(Minghui.org) The “Fa Boat” exhibited in a community fair in Taiwan recently is three-story high. It has gone far beyond the initial style of lanterns. The size of the three-story boat is almost equivalent to a building. For the purpose of exhibition, it required a lot of resources and the freight was very expensive.

This prompted me to ask myself the question of how to properly use Dafa resources. For many years, local coordinators have requested significant contribution from practitioners to support Dafa related events, regardless of whether the practitioners could afford it or not.

One day in 2003, I overheard a few practitioners who were close to the local Dafa coordinators complaining about a project, which would cost 600,000 TWD (nearly 20,000 USD). Somebody said they could collect the funds with “righteous thoughts and actions.” However, in the end, it was still 150,000 TWD short. And it fell on the coordinators’ shoulders to find ways to fill the gap. I didn’t know how they raised the money, but the event was successfully held. But someone had to pay for it.

My salary was $20,000 TWD at the time and 600,000 TWD was a huge figure for me. It would take me a while to even save 150,000 TWD. I was very shocked by that incident and felt that we must have a stable income to be able to do all the truth-clarification activities.

Some coordinators did not agree with my viewpoint, however. They thought I had a strong attachment to money. After all, many practitioners held the thought that only by fully devoting oneself to Dafa projects would one be considered diligent, no matter whether one has an everyday job or not.

I also feel that our previous coordinators and those who were close to them did not communicate well with the rest of the practitioners in this regard. They took on a lot of responsibilities quietly behind the scenes. Many practitioners never considered where the money we used for the projects came from. Was that real “righteous thought and action?”

More than 20 years have passed since the persecution started. Many practitioners grew older and some who were well-to-do have passed away. The practitioners who were in their early twenties are now middle-aged, yet most of them aren’t financially strong because they have been doing Dafa projects full time over the years with minimal pay.

In one example, a practitioner in our district provided housing for group Fa study for a long time. Later, that practitioner passed away, and his non-practitioner family took back the house. Other practitioners had to start paying rent to maintain this Fa-study site. A house nearby was very cheap, but nobody could afford it.

It’d be ideal if the wooden three-story Fa boat were repurposed (now that the exhibition was done) to aid in our efforts to validate the Fa. Since it is the size of a building (though ship-shaped), it could be used to help with the local tourism and city planning. With more people visit the boat, it could have the effect of spreading the Fa and helping the local economy as well. This way, the income can be used to maintain the boat-building itself and also cover other relevant experiences.

This three-story boat does have its bells and whistles, which can attract people to visit, as long as the marketing is done well. Why do we not try to turn this boat into a ship-shaped restaurant, which can be filled with Dafa-related posters? If it is difficult to run a restaurant, perhaps it can be used as a tea shop.

In business management, brainstorming to come up with creative ideas, and then organizing and executing on practical solutions is important. In running a business, coordinating and managing is also critical.

The above are some thoughts that I would like to share on how to better reuse the boat, which cost so much money to build in the first place.

Editor's note: This article only represents the author’s understanding in their current cultivation state meant for sharing among practitioners so that we can “Compare in studying, compare in cultivating.” (“Solid Cultivation,” Hong Yin)