(Minghui.org) My child was in the last year of high school and was preparing to take the college admission exam. During this period of time, there were many twists and turns. Master benevolently gave me hints many times, helping me improve. I’d like to share my process of improving.
Many families have young Dafa practitioners, and the process of taking care of these young practitioners is also a process of improving in our own cultivation. The experience of helping them enter higher education is especially a process of tempering our xinxing. I have read many cultivation experience sharing articles related to young practitioners, and many of them had good academic results and went to their ideal colleges.
The young practitioner in my home is not so adapted to studying, so his academic results are not ideal. Of course, he performed well in certain respects, and I believe that Master has opened up other paths for him. However, under the current system for getting into higher education in China, it can be worrying when your child is not getting ideal academic grades.
When my son was young, he had more contact with Dafa. However, due to my poor understanding of the Fa and the influence of our family environment, I did not guide him in studying the Fa after he was born. When he entered primary and secondary schools, his academic pressure increased, and he became even more busy. Most children in China today are suffering from this education system. It was only in recent three years that I started studying the Fa with him seriously. I now study the Fa with him every weekend when he returns from school, but there are only two days for this every week.
On the eve of registering for the college admission exam, we got news that my son may not be successful in registering, because his school is a unique school and is different from normal schools. I was stunned, and thought, “Why has this suddenly happened when my son had been preparing for so long?” Had the school planned it this way? I wondered what I should do. Although I knew that Master would have an arrangement, I couldn’t help but still be a little worried in my heart during those few days.
I remember very clearly that a week before registration, I was on my way home after driving my son to school. I turned on my mobile phone, which I use for listening to cultivation experience sharing articles on Minghui Radio. I had just placed the ear buds in my ears, when I heard this sentence, “The child will go to school as normal as nothing has happened.” My nose twitched and I almost started crying. Thank you, Master, for giving me a hint. Master has been concerned about everything related to the young practitioner and me.
I had a vivid dream early on the morning of registration day. In the dream I saw a big square, beside which looked a bit like an ancient Greek building. In the middle was a very big square, and in the center of it was a western lady playing the piano. At that time, I experienced a feeling of vast benevolence and sacred gratitude that I had never experienced before. I was so touched that I cried in the dream.
That day when we went to register my son, the registration was successful even though there were some twists and turns. On the surface, it looked as though the school had suddenly provided a validation document. I had thought that the document was not going to help much, but it turned out to be very helpful, and this was beyond my expectations.
My son’s first round of exam results were released and the grades for one subject were really bad, and it was going to affect the final overall score. If his grades were based on that exam, my son’s overall score may not be high, and it would then be more difficult for him to be admitted to a college. I knew that I needed to let go of my affection for my son. I also knew that he needed to walk his own cultivation path and he would obtain what he should obtain. My attachment to my son’s academics were fundamentally still an attachment to having a blissful wonderful sentient life. I still have thoughts of leading a good life in the human world.
I had another dream not long after the first. In the dream was an elegant and noble lady from ancient China, wearing a long skirt. She personally handed me a child, as though she was entrusting me with her child. She wanted me to take the child up to the mountains to learn skills. The next scene showed me bringing the child to find a teacher and learn a skill. Along the way, a small bird flew past the mountains. Each mountain kept getting higher than the previous one, and we flew higher and higher. After waking up, I understood that Master was giving me a hint: The child’s family in Heaven had entrusted their child to me, asking me to lead the child in cultivation in Falun Dafa, so that he could improve in his cultivation and return to Heaven in the future. That is his purpose here, instead of leading a mundane life.
I remember an experience-sharing article mentioning a story in which a family of three generations cultivated in Falun Dafa, namely the grandmother, her daughter, and her granddaughter. Her daughter started cultivating after the grandmother and the granddaughter, so the duration of her cultivation was not long. But an accident caused her to lose her life. The grandmother could not let go of her attachment to her daughter, and so she was very sad and could not emerge from that situation for a very long time. The granddaughter had studied the Fa since she was young, and she was able to let go of the attachment to her mother. In the end, she said to her grandmother, “You have treated her as your daughter.”
It is true that we have had many children and parents through our lifetimes. Every being’s true family is in the heavens, so everyone is just gathering together to act out their part in this show. Good affinity within a cultivator’s family may be to cultivate together, to remind one another, and to cooperate with one another to assist Master in the Fa-rectification.
One can only reach the goal of cultivation after reliquishing all attachments. A family relationship that happens naturally among sentient beings and is praised by all is not something that belongs to Dafa. Although everyone knows that we need to let go of this attachment to emotions, many practitioners tend to push back against letting go of such attachments to family relationships. They even forget to abandon it when they encounter tribulations.
Recalling the process of helping my son enter higher education, I also found a very strong attachment to fame and reputation. I wanted to look good in front of my relatives and friends. If my son was not admitted to an ideal college, I would lose face in front of my relatives and friends, and it would be embarrassing to reply when people asked about it.
I also have another attachment. I want to validate Dafa’s supernormal abilities through my son’s performance. My son has benefited in many ways in his cultivation in Falun Dafa since he was young, so if he could enter an ideal college we would be able to validate Dafa in front of our relatives and friends more, and we would also have better content for clarifying the truth and saving sentient beings. On the surface, it seems that all that is for validating the Fa, when in fact there is actually a hidden attachment to fame. If I bring this attachment along when I clarify the truth, people may not be able to accept what I say, no matter how good the examples are that I cite. That is because there is a gap between myself and the characteristics of the universe.
All parents wish for their children to lead blissful lives. However, that is wishing for a blissful life in the mundane world. As cultivators, we need to look at problems from the opposite angle. How can we not suffer from hardships in the process of improving in our cultivation? Even if we do not have physical suffering, we will have mental suffering. If not, how could we improve our xinxing?
I also thought about having attachments to resentment. My son often listens to experience sharing from young Dafa practitioners, and most of them have benefited from Dafa by having their wisdom unlocked, and they thus have good academic results. Young practitioners should not have attachments to resentment if the ultimate outcome is not ideal. I also need to take note in this respect, because once we have such an attachment, the old forces will strengthen the attachment, making it even more serious, and it may even cause unimaginable and serious consequences. We cannot make any mistakes with regards to being respectful to Master and the Fa, not even one thought.
Having gone through so much over the past year, I keep thinking about writing about this process, but I just could not start for a very long time. A few days ago, my son came back and told me happily that he had managed to persuade one of his classmates to quit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its youth organizations. That day was the school’s sports day, so everyone had more free time. He found a chance to to clarify the truth to a fellow classmate, and managed to persuade that classmate to quit the CCP. As this classmate often uses his mobile phone to circumvent the CCP’s censorship to see overseas news and information, he knows relatively more. His classmate may have been willing to quit the CCP, but he also had some concerns that his family might object to his decision. My son told him, “This matter is only known to the heavens, the Earth, you, and I.” Hearing that, his classmate happily agreed to quit the CCP and its youth organizations.
This was the first time that my son had managed to persuade someone to quit the CCP. It was also Master’s benevolent arrangement and empowerment. All the more it was a moment of deep understanding for me. It makes me no longer feel attached to the losses and gains in this mundane world. I came to this mundane world to assist Master in Fa-rectification and save sentient beings. It is the same for our young Dafa practitioner. This is his true mission. The things in the mundane world are just fleeting things which cannot be brought to the heavens.
My son and I are prepared to persist in our two-person group Fa study. If there are no other arrangements, we try our best to study the Fa together every day. After studying the Fa, we also memorize a segment from Zhuan Falun, and we will definitely not think about other things when we are memorizing the Fa.
This was some of my understandings and cultivation experiences. Master’s vast grace to our family goes far beyond these examples. I can only write about a few examples due to the limitations in my writing. I am also sharing this with fellow parent practitioners to exchange cultivation experiences and encourage one another. Kindly correct me if there is any room for improvement.
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