(Minghui.org) I once heard a story about a customer in a restaurant offering the owner’s little girl something to eat. The little girl declined, telling the customer, “Mommy doesn't let me eat the food in our restaurant because it's bad.”
The story points out a sad yet true phenomenon in China: restaurant owners refuse to eat their own food, knowing exactly what’s in it. Similarly, builders don’t live in the houses they build, milk vendors won’t drink the milk they sell, and vaccines manufacturers wouldn’t dream of being injected with the vaccines they make.
When everyone is conning everybody else, everyone becomes a victim. The traditional virtues are disappearing in China. People are following the exact opposite of “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
The culture of bribery and deception has corroded everyone’s quality of life: kids whose parents don’t give gifts to their teachers are discriminated against at schools; patients who don’t bribe their doctors get poorer treatment. You can be scammed wherever you go.
As people navigate through these dark times, let’s not forget there are people who want to do the right thing and ask for nothing in return. They are Falun Dafa practitioners, and their behavior is truly an inspiration to us all.
Falun Dafa, also known as Falun Gong, is an ancient spiritual and meditation discipline based on three core principles: Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. Its practitioners come from all walks of life and all social strata. They live by the three principles and hold themselves to high moral standards.
This is the fourth of a four-part series that profiles a selection of Falun Dafa practitioners and their lives.
Part I. Doctors Who Want the Best For Their PatientsPart II. Teachers Who Refuse to Be BribedPart III. Honest and Trustworthy Business OwnersPart IV. People Who Return Lost Wallets and Other Items
(Continued from Part III)
In China, if you are waiting for someone to return your lost 1,000-yuan cell phone, you would be wasting your time. But, Falun Dafa practitioners return lost valuables to their owners and return extra change they receive from merchants. They strive to follow the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance and take personal interest lightly.
Ms. Shu Xian and her husband, both Falun Dafa practitioners, operated a small store in a town of Liaoning Province. A middle-aged woman left her bag in the store after shopping in 1996. They did not know whom the bag belonged to, so they put it in a safe place while waiting for its owner to return.
In the evening, a woman came to the store, appearing to be quite nervous. She asked anxiously, “I lost my bag. Is it here?” The couple asked her to describe the bag and its contents. There were 700 yuan in the bag, along with her business license and ID, which matched the bag the couple had found. They gladly returned it to her.
The woman thanked them repeatedly. They told her that they practice Falun Dafa and asked her to instead thank Master Li Hongzhi, the founder of Falun Dafa, who taught them to be better people.
The couple also found lost gold rings twice in their store. Their owners were relieved to be reunited with the rings. When it came to small lost items, they displayed them in an eye-catching place for the owners to claim them. Some of the customers were surprised to see their lost belongings.
Ms. Qing Yun is a Falun Dafa practitioner in Hebei Province. She went to her bank to turn $10,000 yuan of direct deposit payroll in her checking account into a certificate of deposit. Upon returning home, she noticed that the 10,000 yuan in her checking account was not transferred to her new CD.
She immediately returned to the bank to talk to the teller, a 23-year-old woman who opened the CD account for her but forgot to transfer money from her checking account. She talked to the young woman in private, as she didn't want her to get into trouble because of the mistake. The teller quietly made the correction and wanted to buy expensive gifts to thank Ms. Qing for catching the mistake.
Ms. Qing did not accept anything. Instead, she told the teller about Falun Dafa and Master Li. The teller thanked Master Li with tears in her eyes.
At another time, Ms. Qing found a bank book with a balance of 2,890 yuan. She returned it to the owner using the enclosed name and address. The owner appreciated what she did and wanted to broadcast her kind deed on a local TV station. She turned down the offer and told him about Falun Dafa. He said with admiration, “Falun Dafa practitioners are really good people.”
One day, an elderly practitioner saw a bag in the garbage can in her neighborhood. The bag was still in good shape, so she picked it up. When she cleaned it up at home, she found several stacks of new 100-yuan bills in the bag. She confirmed with another practitioner that it was real money. To find the owner, she began to spread the word about her find in the neighborhood.
A few days later, three people came to her door and asked her about the bag. They described it and how much money it contained. She confirmed having the bag and invited them to come in.
She told them about the Chinese Communist Party’s persecution of Falun Dafa, and they agreed to resign their CCP memberships. Since the money was for treating a child's illness, they sincerely thanked her. They wanted to give her some money as a token of appreciation, but she declined politely. She told them that Falun Dafa teaches its practitioners to be considerate of other people and seek no rewards for their good deeds.
Ms. Zi Zhen is a Falun Dafa practitioner in Hebei Province. Last summer, she saw a brand-new school bag unattended on the side of the road. She picked it up and checked its contents. A woman's handbag was inside the bag and contained three ATM cards, an ID card, and a small telephone book. She knew that the owner must have been been worried.
Ms. Zi did not have her cellphone with her at the time, so she went to her husband's workplace nearby and borrowed his. She called a couple of phone numbers in the phone book and finally got in touch with the bag owner.
The owner told her that her bag had been stolen and that she had reported it to the police and no longer needed the bag. Ms. Zi was puzzled. But the owner immediately called back and asked Ms. Zi to send the bag to her, which was more than three miles away. Ms. Zi told her that she did not know the place and had no time to go. Ms. Zi was confused why she made such a request.
However, the owner quickly called back again stating that she would come to pick up the bag. Ms. Zi gave her detailed directions. When she arrived, Ms. Zi's husband was waiting for her. He confirmed her identity and called Ms. Zi out with the bag.
The owner cried when she saw her bag and told Ms. Zi everything. Her bag was stolen on the bus. She suspected that Ms. Zi was blackmailing her, so she came well prepared and even brought two men just in case.
Ms. Zi told her that she practices Falun Dafa and that Master Li taught her to always consider others' needs first. The bag owner thanked Ms. Zi for recovering her big loss. She took out 100 yuan in gratitude, but Ms. Zi refused to accept it.
Ms. Qing Lian opened her store about ten years ago in Weihai City, Shandong Province. The day after the grand opening, her neighbor stopped by and told her that several supermarkets and restaurants there had gone out of business. Ms. Qing responded that she is a Falun Dafa practitioner and that everything would be fine.
Ten years later, Ms. Qing's business is still flourishing. She trades honestly and carries good quality products that are reasonably priced. She manages the store well with things neatly arranged in a clean environment. She also decorates her store with origami lotus flowers, calendars containing information about Falun Dafa, and poetic couplets about Falun Dafa. Her customers easily notice them.
She carefully kept items lost by customers and waited for the owners to claim them. A woman left her purse containing several thousand yuan in the store. Nobody came to look for it after half a day, so Ms. Qing looked for clues in the purse and found a business card. When she called the number on the card, the woman answered and confirmed that she had visited Ms. Qing's store. But she did not know she had lost her purse until Ms. Qing asked her. She was grateful for Ms. Qing's kindness.
Ms. Feng Lu lives in Jilin City, Jilin Province. As she grew up in a destitute family, money became the most precious thing in her life. She did not spend even a penny casually.
Ms. Feng began to practice Falun Dafa in 1998. She was subcontracting a small supermarket. Every time when she stocked products from her contractor, she paid and brought back all of her orders to reconcile at the store.
Once she ordered ten bottles of shampoo but was only billed for one. She went back to the contractor the next day and paid the shorted amount–over 100 yuan. He was touched by her honesty, as he would not have been aware of the loss if she did not go to him. The same scenario happened again another time, and Ms. Feng did the same.
Ms. Feng also paid all wholesale merchants promptly and had excellent credit with them. When she closed her store, they accepted her return products.
Once Ms. Feng found a lost diamond bracelet in her store. Shortly afterward, a woman came to her store and asked if she had found a bracelet. Her description of the bracelet matched the one Ms. Feng had found, and she returned it to her. The woman thanked Ms. Feng.
Ms. Feng had many opportunities to short merchants and keep valuables she found, but she chose to do the opposite. As a practitioner, she was happy to help others instead of gaining for herself.
Mr. Li Minjun is an engineer from Wuhan City, Hubei Province. In his first year of graduate school at Huazhong University of Science and Technology, he saw several famous Chinese scientists researching qigong. He began to explore various qigong practices and chose to practice Falun Dafa.
All of his illnesses disappeared after a month into the practice, and he became a happy, kind and sincere young man. His academic performance improved as well. He was allowed to continue to doctoral study without an examination.
When the computer in his lab ran out of storage space, he spent his own money, over 1,000 yuan, to purchase a bigger hard drive to share with everyone. He also voluntarily cleaned up the lab.
A thank-you letter to him was posted on the school’s Bulletin Board System. It stated that he had returned a lost wallet with cash and bank cards to the owner without accepting anything in return.
A woman from Shanxi Province talked about how she recovered her lost cellphone, which cost over 2,000 yuan that she had saved up for a long time. She didn't realize she had lost it until she tried to use it to pay at a store. She went home immediately to look for it. Her family helped her search through the entire house, but they did not find the phone.
When she lost hope and was about to cry, her father received a call from her number. A woman on the other end told them that she had found the phone and was waiting for her to go to retrieve it.
She went right away and met two middle-aged women. She thanked them profusely and offered to buy them dinner, but they declined. She also tried to give them 50 yuan, but they did not take the money. They told her to remember, “Falun Dafa is good” and “Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good.”
(End)