(Minghui.org) I am a 72-year-old female Falun Dafa practitioner. I started to cultivate in 1996. Over the past 20 years, I have experienced many troubling times, however Dafa’s blessings have changed my destiny. I am grateful to Master for his salvation! I am now healthy and my mind is sharp. Given the above, I would like to share some personal experiences with fellow practitioners.
Taking Care of Family Members
I took care of my daughter-in-law after she gave birth in October 2007. My family lived in a 56-square-meter (about 600 square feet) house, and it was a bit crowded for five people to live together.
My father had a stroke and came down with dementia. My mother had diabetes. My father had taken care of my mother for many years, but they could no longer take care of each other. I couldn’t accept it. Due to my obsession with affection, I couldn’t eat, couldn’t sleep, and cried all the time. My daughter-in-law gave birth, and I couldn’t spare more time to take care of my parents. I was anxious and could not snap out of my unpleasantness.
I sought help from other practitioners. We studied the Fa together and shared our understandings. With their help, I used the Fa’s principles to examine myself, correct myself, and let go of my ego.
I let go of the attachment to affection and treated the issue properly. Since my parents had lost the ability to take care of themselves, I discussed with my brothers and sisters to arrange shifts to care for our parents. As their children, we should fulfill our filial duty and let our parents feel that they have someone to rely on.
Just a few days after my parents were settled in, my mother-in-law broke her femoral head and was hospitalized. My husband and his brothers and sisters took turns to take care of her during the hospitalization. I took time to visit my mother-in-law, but when the bill came, my husband’s brothers and sisters were gone and no one was willing to pay the hospital fees. My husband asked me what to do. I said: “Just treat it as if you are the only son, and we have to pay.” We paid for all my mother-in-law’s medical expenses during her hospitalization. After the operation, she recovered well.
When it was time for her to be discharged, my husband’s brothers and sisters were gone again. My mother-in-law has four children, and my husband is the eldest in the family. My husband found his siblings to discuss the situation and said: “My family is really in trouble now. The house is small, and my daughter-in-law has just given birth. I will take my mother in when my grandson is one month old.”
However, his siblings all made excuses to not take their mother in. The eldest sister said that her house was on the fifth floor and she did not have a job. The second sister lived in a 120-square-meter (about 1300 square feet) apartment on the second floor, and she said her child was in poor health. She was afraid of disturbing her child’s rest at night. His younger brother’s house was on the second floor, a 140-square-meter apartment, and he was afraid of affecting his child’s study.
Seeing that no one wanted to take his mother in, my husband was in a dilemma. He came back and told me the situation. What should I do? I heard that nothing that happens to cultivators is accidental. This was a test for me, and I had to pass it. I said: “Bring your mother to our home. I am a cultivator. Master told us to think of others. We should respect both parents. We can’t leave your mother in the hospital.” My husband was moved and brought his mother to our home.
I took care of both my daughter-in-law during her postpartum period and my mother-in-law who was bedridden. I had no place to sleep, so I made a bed in the kitchen. There was no heating in northern China in October, so it was very cold. In addition, the kitchen was not insulated well. My mother-in-law urinated on the bed, and I never complained but took care of her. Sometimes, my husband would grumble about the house being so small, and how bad the smell was! I replied, “It will get better when your mother can walk.”
When it was my shift, I had to go to my parents’ home, a few miles away, to take care of them at night. Despite this, I did not relax in my cultivation. I seized every opportunity to study the Fa and do the exercises. I went out to distribute truth clarification materials at night and spent paper bills with truth-clarification messages on them when riding taxis and buses. When they took a rest at noon, I would go out to let people know about Dafa. Come rain or snow, practitioners and I insisted on doing the three things well.
Four months later, my mother-in-law was able to walk, so she went to her daughter’s home. I still went back and forth between my home and my parents’ home. Six years passed in a flash, and both of my parents passed away. When my mother-in-law was 86, she broke her femoral head on the other side and could no longer walk, so I continued to take care of her on shifts. This time, my mother-in-law made a big fuss, shouting and cursing all night. I took care of her like this for another three years.
My husband and I are over 70 years old and have worked hard. Although it is a little tiring, I still have opportunities to help save people. I have time to study the Fa during the day and go out to clarify the truth about Dafa and distribute Dafa informational materials at night. When my mother-in-law wouldn’t let me sleep, I would do the exercises. Once, she said, “When you do the exercises, your hands are so big and your body is so tall.”
I clarified the truth to her and taught her to recite, “Falun Dafa is good.” No matter what happened, I tried to take good care of her dietary needs and daily life, and cook whatever she liked to eat. In the end, my mother-in-law passed away peacefully. She believed that Dafa is good and I’m sure she will have a good future. This has been my cultivation environment for the past 10 years.
There have been many times when different attachments surfaced. Human thoughts and attachments caused me to be unable to be as diligent as when I first started to cultivate. These hindered my cultivation, as I could not strictly hold myself to the standards of the Fa. Sometimes, I lost my temper, and often had conflicts with my husband, losing many opportunities to improve my xinxing. In fact, my husband is a very good person and supports my Dafa cultivation. Sometimes, when the weather was bad, he drove me to the Fa study group. Thinking of this, I feel ashamed in front of Master. It was I who did not do well. My husband agreed with Dafa, but he never began to cultivate. He is also a predestined person that Master wants to save.
Living in Harmony with My Neighbors
Two years ago, the apartment above mine was sold, and soon the buyer started to renovate it. The floor of this apartment building is made of prefabricated panels, and her family started to smash the flooring in order to lay the floor heating system, but the process was earth-shattering for use down below. Just a few hits and my ceiling fell off and “bang,” broke into pieces, and all the joints of the prefabricated panels above my apartment cracked from the smashing.
I went upstairs and told my neighbor to be more careful, and she reassured me they were almost done. After a while, a big hole appeared in the floor above my apartment, and I can see through it. I was very angry. I would have fought with the neighbor upstairs, but now that I am a Dafa cultivator, I needed to use the Fa to deal with my emotions. Nothing is accidental. There was a xinxing test I needed to pass, and this incident was to help me improve. I looked inward and found that I had strong attachments, such as to fighting, self-interest, and resentment. I must break through them this time.
The neighbor came downstairs and was all apologetic, saying they would pay for a new ceiling, repair it, and then paint the wall for us. I told her, “No need. You didn’t do it intentionally, let’s understand each other, just seal that big hole if you can.”
My neighbor, who is a single mother with many illnesses, said that she was very grateful and that I was so kind! I replied, “I am a Falun Dafa practitioner. If you want to thank someone, thank my Master. It is my Master who taught me to be a good person.” She agreed that Falun Dafa is good! I told her about Dafa and the persecution, and she said that others had told her before. She quit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). I said, “You should tell the truth about Dafa to your relatives, and let them quit the CCP and its youth organizations, so they will be able to have a bright future.” She said she would. I replied, “You will be blessed if you always remember ‘Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good.’”
I hired someone to paint the whole apartment for 2,300 yuan and did not ask the neighbor for a penny. I sincerely realized that it was because I practiced Falun Dafa and let go of my ego that I could do things like this.
I am grateful to Dafa for changing me, letting me get rid of attachments to fame, wealth, and affection, and becoming a pure lotus in troubled times. Thank you Master for your compassion and hard work!
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Category: Improving Oneself
