(Minghui.org) One night in 2023, when my family had dinner at a restaurant, my nephew said, “My cousin’s son [my eldest brother’s grandson] wants to join the army, and the people from the armed forces department say that he cannot pass the political requirements because your family has a Falun Gong practitioner.”
He also said, “I also have to pass the political examination for promotion, so what can I do?” My husband’s brother told me, “You have to think about that thing [referring to my practicing Falun Gong]. Your grandchildren are getting older, you should think about them.” My brother added, “Whoever asks you to sign something [to quit practicing Falun Gong], you should sign it.”
I thought, I must have compassion. I remembered what Master said, “...if your mind can be imperturbable there will be nothing you can’t handle.” (“Eliminate Your Last Attachment(s),” The Essentials of Diligent Progress II)
I wasn’t angry, but my heart felt a little unbalanced. I told them, “You all know that Dafa is good. I don’t kill people, and I don’t break any laws. What should I sign? It’s ridiculous. The Communist Party persecutes good people in each of [its political campaign], heaven will destroy it.”
They quickly said in the restaurant where we met, “The waiters are coming in and out. We don’t want them to hear this. Let’s talk about something else.” I thought, everyone has his own fate. It has nothing to do with me whether or not he can join the army.
When I got home, I looked inward: What touched my heart? It’s a false self. I also found a lot of attachments: self-interest, jealousy, resentment, being competitive, and not being able to take criticism. I had so many attachments, and they were all rooted in selfishness.
I realized that my problems were resentment, being competitive, and not being able to take criticism, not being kind, and not thinking about others. People’s accusations and criticisms may be wrong, but I must be unmoved, kind and tolerant. I must eliminate these attachments in the limited time left for Fa-rectification. I said to Master in my heart: These bad notions are not mine, I don’t want them. I asked Master to help me eliminate them.
I thought I passed this test. After a few days, for some reason, my husband was sad and didn’t speak to me. I later learned that his brother said bad things about me again. I thought to myself: I must cultivate compassion and forbearance this time, and this is an opportunity to improve myself.
A few days later, when my husband came home, he scolded me, “You have been doing your thing [referring to my doing things to tell people about Falun Gong] all day. The grandson of our eldest brother wants to be a soldier. Because you practice Falun Gong, the military officials have gone to his house to investigate. What will happen to him? What will happen to our own grandson?”
At this time, I thought I had to endure today. But I still felt a little uncomfortable in my heart. I still wanted to argue back, so I said to him kindly: “You don’t have to worry, our grandson is still young. It is routine that the military officials visit our brother’s house before his son joins the army.” I thought to myself: our grandson knows that Dafa is good, so Master will protect him. He will be fine whatever job he will have, so he doesn’t have to be a soldier.
I looked inward later, and found that I didn’t pass today’s test. My kindness was not enough, I still wanted to argue, and I was still clinging to myself. I didn’t think about the feelings of the other party. I felt that I didn’t step out of the old universe’s principles. After calming down for a while, I called my sister-in-law and asked her out for a talk. On the way, I thought: this time I must be kind, patient, must meet the standard, and look at the problem from the perspective of her.
At the meeting, I asked, “Those people came to your house?” She said, “The people from the armed forces asked about family matters and asked why my grandson wanted to be a soldier. People from the community who came together said that one of their family members practiced Falun Gong. My son-in-law said that her practice has nothing to do with us. We don’t know anything about it. Nobody else responded to the community official. After a while, the community official said that she [referring to me] had been withdrawing for a long time. In fact, he was looking for himself an exit.” I felt happy that the people of the Ministry of Armed Forces and the rest of the personnel had chosen a bright future.
The sister-in-law said again, “If it weren’t for your practice, my grandson would have been a soldier last year.” I said to her seriously, “Please don’t talk nonsense. It’s not good for you. He couldn’t go into the army because of his health problems. You can’t blame Falun Gong, otherwise, you are creating karma for yourself. You know that Dafa is good. You remember what I used to be like? How do I look now? You see it. Yet, such a good practice is persecuted by the Communist Party. Heaven does not tolerate this sin! Heaven will destroy it, and no one can stop it. Only by breaking away from it can we enter a new era. Now there are so many disasters, but that’s not what we want to see. You must tell your grandson to remember that ‘Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good.’ He will have a bright future.”
When I said this, she said, “I’ll tell him to remember and keep it in his heart.”
One day in March. we happened to meet on the road. She said, “My grandson has been accepted into the army.”
Thank you Master for your mercy and salvation. The only way I can repay you is by cultivating diligently. Throughout more than 20 years of cultivation, my biggest gain is believing in Master and the Fa. Over the years, my fundamental attachments have been jealousy, resentment, being competitive, refusing criticism, selfishness, and a strong attachment to self. Later, I realized that these are things that belong to the old universe. If we want to jump out of the old universe, we must change our notions. In the future, I must cultivate to be altruistic and prioritize others before myself, that is, to be a divine being in the new universe.
The process of writing this article has helped me identify and eliminate my human notions. I feel that I have improved.
My level is limited. If I said something that is not in line with the Fa, please kindly correct me.
Note: In China, those who practiced Falun Gong are not allowed to attend military school. But the general military doesn’t have this policy.
(Selected submission in celebration of World Falun Dafa Day on Minghui.org)
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