(Minghui.org) I’m honored to be here with all of you today, and to be able to share my experience of a continuous cultivation Dafa environment for our children.
My husband and I started cultivating long before our daughters, Maya and Sofi, were born. From the time when they were in my belly, they were exposed to a Dafa environment. Before they could read the Fa by themselves, we were reading the Fa to them, or studying with them when they were going to sleep, practicing near them, and letting them hear cultivation experiences of other kids and young practitioners.
When they were starting to learn reading, we started to have our family Fa study while they were reading the Fa out loud with us. It was a cultivation experience itself, as the reading tempo of each was different and we had to be patient and find a way not to be disturbed by interruptions. In the beginning it was more difficult for them to sit and concentrate for a long time, but as time passed, it became easier and we were able to study whole chapters or more.
We also showed them Shen Yun Creations videos and helped them to understand the deeper meaning of the stories and the cultivation principles in them.
I have to admit that for me and my husband, it was always clear that we wanted to save our kids. They came here for our family from a high level, because they chose to be a part of my family so that they can be saved by Master. Thus, it was clear to us that we had the purest environment possible and should help them obtain the Fa.
But in practice given the daily routine, it wasn’t easy. Even though we strove to be consistent and to have our daily Fa study routine with them, a lot of interruptions were occurring. Many interruptions, of course, were caused by our own attachments. So our family Fa study wasn’t consistent enough.
I believed that it was a reflection of our own cultivation state. Was our Fa study routine consistent and good enough? Were we doing the exercises enough? Were we diligent in our cultivation and sending forth righteous thoughts four times a day? Unfortunately, many times, we didn’t and it was reflected in our ability to provide a good environment for our kids.
So year after year, we were concerned more and more about the amount of time that they were exposed to a Dafa field. And we strove to improve it all the time.
We were both working full time. My husband was involved in a media project and very busy, and I had accepted a regular job. Although I could balance my time spent on regular work most of the time, in my free time I should do the three things and find the time to be with the kids. It was very challenging.
In Israel there are few families of practitioners with kids at similar ages to ours. It’s a small country, so we potentially could meet. But, many of us are working full time in projects, and it was a very intensive lifestyle. Two years ago, another two families and us decided to travel to the Minghui Summer Camp in London, which was a great opportunity for the kids to dive for a week into a precious field of Dafa practitioners in Europe.
When we came back from the camp, it was so clear to us that we should do more with them together, but we couldn’t see the path to making it happen.
In a phone conversation with one of the mothers, she said, “Maybe we’ll create for them an online Fa study once a week?” She suggested it cautiously, noting that she would be able to support it once a week, but wasn’t sure if she can commit to it on a stable basis. For me it was another big hint from Master. I understood: We should create for them a daily Fa study with the group of kids.
I decided to propose to my elder daughter to be a coordinator of this project and she gladly agreed. From then we started the most consistent Dafa routine that we had so far for our kids. And they led it most of the time. They were able to manage it independently, and we had a free hour each evening to study the Fa or do housework.
They met each day, studied the Fa and practiced a set of the exercises each evening before going to sleep.
A few other kids joined, and those who were already there encouraged others to join. It was amazing to see how they lead it and created their own group for cultivation.
Moving to Another Country for Our Kids to Be in a Dafa Environment
As time passed and our kids grew up and entered a public education system, it became more and more evident to us that the environment there is devastating and making it much harder to educate our kids based on Dafa principles, when mostly they spent their time in the dye vat of ordinary society.
Naturally they absorbed what they saw and even when they knew that what they saw was not good and didn’t want to be like that, they couldn’t avoid being influenced and imitating those behaviors unintentionally.
To avoid this bad influence and create a purer environment for them, we decided to change to home-schooling. We did it based on our regular schedule, and it was better than the public system. But still we weren’t free enough to be with them fully when needed, and it was not an ideal solution.
We knew about Minghui schools that practitioners opened and dreamed of sending our kids there. It was a distant dream, as our income wasn’t that high, and sending two girls abroad is very expensive. But we believed that if we have the right heart, if we put Dafa and following Master as our highest priority, he will show us the path.
Master says,
“Therefore, once people want to cultivate, the great enlightened beings will value this heart very much and will extend help unconditionally.” (Lecture Three, Zhuan Falun)
Throughout the years, when having discussions concerning Dafa issues with my husband, I must admit that while it was clear for me that it’s the best place for little Dafa disciples to be at, it wasn’t that easy for me to let go of my strong sentimentality and emotional attachment to them. It took some time to eliminate this attachment level by level, and I feel that I got rid of a lot of this sticky substance of sentimentality.
Master says,
“Of course, while cultivating in ordinary human society, we should be good to our parents and look after our children. Under all circumstances, we must be good and kind to others, not to mention to our family members. We should treat everyone in the same way. We must be good to our parents and children and be considerate of others in all respects. Such a heart is thus unselfish, and it is a heart of kindness and benevolence—it is compassion. Qing is something of everyday people, and everyday people just live for it.” (Lecture Six, Zhuan Falun)
As Maya was close to being 11 years old, we started actively looking for a further solution for her to be in a Dafa practitioner's environment. We tried to check different options, but none of them worked.
While we were looking for the right solution, one day my husband saw somebody online talking about a special program for Israelis in Canada. We knew that there is a very strong practitioner community in Canada, but didn’t know anybody there and didn’t know how it can bring us closer to a daily Dafa environment for our kids.
I thought that if there are so many practitioners in Canada, there have to be some kind of school there, and decided to check. As we didn’t know anybody, we just dialed a number that appeared on the Falun Dafa website. The practitioner was very nice and immediately told us “Ah, yes! There is a Minghui school in Toronto. I’ll connect you to the manager of the school.” She immediately connected us to the manager and on the same day we discovered the pure island in Toronto, which was just a perfect solution, matching exactly what we were looking for!
The manager was so kind, open and enthusiastic. She showed us the school in a video call and provided all the information needed. From that conversation we knew - it’s Master guiding us through the path. We should go there. So, after four weeks we sold all of what we had and couldn’t take with us, found tenants for the apartment we rented, updated our employers and packed up our whole family to move to a new country.
On our second day in Canada when we visited the school, the girls immediately said they wanted to come for the full day. They integrated so smoothly, as if they had been there for years.
I thank Master from the bottom of my heart for his endless arrangements to encourage and guide us and our kids to the path of cultivation and saving sentient beings! And I want to thank the whole school team for their tremendous support and hard work, and for providing our kids this pure piece of land, where they can be in the precious environment of Dafa, full of kindness, joy and Zhen-Shan-Ren.
Falun Dafa Hao!
(Presented at the 2024 Canada Fa Conference)
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