A Pearl Necklace

(Clearwisdom.net) I've been cultivating Falun Dafa for eight years, and I no longer pay much attention to money and things. I thought I'd removed my attachments to physical interests, and that all that was left to remove were my attachments to fame and sentimentality.

For example, I'm very generous when it comes to purchasing materials for spreading the Fa or donating money to save sentient beings. I would prefer to spend every penny on the Fa. If it weren't for my husband we'd probably have a hard time covering our living expenses. I'm very thrifty and I never buy luxuries, only necessities. I told my kids to save money and spend it on clarifying the truth. My kids are very good. They always listen to my suggestions and they never buy luxuries or jewelry either. My only jewelry is a pearl necklace that my husband bought me, and a gold ring that my mother gave me. I wear them when I went to clarify the truth to government officials. The rest of the time I keep them in a drawer.

In late 2006 I went to New York City to help sell tickets for the New Tang Dynasty TV Holiday Wonders Show. I was asked to dress formally for an event. Clothing in NYC is expensive, so I called my husband and kids and asked them to buy me a suit, and then I asked a local practitioner who was coming to NYC to bring the suit and the necklace. Due to unforeseen circumstances I didn't wear the suit. When I got back home I returned the suit, and totally forgot about the pearl necklace that was in the suit pocket.

Last week, I needed to attend an activity and couldn't find the necklace. Then I realized that the necklace had been returned to the shop along with the suit. I was very upset. For two days I felt regret. I even lost my temper at my husband.

When I calmed down I came to see my strong attachment to physical interests. Initially I asked my husband, who never liked shopping, to take the kids and buy me the suit. I wasted my husband's precious time, which he could have used on truth-clarification. Then I bothered the practitioner to bring me the suit from thousands of miles away, which was a lot of trouble. I totally forgot about considering others first. I thought I wasn't attached to my necklace, but when I realized it was lost, all my attachments appeared.

"...you don't let go of those filthy things that you cling to in this filthy world, and you even agonize over the most trivial losses." ("True Cultivation," from Essentials for Further Advancement)

I always told my kids not to be attached to things in this everyday people's society, since "...it can't be brought with you at birth, and it can't be taken along at death." ("Loss and Gain," from "Lecture Four" of Zhuan Falun)

When it came to myself, however, I saw gaps. I also came to realize that every time I received a bill I would read it carefully, and whenever I thought I was overcharged, I would "find out what's going on" no matter how busy I was with my work.

Now I try to act according to the principle of "If something is yours, nobody will take it away, and if something isn't yours, you won't be able to get it even by fighting for it." ("Jealousy," from "Lecture Seven" of Zhuan Falun) When I calmed down I paid two bills, even though I thought I was overcharged.

This afternoon when I opened my drawer, I saw the pearl necklace laying right there.