Some Thoughts on Giving Gifts to Family Members of Persecuted Practitioners During Chinese New Year

There are many ways people visit each other. Ordinary people have their ways, modern people have modern ways and, of course, Dafa practitioners also have their ways. What should we do as Dafa disciples in the Fa-Rectification period? We of course have standards set by the Fa.

From my understanding of Master's "Fa-Teaching Given to the Australian Practitioners", everything that Dafa disciples do should be beneficial for the salvation of sentient beings. Dafa disciples must validate the Fa in this world, cultivate themselves well and save sentient beings.

I believe that it is very important for Dafa practitioners to visit family members of persecuted practitioners. How shall we visit family members of our fellow practitioners who are being persecuted around New Year's time? In my opinion, Dafa and the truth can truly bring good fortune to sentient beings. We can bring calendars, greeting cards and other materials that clarify the truth about the persecution and share the beauty of Dafa when we visit them. By doing so, we accommodate the conventions of this human world (the rules are also set up for Dafa), clarify the truth, and also bring them truly good fortune.
Some practitioners bring ordinary gifts, and some send gifts worth several hundred yuan or even several thousand yuan to family members of fellow practitioners. What will these family members think? What will ordinary society say about this? Some might ask: "Where does Falun Gong get so much money? Does Falun Gong collect money? Does Falun Gong accumulate money and goods?" If it is an individual donation, how much could the family members of the persecuted practitioner handle in their heart? What other thoughts could they have?

Since July 20, 1999 when the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) started to persecute and slander Dafa, one of the lies was related to money. Dafa practitioners all around the world have undergone ten years of hard work clarifying the truth so that sentient beings won't be deceived and can be saved. Therefore, we must be careful not to give people the wrong impression of how Dafa practitioners handle money.
I want to talk about the issue from the perspective of the conventions of ordinary society. Our society is now controlled by the CCP, which emphasizes the doctrine of materialism. People have come to believe that material goods determine spiritual status and this has led many Chinese to try to make a lot of money without thinking about the outcome. Today, the whole society desires material well being. It is not unusual to send people money or goods; in fact, many human relationships are based on money and material wealth.

Let us look at how people throughout Chinese history have treated money and material things. People were governed by Daodejing and Confucius' doctrine of Benevolence-Righteousness-Propriety-Wisdom-Trust, and the rule of taking the middle way. People in ancient times were respected when they followed these rules. (This is discussed in detail in the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party).

We all know the saying that the relationships of righteous people are as clear as water. During ancient times when people's moral values were maintained at higher levels, people placed more emphasis on spiritual well-being, and they followed the rules when they did things. As practitioners, we emphasize the improvement of our moral values from the very beginning of our cultivation. Walking the cultivation path righteously and well is not only saving more sentient beings, but it also leaves a righteous path for future generations.

I only discuss this issue of gift giving at the most superficial level. There is a lot more to talk about from the perspective of Fa principles. If you think this idea is reasonable, please use it as a reference. If you think there are things not right, please correct me. I am not pointing to any individual. Even as individuals, we should be careful. Because some coordinators participated in these kind of activities, this has become an issue for the whole body.