(Clearwisdom.net) I am a young Falun Dafa practitioner and have been practicing for over a year. I hope this this article can be helpful for those young practitioners who are trying to break through their family tests.
After the middle school admission exam last year, I was fortunate to visit two elderly Falun Dafa practitioners. They told me the truth about Falun Gong. After learned the truth, I withdrew from Communist organizations and obtained the book Zhuan Falun. I was very impressed by the Dafa principles and Teacher's great compassion. The two elderly practitioners' cultivation convinced me that Dafa was righteous. Therefore, I began to cultivate.
At that time, my family was deceived by the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) lies. When I told them the facts about Falun Gong, they were doubtful and didn't pay much attention to what I said. Later my elder sister found me studying the Fa. She talked to me many times to try to persuade me to give up Dafa. When I refused, she reported to my mother. She repeated the CCP's deceptive lies about Dafa. My whole family came out against my learning Dafa and tried to force me to quit. I have just started learning Dafa and haven't gained a deep understanding of Dafa yet, so when I clarified the truth to them, they didn't listen to me. They forced me to promise to forget about Dafa. I was upset and cried with grievances. My parents thought I was obsessed and insane. My mother and elder sister cried in front of me and forced me to promise to give up Dafa; I refused and avoided them.
I think many practitioners may encounter such tests. The key is that we should not regard our family members as our relatives when faced with such challenges. Instead, we should regard them as sentient beings. We should not think they should act a particular way because they are our family members. When we are anxious, things will be otherwise.
After I enlightened to this principle , whenever there was an opportunity, I talked to my family members and told the the facts about Falun Dafa. Many times, they either refused to listen to me, or didn't believe me, or showed hostility. I was quite upset, and sometimes I got angry. My bad mood caused misunderstandings, and my family became hostile towards Dafa.
I was very worried, and didn't know what to do. I was distressed as I had to study the Fa and practice the exercises secretly. Teacher said in Zhuan Falun,
"That's because whoever the karma falls on, that's who feels the pain. It's definitely that way."
If we truly want to cultivate, we have to get rid of our karma. I probably owe my family members debts from my previous lives. Since I made up my mind to cultivate, I must dare to acknowledge and face my tests and tribulations. I must face such tests with a forgiving attitude as a Dafa practitioner. I should not fight with ordinary people. I shouldn't even want to argue with them--I should just endure it. After I realized this, my family interfered with me less. I realized that I should be more compassionate to them. I believed my compassion would change them. My younger brother was hostile to me because I had learned Dafa, and he refused to talk to me. This actually had to do with my own character, as I had a bad attitude toward him before, and our relationship was sour. So I applied my compassionate side. When he was mean to me, I just smiled and didn't care much. I still talked to him. I didn't mind if he didn't respond. I still showed my concern when he was in trouble. He noticed that, and after some time, he started to talk to me. Sometimes he even cared about me and chatted with me. Once when I went home, he talked to me and suddenly he said to himself, "How come I've become much more gentle when I talk to you these days?"
My mother once cried and shouted at me when I practiced the exercises. I firmly told her, "I will practice [Falun Gong] for the rest of my life, unless I die." She was shocked to hear that and left. My father was about to criticize me when he saw me practicing the exercises. I said, "If I don't behave myself, you should teach me a lesson. However, I am exercising my body and cultivating my character. Why do you want to stop me?" He was speechless, and left.
Now when I study the Fa and practice the exercises, my family no longer stops me or bothers me--they just ignore it. Of course, I often send forth righteous thoughts to eliminate degenerate matter and the evil Party factors that control them in the other dimension.
I hope all young Dafa practitioners treasure the opportunity to learn Dafa, watch less or no TV, and do not play computer games. Ordinary people enjoy those awful things that intoxicate their main spirits. They live in their dreams and fantasies. I hope young practitioners will not to be influenced by those everyday people's things.
This is my personal understanding. If there is anything inappropriate, please kindly point it out.
March 11, 2009