Little Things Are Also Part of Cultivation

(Clearwisdom.net) I have noticed that some practitioners, when sharing experiences with other practitioners, do very well—all of what they say is from the perspective of the Fa. However, when they go back home, they are not strict with themselves. It seems that they are practitioners when they are studying the Fa and doing the exercises, but they become everyday people in their daily lives. When they hear different opinions, or when other people criticize them or blame them, they become unhappy. They even try to find some excuses to argue with others. During the argument, what they say hurts others' feelings. They choose the most frustrating words. I feel very anxious about this. As practitioners, every thought of ours should be rectified.

There is an old married couple. They both started practicing Falun Dafa before the persecution started in 1999. They both appear to be very diligent in their cultivation. The wife is able to harmonize with the Fa and everyone around her has a good impression of her. People like to spend time with her. There is a lot of housework for her to finish every day, though, and when she is busy, she does not have enough time to study the Fa. Sometimes she has to help fellow practitioners or other people with their work. The husband seems very diligent. He studies the Fa and does the exercises every day. He often says that his wife has wasted her time. Then she asks him to help a bit with the housework so that she can have time to study the Fa. He answers with, "How could I have time to do housework? You have too many attachments. You do whatever you want to do but I do not have time to do housework." The wife feels quite discouraged and complains a bit. The husband thus begins to lose his temper, "Every practitioner is doing better than you. So-and-so studies the Fa and does the exercises every day." Then she replies, "Have a look at our place yourself. Our yard is full of things waiting for me to finish. We are both practitioners, and our surroundings should not be so dirty and messy."

The wife has been shouldering the pressure of housework quietly while the husband frequently goes to other practitioners' homes several miles or even dozens of miles away to share experiences, without considering others' schedules. In fact, with Master and the Fa, it is not necessary to visit fellow practitioners so frequently. It takes too much of their time. Master asks us to think of others. If the husband shared some of the housework in the family, it would be a way for him to harmonize with the Fa in cultivation, to get along with family members, to consider others before himself, and to upgrade his xinxing.