(Minghui.org) After I read Master’s articles “Stay Far Away From Peril,” “Cultivation in Dafa Is Serious,” and “Treat Master’s Family Members Properly,” I truly felt the seriousness of practicing Falun Dafa. Our faith in Dafa can’t be superficial. We need to truly cherish what Master bestows on us from the bottom of our hearts. We absolutely cannot mix our human mindsets, sentimentality, and notions into our cultivation, or we might put ourselves in a very dangerous situation.
There have been many issues recently among practitioners in our area. Some gave speeches that disrupt the Fa, or admire certain practitioners. Some borrow money from others. Such issues already led to irreparable losses. My intention is not to point out any individual practitioner—instead I hope we can remind each other to stay on the right path and avoid more losses in the future.
Giving Speeches That Disrupt the Fa
A male practitioner, Lei, had close contact with many female practitioners during a project ten years ago. Because of his attachment to lust, he started an improper relationship with one of them. When the affair came to light, another practitioner, Kang, tried very hard to protect Lei and urged others not to blame him. Lei soon began to lose his eyesight and eventually went completely blind. Despite this, Lei went around giving speeches, which Kang promoted.
Kang had issues with his family. Instead of looking within and cultivating himself based on the Fa, he always sought Lei’s advice when he had a family conflict, and said he found it “very helpful.” He often told other practitioners to listen to what Lei said about “the principles at higher levels,” saying things like, “Lei has really good enlightenment. You should listen to him.” Not wanting to disappoint Kang, many practitioners attended Lei’s speeches.
When Minghui.org published an article calling out Lei’s disruptive behavior on February 1, 2023, some practitioners understood the seriousness of the issue and the negative implications for their cultivation. But many others, mostly women, defended Lei and attacked the article for “spreading rumors.” Worse still, they continued to bring other practitioners to Lei’s home to hear him speak, pushing him further away from Dafa.
Using Incorrect Means to Study the Fa
In his speeches, Lei often recited a few paragraphs of the Fa to show how well he studied it. But if he couldn’t read due to his blindness, how could he study the Fa, especially Master’s new articles? It turned out that some practitioners who were close to him saved the text files of Zhuan Falun and Master’s new articles on a media player, which then generated audios for him to listen to.
Master commented on the following article “Only Teacher’s Words and Voice Can Be Used in Audio Recordings of Dafa Scriptures; No Other Recordings Are Allowed:”
“Dafa disciples should not let human thoughts guide their actions. Nobody is able to disrupt the Fa, so any behavior that serves as interference can only be a stain upon one's own cultivation. For someone who cultivates, failing for a long time to pass a test or doing bad things after taking up cultivation will become a massive, imposing barrier standing between you and the finish line. And how, then, will you deal with that?”
Many practitioners pointed out to Lei and his helpers that he shouldn’t study the Fa this way. They refused to listen and said that Lei’s situation was special and they should help him. But by helping Lei like this, didn’t those practitioners disrupt the Fa themselves? In my opinion, it’s still human emotion at work, and it’s not real compassion or wisdom from Dafa cultivation.
Be Mindful of Proper Relationships Between Practitioners of the Opposite Sex
Feng, in his 60s, is a technical practitioner in our region. He is soft-spoken and knowledgeable. After working with him, some practitioners began to admire him and some female practitioners even fell in love with him. More than one practitioner said things like, “Feng cultivates so well! If I didn’t talk to him, I wouldn’t know how to cultivate!” Feeling complacent about such comments, Feng grew full of himself.
We discovered that a practitioner misappropriated funds we donated for technical development. When we tried to point it out, Feng stopped us, saying that different levels have different requirements and it might be correct if we looked at the issue from a higher level.
Feng often helped single female practitioners set up their computers or solve technical issues. Whenever he went to help them, he spent long hours. In ancient Chinese culture, it was unacceptable for single men and women to be alone in the same room. While we can’t entirely follow that in modern society, we should still be mindful of keeping a proper distance between practitioners of the opposite sex and not find excuses for ourselves, such as, “I’m helping her with technical issues,” or, “We are all Dafa practitioners and nothing will happen.” Human thinking can sometimes be very cunning. As soon as we lower our guard, our attachments may cause us to fall and we may make serious mistakes.
Some practitioners are aware of Feng’s issue but not are willing to talk to him about it, fearing he might get upset or even stop cultivating.
The Issue of Borrowing and Loaning Money
The son of an elderly practitioner was over 200,000 yuan in debt. To help him, a practitioner borrowed money from 20 other practitioners. The practitioner has a steady monthly pension, but when the time was up, she didn’t pay back any of the practitioners she borrowed money from.
A married practitioner couple kept borrowing, from several hundred yuan to over 100,000 yuan, from many practitioners, claiming they were paying tuition for their son who was studying abroad. This started seven years ago and, by a rough estimate, they have now borrowed over one million yuan from different practitioners.
Why did those practitioners agree to loan money to them? It was because the borrowers were considered solid, veteran practitioners who attended Master’s lectures in person. But human emotions and notions led them to loan the money without looking at the issue from the Fa’s perspective.
Some practitioners argued that they should help the couple when they were in trouble. Some feared that their son put too much pressure on them and they might stop practicing Dafa as a result. Others were too embarrassed to turn them down.
In fact, not everyone the couple asked to borrow money from was in good financial shape. One practitioner, who didn’t have a job himself, gave the couple the 80,000 yuan his family gave him to manage. When another practitioner spent all her savings on a family member’s medical bills and had nothing left to give the couple, she felt bad.
In either case, neither the ones who borrowed the money or lent the money were in line with the Fa. The result was, the couple faced bigger tribulations in their cultivation. They had a regular income and they could have sold their house to pay back the debt, but they found all kinds of excuses not to. When some practitioners refused to lend them money, they accused them of “being unkind.” Some practitioners who agreed to lend them money also experienced tribulations.
There is an ancient saying, “Help the starving but not the poor.”
In answering the question “If someone accepts well-intentioned gifts from a fellow practitioner over a long period of time, will he be losing his virtue endlessly?”Master said,
“I’ll give you an example. A student’s family all of sudden gets into financial difficulties. For a cultivator, this hardship is very possibly the result of his owing this kind of debt in the past. During the karma elimination process, he must bear something like this, but it won’t last long. I’m saying that might be the case. Then, some students think that since he’s having such a hard time, “We should help him out.” How to help him? Everyone contributes some money, gives him money, and provides for his family. Well, he stops doing anything from then on. Other than studying the Fa, he just stays at home and lives on their money. A little later, he stops studying the Fa, too: “Just bring me the money and I’ll just live like this now.” Think about it, everyone. You do have compassion, but you can’t handle these things that way. Everyone has his own tribulations. You can assist him out of compassion by helping him find a job or by temporarily attending to some emergencies, but you absolutely can’t do that over a long period of time. You would be disrupting the path I arranged for him, and it would become impossible for him to cultivate. In the end, he would stop cultivating. He would stop looking for a job, and he wouldn’t want to solve the problem since he had money to spend, and he’d say, “Just bring me money every month.” Then, I’d say, what are the students really doing?” (Teachings at the Conference in the Eastern U.S.)
In another example of not managing Dafa funds well, two practitioners from a nearby county were holding onto funds donated by other practitioners to make Dafa materials. One had 100,000 yuan and the other 200,000 yuan when they were sentenced to prison and later passed away. Their families, who didn’t practice Dafa, ended up spending the money, causing tremendous financial losses to us as a group. While those two practitioners might have been persecuted as a result of their not managing the funds well, those who donated should have thought about whether they put their money in the right place with the right person.
Don’t Defend Questionable Practitioners with Human Emotions
Every time an issue came up, some practitioners try to defend those in question by claiming that they weren’t aware of their issues. It doesn’t matter whether they were aware of the issues or not. The key is how they respond to the issues after they are exposed and if they can evaluate the issues based on the Fa and treat their own cultivation and the cultivation of those in question with rationality.
I would like to end by revisiting the following paragraphs from the Minghui editorial article “Righteous Thoughts Versus Human Emotions:”
“There have long been people who do things and measure things based on human emotions. All the chaos and negative occurrences are caused by such human emotions and ordinary people’s attachments that stem from them. At the critical moment before the impending elimination, do not stubbornly hold on to human emotions or ordinary people’s notions; Dafa disciples should not become those to be picked out for elimination by the old forces.”
“Righteous thoughts come from Dafa. Only by letting go of human emotions and human attachments can one develop pure righteous thoughts and evaluate problems based on the Fa. Only by solidly cultivating in Dafa and carrying out one’s mission to save people does one truly cherish oneself and cherish Dafa.”
Editor’s note: This article only represents the author’s understanding in their current cultivation state meant for sharing among practitioners so that we can “Compare in studying, compare in cultivating.” (“Solid Cultivation,” Hong Yin)
Copyright © 2024 Minghui.org. All rights reserved.
