(Minghui.org) I started practicing Falun Dafa in 1997. I got married two years later and had a smart and adorable daughter. When she was four years old, I read one of Master’s poems with her. To my surprise, she was able to recite the poem after reading it only four times. I was impressed with her memory, and I later taught her to memorize over 40 poems in Hong Yin and Hong Yin II.
When she was in the first grade in school, she could read Zhuan Falunfluently with fellow practitioners, and there were only a few words she didn’t know. My daughter grew up in a Dafa cultivation environment, very happy and healthy, and was always one of the top students at school. She was adored and valued by all her teachers.
Time went fast, and she was about to move on to middle school. She told me on the middle school entrance examination day that there was a topic that slandered Falun Dafa, but she gave a positive and truthful account about the practice. I was very happy and praised her for doing so. That year, my daughter entered a middle school, as the top student of the entire campus.
She got very busy with schoolwork, and I also neglected my responsibility in guiding her in Dafa cultivation, so she never became a true Dafa practitioner. Each time I think about it, my heart is filled with regret and guilt. But fortunately, Dafa is deeply rooted in her heart. I often guide her with the Fa principles, and her conduct is much appreciated and liked by her teachers and classmates.
During the time when Dafa practitioners began to file criminal complaints against Jiang Zemin (former CCP leader who ordered the persecution) in 2005, I showed her a petition form and said she could sign either using her real name or an alias. In fact, I had already made up an alias for her.
To my pleasant surprise, she wrote her real name on the form and put her fingerprint on it as well. I was very touched by her action and also saw my own selfishness and the attachment to self-protection in contrast.
Because we filed the lawsuit against Jiang using our real names, the police came to harass us and asked which school my daughter was attending. Upon leaving, they said that this would definitely affect my daughter in the future.
“If one person practices cultivation, the whole family benefits. This is true regardless of what others say,” I said to the police. Even though I appeared calm and firm, my heart was beating fast as it was the first time the police had “visited” us uninvited.
I felt rather uneasy after the police were gone. I thought I had already let go of my sentimental attachment to my daughter, as I had been very strict with her since she was a child, and I also smacked and scolded her sometimes (I didn’t cultivate at that time). But that day, I felt really anxious and uneasy. Even though I knew the Fa principles and I needed to reject and deny the harassment with righteous thoughts, I found it hard to get rid of the dark shadow and worries in my mind.
My daughter later came in first in her entrance exams and was admitted to the top class of the key high school in our city.
With more Fa study and sharing on the Fa principles with fellow practitioners, as well as reading practitioners’ sharing articles, I gradually let go of my sentimental attachment to my daughter. I understand that everyone has his or her own destiny, and everything in my daughter’s life has already been arranged, including the blessings she may have, and how she takes each step. There is no way that her future would be decided by evil beings destined to be eliminated in the universe. The only excuse the old forces can find to restrain Dafa disciples is when Dafa practitioners have gone astray on the wrong track and cannot break free from the traps set by the old forces.
My daughter completed her high school studies with excellent grades and was admitted to a key university.
When she was a college sophomore, the “Zero-out” harassment campaign was launched across China, aiming to force every Falun Dafa practitioner on the government’s blacklist to renounce their faith. One day, I received a phone call from a village committee member. She tried to persuade me to renounce Dafa and kept saying that my daughter was doing so well and that I should not affect her by being so stubborn. I rejected the committee member’s request and clarified the truth to her.
After I came back home one afternoon from delivering truth-clarification booklets to a fellow practitioner, I noticed a few missed calls from my mother. I called her and she urged me to come over right away. I guessed why she called me given the distressed tone of her voice.
I went to my parents’ place. My father looked very serious and my mother was in tears. She told me that the village committee member called and told her that I was very stubborn and that this matter was very serious, and if I refused to give up practicing Falun Dafa, it would cause harm not only to myself but also to my daughter’s future. My mother was very worried and could not eat or sleep.
I calmed down and said, “Mom, whomever the government wants to target, they always say they are too stubborn; whomever they want to threaten, they always say it is a very serious issue. They play one trick today and another tomorrow. I have seen many of such tactics. They just want to use you to put pressure on me. But you both know that Falun Dafa is good.”
I then reminded them of how sick I was before practicing Dafa and the countless hours they spent caring for me while I was a child. But Dafa gave me good health. I’m now in my 40s, healthy, and capable of taking care of my own family. I told them that we need to be true to our conscience and be grateful for what I was given.
“I know what I’m doing. Don’t worry about me. Just go about your life as normal,” I assured my parents, “Things are changing all the time. Let’s see who has the last laugh.” My parents relaxed after hearing what I said. My father brought me mooncakes and my mother gave me peach slices.
I could not help but shed tears on my way back. I remembered how my father refused to read the truth-clarification materials I gave them in the past, and my mom would not listen to anything I said when I clarified the truth to her. I once got so angry in the past that I slammed the door and left. This time around, I was so happy to see their change of attitude towards Dafa.
I heard indirectly that some of my relatives said that my stubbornness would affect my daughter’s future. There were also rumors that the university had stopped her from attending classes, etc. The fact was that due to the Covid-19 outbreak in Wuhan, her university postponed the date for students to return to campus and my daughter was studying online at home.
I looked within and thought that there must be some reason I heard all these rumors, as the saying goes: Nothing happens for no reason. Even though I remained calm on the surface, was there truly no loophole deep in my mind? I realized that I still had an attachment to fear of being harassed by police.
When I heard those negative comments, I didn’t respond with righteous thoughts in the first instance, and sometimes I followed those lines of thinking before I rectified my thought process. I realized that I was still trapped in selfishness, and worried that my personal interests might be compromised.
Although I knew that Master was in charge of everything, I still worried about my daughter’s future and well-being. This showed that I had not done well in having full faith in Master and Dafa. I started to send strong righteous thoughts to clean out my own dimensions.
Some fellow practitioners around me had grandchildren who were going to take university entrance exams, and they were also concerned about their future. I shared with them and said firmly, “No one can decide their future, but our Master.”
My daughter is now a college senior, and my entire family has encouraged her to take postgraduate studies. She is also preparing for the exams. She sent her resume to universities of her choice and received replies very quickly.
Because she did not have enough time to prepare for the interviews, she felt she didn’t do well with one university. She did not hold much hope of being admitted to another university, which was her first choice, either, because the competition was even fiercer. She almost lost her confidence.
I encouraged her to look at things with a calm mind, “It’s good enough that you have done your best. Don’t worry about anything. Just go with the flow.”
She seemed a bit lost and was heading to a dead end. For a while, she was rather depressed. I was very calm and firmly believed that no matter what the outcome might be, it would be the best arrangement by Master.
“Take it easy. Just do your best in the process and don’t worry about the outcome,” I encouraged her on the phone and asked her to recite the Dafa auspicious phrases, “Falun Dafa is good,” and “Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good.”
The next day, my daughter had another round of interviews with her first-choice school. She felt she didn’t do well and almost lost hope. “Don’t worry,” I comforted her. “No one is forcing you to go to graduate school. Even if you fail, there will be other arrangements for you. Isn’t this also a good opportunity to temper yourself? My gut feeling is that things are not as bad as you may think.”
“I hope you are right,” my daughter said, sounding more relaxed.
She called me the next day and said she had received an email from her first-choice university, informing her that she was admitted. She could not believe it at first. The good news came so suddenly and so fast. She told me that she did recite the phrases before the interview and she looked within and felt she was a bit too attached to graduate study. She was very grateful to Master. She confirmed her admission to the university on September 28, and all was settled.
Most people in my village and the nearby village know that I practice Falun Dafa and that my daughter is an excellent student. Her experience was a great opportunity to validate Dafa and help people do away with the fallacy that “practicing Falun Gong would affect the future of their children.” Everything we have and all the achievements my daughter has made are given to us by Master.
For fellow practitioners whose children or grandchildren indeed suffer persecution in their studies or career development, I feel we shouldn’t look at things superficially. It might be the case that they still have certain attachments to let go of, or that their children/grandchildren are paying off their own karma. No matter what the situation might be, I would like to encourage fellow practitioners to firmly believe that as long as our hearts are on the Fa, Master will arrange the best for us and our children/grandchildren no matter what situations we are in.
The above is only my personal understanding. Please kindly point out anything improper in the sharing.
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Category: Perspectives
