(Minghui.org) Greetings, revered Master! Greetings, fellow practitioners!
I’m from Kaohsiung, Taiwan, and I began practicing Falun Dafa in 2000. At first, my husband wasn’t supportive. I had to work, so I could only clarify the truth over the Internet. I also mailed truth-clarification materials in my spare time. I tried to attend group Fa study every week. I told my family about the amazing changes I’d experienced so my husband would understand how wonderful Falun Dafa is. I also hoped that he would practice. Maybe because I pushed him too hard instead of cultivating myself, my husband was not moved.
During a discussion in our Fa-study group, I was touched by a practitioner telling us how he talked to people about the persecution. I was not afraid to clarify the truth through computers or by writing letters, but talking to people face-to-face intimidated me.
Overcoming the Attachment to Family
My weekends were spent grocery shopping, and I had to cook every day. I felt uneasy because I wasn’t doing the three things practitioners are supposed to do. Whenever my husband was unhappy or reminded me of something, he scolded me and called me an “idiot” or said, “Your brain is not functioning well.” I felt very sad. I looked inward and realized that when he said my brain didn’t function well, it meant I didn’t do three things well. I didn’t go out to clarify the truth. How can I balance family and being a responsible practitioner?
One weekend, after my husband and I finished grocery shopping, he got on the motorcycle while I sat on the back, holding the groceries with both hands. It was a bumpy ride, and the pain in my hands was unbearable. When we got home, I told him about it and added, “If I hadn’t been a practitioner, I would have lost my temper.” I asked him if he thought he had treated me fairly. He apologized and said he didn’t do it on purpose.
Actually, I knew he treated me badly because I needed to eliminate my human sentiments. I said, “I go to work all week and spend every weekend with you at home, but you scold me so often. I’m a practitioner but I have no time to clarify the truth. I feel truly sad. Please let me go out to clarify the truth. I could go on public holidays, and I’d be back in time to prepare dinner. Is that okay?” He said yes.
I didn’t know the way to a popular tourist attraction, so the first week, my husband took me there. While I talked to people, he walked around and came back at 6 p.m. and helped fold the placards. The second week, my husband didn’t want to go, so my son took me. The third week, I asked, “Who can take me there?” My husband and son asked my daughter to take me. I laughed and knew it was time for me to go by myself.
I hold the placards at the tourist site. Once, a lady came and read my placard attentively. I told myself not to be afraid and to seize the chance to help her quit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its affiliated organizations. I then clarified the truth to her and persuaded her to renounce the CCP. She came from Tianjin and had joined the Young Pioneers. When I was writing down her hometown, I made a typo. She pointed it out, and as I corrected it, I made another typo. She took the pen and wrote down the correct Chinese character herself. I congratulated her for renouncing the CCP. She was so happy that she bounced as she walked away. This experience helped me overcome my fear, and I sincerely thanked Master.
I came to a deeper understanding of what Master said,
“I've told you before that Shan isn't something pretended, nor is it a state that's just maintained on the surface. Shan truly comes from within and can only be attained and embodied through cultivation. When you're before sentient beings, as soon as words come out of your mouth and as soon as your thoughts emerge, they are able to disintegrate bad elements and the bad things that poison the world's people and that exist in people's minds. And then people will come to understand, and you'll be able to save them. Without the mighty power of true Shan at work, you won't be able to disintegrate those things, and you won't achieve anything in clarifying the truth.”(“Teaching the Fa at the 2004 Western U.S. Fa Conference,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. V)
Every time I returned home from the truth-clarification site, I told my family about my experiences. Gradually my husband understood the urgency of what I was doing and became supportive. He even told me there was no need to cook dinner when I returned home, that we could just get takeaway food. Thus, my cultivation environment became burden-free.
My Husband Supports My Decision to Go to Hong Kong
I wanted to resign from my job in 2015, but my husband could not understand and did not agree. I resigned in August 2016. I told my husband that it was not easy to find a job in August and that I wanted to look for a job after Chinese New Year. I wanted to go to Hong Kong to support the truth-clarification efforts at tourist sites there. My husband did not agree and thought that it was good enough to clarify the truth in Taiwan and that there was no need to go to Hong Kong.
One day, my cousin who is a pomelo (an Asian citrus fruit) farmer asked my husband to help. So, my husband and I went to Tainan to help harvest pomelo. I found one that had more than 20 udumbara flowers (the flowers are considered sacred in many Asian cultures).
I showed it to my husband, and he thought it was miraculous. I told him that Master was encouraging us, and it also showed him how wonderful Falun Dafa is. Afterward, my husband no longer tried to stop me from going to Hong Kong. I told him that I would stay in Hong Kong for a month. I also told him the practitioner I was traveling with was someone he knew. My husband agreed to let me go.
Master said,
“Also, a lot of our students are concerned about many things, all kinds of stuff. In fact, once you think about those things your realm has dropped. Don't think about anything, and don't worry about anything. Master is compassionate, and he'll definitely arrange for you what's the best. (Applause) You don't need to think, "That's Master being merciful to us," because it's what you've achieved through cultivation, and it results from your own mighty virtue. That's why Master does it for you.”(“Teaching the Fa at the Conference in Vancouver, Canada, in 2003,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. II)
I came to understand that once I let go of attachments, things would happen as expected.
Before I left for Hong Kong, my husband, daughter, and son kept reminding me to take care of myself. I smiled and told them I would. I knew these were all human sentiments.
Master said,
“If you are free from this sentimentality, nobody can affect you. An everyday person’s mind will be unable to sway you. What takes over in its place is benevolence, which is something more noble.” (Lecture Four, Zhuan Falun)
Once we arrived in Hong Kong, the other practitioner and I got lost. Then I heard Pudu. By following the music we found the other practitioners. Master was indeed looking after us!
At home, I never had enough time to study the Fa, so while I was in Hong Kong I studied two lectures of Zhuan Falun every day. At first, I couldn’t keep up my Fa study, so I reminded myself that I was in Hong Kong now and had to do the three things well.
Master said,
“Dafa disciples, however things may go for you and whatever the situation may be, regardless of whether you’ve done poorly or well, try to do well at the three things of Dafa disciples—do them well in the time ahead—and in doing so you will be constantly cultivating, moving forward, and making success for yourselves. And through this process of constant cultivation, you will know for yourself the things that I’ve talked about and be able to focus on how to do well in the future.” (“2012 International Fa Conference at the U.S. Capital”)
When I returned to Taiwan, I told my husband, “Since it’s not easy to find a job now, maybe I should go back to Hong Kong for another three months. When I return, it will be the Chinese New Year.”
The first time I went to Hong Kong, my husband complained and said it was too long. I told him that by staying for three months, I would save money on airfare, and he agreed. He didn’t even complain that three months was too long; instead, he said it would pass by in a blink.
After Chinese New Year, I started to look for a job. My daughter said, “Mom, you had to work and do all the housework. Now I think you should just stay home and do the housework, which is also a job.” After my husband heard our daughter say this, he no longer pushed me to find a job. When I’m home, I try my best to take care of the family, but when it’s time to go to Hong Kong, I go.
Conclusion
There’s a chocolate shop near the truth-clarification site in Hong Kong. The owner held a negative attitude toward us and wouldn’t let us talk to people in front of his shop. Once, I was standing near his shop and talking to people when I felt a sudden pain in my chest. I realized he had just tossed his shoe at me! I was sad that such a thing could happen. The Hong Kong practitioners who constantly clarify the truth at that site are truly compassionate and have forbearance.
Master said,
“Cultivators look at things in just the opposite way. They see tribulations and suffering as good opportunities for improvement. [To cultivators] these are all good things, and the more there are and the faster they come, the faster the improvement.” (Teaching the Fa in San Francisco, 2005)
I currently work at the Fengshan Epoch Times office, and I can arrange my own schedule. Because I have done the three things well, my husband has begun to study the Fa and do the exercises. In 2018, he also sent greetings to Master for New Years and participated in Fa-study. He fully supports my traveling to Hong Kong.
I’m now in Hong Kong again sharing my experiences with fellow practitioners. I truly treasure this opportunity, and I’m very grateful to Master.
If there is anything inappropriate in my understanding, please kindly point it out!
Thank you, Master! Thank you, fellow practitioners!
(Presented at the 2019 Hong Kong Fa Conference)
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