(Minghui.org) I started practicing Falun Dafa in 1998. I have guided my son in understanding the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance since childhood. He is now a kind, successful and decent young man. On the occasion of the 24th World Falun Dafa Day, I would like to share with you some stories about my son to validate the beauty of Falun Dafa. I also want to express my infinite gratitude for the great compassion of Master Li (the founder of Falun Dafa).
My son was three years old when I started practicing Falun Dafa. I taught him to recite Hong Yin. I always read the Fa (Falun Dafa teachings) out loud so he could hear. One day, I was surprised that my son could recite Lunyu. My son grew up in the positive field of Dafa. He was very kind, calm and rational.
When my son was in kindergarten, one day, his teacher came to my home and said, “A child has bitten your son’s wrist. You need to come and take a look.” I went to the kindergarten and found that my son had deep teeth marks on his wrist and was bleeding. The teacher was terrified and placed the blame on me. “You need to tell your son to protect himself,” she said. “When the other child bit him, we asked him to fight back but he didn’t. How did you teach your son?!” I told the teacher that my son was fine. I did not ask the child’s parents to apologize, but they apologized to me anyway.
I simply asked my son to follow the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. He did well in school, so we never had to worry about his grades. I just encouraged him to read the Fa. My son’s homework was always well done, and he didn’t need me to check it.
One day, my husband went to our son’s school and found that the student sitting in front of him was so tall that it affected his view. My husband asked me to request that the teacher change my son’s seat. I asked my son, “Shall I ask the teacher to change your seat?” My son said, “No, I don’t need to. Mom, you don’t know, nowadays all mothers want their son’s seat closer to the teacher. How can my classroom teacher handle this? It doesn’t matter where a student sits. Sitting next to the teacher is useless if they don’t want to study. Many stories say that in the past, there were poor children who could not afford to go to school, so they listened to the lessons outside the classroom and they became famous scholars. I can do well even if I sit outside the classroom, let alone have a prime seat in the classroom.” I was so happy to hear what my son said and I let it go.
My mother-in-law lived with us, and once when my son came home from school he saw her in tears. He asked me, “Mom, why is grandmother upset?” I said, “Well, we bought your aunt’s house so that you could go to elementary school here. We paid your aunt, but she refused to transfer the house title to us. There is another issue with your uncle. He didn’t want to pay back the 50,000 yuan he borrowed from us. I mentioned these things to your grandmother, and that’s why she’s upset.”
My son said, “This has nothing to do with my grandmother, so why did you tell her these things and make her sad? The traditional virtues said not to make the senior people at home sad. Put yourself in my grandma’s shoes, you wouldn’t want me to say anything that would make you sad, would you?”
My son said, “If my aunt doesn’t want to transfer the title to us, then let’s move out when I finish elementary school.” I said, “This house will be yours in the future!” He said, “If that’s the case, I don’t want it, so give it back to my aunt.” Hearing my son’s words, I eliminated my resentment and attachment and no longer thought about the house issue. Two years later, the aunt agreed to transfer the title to us.
My son’s classmates often said that he was too kind and would be bullied in the future. He told them, “I think a kind person will be blessed.”
When my son was in junior high school, he always read Zhuan Falun, and he liked to read stories about how practitioners cultivate their xinxing according to the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.
I never enrolled my son in any after-school classes, but he did well in his studies. His teacher made him the classroom representative.
However, one day, his teacher approached me and said, “Your son is too kind. If he doesn’t change, even if he does well at work in the future, other people will take credit for his work. He has to change.”
I said, “I think it’s better for the child to be kind.” I told her the truth about Falun Dafa, but the teacher didn’t accept it. She started to bully my son at school. My son was no longer the representative for the class. In addition, she asked my son to clean the blackboard after class and stand outside the classroom.
My son asked me, “Mom, did something happen between you and my teacher?” I said, “Nothing happened, I just told the teacher the truth about Dafa but she didn’t accept it.” My son said, “I see, it’s okay, and I’m happy to clean the blackboard.”
Sometime later, my son came home and said happily, “Mom, the teacher said I didn’t need to clean the blackboard today. I’m now a little uncomfortable not doing so!” I smiled.
When my son was about to take his college entrance exam, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) arrested me and detained me in a brainwashing center. My husband did not take care of our son, so my son did his own laundry and ate out every day.
One day, my son called and said, “Don’t worry about me. I'm going on a school hiking trip on Saturday so I can't visit you this Saturday. I will come and see you with my aunt on Sunday. Be strong.”
When he visited me, he smiled all the time. The officers from the brainwashing center pressured him to ask me to give up cultivation. My son said, “Let me talk to my mother alone.”
My son uploaded all the electronic books of Dafa to a small tablet and wrapped it in a cloth, and gave it to me. He said, “Mom, you must not give up your faith in Falun Dafa. Don’t sleep too much. Send forth righteous thoughts, spend more time studying the Fa, and doing the exercises. You don’t have to worry about me. My test scores were 30 points higher than usual. In the recent speech contest, my speech was so successful that my teacher and classmates applauded me for two and a half minutes, and many asked for a copy.” Later, the brainwashing center staff said, “Your son is so good.”
When I returned home, my neighbor said, “Your husband said you visited your mom when I asked about you. One day, your son came and borrowed 600 yuan from me to pay for his tuition. I asked where you were. He said with pride that you were arrested because you refused to give up your belief. ” We both laughed. The neighbor said, “Your son is so nice. I really like him.”
After my son’s high school entrance exam, a fellow practitioner suggested he apply to universities in the United States. I also wanted him to leave China, but he didn’t want to. Another practitioner said, “America is so nice. It’s like heaven.” My son said, “There is no suffering in heaven, so how can a practitioner improve in a comfortable environment. The CCP is evil, but I will try my best to be a good person here.”
When my son was in graduate school, I still wanted him to leave China and experience democracy. He said, “Why do you want me to go abroad? Will I return to China? If you are worried that I will be influenced by the Chinese Communist ideology at home, then let me tell you that all of humanity has been eroded by the Communist ideology and there is no pure land anywhere. If I am not strong-willed, I will still be contaminated. You don’t have to worry about me. I have the Fa to guide me.”
After my son started working, I reminded him to measure everything with the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.
My son was offered a job at a large law firm. He was given a lot of cases on his first day of work, but no one mentored him.
He was very anxious. The next day he went to another city with a lawyer for business, who suggested he leave the firm. The lawyer said, “The department head has a bad relationship with his superiors and a lot of conflicts with the lawyers. Therefore, many lawyers in the department have left. Headquarters is now thinking about restructuring the department. Leave before it is too late.”
There were many law firms, so it was easy for my son to find another job. He thought about leaving and told me about the situation.
When I heard this, I said, “You have to be honest. You signed a contract when you joined this law firm. You shouldn’t just leave. What other people do is none of your business. It doesn’t matter that you don’t have any mentors, because you are a quick self learner. At the same time, you don’t need to give yourself too much pressure about the workload. Just do as much as you can.”
My son let go of his concerns and just settled into work. Within a few days, headquarters arranged for him to work in another department. He was satisfied with his new position and received the leadership’s attention.
Less than six months later, the head of another branch invited my son to join his team, which was more in line with his practice area. However, the head of the home branch didn’t want him to leave. I told my son, “You must understand that your current department did not want you to leave for the benefit of the group; you wanted to leave for your own future. We, as practitioners, must first consider the interests of others.” After hearing this, my son told the leaders of his branch that he would stay.
After ten days or so, when it was almost time for the winter vacation, the leader of my son’s home department told my son, “Just go ahead to proceed with the transition to the other branch now.” However, when the new branch found out, they told my son to return to work after the winter break. My son knew that both sides did not want to pay his salary during the winter vacation. I told my son, “Don’t worry about it, I will pay your annual leave salary.” My son let go of his resentment and attachments to his personal interest. He didn’t argue or complain.
To his surprise, after he had a relaxed and happy New Year, both branches paid him a bonus.
My son learned from this that he should let nature take its course. He realized that he wouldn’t lose anything that belonged to him. He understood that fighting and competing with others won’t benefit him. After that, he no longer just studied the Fa but also did the three things, and began to walk the path of true cultivation.
(Selected Submission Celebrating the 24th World Falun Dafa Day on the Minghui website)