(Minghui.org) Soon after he was born, Wu Antao’s son developed pyloric stenosis, and he vomited almost everything he ate. She monitored his weight every day by weighing him on a scale meant for produce.
During that period, her mother-in-law underwent dialysis due to complications from diabetes. Her sister-in-law was in critical condition following a car accident. These family crises left Antao physically and mentally exhausted.
After she cleaned up his vomit, she held her frail child in her arms, gazed out the window, and exclaimed, “What bad thing could I have possibly done?! What is the purpose of coming to this world? Why is life so painful?”
Years later, when she began practicing Falun Dafa, she found the answers to the questions that troubled her for so long. She also gradually learned to let go of her resentment during conflicts; instead, she reflected on herself and was kind to others.
Searching for Answers to Life While Dealing With Adversity
After her mother-in-law died and her child’s condition gradually stabilized, Antao’s life gradually calmed down. Yet, the exhaustion accumulated over the years, and her confusion about life lingered.
A colleague handed her a flyer about a Falun Dafa workshop in August, 2000. Out of curiosity, Antao and her husband attended it.
During the workshop, a high school teacher talked about her cultivation experiences and said she had a good relationship with her students. However, when a student misbehaved, she was worried he would no longer like her, so she did not correct him. She later realized that, although it seemed she was considerate of the student, in fact, she was driven by a selfish desire to protect her own image.
What she shared deeply touched Antao. She thought that, in reality, everyone tries to cover up their shortcomings. But this teacher was willing to honestly face her mistakes and sincerely correct herself. Antao said, “If Falun Dafa has such high requirements for morality, and practitioners even examine their inner thoughts that others cannot see, it must be very pure.”
She and her husband bought two copies of Zhuan Falun and located a practice site near their home. “My health wasn’t good in the past, and I often caught colds—it usually took me more than a month to recover each time,” Antao recalled. “I was even diagnosed with some symptoms of kidney deficiency by a Traditional Chinese medicine practitioner, so I was afraid I’d end up needing dialysis like my mother-in-law. However, soon after I began practicing Falun Dafa, I was seldom sick. My family also became healthy, and they no longer needed to go to the hospital.”
But what she cherished even more was that she found answers to the questions that puzzled her for years. “Zhuan Falun resolved the important questions I had, and helped me understand the purpose of living. I no longer feel anxious about the future.”
From Blaming Others to Looking Within
After she began practicing, Antao followed Falun Dafa’s principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, and gradually changed the way she handles conflicts.
When she worked for an insurance brokerage firm, the meeting room that she booked in advance was twice occupied by another team. To avoid conflict, she found a different place to hold the meeting.
The same thing happened a third time.
This time, Antao could not hold back. She repeatedly stepped back, only to be met with a lack of respect. Feeling deeply aggrieved, she decided to confront her boss. “Just as I was about to storm over, the phrase ‘looking within’ suddenly flashed through my mind,” she recalled. “I paused, although I still felt a strong sense of resentment because I was convinced they were at fault.”
She suddenly recalled something she did in the past. There was a team at the firm that habitually used the meeting room every Monday. When Antao noticed that the team hadn’t reserved the meeting room, she quickly booked it for every Monday that month. “Although I didn’t violate any procedures, I was well aware that the other team had been using the meeting room during that time slot.”
She realized that she also neglected others’ needs for her own convenience. “Once I discovered this hidden selfishness, my anger vanished.” She said, “And, remarkably, after that, others less frequently took the meeting room at my reserved time slots. When I later calmly told my boss about this, he kept praising me and said that those who practice Falun Dafa are truly different.”
This experience taught Antao that when conflicts arise, focusing solely on the other person’s faults easily leads to feelings of grievance and conflict. However, when she chose to examine herself, her perspective shifted. Later in her role as head of the production department at New Tang Dynasty Television, she often reminded herself to look within whenever she encountered differing opinions or had conflicts.
A colleague angrily accused her, “You just love using your position as a supervisor to suppress others!” Taken aback, Antao was about to retort, but then she asked herself, “Am I really entirely free of this issue? Even if it’s just a little bit, isn’t this reminding me that I can do better?”
When she assigned a task via a messaging app, a colleague responded with a barrage of intense, pushback-filled messages. She initially felt aggrieved, then she tried to think from his perspective: “He’s so agitated, what is he actually trying to tell me? Did I fail to explain things clearly so he misunderstood? Or is there something I hadn’t fully thought through?”
When she was willing to listen, her colleague’s attitude also changed. He deleted those harsh messages, and he shouldered the work.
“In the past I was always concerned about whether I had been hurt, how others should treat me, or their behavior,” Antao said. “Now, I no longer dwell on my own grievances. Instead, I face it with the attitude in line with Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. If I can first think from the other person’s perspective, the wisdom to resolve the issue naturally emerges.”
Sharing Kindness With More People
As Antao continued cultivating, she not only wanted to become a better person, she also wished to tell others about the positive impact practicing Falun Dafa had on her life.
When she traveled to Hong Kong in 2010, she observed some visitors from China quietly picking up informational materials about Falun Dafa when they thought no one was paying attention. The expressions on their faces, a mix of desire to learn the truth and a sense of apprehension, left a lasting impression on her.
After she returned to Taiwan, she decided to change her career and volunteer for the media, hoping to provide more people with the opportunity to learn the facts. Antao recounted, “I wrote a letter to all my insurance clients, sharing how I benefited from practicing Falun Dafa and I told them the facts about the Chinese Communist Party’s persecution of Falun Dafa. I explained that I decided to shift my career toward media work, to bring truthful, objective information to more people.”
She was initially worried about their reaction, but to her surprise, this heartfelt sharing won their support.
Ms. Wu Antao (left) participates in an event to bring kindness and light to society through media outreach.
Antao worked as the head of the production department at New Tang Dynasty Television in 2018, and her team produced programs and videos. A project that left a particularly strong impression on her was the production of the promotional videos for the student recipients of the President’s Education Award.
Some of these students grew up in difficult circumstances, yet they remain dedicated to their studies and face life with optimism. To display their authentic and touching stories in a video lasting just over two minutes, Antao and her team poured a great deal of effort into the project. “Once, to film a Saisiyat child leading his older and younger brothers to school, we set off from Taipei at two in the morning, just to capture the few seconds of them walking to the school at 6 a.m. that day.”
A two-minute video could quickly be completed by relying solely on interviews. But for Antao, this was more than a project; she wished to share kindness and positive energy with people. “The stories of these children striving amid adversities are truly precious,” Antao said. “No matter how demanding the work may be, it’s well worth the effort.”
Wu Antao (second from the right, front row) and the New Tang Dynasty Television production team at the 2024 President’s Education Award ceremony.
Looking back at her more than 20-year cultivation journey, Antao said, “For many, cultivation might seem distant, yet it is actually woven into the very fabric of daily life. It truly changes a person from inside out, broadening one’s heart and fostering a spirit of consideration for others. We are here not merely to seek smooth and peaceful days. Rather, we embark on a journey of returning to our true selves, and that is the most precious and meaningful thing.”
Category: Cultivation Insights
