Let Us Follow Master's Arrangement: Thoughts on Financial Persecution

"Validate the Fa with rationality, clarify the truth with wisdom, spread the Fa and save people with mercy—this is establishing the mighty virtue of an Enlightened Being." (Essentials for Further Advancement II) As disciples during the Fa-rectification period, we should know the path Master has arranged for us. To do so, we must understand the Fa rationally so that we can distinguish between the path arranged by Master and that set up by the old forces.

I am in the restaurant business. After July 20, 1999, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) focused on eliminating our practice. My restaurant was illegally closed three times for a length of time totalling over 13 months. Their aim was to cut off our source of income. However, they weren't successful. They told the police department to investigate me and come up with a false claim that my house and other property were acquired through funds I collected when people came to do group exercises. No ordinary people or practitioners were willing to support their claim. Instead, everyone said that the use of my house was free of charge. Still, they ransacked my home five or six times and I was detained in a forced labour camp for five years. The local government ordered the bank to not let me have access to loans.

The persecution I experienced was aimed at my source of income. I would like to discuss what I have learned from this experience.

When I first learned Falun Dafa, a practitioner once told me that I should stop being in the restaurant business so that I wouldn't lose virtue for money. However, my understanding was that we shouldn't try to change how society operates. Instead, we should use it to validate the Fa. Whether or not we "lose virtue" depends on how we spend the money. When I have money, I can use it positively to validate the Fa.
The evil CCP knows the impact of money and that you can't do much without it. In addition, some practitioners have wrong thoughts about money. They think we should not keep any money and only care about getting by in life. This attitude is against Master's teaching and has a negative impact on family life.

While studying the 2009 lecture in New York, I realized that one must comprehend the Fa rationally. Trying to act like a "superior" being and above normal standards can cause people to avoid and have misunderstandings about Dafa. For example, a practitioner bought a crane for his hoisting business, but never made any money, while other people in the same business were successful. Why did this happen? Many practitioners have the thought that we shouldn't think about making money because we are in the last phase of Fa-ratification! How will this "thinking" impact the business of the practitioner who bought the crane?

We are practitioners. Starting out as good people, we should continue to better ourselves so that we can be role models for future generations. To care for others doesn't mean we should do nothing. Master said in "Teaching the Fa at the Conference in Vancouver, Canada, in 2003,"

"But you can't go to extremes, you can't go to any extreme. Once you go to an extreme, you've damaged the path I arranged for you and Fa's requirements for you. You should do the things you should do in a normal way. If tomorrow is Consummation, today you still won't know it, and suppose you're thinking about opening a business, then just go ahead and do it. But I'll harmonize everything for you. "

This means that if Fa-rectification is over tomorrow, we should still do what we're supposed to do today. A clear understanding of this point allows us to follow the path arranged by Master and reject the path of the old forces. We should pay attention to this point and not give the evil any opportunities to interfere with our mission to help Master in Fa-ratification or make our everyday life difficult.

What I would like to emphasize here is that as practitioners we need to think clearly and rationally. Don't allow the old forces to persecute us financially. Practitioners know how and where to spend their money. Practitioners shouldn't stop doing their daily work because of financial difficulties.

The above is my understanding about financial persecution. Please point out anything that is improper.