Be a Pure Lotus in Business

(Minghui.org) I started practicing Falun Dafa in 2005 and am now over 60 years old. I would like to share my cultivation expereince of how I have used Dafa’s principles to guide and cultivate myself over the past 10 years while interacting with people in the same business.

Remain Unmoved When Others Want Your Business

In today’s world, moral standards are declining tremendously, and interactions between people are often fraught with conflict, especially in business, where intrigue, competition, and deception are commonplace. It is in this environment that we Dafa practitioners can temper and improve our xinxing. As cultivators, we should set high standards for ourselves, transcend the big dye vat of the human world, and be a pure lotus flower in this muddy world, emerging from the mud unstained.

I am in the wholesale business. One autumn, leather fashion fabrics were popular. I did well selling them, and the goods were in short supply. Although sales were good, I didn’t dare to buy too much, because I had little capital and was afraid of ending up overstocked. My neighbor Lin saw that my business was doing well and often came to see me. He said he wanted to sell the same fabrics, but didn’t know the manufacturer. I gave him the address. People who do business know that there is an unwritten rule that competitors are not allowed to go into other people’s stores and look around. In our market, there was a person who followed others’ business and got beaten to a bloody pulp. Every industry has its own rules.

My neighbor Fang also saw that I was selling well, so he secretly bought the same fabrics to sell. At first, he didn’t know how to sell them, so he came to ask me for advice. I felt uncomfortable. He was competing with me and even came to ask me how to sell them! He had the nerve to say that out loud. He was bullying me and thought I was a fool. Being a cultivator, however, I need to listen to Master’s words, so I calmly explained to him how to do it.

In order to contact customers easily, my family installed unlimited Internet access. Fang asked if he could connect to our Internet. I agreed, and, later, his wife and brother-in-law connected to my Internet, too. His family received gifts every year when they held events. I gave him gifts eight times. He came with the manufacturer and stood in front of my place to look at my goods. I was calm and didn’t take it to heart.

My neighbor Cai and I usually get along well. One time when I went to stock up on goods, he asked me to get some samples. I helped ship the samples to him. Once, he said to me, “One of my customers likes your goods and asked me to buy some for him.” So I bought some for him.

However, his customer had a hard time selling them and sent the goods back to Cai, so Cai came and asked me, “What do you think? Can you help me sell them?” I said I would if he wanted to bring me the goods. I helped him sell the goods slowly, and paid him all the profits, not taking a penny for myself. From the Fa, I realized that, as a true cultivator, you must be a good person. How good should you be? Better than ordinary people.

Taking Self-interest Lightly

One year, I helped a client sell some goods. I sold a portion, but I couldn’t sell everything. I lost contact with the client for seven or eight years—until I found her phone number in an old notebook. I call her and said, “I sold some of the goods, not all, and will return the rest to you.” I even sent her the original bill. She was surprised and said, “It’s been so long, and you still contacted me. I thought that deal was forgotten. Thank you so much. I want to be your friend. There are very few good people like you. I will definitely visit you when I have time. Thank you!” In fact, she kept thanking me.

Over the years of doing business, the manufacturer often sent the wrong goods or sent too much, ranging from goods worth a few hundred yuan to a few thousand yuan. I told my wife, “If it’s not mine, I don’t want it. Not a penny of it.” I transferred everything back, because Dafa’s principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance has taken deep root in my heart. It is the nature of the universe. I behave according to the standards of Dafa in my every word and action.

In the first few years of doing business, my wife found a store on the commercial street in the community that we bought. When our children found out, they asked us to sell it. A relative found out and wanted to buy it. He asked me if we would sell it to him at the price we paid for it originally. My wife and I discussed it and sold it to him for that price. At the time, someone else wanted to buy it and offered tens of thousands of yuan more. I wanted to sell it for more money, because I’d put a lot of time and energy into it. I could have sold it for 30,000 more, but I still sold it to our relative at the original price. I thought that, as a cultivator, I should set high standards for myself. I clearly suffered a loss.

Master said: “Accomplishing is cultivating.” (“Solid Cultivation” in Hong Yin) To cultivate, one must let go of “self” in the midst of fame, wealth, and sentimentality, which is very difficult to do.

Among the relatives and friends who have done business with me over the years, there are entrepreneurs worth millions or tens of millions of yuan. But I am still me, and there has not been much change in my wealth. I do not envy those big shots, because I have obtained the great and virtuous Dafa, so precious that it cannot be measured with money. Falun Dafa has purified my mind, improved my realm, and made my life easy and happy every day!

I am in my 60s and have not needed any medications over the past 20 years. I am healthy and feel light, and I work quickly and easily. I am bathed in the light of the Fa every day. It is better to have a healthy body than to have lots of money.

No matter how serious the pandemic got over the past few years, I was not worried. I felt calm and at ease being a good person. People who know me in the market admire my character. Because I am guided by the principles of Falun Dafa, I cultivate the great and virtuous Fa of the universe, and because I have a compassionate and great Master, all of this is my eternal glory. I will follow Master closely and walk on the path to divinity, transcending the mundane world and becoming as pure as a lotus flower that grows out of the mud without being stained.