(Clearwisdom.net) With the cultivation environment becoming less harsh in our local area, some practitioners have started to turn their focus to making more money. They work from dawn to dusk, leaving almost no time to study the Fa, practice the exercises, send forth righteous thoughts or clarify the facts. Fellow practitioners hardly have any chance to see them, let alone share experiences and study the Fa with them. When we do finally run into them, we notice that they look tired and anxious. Even though they claim that they understand everything and have not given up cultivation, they resume their new way of life after our brief encounter.
I can't help but worry about these practitioners who neglect their cultivation in pursuit of money.
I think it is more than enough for Fa-rectification period Dafa disciples to just have a normal job to make a living. As cultivators, our first priority should be cultivation and truth-clarification. Master said,
"If everything in history were not borne for you, it would be fundamentally impossible for you to do cultivation practice; if everything were not borne for sentient beings in the cosmos, they would disintegrate with the passing of history; if everything were not borne for the people of the world, they would not have the opportunity to still live in this world today." ("Fa-Rectification Period Dafa Disciples," Essentials for Further Advancement II)
Would anyone or anything in the world still exist were it not for Master's immense compassion and tremendous suffering for us? Non-practitioners are not aware of this because they are still trapped in the illusions of the human world. As Dafa disciples, however, how can we be enticed by material interests and forget our mission? The old forces will surely exploit the pursuit of money and create opportunities for practitioners to make even more money to satisfy their desire and pursuit. Below, I will share two such examples:
The first concerns a couple that are skilled bricklayers. While other job seekers can hardly find any work to do, this couple has trouble keeping up with abundant job offers. Earning five to six hundred yuan per day, the husband and wife have put the three things required of Dafa disciples on the back burner. It often takes them several days to completely finish practicing the five sets of exercises. They know cultivation is good, but just can't resist the lure of money. Due to the effects of long-term physical labor, the wife cannot even cross her legs in the full lotus position to meditate. When we pointed this out, she argued her job wasn't the reason. The couple still has some crop fields, which they could rely on to make a regular living. Moreover, their children are all grown and married so they do not have any financial burdens. Even non-practitioners would think it's too much for a couple in their 50s to work so hard just for the sake of money. The old forces amplified their pursuit of money and created opportunities for them to make more and more. When practitioners wander away from Dafa in this way, they are walking into a trap the old forces set up to ruin them.
The second example involves about seven local practitioners that are experts in tree grafting. Early this year these practitioners all said they no longer wanted to go out of town to do tree grafting. The reason was that it usually took more than a month to do the job and they often couldn't do the three things required of Dafa disciples while out of town. Every time they returned home, they were extremely tired and felt they had fallen off the path in their cultivation. However, after learning that a tree-grafting expert could make somewhere between 400 and more than 1,000 yuan a day this year, these practitioners hit the road right away when the season arrived. Moreover, this time they stayed out of town longer than before. While they were out, some local practitioners got arrested. With many other local practitioners busy with planting crops, very few people were available to rescue the arrested practitioners. Just because everyone in our area solely concentrated on their own things, we failed to form one body, leaving loopholes for the evil to exploit and bring interference upon us.
If a cultivator fails to honor his prehistoric vow, he is not being truthful, regardless of what excuses he has made for himself. Even non-practitioners would look down upon people who fail to keep their promises. Practitioners who are attached to material interests should really think about this: When numerous opportunities to make money present themselves, aren't the old forces targeting your pursuit of money? If you can resist the lure of money, you have elevated to a higher realm in your cultivation and you are walking on a path leading to godhood. On the other hand, if you can't let go of your attachment to money, you are essentially ruining yourself.
Master said long ago,
"Those who are attached to money seek wealth and feign their cultivation. Undermining the practice and the Fa, they waste their lifetimes instead of cultivating Buddhahood." ("Cultivators' Avoidances," Essentials For Further Advancement)
Please awaken! Your life belongs to Dafa and should be used to cultivate and save sentient beings. How can you focus your life on making money? How can you allow the old forces to use your life to make more money to satisfy your own pursuits?
I have seen with my third eye that the old forces and very low beings are controlling these practitioners. When they are pursuing money, they are also being possessed by the evil Chinese Communist Party specters. I notice that money is like an invisible rope tying up anyone in pursuit of it and dragging him into hell. How dangerous it is!
My fellow practitioners, please cherish the cultivation opportunity Master created for us--cherish every second of it. Master said, "Cherish the present time and make the best use of it--this time is meant for the disciples." ("Teaching the Fa at the Washington, D.C. International Fa Conference," Guiding the Voyage)
All the man-made and natural disasters that have recently occurred in China are warnings that more catastrophes are on the way. At that time some practitioners will regret their lack of diligence, and the money they make today will do them no good.
Master has borne so much for sentient beings' salvation and Dafa disciples' cultivation. How can we be worthy of Master's salvation if we fail to cultivate well?
Please point out anything inappropriate.
