By a practitioner in China

(Clearwisdom.net) I have read seven times Teacher's "Teaching the Fa in Canada, 2006". The more I read it, the more I felt that Teacher's care for disciples is indeed deep and thorough and He does not want to leave a single disciple behind. The Fa that Teacher has told us is very clear now. Disciples know exactly what to do after hearing it. Teacher cares so much about us but we still are inadequate in many areas of our cultivation. I feel bad when I reflect and I feel ashamed that I might have disappointed Teacher.

Teacher said in the lecture:

"So everything that you do, be it your balancing well your family relationships while you live among ordinary people, balancing well your relationships in society, how you perform at your workplace, how you conduct yourself in society, etc., none of these are things you can just go through the motions on. All of these are part of your cultivation format, and are serious matters."

I am one of those who did not balance well my family relationships and have been troubled by it for a long time. It manifests itself in the relationship between my husband and me. My husband is not a practitioner and has been heavily affected by the CCP's culture, which caused him to be displeased with Dafa and against our validating Dafa. He would not listen to what I said (since I still lack sufficient good will). I felt bad about his bias against Dafa and argued with him all the time. He would listen when I read the Fa, but would not give up his preconceived notions no mater what. Sometimes when he said bad things against Dafa I would use the same bad attitude toward him, thinking: "Why doesn't Dafa give him some punishment? Let his mouth hurt. Teach him a lesson so that he will understand." Sometimes he was also harsh toward me, which I could tolerate. I could forgive him because I thought I owed him in the past and now I was paying him back. When he was unreasonable, I truly wanted to just leave him. But he did not interfere with my practice or studying Fa, and also was quite nice to me normally. I did not quite know what to do.

Later through continuous study of Fa, I gradually realized that the reason he acted this way was related to my own cultivation. I did not demonstrate goodness and thus the evil took advantage of my loophole. Through him, I needed to learn to get rid of my selfish thoughts of not tolerating others. Sometimes I had bad thoughts against him, unbecoming the standards of cultivation. He is also a sentient being to be saved. Teacher has said:

"Compassion can harmonize heaven and earth, ushering in spring

Righteous thoughts can save the people in this world"

("The Fa Rectifies the Cosmos" in Hongyin II, provisional translation)

When my thoughts changed, he changed his attitude too. In the meantime, I sent forth righteous thoughts to clear all the dark minions, rotten demons, and evil spirits of communism. After that he no longer badmouthed Dafa. I believe that it is Teacher's benevolence and Dafa's virtue and power that have harmonized his life. He can have a good future now.

One day I told him about my routine of distributing Dafa materials. He was a bit concerned, but did not get upset, nor did he try to stop me. In the past I had to act behind his back to do Dafa work, which made things much more difficult. I was always afraid of getting caught, and sometimes things were affected by it. Now I can do the work in the open. From this incident I realized that a practitioner's cultivation environment should not be controlled by the old forces. One has to always adhere to the Fa, and treat all sentient beings with a kind heart. Only with righteous thoughts and righteous conduct, can one do the Dafa work smoothly and walk well the path that Teacher has arranged for us.

Though the improvement I have made seems small to me, I would not have achieved it without the help of fellow practitioners. I want to thank them once again.

I also want to remind those practitioners who have similar problems. I know such practitioners do exist around me. They cannot balance well relationships in the family, or do not even try to balance them well, although they may be doing well in all other aspects. Think about it, fellow practitioners: although some family members might have treated us unfairly in the past, wasn't it because we have owed them in our previous lives? We need to use our kind heart to care about them. For a non-practitioner, who doesn't want to have a warm family?

Teacher said:

"Many students understand only that doing the exercises and studying the Fa are cultivation. Yes, with those you directly engage the Fa. But as you go about truly cultivating yourself in your day-to-day life, the society that you come into contact with is your cultivation environment. The work and family environments that you spend time in are both settings in which you are to cultivate yourselves, are part of the path you must walk, are what you must handle, and handle correctly at that. None of these should be glossed over." ("Teaching the Fa in Canada, 2006")

That is to say that as Teacher's disciples, we need to follow the path that Teacher has arranged for us. We cannot deviate from it. We are cultivating Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. Our historic mission is to save sentient beings, and our family members are among them. It will not be that difficult once we realize this point. You need to try it to believe it. Just bite your teeth and you will pass the test. Once you throw away your burden you will feel at ease. Let us review Teacher's lecture:

"When it's hard to endure, try to endure it. When it seems impossible to do, or just hard to do, give it a try and see just what you can do. And when you can really do it, just like that worn and weary traveler, you'll see, 'the shade of willows, the blooms of flowers, a place to rest my head'! (Zhuan Falun)

Posting date: 8/3/2006
Original article date: 8/3/2006
Category: Practitioners' Insights
Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2006/6/28/131558.html

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