(Minghui.org) I am 57 years old and retired. I began to practice Falun Dafa in 1997. I was laid off by my workplace in 1997. To be able to support my family, I accepted a job as a housekeeper and babysitter, operated a small business, and raised pigs.
I understood that no matter what I did, I would never forget that I am a Falun Dafa practitioner. I cultivated and pursued kindness, all the while keeping in mind my mission – saving people. After I retired, I helped my elderly in-laws, and decided to share my experiences.
Both of my in-laws are 84 years old. Their home is fairly close to where I live. They both had poor vision. As my mother-in-law came down with heart disease, femoral head necrosis, and other illnesses, she needed to use a walker or wheelchair when she went out. Given her condition, she couldn’t take care of any household chores.
Before I started supporting them, it was always my father-in-law who took care of almost all the household chores. My mother-in-law has one daughter and two younger sons. I’m her oldest daughter-in-law. Their children usually came to visit them once a week, but only for a chat. They rarely helped them with any household chores, including cleaning the house. At that time, only I took their laundry home to wash it every week.
After I quit my housekeeping work in 2016, I helped my in-laws with cleaning their house, doing their laundry, taking my mother-in-law outside for a walk, and so on. After I arrived at their home, I first thoroughly cleaned their bathroom. Then I cleaned the floors throughout the house. I also put everything in the kitchen at the proper place, and then cleaned the entire house. My husband’s sister and younger brother said, “This is great! With this help, we are confident that our mother can live a few more years.” They all knew that people who practice Falun Dafa are very kind and dedicated to whatever they do.
When I had time, I taught my mother-in-law to recite the phrases – “Falun Dafa is wonderful! Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is wonderful!” She never went to school and was illiterate, so I had to teach it to her word by word, telling her that by doing so, it could save her life and ensure her safety.
I always bought clothes for her. When I cooked for my daughter, I often saved a portion for her, as she didn’t like what my father-in-law prepared for her.
In the past, she was hospitalized once or twice a year. But, since I started taking care of her and my father-in-law, she has not been admitted to the hospital again. They were always in a good mood, and consequently, in good health.
My mother-in-law had constipation and defecated only once a week with the help of medication. She ended up leaving a mess on the toilet seat, the wall, her bed sheets, and her clothes. I always had to look around to make sure I cleaned everything. When they needed something, I just bought it for them without mentioning anything to anyone.
My in-laws lived on the first floor and they each had their own room. One night when my mother-in-law got up in the middle of the night, she couldn’t stand steadily, fell to the ground, and could not get up by herself due to her leg problems. She cried out loud for help, but no matter how loudly she shouted, my father-in-law couldn’t hear her. Thus, she stayed on the floor the whole night. She was found and helped up the next day, and refused to get out of bed afterwards.
Two days later, a relative visited her, sat at her bedside, and talked with her. When I went close to my mother-in-law, I saw her face was pale, and her lips began to shiver. I said, “Oh my goodness! Mother is having a heart attack!” Hearing that, my brother-in-law brought her medication. He took out a few pills and quickly put them in her mouth. But she began to shiver. Her situation appeared to be more and more serious.
I wasn’t scared at all, I held her hand and kept reciting the two phrases I taught her. While I was doing that, she suddenly opened her eyes, and began to look at my mouth. Then she shouted loudly, “Falun Dafa is wonderful!” But she did not remember the other words! This made both my brother-in-law and his son laugh. The next day, she was fine and back to normal.
My father-in-law held great resentment towards his daughter, and vice versa. One time, he complained to me about his daughter, and said everything he disliked about her. As he went on and on, he became more upset. I often tried to persuade him not to get upset, saying it’s not good for his health. I also told him that being in the same family is a predestined relationship, and we should treasure it.
His daughter is a retired public service employee. She was very eloquent and didn’t stop talking once she started. She knew everything about what others talked about. But as soon as my father-in-law was mentioned, her temper flared up. Whenever she brought my in-laws something, my father-in-law always found problems with it and said it wasn’t good.
When my mother-in-law took a shower, she needed the support of two people, and my sister-in-law always came to help. She complained about my father-in-law every time, saying that he got used to correcting people at work as a manager, and did the same at home. My mother-in-law once said to her, “Why do you always complain about your father? Although your father has a bad temper, your sister-in-law never gets mad or complains about him.” I also said to her, “How many years will they live? Let’s treasure the time while they are still here.”
One time when both of us helped my mother-in-law with a shower, she asked me, “Treating the elderly nicely and being kind will accumulate virtue and fortune, so that our descendants will have a good fortune. Is this what’s written in your Dafa books?” I replied, “Our Dafa requires us not to fight back, swear at people, or bad mouth people, so that we will not lose virtue. One’s good fortune and assets are paid for with virtue. Having illnesses or running into a calamity is caused by one’s having committed wrong deeds in the past.”
I recently noticed that she started delivering home-made dumplings to her parents, although she didn’t know how to cook them before. She also bought large red radishes for my father-in-law, which was his favorite vegetable. In addition, she stopped fighting with him and being picky when she meets up with him. Moreover, she took her mother’s dirty clothes after helping her with her shower and washed the clothes at her home. My actions truly moved her, as she changed, and now knows how to care about others.
When my mother-in-law sat outside and chatted with some aunties, they said she was fortunate to have such a wonderful daughter-in-law. I have taken care of my mother-in-law for five years, and I seldom saw any of those aunties’ daughter-in-laws come to visit them, let alone look after them. Thus, they all envied that my mother-in-law had me: “such a wonderful daughter-in-law.”
This is an old residential district. People who live here are retired from the same company and are in their late 70s or 80s. They truly need people to look after them at that age. I have clarified the facts about Falun Dafa to many of the elderly people who live here. Sometimes, when I didn’t see them, but they happened to see me, they’d greet me first.
Right across from my mother-in-law’s apartment, there lived a couple in their 70s. None of my in-laws liked to mingle with them. The wife had diabetes, and both of her feet and legs festered and developed sores. She had a mastectomy last year. Their pensions were just enough to cover her medical expenses. Therefore, they lived a hard life. They have two sons. The older one had a mental illness and couldn’t look after himself. Despite the fact that she was already ill, she had to take care of her elder son and the family. When I was working in the kitchen and saw her walking with her walker to hang up clothes, I stopped what I was doing and went to help her. Because of that, she was touched and praised me to whomever she ran into.
One time, I clarified the facts to her. I asked her to recite the two phrases and quit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its youth organizations. I told her by doing so, she could ensure her safety and recover quickly. She gladly agreed. After a while, when she saw me, she said, “You told me to recite the phrases every day. Now my wounds have begun to heal, and I’m in a better mood than before.” I felt that she had more strength.
Ms. and Mr. Wang live on the fourth floor. Ms. Wang was 87 years old, and Mr. Wang was 91 years old. Mr. Wang was not in good health and often hospitalized. Because he was a cadre, his medical expenses were covered by his company. Ms. Wang had high blood pressure. When I saw her carrying groceries upstairs with a lot of difficulty, I’d immediately stop what I was doing and helped her carry her groceries to the fourth floor, while asking her to take her time and walk slowly. One time, she saw me, but didn’t stop to wait for me. So I caught up with her and asked, “Ms. Wang, where are you going today?” She replied, “I don’t want to bother you. That’d be too much trouble for you.” I said, “I’m okay. It takes me no time to go upstairs, but it takes you a long time.”
One time on my way home, I saw that Mr. Wang waited for me at the intersection. He said that since I often helped Ms. Wang, he felt they owed me a great deal. Then he took out 300 yuan from his pocket to give me. I said, “How can I take that? This is what I’m supposed to do. We should help each other, which is the way it is.” He replied, “If you don’t take it, then I don’t want to talk to you anymore.” But I firmly declined it.
I previously clarified the facts to Mr. Wang and gave him a copy of the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party. He and my father-in-law worked in the same factory. He was the secretary of the CCP committee, so I thought he must be a Party member. Thus, I took this opportunity to clarify the facts to him again. As before, he tried to stop me from talking about the CCP. Because he also knew some shady things about the CCP, I could feel he was rather scared. I also knew there was some truth I needed to further clarify to him, as I didn’t want to give up on him. I decided that I’d try to save him again later on.
The former president of the factory and his wife lived on the second floor. Mr. Liu is 87 years old, whereas Ms. Liu is 89 years old. Ms. Liu bought over 300 pounds of Chinese cabbage every year. I always helped them take the cabbage outside to dry under the sun before taking it into their apartment. I helped Mr. Liu quit the CCP and its youth organizations. I also gave him truth-clarification materials multiple times. I felt he truly came to understand the truth from deep down. Every time he saw me, he always waved, even though sometimes he was quite a distance from me.
Falling leaves constantly blew into the hallway on the ground floor. I had to sweep them almost every day. When the resident on the fourth floor saw that, he’d tell my mother-in-law about what I did. One time, I was sweeping the floor. As soon as he saw me, he gave me a thumbs-up and said, “You are awesome!” I then asked him if he had ever heard about quitting the CCP. He told me that his colleague already helped him with that. He said, “I truly admire you Falun Gong practitioners. You are very kind. You can endure the hardship while being very low-key.”
On my way to my mother-in-law’s home one day, I saw a lady holding a few Chinese cabbages with one hand, while holding over 10 pounds of pork and ribs with the other hand. When I saw she had trouble lifting them, I went over to her and helped her. She was so touched. I asked, “What are these groceries for?” She said, “My elderly parents have difficulty going downstairs to get groceries for themselves. I have to work, so it’s hard for me to always go to see them. Now, I found the time to go there to bring these groceries to them. I’ll have to run to work after this.” I gave her a hand in taking her groceries to the nearby bus station. As time was limited, I didn’t have time to clarify the facts to her, but I told her to remember the two phrases. She kept saying she would do so and thanked me.
One morning, as I put my garbage in the bin, I saw there was garbage left outside the bin. I bent over and picked the garbage and put it in the bin. Then I got on my bicycle and was ready to leave. Right then, an elderly lady came from behind praising me as a great person. She continued with great emotion, “Good job!” I then told her, “Please remember, ‘Falun Dafa is wonderful! Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is wonderful!’ This is the Buddha law; I cultivate Buddhahood.” This tiny matter of picking up the garbage is nothing. But one could imagine, at this time and age, under such low morality, there is hardly anyone willing to do this.
One day, as I left my mother-in-law’s home and rode my electric bike, I saw bike riders leaving the bicycle lane and going onto the main road. Then I saw there was an obstacle in the bicycle lane. I pulled over quickly, picked up that object and tossed it in the garbage bin. People resumed using the bicycle lane again. For doing such a petty thing, the bystanders quietly cast an admiring glance at me. Then I got on my bicycle and left.
Another time, when I was washing clothes in the kitchen, I overheard ladies from the outside saying there was a pile of dog poop underneath the water pump, so no one wants to get water from there. When I pulled open the screen and looked out, there was indeed someone heading over to fetch water. As soon as he saw what was on the ground, he turned around and headed elsewhere. I grabbed some cardboard and picked up the poop. Seeing this, the ladies sitting at the entrance of the building were speechless. My mother-in-law was also there. I heard them complimenting me in front of my mother-in-law, “She is such a wonderful daughter-in-law, which is so hard to find!”
I had the thought: It is only because I practice Falun Dafa that I can do this. Thus, I was able to elevate my realm in Dafa cultivation. I truly felt my xinxing had improved without my noticing it.
This is only a small part of my cultivation path. I didn’t do anything sensational, and there are many areas of improvement for me. I will continue to listen to Master for sure and measure myself by the standard of Dafa. To conclude, I hope that fellow practitioners can all step forward and do better in the limited time left, so as to save more sentient beings.