(Minghui.org) The following is a thought-provoking story.
A woman had a recurring strange dream that many people were locked inside a dark house with a rusty lock on the door begging to be released. She felt chest pain every time she awoke from the dream. As time passed, she became ill from the chest pain, and felt anxiety and agitation.
She heard that an elderly monk could cure rare diseases, so she traveled a long way to see him. The elderly monk told her, “It's not difficult. I can give you a golden key. You hang it in front of you and remember to use the key to unlock the dark house the next time you have the same dream. Your disease will disappear after you release the people in the house.”
She thanked the monk and returned home with the key. The same dream happened again a couple of days later. This time, she got closer and looked inside the house where she discovered people she had resented, including her mother-in-law who had verbally abused her, a neighbor who had bullied her, a childhood playmate who had pushed her into a dirty ditch and almost drowned her, and others. She looked further and found a lame dog. It dawned on her that it was a mean dog that had bit her on her way to school when she was young. In summary, every one of them had hurt her before. She decided not to unlock the door because they deserved it. She did not use her golden key despite their cries for help.
Six months passed and her disease worsened. She went to see the elderly monk again. The monk said, “You have only one chance left. If you miss it the golden key won’t be able to help you. You will have the same dream again tonight. You must unlock the padlock before the rust completely seals the lock.” She made up her mind to do so.
As the monk predicted, she had the same dream again that night. Without any hesitation, she bravely took out her key and unlocked the door. “Clank!” the people inside rushed out as soon as the door opened. A woman slowly walked out behind them. She looked untidy, weak and pitiful. She resembled her. No! It was her! The dark house suddenly collapsed the moment she walked out of it. Sunshine poured down. It was so bright that she awoke.
She heard the monk's voice, “Locking others is also locking oneself. Locking the past is locking one's own heart. Resentment piles up inside a dark house. Open the window, and let the sunshine in.”
The woman's diseases disappeared. Her eyes looked lively, her face looked rosy, and she looked pretty again.
We Falun Dafa practitioners have been cultivating ourselves for years. Do we still have any dark houses in our hearts? If we do, they are certainly blocking our improvement and blocking us from offering salvation to sentient beings. Holding any resentment against others stops us from liberating others or ourselves.
Having been influenced by the Chinese Communist Party's culture, almost everyone in mainland China has a dark house inside their heart. Since childhood, the concepts of class struggle and violent revolution have been instilled deeply into our minds. Such factors were magnified by the evil persecution of Falun Dafa practitioners. It's hard to realize it from its root and completely eliminate it.
I used to hold resentment against policemen. I still considered the police part of the evil persecution, even though I knew from Dafa's principles that employees of public security organs were sentient beings to whom we need to offer salvation. I considered them different from other people in society, so I had no compassion for them.
My new ID was held back by the director of the police station last year. My first thought was not to look inward, but was instead a feeling of resentment against the director of the police station. I looked up the law about resident identity cards. I also found out that the director worked on his own business during his working time. I planned to report him to the disciplinary committee, hoping he would be removed from his position. But I thought it over more rationally later. If he was disciplined or fired because a Dafa practitioner reported him, would he ever have any positive view of Dafa or Dafa practitioners? Would he lose his chance to be saved? I should have looked inward for my own faults when I heard my ID had been held back.
My resentment toward policemen is certainly the dark house in my heart. Master has given us the golden key of looking inward. After understanding the harmful nature of my resentment and eliminating it, compassion arose in my heart. Viewing sentient beings with compassion, I found that all of them deserve a chance to be saved no matter what positions they are in. I experienced the beauty of Dafa's compassion and an incomparably strong faith in Dafa.
After I changed my mentality, my ID was returned to me. Master had paved the road and waited for my realm to elevate. Things turned to the right direction when the way I viewed the matter changed.
As a matter of fact, many policemen participated in the persecution because evil factors were in control. Many of them can tell right from wrong after we eliminate the evil factors behind them.
Fa rectification is approaching the end. I hope all Dafa practitioners will be able to unlock the dark houses in our hearts with the golden key of looking inward that Master has given us. Don't wait until the rust seals the lock completely. Saving others is saving ourselves. Think about Master's big heart. He even saves the Communist Party's secret agents. How can we welcome the period of Fa rectification of the human world with resentment in our minds?
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Category: Improving Oneself
