beginning, I was quite worried whenever my great aunt went out to do Dafa work, which meant leaving me at home alone. Later, I went out with her and even carried my school bag with me. I also learned to copy files onto CD disks for her as well. Three years have sped by and I have grown up.
When Mom and Dad came home in 2006, I went back to stay with them. Every day, mom gave me 50 cents allowance. I thought the money would be best used for helping out with Dafa work. Occasionally, when I saw my friends buy food at the snack shop, I was tempted to buy some as well. The shop was inside the school. Looking at the delicious food and toys through the window, I was often reluctant to leave. "No, I cannot spend the money. Isn't 'craving' also a form of attachment?" I kept reminding myself.
Now, I have saved up a hundred yuan. Together with money saved during the Chinese New Year, I will give them to my uncle and aunt to help out on Dafa work. I hope that other Dafa practitioner children would also save their pocket money to help out with the truth-clarification work. I can see that the greater quantity and better quality materials we publish, the more people will be saved.
As I am not particularly diligent, there are lots of areas I haven't done well in. I hope that in due time, I will do better.
The Invaluable "Three Hundred Yuan"
Recently, I received from a fellow practitioner a packet of money donated for truth-clarification work. Of the three hundred yuan in the packet, two hundred and thirty yuan were in one-yuan notes. I could see how the amount was being saved, one yuan at a time.
Through a fellow practitioner, I learned about this woman who donated the money – her husband had been laid off from work and is now a tricycle-transport driver; the woman herself sells provisions on the street. She makes a few yuan a day, at most 10 yuan on a good day. Even when it was snowing in the winter, she would still be selling things on the street, trying to make ends meet. Furthermore, they are supporting a son who is going to college, so things are really difficult for them. The three hundred yuan were saved, one at a time, over a long period of time. It was indeed not easy. When I passed the money on to the coordinating practitioner in the countryside, we both could not help but shed tears over her sincerity.
It was not the amount of money, but rather her compassion, that had moved us. Compared to her, I felt guilty. I would like to take this opportunity and appeal to our fellow practitioners (including myself) living in cities - if we watched our daily expenses or perhaps put aside a little bit of our savings, we can certainly relieve the burden of those countryside practitioners in their truth-clarification work.
The rural area is very extensive and there are innumerable sentient beings waiting. Most of the people in rural areas are kind hearted and they deserve to be saved. The amount of materials required greatly exceeds that of those in the cities. Most of the rural practitioners are financially challenged and certainly need help.
From my knowledge of a certain coordinator in the countryside, he could only distribute materials once every two to three months. Hence, if we could help the practitioners in the rural areas to establish more truth-clarification materials production centers, I am sure we will save more sentient beings.
