(Minghui.org) I started practicing Falun Dafa in 1998. A year after I started on my cultivation path, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began to persecute the practice. I was illegally arrested in 2003 for speaking to people about Falun Dafa and I was imprisoned until 2006. After I was released, I experienced great pressure and tribulations at home.
While I was in prison, my mother stopped practicing Falun Dafa and passed away from diabetes. This had a negative impact on my family and made for additional difficulties in helping them to understand the truth about Falun Dafa.
Looking Inside
My parents-in-law were afraid of me being arrested again. My father-in-law reminded me every now and then, “If you think Falun Dafa is good, you can practice at home. Don't go outside to talk to people, or you might get arrested and sentenced to prison for a dozen years.”
My mother-in-law said, “Think about it. You have a good family and a good son, and you should think of them. You are in China, and there is not much we can do. Or you can go abroad.”
My parents-in-law did not really understand that Dafa is good. I also understood that I had not done a good job of telling them about the practice and that I had not been able to really break through this difficulty for years.
Master taught us:
“Do you know what the biggest reason for that is? It's that you see them as your family, rather than as part of the sentient beings or as just like all of the other independent lives. You should earnestly and carefully clarify the truth to your family members, just as you would with other people in the world.” (“Teaching the Fa at the Western U.S. International Fa Conference”)
Because of diligently studying the Fa, I clearly recognized my shortcomings. Usually when I went out and talked to people, my explaining the truth about Falun Dafa was impressive and it would move people. However, as soon as I returned home my mind became empty. The reason was that I had not treated my family as sentient beings.
I looked within and came to understand that I held strong fear, selfishness, sentiment, and so on. We are the lives walking on the path of becoming divine beings. How could we move forward dragging all those heavy burdens along? Could we go to heaven with all those attachments? I knew I needed to correct the environment in my home and have my family understand the truth.
I made up my mind, “From now on I must discard those attachments.” I kept sending righteous thoughts to eliminate the factors that the old forces used to interfere with my family understanding the facts about Falun Dafa, as I wanted my family to be saved and my cultivation environment at home to improve.
Explaining the Facts about the Practice to My Parents-in-Law
After my righteous thoughts became stronger, I put them into action. I paid more attention to the wellbeing of my parents-in-law. I often helped by doing chores and frequently chatted with them. I also spent more effort talking about Falun Dafa to them.
When we ate dinner, I told them, “I sincerely wish you a healthy and long life. I also must tell you to please remember ‘Falun Dafa is good.’ This is truly for the sake of your own wellbeing.”
I then told them the truth about the fabricated “Tiananmen Square self-immolation,” that Falun Dafa had already spread to more than 100 countries, and that it has been praised and honored worldwide. I also told them that those who are responsible for the persecution of Falun Dafa, including Jiang Zemin, Luo Gan and Zeng Qinghong, have been sued in the courts in more than 30 countries. I explained that practitioners’ distributing Falun Dafa truth-clarification materials abroad is not against the law, but that the CCP is arresting and torturing good people.
Once when we were talking about Bo Xilai facing trial, I took the opportunity to tell them about Bo Xilai and Zhou Yongkang’s involvement in harvesting organs from living practitioners. I explained that there were people in the public security system who understand the truth and who have started helping practitioners.
I showed my parents-in-law the photos and videos of Falun Dafa being promoted worldwide. They gradually changed and started to listen willingly, and they even commented and started to communicate about it. I told them that I hoped they truly understood that Falun Dafa is good. They told me that they understood and reminded me, “Be careful when you go outside.”
At home I explained the facts to my family from different aspects just like I would tell anyone else. All the breakthroughs I achieved in telling the facts to my family were possible only because of Master’s help and strengthening.
My Husband Changes
My husband is not a practitioner, and he was deeply poisoned by the CCP’s culture and its atheistic propaganda. My mother’s passing away especially left a negative impact on him.
I explained: “A true practitioner must strictly follow Master’s teaching, must keep elevating his mind and heart nature, and let go of the attachment to illnesses. A person who just does the exercises cannot be counted as being a practitioner. Millions of practitioners have benefited physically and mentally from the practice.” This allowed me to untie the knot in my husband’s mind, and he stopped arguing with me concerning the practice.
When I was just released from prison, my husband had an affair with another woman, and he would ask for a divorce every now and then. At the time I was grief-stricken and felt as if the sky was collapsing.
When I was reading the Fa and doing the exercises at home, my husband and my parents-in-law tried to stop me. They even took away Zhuan Falun and threatened me that they would report me to the authorities.
I said, “I am conducting myself according to the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. The CCP is persecuting Falun Dafa. Why do you want to interfere with my reading the Fa at home? Your doing that is not good for you. Zhuan Falun is my treasured book. Please return it.”
I intensified my sending righteous thoughts to eliminate the evil factors behind my family, rejecting the persecution and everything arranged by the old forces. I was determined to walk the path arranged by Master. They put the book back in my drawer and acted as if nothing had happened.
Letting Go of Sentiment
At the end of last year, I got a phone call from the woman my husband had an affair with for three years. She told me that she knew I was very kind and was persecuted for my belief. She asked me whether I wanted to go to the United States. She said that, if I went, I would be giving up my family and she would take my place.
I said, “My home is here. I am not going to the United States and I am not giving up my home. Falun Dafa teaches me to be a good wife, a good mother, and a good daughter at home and to be a good employee at work. The things I did not do well before I will improve on and do them well.”
She said, "Do you hate me? Your husband and I have been having an affair for years, and we even took tours inside of China and abroad.”
I said, “As a matter of fact, I did hate you when I first learned about your affair. But, now I do not hate you anymore. I believe that you are a kind young woman and you should have your own real love. I hope you can soon find your other half.”
She responded, “I know what I should do now. Thank you.” As I hung up, I was surprised that I was able to have this compassionate mind. If she had called me a few years before, I would have reacted differently.”
I never mentioned this phone call to my husband. I acted like nothing had happened, and I treated him better than before. I knew that he did not want to give up his home.
When he was sick I looked after him and asked him to repeat, “Falun Dafa is good! Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good!” At the beginning he refused, but then gradually he accepted it.
Little by little my husband changed. The conditions at home gradually improved, and I could read the Fa and do the exercises at home.
But my husband was still skeptical about the practice. He said, “I don't believe the CCP's propaganda, but I also don’t believe what you said about Falun Dafa.” Apparently he was using counter blockade software to surf the web, and he was well aware of various reports; he just did not want to talk about it.
On the days when I was not working, I went out to tell people the facts about Falun Dafa. He yelled at me, “You're going out to do bad things again!" I told him calmly, "What I am doing is the most righteous and the best thing in the whole universe!" After a while he no longer said anything.
Installing a Satellite Dish
I had always wanted to install a satellite dish for my family to watch NTDTV (New Tang Dynasty Television) programs to learn what is happening abroad and to hear the facts about Falun Dafa.
Several months ago a fellow practitioner gave me a satellite dish. I took it home, but I did not know how to install it. Reluctantly I returned it but felt bad about it.
After I made up my mind to correct the environment in my home, I asked the fellow practitioner again for the receiver and took it home. I sent righteous thoughts and asked for Master’s strengthening, “I will have the satellite dish installed.”
I originally wanted to try to install the receiver by myself after my family went to sleep. I thought, “Why do I have to do it behind their backs as if I am doing something bad? This is not a Dafa practitioner’s conduct. This is my mentality of fear. My husband is very handy and has very good technical skills. Why can’t I ask him to install it? What is there to be afraid of?”
In the morning I took the receiver to my husband and said, "This is an imported satellite dish system. It is very good. You are a technical person; can you install it, please?”
Without saying anything, he started installing it. After he set it up, we were able to watch the NTDTV programs.
Through this experience, I came to understand Master’s teaching:
“All of you are already aware of the principle of mutual-generation and mutual-inhibition. If you are not afraid, the factor that would make you afraid will cease to exist. This is not to be self-imposed, but is achieved by truly and calmly letting go of it.” (“Eliminate Your Last Attachment(s)” in Essentials for Further Advancement II)
My husband’s attitude toward me has changed a lot. He no longer talks about a divorce and has become more considerate of me. While Dafa was correcting me, Dafa was also correcting him. I experienced Master's great mercy and mighty graciousness,
"Compassion can harmonize Heaven and Earth, ushering in springRighteous thoughts can save the people in this world"("The Fa Rectifies the Cosmos," Hong Yin Vol. II)
Following Master’s teachings to tell the truth to family and friends with a sincere and compassionate mind is not that difficult, as long as you can let go of your attachments and selfishness.
Following Master’s arrangements to solidly cultivate our mind and eliminate our attachments is what is required of practitioners.
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Category: Improving Oneself
