(Minghui.org) I first learned Falun Dafa in early 2004 when I was working at a hospital. As I studied the Fa, I came to understand that my personal cultivation and Fa-rectification are interconnected. Saving people is the mission of Dafa practitioners.
I studied regularly, kept up with reading Masters’ lectures and Minghui Weeklyso that my state was good enough to help people understand the truth and be saved. I shared Dafa with all of my patients, their relatives, people I met at dinner parties, and even with people I met while taking taxis or riding trains.
Master said,
“At the crucial moment when I ask you to break away from humanness, you do not follow me. Each opportunity will not occur again. (“Digging Out the Roots” from Essentials for Further Advancement)
When we went to Tiananmen Square to validate the Fa or filed a lawsuit against Jiang Zemin, the former dictator who started the persecution, we had to part with human notions and human mentality. This is the part of the process of going from human to divine. And in our daily lives, as Dafa practitioners, we need to look at each occurrence using Dafa principles. When we experience tribulations and conflicts, as long as we look inward and let go of human notions, our environments can change, and we will be able to handle the tests.
A boy from a rural area had a high fever and was treated by me for about five days. Just when I was about to discharge him, his fever returned and remained for about 20 days. Then he got pneumonia, and it would take at least a week to get him past the worst of it. His parents told me that they had not been taking good care of the child.
I talked to the parents about Falun Gong and the persecution and about withdrawing from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). On the third day, the child was symptom-free from an illness that would usually take a long time to cure. Both his parents and I witnessed the miraculous power of Falun Dafa. This also helped me get rid of being attached to appearances, which had been deeply rooted within me.
When I first learned Dafa, I often attended a study group. We read, sent righteous thoughts, discussed cultivation issues, and it was usually past midnight when I arrived home. Once, shortly before midnight, my husband called me to come home. I was rattled and got up to leave.
One of the other practitioners said, “Don’t leave yet if your mind is not calm. You are doing something righteous; he should be happy.” I realized that the practitioner was right. All lives came for the Fa, and a relative of Dafa practitoners should be rewarded with good fortune, so I mentally talked to my husband’s knowing side and sent righteous thoughts to clear any interference. When I got home, he was already asleep. The next day, he acted as if nothing had happened.
Once I went out to do some truth clarification work after my night shift. I got home late. As soon as I got in, my husband screamed at me. I was not affected. Instead, I tried to calm him down: “Please do not get mad. I will come home earlier tomorrow and make dinner for you.”
I then went into my room and locked the door. I thought to myself, practitioners should have compassion as well as dignity. While we should be kind to people, we should also be serious about any elements controlling people.
I believe that the spiritual side of my husband knows the truth. He withdrew from the CCP and was supportive of my cultivation. I talked to the interfering beings behind him and let them know that if they participated in the persecution, they would be eliminated. A few minutes later, my husband knocked on my door and said with a smile, “I have heated up dinner for you.”
Master said, “It’s way too easy to control an ordinary person’s head.” (Zhuan Falun) When things happen, we should differentiate people’s divine sides from their ordinary sides.
After my father died, my mother came to live with me; my brother and sister-in-law did not want to look after her. On the day before my mother’s 80th birthday celebration, which my brother had organized from out of town, I called up a male practitioner in front of my husband to arrange for transportation to the birthday party. My husband got angry and yelled at me in front of my mother and my daughter. I realized that he might have been interfered with, so I canceled the ride and looked inward.
My father died many years ago, and my mother had endured a lot of hardship to raise us. I had always wanted my mother to know that my husband treated me well so that she would not worry about me. I was very attached to her being happy and to looking good in her eyes. Also, I should not be calling a male practitioner so casually. I should observe propriety in dealing with the opposite sex. After I eliminated these attachments, my husband became calm.
After the party, I said to my daughter, “Don't you think your father was too much today? My daughter reminded me, “Are you still holding onto resentment?” I realized that I had to let go of the bad feeling altogether. What we do does not matter as much as the attachments behind our actions.
These days, my husband is even more supportive of Dafa. He does the laundry, cooks and cleans up the house in his spare time, leaving me free to do Dafa work.
My brother is a smooth talker and rather calculating. When he found out our mother’s cancer had spread, he knew that her days were numbered and offered to pick mom up from the hospital and to live with them. After she passed away, my brother wanted to file false claims for government benefits. He asked me to give him my heating cost receipts so that he could get reimbursement under her benefit account. I would have had to lie and say my mother was living with me during her last months. I was torn for a while.
I was upset with my brother’s request, and yet, I didn’t want to offend him by saying no. I had an attachment to sentimentality, but I decided not to comply with his request. I called him to say that I would not do it. He was okay with my decision and said that he would do it himself. In the end, he got the money he was seeking without receipts.
I had paid for my mother’s living expenses for years and my father’s funeral costs, and I had not touched my mother’s savings. I promised my brother that he could have all of it should my mother pass away. But my brother complained to my aunt and uncle that he had been shortchanged. I was upset when I heard that. But everything happens for a reason. I examined my own attachments. I found that I wanted to be recognized. In the end, my brother never again brought up the issue. My brother and sister-in-law are now nice to me.
A young nurse on my shift did not show up on time to relieve me as she had promised, on a day when I had to leave early. She was late twice more and told me that she was busy on social media. I did not lose my cool. I know that my environment reflects my mind. I realized that I did not always keep my promises either. I also embellished the facts sometimes to look good. I told fellow practitioners that I got up at 3:50 am every day to do the exercises and study the Fa, but I didn’t always do so. I have this party-culture habit of embellishment. I eliminated the attachments once I realized I had them. Since then, the young nurse has not been late.
I have so many more stories I could tell. In short, in cultivation, we should regard every test we encounter as good: we have to face challenges with righteous thoughts, and negate the arrangements of the old forces. Whatever happens to us is good as long as we can improve our xinxing.
This is my personal understanding. Kindly point out anything not consistent with the Fa.