Letting Go of the Attachment to Money

(Minghui.org) Master Li Hongzhi, the founder of Falun Dafa, said:

“When it is difficult to endure, try to endure it. When it looks impossible and is said to be impossible, give it a try and see if it is possible.” (Zhuan Falun)

Master Li also taught us a lot about the universal principle of “no loss, no gain.” (Zhuan Falun)

My husband and I are both Falun Dafa practitioners and always think about how to improve ourselves according to the Fa.

Our understandings of the Fa were put to the test when we established a clinic centered on Traditional Chinese Medicine in 2009.

Gaining an Apprentice

Our clinic was in a remote location and grocery shopping was difficult. A neighbor sometimes shared his groceries with us, and we became pretty close friends. The neighbor's son was attending a vocational school, but before he graduated, the parents took him out of the school and wanted him to be an apprentice at my husband's clinic.

My husband has 40 years experience in Chinese Medicine, but he never wanted to have an apprentice. Perhaps it was fate, but somehow my husband agreed to teach the neighbor's 17-year-old son. So he moved in with us and we treated each other like family.

Either the son did not get a good education in school, or perhaps he was stubborn, because he wasn't proactive in doing things, and spent most of his time reading medical texts.

Becoming a Dafa Practitioner

After living with us for three months, we talked to the neighbor's son about Falun Dafa and the persecution by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). We told him about the self-immolation hoax on Tiananmen Square, gave him the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party DVD, and many Dafa informational materials.

He soon started to learn the practice and was transformed into a different person. He became serious, worked very hard, and matured quickly.

The boy had become a member of the CCP at the age of 15, and decided to quit the Party. He had a strong attachment to gain and profit. He stole cash and medical books from the clinic behind our backs, but his character improved after he became a Falun Dafa practitioner.

He knelt down in front of my husband one day and cried. He said he had made a mistake and was very sorry. He returned 600 yuan in cash and the books he had taken. We then realized that he had become a genuine Dafa practitioner.

We didn’t treat the young man as just an apprentice, but as a family member and, more importantly, as a Falun Dafa practitioner. We all did the three things together, and he was able to get rid of many attachments, such as to reputation, financial gain, and sentimentality.

Moving Back to Our Hometown

For various reasons, we closed the clinic and returned to our hometown to open a clinic there. The young man then enrolled in a local nursing school and graduated three years later.

We learned that he stopped practicing Falun Dafa because of fear and the influence of his family, friends, and schoolmates. He became confused with what to do, and his life became chaotic. His family worried about his grades and the cost of his living expenses.

My husband and I thought that since we are practitioners we had a responsibility to help him out. First and foremost, he needed a cultivation environment and a stable income. We also had to dispel the misunderstandings that his family had about Falun Dafa, because they thought that practicing Dafa had caused their son's problems.

We decided to hire him at a monthly salary of 4,000 yuan. After adding the cost of room and board, we would be spending 5,000 yuan per month on him, an expense that was unprecedented in our area. But we believed that it was more important that he have a good cultivation environment, so that he could improve as a practitioner and make an adequate living.

However, he didn't do the three things that a practitioner should do at first. Instead, he devoted himself fully to his studies and concentrated on obtaining a medical certificate. His medical skills improved and he was soon able to work independently.

With the encouragement of practitioners, he joined the group exercises and Fa study.

Attachments to Money

Sometimes we let him work alone in the clinic. Little did we know that he was stealing between 100-300 yuan daily from the clinic.

We were shocked when we figured out what he was doing, and couldn't understand how a practitioner could do such a thing.

My husband and I shared our thoughts, and concluded that our original intention was to help him. During the three years that he was in school, he lost a cultivation environment. Consequently, he forgot how to cultivate and harbored a lot of fear. Accumulating three years of school expenses added more pressure on him. Without the guidance of Dafa, he used inappropriate means to pay off his debts.

Master said:

“The Dharma-ending Period does not only pertain to Buddhism, but also the corruption of many dimensions beneath a very high-level dimension. ‘Dharma-ending’ does not only refer to Buddhism; it also means that in human society there is no sense of spiritual obligation that maintains morality.” (Zhuan Falun)

In today's society, as we understand it, people will do anything for money.

Our experience with the young man was also an opportunity for my husband and I to improve in our cultivation. We looked inward and realized that we, too, had attachments to money. We had two unmarried children and a lot of family expenses, so we would take every opportunity to make more money.

My husband and I stumbled in our cultivation in this regard, but this experience allowed us to see our attachments.

We decided to study the Fa together with the young man, share with him, and help him see his shortcomings. We wanted to treat him as our own son, assist him with all facets of life, and help him improve in cultivation.

He knelt down in front of us one day. He cried and said he was sorry. He returned 8,000 yuan to us. And to lessen his pressure, my son borrowed 4,000 yuan to help him repay his student loans.

The young man also knelt down to read Dafa books in front of Master's photo. He resumed the practice six months later. We did not tell anyone, including his family, about the incidents.

We understood Master's teachings on a deeper level from these experiences.

Master said:

“Compassion can harmonize Heaven and Earth, ushering in springRighteous thoughts can save the people in this world.” (“The Fa Rectifies the Cosmos,” from Hong Yin Vol. II)