(Clearwisdom.net) I often read articles published on Minghui website talking about how to guide little Dafa disciples to walk well their cultivation paths. My husband and I have an eight-year-old daughter in second grade, and we'd like to share our experiences as well.
At the beginning of 2001, the evil was running most rampant and the staged self-immolation just took place. I was sent to the local brainwashing center. At that time, my wife was already pregnant. During my detention, our little girl was born and I wasn't released until she was one month old. I was very worried about my wife and daughter's safety while I was in detention, but to my comfort, my wife later told me she didn't feel resentful at all. All she did was clarify the truth and resist the persecution. She said that period of time when I was detained was the happiest time. Our little girl was especially good. When my wife went to run errands, she turned on Pu Du music and our daughter would simply lie in bed with a smile.
I recalled that before we learned about my wife's pregnancy, one day she saw a heavenly bird put a pearl in her mouth while she was half awake and half asleep. I remembered what Master said before, that children of Dafa cultivators all have special origins, so I guessed that my wife was expecting. Later that day, we indeed confirmed that she was pregnant. We realized that our daughter came to obtain the Fa.
With regard to our daughter's cultivation state, we try to avoid showing off and appearing overzealous. We especially pay attention to our speech and never ask what she has seen with her third eye. I knew some little disciples who regressed in their cultivation due to their parents' attachments. Even though the child may have his or her historical reason, it is the parents' responsibility to help him or her improve.
A child's cultivation state is also a manifestation of the grown-ups' state of mind. Children are very pure, and their parents' cultivation state often reflects in them. Everyday people believe that children may inherit their parents' certain personal traits. According to traditional Chinese culture, children may have to repay their parents' debts, and may also benefit from the virtue accumulated by their ancestors. Based on my understanding of the Fa, a child's life has elements from his or her parents and they may have to bear hardship for their parents. Therefore, every time when our daughter is not doing very well in cultivation, I would first look within to see if I have any omissions. When I was released from the brainwashing center in May 2001, I had a very strong attachment to fear. Every knock on the door and every telephone ring would scare me to death, as I thought the evil was coming to get me. During that period of time, our daughter was also often living in horror and she would be startled even at car horns. As I gradually removed my fear, our daughter also felt more at ease. Once I didn't pay attention to my speech and bragged at a colleague's home that our daughter had never taken a pill ever since she was born. In no more than 30 minutes, I got a phone call from her kindergarten teacher, saying that she had just developed a high fever. I immediately realized that I was wrong and our daughter was suffering due to my attachment.
Then what should I do when my child appears to be sick? I should again look within, but at the same time, I know it is also a time for us to pass the test of emotion. Our daughter had several big ordeals in her first couple of years and every time it was a great test for us.
When our daughter was two years old, one day my wife took her to visit a fellow practitioner's home in an apartment building. After the visit, when they were about to exit the building, our daughter attempted to open the heavy steel door by herself. To my wife's horror, her thumb got caught in the steel door. My wife couldn't help but scream. When the fellow practitioner came down from her third floor and pulled open the door, half of our daughter's thumb was crushed to be almost paper-thin. The fellow practitioner calmed down to ask for Master's help. In no time, our daughter's thumb returned normal shape and she didn't shed a single tear during the process.
Once our daughter had a high fever, so at night we played audiotapes of Master's teachings to her. She moaned from time to time due to the discomfort. My wife was very upset and anxious. I was able to maintain a calm mind and knew that our daughter had Master to protect her and she wouldn't have any trouble. If she just had to go through some sickness karma, then that was part of her cultivation. I realized that the more my wife was attached to our girl, the more muddle-headed the child would be. I stopped my wife from being upset and told our daughter to strengthen her righteous thoughts with a very strong, firm and serious tone. My wife came to her senses and our daughter stopped moaning. Her fever went away around midnight and she smiled again.
Our daughter has always been immersed in Dafa ever since birth. She especially likes Dafa music and TV programs and enjoys dancing along with the Shen Yun Performing Arts performers. When she was about two years old, we began to teach her to read Hong Yin. By four years of age, she started to read Zhuan Falun together with us. The second time she read the whole book, she recognized most words correctly. Before she turned five, we had a fellow practitioner help look after her while we went to work. After she started kindergarten, she took the initiative to follow us to practice the Falun Gong exercises. Everything seemed very natural to her. Of course, she is still a kid and she does not practice the exercises regularly. We're not terribly obsessed with making her do exercises every day, but we make sure the three of us study the Fa together every day.
I am a well known person locally for practicing Falun Gong, so I have always had a thought to cultivate myself well and help our daughter do well, which can in turn validate the Fa. As a result, I've always paid attention to our child's performance at school. When she was five and in kindergarten, she didn't excel academically, as she started school a bit late. However, her pure side moved her teachers. At a teacher-parent conference, I was invited to speak before the other parents about our daughter.
In September 2007, our daughter became a first grader. One week later her head teacher came to visit us. She was a young woman just out of college. She asked me what experiences I had in bringing up my daughter so well. I mentioned three reasons: first, as parents, we should behave righteously to set a good example for our child; second, we work hard to give our child a quiet and peaceful family environment with no quarrels or sound of playing Mahjong; third, which is the most important one, both my wife and I are Falun Gong practitioners. The head teacher was stunned at my revelation. After some explanations from me, she gradually understood and took some truth-clarification materials before she left.
Soon the issue of joining the Young Pioneer's League was upon my daughter. To be honest, shortly after our daughter's birth, I began to worry about the potential pressure she might face as a Dafa practitioner, but I hadn't thought about the Young Pioneer's League. After the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party was published, I realized we might have to face this at some point. Thinking this to be a very thorny problem, I hoped in my heart that the Fa-rectification process would have ended by the time our daughter had to join the Young Pioneer's League. I was a bit anxious. I heard some practitioners had their children who hadn't started cultivation yet join the Young Pioneer's League first and quit later. I think this is not right. Master did mention it didn't count if you were forced to join the Young Pioneer's League, but why can't we require ourselves with a higher standard? I came to realize that Dafa disciples' children's refusal to join the Young Pioneer's League is also validating the Fa because many everyday people don't dare to do so even after learning the truth. Only Dafa disciples have the courage. We are entitled to freedom of belief. As Dafa disciples, we should break through barriers and be the first group to not join the Young Pioneer's League or the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). We should bring about changes in the human world. I became determined not to have our child join the Young Pioneer's League.
Because I was a bit obsessed with this issue, our daughter also felt great pressure and was worried that she might be forced to join the Young Pioneer's League. Sometimes when she came back from school, she mentioned that her teachers asked them to get ready to join the Young Pioneer's League. I then immediately sent forth righteous thoughts. When I later checked with her teachers, I was told she heard it wrong.
Then one day she told me a group of them was sent to an office to study and watch some videos. Only those that teachers deemed well behaved were allowed to attend. I knew that study session was a prelude to joining the Young Pioneer's League. I told our daughter not to worry and that I would help her. That night I wrote a letter to her teachers and school officials, in which I said that everyone has freedom of belief and no one has the authority to force anyone to join a corrupt, totalitarian and violent organization. I hoped the teachers could look at the issue rationally and with their conscience. In the letter, I affirmed that our child will never join the Young Pioneer's League and that she cannot be discriminated against for her refusal. I welcomed her teachers to share their thoughts with me.
That same night, I also called her head teacher and persuaded her to withdraw from the CCP. The second day, our daughter brought the letter to school and gave it to her teachers. After reading the letter, her teachers gave it to the principal. The end result was that our daughter didn't have to join the Young Pioneer's League. The next year she had a different teacher and I maintained good communication with the new teacher. Our daughter improved greatly in her academic performance. Her head teacher gave her the highest evaluation. Once when I met one of her teachers on the street, I gave her a Shen Yun show CD. As a little Dafa disciple, our daughter began to do the three things on her own initiative this year. She was able to persuade several of her classmates to quit the Young Pioneer's League and had them watch the Shen Yun show.
Right now, I am no longer worried about our daughter's future. She has obtained the Fa, and just like adult practitioners, she is walking her own cultivation path. I feel very fortunate that she could be a part of this great Fa-rectification period. She has her own mission and she has her own sentient beings to save.
