Selected from submissions to commemorate World Falun Dafa Day
(Clearwisdom.net) People have been saying,"It is easier to change a dynasty than to change one's character." However, through practicing Falun Dafa I have eliminated my temperamental and selfish character.
It was my nature to be clean. My clothing had to be clean and neat without wrinkles or stains. The chopsticks I used were marked to keep others from using them. I would not share the same dish with anyone else, and I would not go to restaurants for fear they might not be clean. Some people might think that I was being excessively clean and my family members said that I was "idiosyncratic," but I did not share that view.
After I studying Dafa, I followed Master's teaching. My behavior that differed markedly from ordinary people might make them think that I was odd. Being unwilling to eat with others could hurt their feelings and is a form of selfishness. I wanted to be a practitioner and I know a practitioner should be selfless! So I decided to share food with my family, and I was less concerned with cleanliness. In fact, I was enjoying it. Also, I did not worry about cleanliness when I washed my father-in-law's feet when he was sick.
In the past I was hard to get along with. When my sister-in-law asked me to go out, I would wash my hair first and wait for it to dry. I had no consideration for the amount of time she had to wait. Usually, my husband and my sister-in-law had to wait for quite some time. If they tried to rush me, I would refuse to go. After practicing Dafa, I knew I should be concerned about others' feeling. Now when we are to go out, I always get ready early to make sure I am the one waiting for them.
A few years back, my family was living in a rented apartment. My landlord's son had an argument with my son, and he took a kitchen knife and made a deep cut on my son's shoulder. Lots of blood came out along with flesh. He was so scared about the terrible thing he did that he ran away from home.
I felt really sad and hurt seeing the pain my son was in. It was difficult to keep from crying. In the past I would have not been able to forgive him, but as a practitioner I worried about where that child had gone and how sad his parents must feel. I did not complain about the incident and paid the hospital for my son's treatment myself. The landlord wanted to pay the medical expenses and said to me, "We know you are a practitioner. Anyone else would want much more compensation than just the hospital fees."
After the incident we continued to stay in our apartment and remained friendly with our landlord who said, "I thought you would be angry with us and move away." We stayed in that apartment for six years. When we moved, our landlord and his wife were sad to see us leave. When the persecution started, police officers went to see my former landlord's wife to ask for our whereabouts. She did not tell them. Later she told others, "Falun Dafa practitioners are good people. We should not let the police arrest them."
After more than ten years of practice, I have changed from being a selfish person into an unselfish and tolerant individual. If everyone went through what I did, Chinese society would become very stable.
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Category: Improving Oneself
