(Minghui.org) Greetings, Master! Greetings, fellow practitioners!
Before I began my cultivation in 1996, my two-income family was poverty-stricken. I was often sick and I didn't earn much. My husband's employer ran into financial trouble and he went several months without a paycheck. I even had to cook discarded vegetables from the farmers’ market for my family just to make ends meet.
All this changed after I became a Dafa practitioner in 1996. My husband quit his job and opened his own company. His business soon took off and did really well.
We are now a well-to-do family with several houses and storefronts, a prospering company, and more than 30 acres of land for industrial use.
I know all we have was given by Master, and it should be used to validate the Fa and save sentient beings. I would like to report to Master how I saved every penny during these years to use on Dafa projects.
From Poverty-stricken to Being Well-off
Before I began practicing Dafa in 1996, I was plagued by numerous illnesses and frequently had to take long leaves of absence. This meant my income was sharply reduced. My husband was also a salaried employee and his situation wasn’t any better. When his company ran into financial difficulties, he went several months without any pay.
To make ends meet, I often took my toddler son to the local farmers’ market to scavenge for discarded vegetables.
My family rose from hell to heaven after I started practicing Dafa. I became completely healthy and was able to do household chores again. My husband no longer had to worry about our family and he quit his job to start his own business.
Master said in “Teaching the Fa at the Fa Conference in Australia,” “Haven't I said that with one person practicing, the whole family benefits?” It was truly like that! My husband’s business soon took off and we became well-to-do.
Spending Every Penny Possible on Dafa Projects
After the persecution began in July 1999, the local practitioners set up their own truth-clarification material production site. Every month I gave the site 100-500 yuan, depending on the amount of materials needed.
I thought I did pretty well at the beginning by contributing “so much” money to Dafa projects. As I improved my xinxing, I realized everything of mine was from Dafa and should be used to validate the Fa and save sentient beings. From that point on, I no longer tallied how much money I gave to the site, but instead worried how many sentient beings hadn’t been saved.
After I retired in 2005, I set up a material site in my own home. My husband bought me a car so I could purchase and deliver supplies used to make truth-clarification materials.
My husband gave me 5,000 yuan a month to run our family, and I always kept all the cash with me. Whenever I ran into practitioners who needed funds for Dafa projects, I gave them some without any hesitation.
There were times when I ran out of money to buy food for the family, and then I’d search every pocket of clothing we owned. Miraculously, almost every time I’d find some extra cash, and I always thanked Master in my heart.
If no cash turned up in our pockets, I’d ask my husband to go grocery shopping with me and he would pay for it.
Our son, a little Dafa disciple, volunteered all his piggy bank money. We used the change on groceries, while leaving the bills for truth-clarification supplies.
After he went to college, he only asked my husband for living expenses, because he knew I needed all the extra money for Dafa projects. He was very careful with money and never splurged on name brands that students his age couldn’t have enough of. He wanted to save money for Dafa projects.
I always looked forward to his visits, and each and every time, he brought money back. Whenever he gave me what he had saved, I kept thanking him. He said, “Mom, there’s no need to thank me. We really need it to save more people." On behalf of all the sentient beings, I thanked him for being so supportive.
Living Frugally to Save for Dafa
I became even more frugal after my son went to college, since I wanted to save as much as possible to use on Dafa projects. I often went to thrift stores to buy used clothes. I never drank bottled water or fancy drinks. Whenever I was thirsty, I just had tap water.
For more than ten years, I washed my hair with tap water. In the wintertime the water really chilled me to the bone. I did so not only to save money, but also to save time in boiling hot water.
Once I saw a big empty bottle and filled it with water. When I took a sip, it had a strong plastic smell. I threw it into the back seat of my car and forgot about it for several months.
One day when I drove the car to do some Dafa projects with a fellow practitioner, we were both very thirsty, but there was no other water available. We turned to the big bottle and saw the water inside was frozen since it was wintertime. We used our hands to warm up the bottle and drank the water when the ice melted. Since the water was cold, we no longer tasted the plastic.
When I heard my husband talking about someone recycling the oil that was collected from exhaust fans, I thought maybe I could use the oil to cook with. I tried it once, but the food didn’t taste right. We decided to not use that oil again, but I never stopped seeking ways to save money.
As a matter of fact, I was not the only one who lived frugally just to save money for Dafa projects.
Once I went to visit a practitioner responsible for making truth-clarification materials. She told me her husband had complained quite a few times about the plain food she put on the table. Her husband gave all his salary to her and he knew there was enough to buy really good food.
She told me that she had used up all her husband’s and her own salary for that month. It turned out she had to buy a new printer to make materials since the old one was beyond repair. She supplied senior practitioners with low incomes with materials, and she really didn’t have the heart to ask them for contributions.
I kept her words in mind and started delivering two boxes of copy paper to her every three weeks.
There was another practitioner whose husband also complained. He gave her 3,000 yuan each month, yet she just cooked cabbage for every meal. He wondered where the money went. While he got tired of cabbage, to her, tasty food was anything that could fill the stomach.
This practitioner was not only a technology expert but was also in charge of purchasing and delivering supplies. She had spent every penny possible on supplies.
I was moved when I heard about her, but I also realized we had to take good care of our families since we should be considerate of others. I shared my understanding with this practitioner and we both changed for the better. Whenever we went out to validate the Fa, we remembered to buy our family their favorite food.
Master Gives Us Money to Work on Dafa Projects
Maybe Master saw our hearts to save more people, so he often surprised us with unexpected funds. A few times I had no more money to give to fellow practitioners, but still checked my wallet one last time to see if I'd missed any.
Miraculously, I’d often find some extra money. One time I found so much extra cash in my wallet that we still had some left after making several purchases of supplies.
I wondered why there was so much, and with just this one thought the money was gone. I knew Master was helping us and that everything was from Master.
Our relatives came to borrow money from my husband but some of them never paid him back. He said, “In the future I’ll only lend money to Falun Gong people. Only they keep their promise.”
When one practitioner’s son was applying for a study-abroad program, he needed 100,000 yuan right away. However, she had to wait several months before she could access her savings.
I happened to have one of my husband’s bank cards with me, so she wondered if I could lend her some money. We went to the bank together to check the balance and found there was exactly 100,000 yuan left on the card. I consulted with my husband and he had no problem at all helping her out.
After a while, this practitioner returned 50,000 yuan and promised to pay back the rest of the loan in two months. My husband was dumbfounded when I gave him the 50,000 yuan. He had no idea what the money was for. When I reminded him of the loan, he said assertively, “That’s impossible. I never lent her any money.”
I knew right away Master had helped us again. Otherwise, how could my husband forget the fact I talked to him about the loan? When I told the practitioner what happened, we both smiled. We used the 50,000 yuan on supplies for truth-clarification materials.
My husband made more and more money. He gave me 2 million yuan to use in whatever way I wanted. I put one third of it in a certificate of deposit, a second third in an investment account, and the last third in a checking account. I used the money in the checking account to buy supplies.
In the meantime my husband increased our monthly living expenses from 5,000 yuan to 10,000 yuan, so I had more funds at my discretion. He also had a hot water furnace installed so I no longer had to wash my hair with cold water.
As more and more practitioners set up their own material sites, they no longer needed financial support from me. They are now using their own incomes to buy supplies.
Everything I Have Is from Master
It is my understanding that everything we have is indeed from Dafa and is blessings from Master.
Master said “...things are gained naturally, with no pursuit.” (“Teaching the Fa at the 2004 International Fa Conference in New York”) My own experience enabled me to have a deeper appreciation of this principle.
When we let go of our human attachments, we will naturally possess what we are meant to have.
We should have no other pursuit other than a heart to save sentient beings. I hope we can strive forward together and be more diligent.
I thank Master for his boundless compassion!
