Handling Family Affairs with Compassion and Doing the Three Things Well

By a practitioner in China

(Clearwisdom.net) I started practicing Falun Dafa in February 1997. After several years of cultivation, I felt physically and mentally healthy and happy, and the realm of my thinking changed greatly. I now often feel peaceful and calm. I treat people with honesty and sincerity, am tolerant and forgiving, and do not fight with people. My understanding of the Fa has been continuously improving.

I would like to share my experiences in handling my family affairs with compassion, and at the same time, doing the three things well by strictly following the requirements of Dafa.

In my family, four generations live together. My mother-in-law, who is over ninety years old, needs to be looked after, and my daughter-in-law, grandson and granddaughter, who are the younger generations, live with us. My husband and I are both nearly seventy years old. I take care of all of the household duties at home, including cooking, shopping, cleaning and taking grandchildren to the childcare center, etc. My mother-in-law, who is over ninety, suffers from dementia and cannot look after herself. Every day, I need to care for her daily needs, including cleaning, bathing, and changing her clothes. My life goes on like this, day after day, year after year.

My husband has always been rough and unreasonable to me. He was extremely against my practicing Falun Dafa. I usually read Falun Dafa books and do the five sets of exercises at night after I have finished all my household duties. Sometimes he kicked me when I was doing the meditation exercise, or hit me with his fist when I bent down during the heavenly circuit exercise. He also didn't allow me to read Falun Dafa books or do my exercises peacefully. After July 20, 1999, when the persecution was very severe, he even shouted outside of our house saying that I practice Falun Dafa, and that he would report me to the local police station. My pension is administered by him, and I cannot touch it. Sometimes I feel very bitter in my heart and wonder why cultivation is so difficult!

Master taught us,

"Only by being among the most complex group of people and in the most complex environment can one cultivate the high-level gong." (Zhuan Falun - 2000 translation)

I know that my life has hope now that I have obtained this profound great Fa. I am even more fortunate as I am a Fa-rectification period Dafa disciple who shoulders greater responsibility. I came to this world to assist Master with the Fa-rectification and save sentient beings. We must cultivate compassion to show the good character of Dafa disciples. This is absolutely related to the cultivation of our xinxing.

Because of the above understanding, I have been able to shoulder the heavy burdens of my family without any complaint, while giving no thought to my personal gains or losses, and exercise forbearance. I try my best to fulfill my duty as a daughter, a wife, a mother and a grandmother, so that every member of my family can feel the sincerity, kindness, selflessness and decency of a Falun Dafa practitioner, and thus see the righteousness of Dafa. At the same time, I feel that if a cultivator understands the Fa from the Fa's perspective, and has righteous thoughts and righteous actions, then a peaceful and harmonious family environment can eventually be achieved. The energy field that we cultivate can enable our family members to respect Dafa. It can also rectify their minds. Family conflicts will then smooth out. As our xinxing continuously improves, our family environment will also improve.

The atmosphere at our home is now one of everyone wanting to be kind, harmonious, and forgiving. When my mother-in-law was clear in her mind, she would hold my hand and say, "You are my good daughter-in-law, it is great that you cultivate Falun Dafa!"

My husband saw me washing his mother's soiled clothing and giving her baths every day, as well as handling so many household duties without any complaint about the suffering and bitterness, and his heart was moved. Now when he sees me reading books and doing my exercises, not only does he no longer hit or abuse me, he even comforts me with his words. When I need to go out to do truth-clarification work, he also no longer interferes. Additionally, he is no longer against my hanging Master's image and the Falun emblem at home.

My son, daughter, daughter-in-law, son-in-law and grandson are filial towards me. They respect and care about me. One of my daughter-in-law's has obtained the Fa and is diligent in her cultivation. My eldest daughter-in-law now respects Dafa. She sometimes gives out truth-clarifying materials to our family friends and also promotes Dafa. All of my children and grandchildren have withdrawn from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its Youth League and Young Pioneer organizations, except my husband, who is still thinking about it. I think that before long, with the encouragement from us, he will withdraw. Falun Dafa has saved my family and given the entire family boundless good fortune. No words can express my gratitude towards Dafa.

Every night, I read Falun Dafa books and articles until 11:55 p.m., then join the global sending of righteous thoughts. I usually go to bed after that and then get up at 3:40 a.m. every morning to participate in the global morning exercises. After I finish the standing exercises, I leave home and start distributing truth-clarification materials. This is at about 5:00 a.m. in the morning, when most people are still in bed. It is a good time to place materials in residential areas. I usually start from the top floor and then go down unit by unit, until I reach the bottom floor without any problems. I have also left the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party truth-clarification CDs, "Minghui Weekly" newspapers and small pamphlets, etc. in residents' letter boxes, and I post various truth-clarification posters on the wall near the corridor or on the telephone poles. It is usually broad daylight when I finish distributing the materials, and vendors are starting to set up their stalls to sell things at the market. I use the opportunity to buy things from them and persuade them to withdraw from the CCP. I tell them that time waits for no one, and it would be too late if they wait until the CCP collapses, as then they would be treated as a part of it. Most of the people happily quit.

My old home is in the countryside. I have many brothers, sisters and other relatives, and many of them had joined the CCP and its Youth League. After they read the Nine Commentaries, they have quickly withdrawn from the CCP. Every time I visit my old home, I always bring back many name lists of people wishing to quit the CCP, sometimes dozens of people, sometimes more than a hundred people. When there is a wedding going on, many relatives and friends gather together and there are even more people wanting to withdraw from the CCP.

One night in April 2004, I was at a fellow practitioner's home. I suddenly felt the right side of my body become numb. The right side of my mouth and face became distorted. The fellow practitioner took me home on her bicycle, and I was put to rest in my bed. At the time, the right side of my head had some very sharp pains and my head was not clear at all.

I understood in my heart that I am a Dafa disciple, and I do not have real sickness. This must be the old forces and the CCP's evil elements trying to persecute me. I knew I should send righteous thoughts to eliminate it. My husband and son wanted to take me to the hospital and told me that it was the early sign of a stroke. They said that if I didn't receive treatment quickly, I would possibly become paralyzed, and the consequence could be quite serious. I thought to myself, "If this is my own karma, I will bear it. I need to get rid of my karma, and Master will help me to reduce it. I am a cultivator, and I do not have illness." Afterwards I became clear on the Fa, and I started sending righteous thoughts on my bed continually. After one or two hours, my head became more clear and my mouth was not as distorted. The right side of my body was not as numb as before. By the afternoon, I was almost back to normal and was then able to do my cooking.

After about two weeks, the right side of my body again became numb, and the right side of my mouth was twisted again. My son-in-law gave me a glass of water but I could not lift the glass to my mouth with my right hand. I tried with my left hand, but it still didn't work. But I firmly believed Master and the Dafa in my heart. This time the symptoms lasted for only just over two hours, and it was not as severe as the first time. It didn't even affect my cooking for my family.

With the above two incidents of the "stroke" symptom, if I didn't face it correctly, it could have been quite serious. But I was very clear that I am a cultivator, and a cultivator does not have illness. During the Fa-rectification period, if this was not persecution by the old forces, it must be caused by my own karma, and it happened this way to get rid of the karma accumulated from my past lives. But if it was the old forces and the CCP evil elements taking advantage of my omission, I must strengthen my righteous thoughts and eliminate the evil elements around me.

Master told us in "Teaching the Fa in the City of Los Angeles,"

"What's important for cultivators is righteous thoughts. When you have strong righteous thoughts, you are able to withstand anything and do anything. That's because you are a cultivator: someone who is on a divine path and who is not controlled by the factors of ordinary people or low-level principles." "You are not in any way beings of the Three Realms, and you are no longer ordinary persons. That is why when your righteous thoughts are strong you can resolve any problem." (Teaching the Fa in the City of Los Angeles)

Fellow practitioners, let us keep in step with Master's Fa-rectification pace, walk the path Master arranged for us well, reach consummation and return with our Master.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2007/10/23/165077.html

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