My Attachment to Monetary Gain Brought Me Trouble

(Clearwisdom.net) Master says in Zhuan Falun:

“One practitioner in Beijing took his child to Qianmen for a walk after dinner and saw a commercial vehicle promoting lottery tickets. The child became interested and asked to play the lottery. He gave the child one yuan to play, and the child ended up with the second prize, a luxury junior bike. The child was very delighted. At once an idea flashed into the father’s mind: 'I’m a practitioner. How can I go for such a thing? How much de must I give away if I get something that isn’t paid for?' He said to the child: 'Let’s not take it. We can buy one ourselves if you want it.' The child became upset: 'I’ve begged you to buy one, and you didn’t do it. Now, you won’t let me keep it when I get one on my own.' The child cried and screamed terribly. This man could not do anything about it but take the bike home. At home, the more he thought about it, the more uneasy he felt. He thought about sending the money to those people. Then he figured: 'The lottery tickets are gone, and won’t they divide the money among themselves if I send it to them? I should donate the money to my workplace.'”

I have studied this paragraph many times since obtaining the Fa and figured that I had pretty much let go of my attachment to monetary gain. Yet a recent event has exposed the gaps I have in this regard. The trouble is over, yet there are lessons that I have to learn.

My husband placed an order with a television shopping channel. He thinks that some of those vendors are reputable. A few days later, he received a phone call from a vendor promoting a gold card membership. The salesperson enumerated all the benefits. My husband asked for my opinion, and I told him not to get the membership. The following day, he still wanted to get the membership. I did not insist he not get it. After the card was mailed to us, I scraped off the coating, and it said we had won the second prize. I did not think it would be worth much and put the card aside. That afternoon, a saleswoman called me when I was at work and asked what prize we had won. I told her it was the second prize. She exaggerated her surprise, which led me to expect some substantial reward.

When I was on my way home after work, I thought about the paragraph I quoted above from Zhuan Falun. But I did not yet judge everything with righteous thoughts. Later I learned from my husband that the prize was a so-called “collectible” associated with the Chinese Communist Party. I was filled with remorse. It was my attachments that had brought such a devious spirit to our home.

I told my husband that we should not take the prize, but he was taken in by the salesperson and thought the CCP item would appreciate in value in the future. I was really upset for days.

I knew I needed to take Master's words to search within myself. First of all, I did not strictly follow the Fa, which was expounded so clearly. Next, I worried about a confrontation with my husband and did not discourage him from purchasing the membership in the first place. Furthermore, when I was trying to persuade him to throw away the item, I did not have a pure heart. Instead I worried too much about my husband's preference for monetary gain, and my effort to persuade him was not effective. Even our daughter said, “Mom, it is you who are not steadfast. Otherwise this wouldn't have happened.” I cleared up my mind and was certain that I could handle the situation when the item arrived.

The “gold card membership” deal eventually turned out to be a scam. My husband was discouraged by the loss of the membership fee, and he destroyed the prize and threw it away. And the whole thing was over.

This incident has exposed the attachments I have harbored toward fame, fortune, and emotions. The trouble came because the standard I set for myself was not the high standard required set by the Fa. It is a big lesson. While fellow practitioners are busy doing the three things, I feel ashamed that something like this happened to me. I would like to make it public so we all can guard our thoughts more carefully and not slack off even one bit.