(Clearwisdom.net)
More than ten fellow practitioners were detained in a detention center during the Chinese New Year of 2001. I wanted to give them some money although I did not know most of them. I told my husband of my intention. I took the opportunity to tell him about some fellow practitioners being arrested and tortured, in order to appeal to the kindness in his heart. I told him: "Those good people are in trouble. The New Year is coming. We should go to express our concern and visit them." I told him my plan. He was very supportive. It was the power of Falun Dafa that changed him.
In the middle of September, I decided to go to Beijing to send righteous thoughts. Several days before I set off for Beijing, I started to "pave the way." On the one hand, I tended to my parents and in-laws very well; I prepared everything I could for them. I told them that I would be very busy during the next several days and would probably not see them. I told them not to worry about me. On the other hand, I also needed to wisely get my husband's permission. I know people regard family stability as very important.
I made preparations three days in advance. I used dinnertime or when we just chatted casually to tell them about how fellow practitioners whose celestial eyes were opened had seen the big battle between good and evil taking place in Beijing. I told them many fellow practitioners' experiences of going to Beijing, as well as many wonderful stories, such as some fellow practitioners seeing deities and Buddhas assisting in the fight on their way back from Beijing. My intention was so that they would not feel surprised upon hearing of me going to Beijing. I just wanted to give them some time to adapt to the idea.
Several days later, I was about to go. I asked my husband to come into our bedroom, and said, "I want to talk about a matter with you." He said, "Are you leaving for Beijing?" I replied, "Yes! I hope you will support me. I'm going to Beijing to send righteous thoughts. I will stay in a hotel for a couple of days. I will come back very soon!" My husband kept silent for a while. Then he said, "Do not carry those materials [Falun Dafa truth-clarification materials] with you." I said with a smile, "Thank you for your concern and support. I am just going there to send righteous thoughts."
Before I left, I told my son: "I am about to leave home for a few days." He was suddenly alert and asked, "Are you leaving for Beijing?" I smiled and said: "Do not ask. You just take care of your dad. I have spoken with him clearly." That evening, I got on a bus to go to Beijing with an open heart. I met some predestined people and clarified the truth to them while going there and coming back. In Beijing, we fulfilled our purpose and came back safely.
My husband said, "I did not sleep well during these couple of days." I told him, "I understand your feelings." And then I also told him about my cultivation experience, which gave him a deeper understanding of Fa-rectification. He was able to understand more about what I did. His attachment of fear obviously had weakened.
The next day, a fellow practitioner told me, "Last night, the television and radio reported news about Jiang completely dropping the reins of government!" I smiled lightly and my heart was not disturbed.
We should treat our parents well and clarify the truth to both sides of the family with reason, wisdom, and with a compassionate heart that can melt steel. No matter how difficult, we cannot make a detour. We must help them learn the truth wholeheartedly, because they have a big influence on other members of the family, relatives and neighbors.
Taking good care of the elderly and supporting our parents is expected of all good people in society. As practitioners, we should be truly good people. We come into frequent contact with our parents and in-laws, and in a large family, their words have a strong and powerful impact. However, at the same time, they are also the people who have acquired strong notions about us that are hard to change.
I believed I should help them to learn the truth as soon as possible. Otherwise, they might not be pleased when I clarified the truth to the others, which could have a negative affect. If they were fair and supportive, imagine how big the impact and effect would be in that area.
My in-laws are nearing their nineties. My mother-in-law always supports my practice and she often listens to the audiotapes of Teacher Li's lectures. My father-in-law is an elderly retired Party cadre. Every day, he either watched TV or read the newspaper at home. He did not have any doubt about the media propaganda. He was very annoyed at me because I continued to practice Falun Gong. His notion was that one should not practice it simply because the government does not permit it.
In the beginning, whenever I mentioned Falun Gong to him, he just got angry. I could only soothe him with a smile and well-meaning words, but I was not disheartened. In so many years, among all the brothers and sisters, I am considerate to others first under any circumstances and never have any concern about my personal gain and loss. I am respected by many family members throughout four generations of the whole family. At the same time, our family harmony is also well known. For many years now, I have been making sure to go to see my parents- in-law at least once a week. I always take something for them. Although they live in one of my houses, I am never concerned about it since it was my idea for them to do so.
Each time that I went to see my parents- in-law, I always tried to do some Dafa work along the way. I often finished several things at once and therefore also completed the things Falun Dafa practitioners must do. That is the first priority. I prepared meals for them, finished the housework and also saved the time that would otherwise be spent on repeatedly going back and forth. I got twice the result with half the effort. All the people in my work unit knew that I became busier after I left my work to tend to my parents and in-laws every day. It is our great Teacher Li who arranged a cultivation environment most suitable for me.
Although my father-in-law is very stubborn, I am still confident that he will come to understand the truth about Falun Gong. He always gets along with people very well and also has a predestined relationship with me. As long as my xinxing (1) reaches a certain level, I will be able to let him know the truth. Teacher exhorted our disciples in Touring North America to Teach the Fa, " It's hard to save people nowadays. You have to explain things to them by following the logic of their attachments. For the sake of saving them, don't create any obstacles for them."
My father-in-law seems to be very attached to his illnesses, and what he likes most is someone telling him news about his friends. He is not able to go outside and feels bored at home all year long. I tell him cultivation stories from other fellow practitioners, especially the cultivation stories about Falun Gong practitioners and their family members whom he knows. I tell him the details so that he can understand Falun Dafa from a positive side. The conversation, filled with words and smiles, always interests him. As my patience and compassion gradually upgrade to benevolence, the pureness of my field brings about faster harmonizing effects.
In the past, when some practitioners went there to see me and I was not there, he often got angry with them. He drove them away, although I had asked my mother-in-law to entertain them for me until I arrived. Therefore, I reasoned with him kindly. However, he persisted with his own ways. Later, he came to know that practitioners are all good people. He was very kind when practitioners came to visit again. A practitioner said to me, "These two elderly people are so nice!"
My parents are different from each other. My mother believed in deities and Buddhas in the past and knows that Falun Dafa is good. She thought that I should practice at home but not go out to clarify the truth. She feared that I would be tortured if I were arrested. I took every opportunity to tell her of my mystical, breathtaking experience and about Teacher protecting me while I was out doing Fa-rectification activities, as well as other fellow practitioners' cultivation stories. Though this, I gradually eliminated her worries. Recently, she has been listening to Teacher's lectures.
My father was a leading cadre for years. He vigorously protected those strong acquired notions developed over a lifetime, such as "wealth." No one could touch them. In 1999, just half a year after he started practicing Falun Dafa, after hearing and believing the negative propaganda, he gave up the practice. When the persecution began, after the peaceful appeal by practitioners on April 25, 1999, he completely rejected Teacher's new lectures and materials from Minghui.org [the Chinese version of Clearwisdom.net]. On so many occasions, I wanted to clarify the truth to him. He was always agitated and did not let me continue. He only shouted, "You pursue consummation. You are going to the extreme. You are not cultivating. You go to Beijing to play politics, which deviates from Zhuan Falun (2) and Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance. You are going to bring shame on Falun Dafa. I frown to see it!"
Six months after he stopped practicing Falun Gong, my father suffered a heart attack. He started to take medicine. Later, his condition got worse. He was often in the hospital. Therefore, my mother did not let me say a word related to Falun Gong in front of him for fear of upsetting him.
However, some time later, I was again anxious to clarify the truth to him. It was because Teacher mentioned in many lectures that he was still waiting for the practitioners who had obtained the Fa before 1999 but did not keep up with Fa-rectification. I thought: "I cannot let him go. It is my responsibility." I often went back to my parents' home in my spare time as much as possible. I became more caring and considerate. I mainly wanted to find opportunities to communicate with them. However, it was so difficult. What my father cared about most were his illnesses. I only had limited time. When I sat down and directed the topic toward Falun Gong, our conversation was just not congenial. He said I made him angry, and avoided the topic of Falun Gong.
My mother told me: "Your dad says, if he dies, it will be because you made him angry." I said, "Mom, I tell you, what I'm doing is saving his life! He only listens to the propaganda from one side. I gave him Teacher's lectures, but he neither listens nor reads them. And he also does not communicate with me. How can his bias be eliminated? If the evil thoughts in his brain are not eliminated, they will harm him." My mother said, "Then, we will just trust luck. Who can he complain about if he does not listen?" For some time, I really felt the distance between us was just too far, and I had a misconception of helplessness.
Teacher clearly instructed disciples in Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Washington DC Fa Conference:
"When it comes to a lot of the specific things you come across, you need to carefully think them over for yourself, and it's up to you yourself to come up with a way to resolve them. Wherever there's a problem, that is where you need to clarify the truth and save people. Don't take a detour when you run into difficulties. When you see something that does us harm, or when you see something blocking our validating the Fa, don't take a detour-you should face it, and clarify the truth and save those beings. This is the compassion (cibei) of a Dafa disciple, and it's our saving lives. At the same time, when you're clarifying the truth you can resolve the problem of many people having been deceived, the misunderstandings, and the prejudice. After all, the lies in the propaganda from this evil persecution that's happening in China have misled sentient beings. They have covered up the truth with a deceitful show. When met with the truth, people will think things over carefully, and how people respond to all this is their own choice."
I studied Teacher's lecture over and over. I was moved to tears. I searched inside and found many human attachments in relation to my father. The attachments of self-righteousness, and family affection, the extreme thought that I was not afraid of anything because I practiced Falun Dafa, the attachment to showing off, deep appreciation to Teacher and Falun Dafa, etc. I knew I had not cultivated well and my benevolence was not developed enough. This is because benevolence is obtained through cultivation and not through showing off. I decided to purify my heart, study the Fa and upgrade my xinxing as soon as possible. Moreover, Teacher endowed Dafa practitioners with the historical mission to send righteous thoughts to eliminate the evil in the other dimensions. I obtained the magic weapon; and Teacher's many articles and lectures have been opening my wisdom and leading me to strive forward continuously. I corrected myself by comparing myself to Teacher's Fa principles. I decided to no longer bypass and avoid my father. However, I also could not speak to him straightforwardly and directly. I could not walk on the old path. Because my father often had heart attacks, I had to be careful not to bring any negative effect on Falun Dafa. "One's gong level is as high as one's xinxing level" (Zhuan Falun). Teacher gave me benevolence, and I will use it to save the world's people.
I calmed down and analyzed my father's point of view. The length of time he had studied the Fa was short. He studied the Fa at home by himself and did not dare to admit it in public. He was deceived by Jiang's deceitful propaganda shortly after he entered the door of Falun Dafa. Later, he was afraid of getting into trouble and severed all contact with Falun Dafa. His notions controlled him. However, he became angry and upset, which showed that he still cared about Falun Dafa. He only misunderstood the action of Falun Dafa practitioners protecting the Fa. I recalled Teacher's words:
"The Fa can break all attachments, the Fa can destroy all evil, the Fa can shatter all lies, and the Fa can strengthen righteous thoughts. "
("Drive Out Interference" Essentials for Further Advancement II).
I completely understand that Falun Dafa is able to change everything. As long as my father reads the Fa, he can change his notions. As long as he reads, changes will happen! I decided to communicate with him by writing and have him read Teacher's new lectures in this Fa-rectification phase.
I went and said to my father: "When you were young, you often exchanged thoughts with my grandfather by writing to him. Now, you still keep those letters in memory. I think, since both of us do not work, we have time. We can also communicate by writing. I will write to you about my cultivation during these years. And I would like to get your remarks." My father smiled and modestly declined again and again, "You flatter me! You flatter me! "
This way, I started to relate to my father by writing to him. The first letter was written by hand. I mainly talked about the course of my growing up and naturally involved all the previous movements in history. From the persecution my grandfather had suffered during the Cultural Revolution, I extended it to the present persecution of Falun Gong. At the same time, I said I wanted to associate with him more.
My father replied to me very soon with a seven-page letter. In the letter, he said: "The disharmony in our conversations is not caused by the contradiction between father and daughter, or the contradiction among family members, let alone by an economical dissension. Rather, it is an issue of right and wrong shaded with a strong political color. So, it sets up an insurmountable barrier for our communication. Without a uniform purpose, how do we communicate? Doesn't it resemble trying to make one do a thing which he cannot do?" Further, he raised more than ten questions. His attitude was very tough.
I was very happy after I saw he was willing to raise questions. I did not look at his tone and manner. I only saw what his concerns were. Based on the questions he raised, I grasped the key points and started to reply to him. This time, I finished the letter on my computer. The aim was to deliver to him Teacher's related lectures. This letter was eight full pages. I only answered the two questions he was most concerned about. One was whether the appeal in Beijing involved politics; the other was where the Dafa materials that I had came from.
I got straight to the point in the letter and told him: "Falun Dafa is not concerned with politics, just as Teacher declared when he began to teach the Fa. However, the head of the country manipulates the whole national propaganda machine to distort the truth and create slanderous propaganda. As a Falun Dafa particle that knows the truth, especially after I understood the true significance of Teacher's Fa-rectification in the human world, that is, saving human and saving lives, I stood up to clarify the truth to our own government and the world's people and clearly discriminate between right and wrong. Isn't it because I trust the government and am doing my duty? Isn't it just like 'good advice that is harsh to the ear' or ' advising without reservation,' which were always honored and promoted in Chinese history? Only those who cultivate 'Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance' dare to do this. It is not attending to politics. Moreover, the Dafa of the cosmos that created all lives is being defamed." I cited a large number of Teacher's related lectures and articles that directly addressed my father's situation. Also, I wrote to him about our Chinese Falun Dafa website -- "Minghui.org" [Clearwisdom.net] -- as well as Teacher commenting positively on several Falun Dafa practitioners' websites in his lectures.
I told him that Minghui.org is the place where Teacher's lectures and articles are posted. It is a bridge for Falun Dafa practitioners in the world to communicate with each other. Minghui.org publishes practitioners' articles, which are also compressed into a weekly digest. All published articles are examined and approved by the editorial board of Minghui.org. Anything unrelated to Falun Dafa is not published. It is a piece of pure land. Further, I told him that the content of the articles included practitioners' experience sharing and understanding; reports about the Fa spreading all over the world; the persecution facts exposed by the practitioners in China and the situation of those practitioners who were tortured to death. I told him that all members of the Minghui.net editorial board are Falun Dafa practitioners.
This letter deeply touched my father. Several days later, when I went to see him, I could tell his heart was very heavy. We did not talk face to face, but my father's facial expression had clearly changed. When I left, he patted my shoulder and did not say anything.
Later, I wrote another letter. My father said, "Do not write anymore. We can talk face to face." I smiled.
Now, my father is studying the Fa and practicing again. He has resumed Falun Dafa. It is our grand and benevolent Teacher who gave him another chance to return to his true self.
People in my work unit know I am busy tending to my parents and in-laws. And all the family members on both sides know I am busy with the practice and doing Falun Dafa activities. Whenever my parents need help, my brothers and sisters step in to help. Even after my sister-in-law planted the vegetables and finished the harvest, she did not call me to come for it, but delivered the vegetables to my home. She said, "You have so many things to do. Busy!"
Since I obtained the support and assistance from my family members, my cultivation environment has become more and more free. As a Falun Dafa practitioner, I am doing everything I can to save all beings and also proceeding calmly, stably and smoothly.
I hereby pay my greatest respects to our grand Teacher again! I sincerely thank you for your grace of saving me.
I am most welcome to receive fellow practitioners' benevolent comments. Heshi.
Notes
(1) Xinxing: mind-heart nature, moral character.
(2) Zhuan Falun is the core text of Falun Dafa practice .
