(Minghui.org) A few days ago, my mother told me that my sister worked overtime every day, and that she earned an extra few thousand yuan. My sister's salary had already been considered high for our small city, and now with her overtime pay, her monthly income is nearly ten thousand yuan.
Hearing this “good news,” I somehow felt inexplicably unpleasant. I immediately caught it: jealousy! At the same time, I also felt sad for myself. I've been practicing for so many years, yet I still have such a dirty attachment to jealousy. I am even jealous of my own sister.
When I arrived home, my mind still hadn't calmed down. I knew it was jealousy at work, and since it surfaced it was making me feel bad. I thought I should send forth righteous thoughts to disintegrate it. I know that jealousy is not my true nature. If a divine being were in this situation, they would never have this thinking. I said in my mind to Master Li, the founder of Falun Dafa, “Master, I really want to cultivate well!” At this point, Master’s Fa appeared in my mind.
Master said:
“A practitioner will surely not be occupied by the wants that normally consume people, and will place little value in worldly things. What he will have in his life, however, are higher things that people ordinarily can’t have—even if they come to know about them and want them.” (The Ninth Talk, Zhuan Falun)
There are three people in my family, and our total monthly income is less than two thousand yuan. I asked myself: “I am not working now (because of a change in the employment system), and I am soon to be officially retired. If I was offered a job that paid ten thousand yuan a month, would I take it? My answer would be no.” I asked myself: “Is it money that I want? My answer is no; my time and energy should be spent on cultivation and saving sentient beings. Money is something for ordinary people to pursue.” I then asked myself: “Why am I jealous of my sister’s high income when I no longer want to pursue the things of ordinary people?”
At that moment, I felt unusually sober, and the jealousy towards my sister disappeared. At the same time, I felt compassion for my sister: On the surface, she is smart and her living conditions are excellent. However, when the persecution began in 1999, my sister had read only a few pages of the Dafa books. It’s a pity that she missed the opportunity to become a practitioner. Moreover, seeing our family members persecuted caused serious damage to my sister. Even now, she still cannot fully accept the truth about Dafa. She is fascinated by the false appearances of the world, and does not know what people are actually here for. My sister suffers! Although her salary has increased, she has to work intensely for nearly ten hours a day. Yet this is often the only thing that ordinary people pursue.
A Dafa disciple is compassionate towards sentient beings. I should likewise be compassionate towards my sister, so she can feel the goodness of Dafa practitioners and the beauty that Dafa manifests. Once I realized this, I felt that I should take action. So I made a delicious dinner for my sister and sent it to her, hoping that she would eat better and be a little less tired from working overtime. My sister was very touched by my kindness.
Thank you, Master for the compassionate enlightenment. I feel that I have taken another step forward on the path of cultivation through this experience of removing jealousy.
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Category: Improving Oneself