(Clearwisdom.net)
Continued from Part 1: http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2008/5/5/97049.html
(2) Children's cultivation is greatly affected by that of their parents
My child was born before the persecution of Falun Gong began. His mom went to Tiananmen Square when she was pregnant with him. The place was filled with the evil at the time, so he was harmed before he was even born, and he went through huge tribulations when he was very young. Thanks to Teacher's arrangement and care, with treatment, no visible signs were left. At Tiananmen Square, his mom felt his spirit, so she named him Linger (a smart child). So I will just refer to him as Linger.
I read Zhuan Falun to Linger when he was three. He often fell asleep listening to it. He loved to listen to stories of young practitioners from Clearwisdom and to watch e-books of cartoons on the PureInsight website, and frequently asked me to turn on the computer so he could read them. When he was five, I tried to have him watch the VCD of Teacher's lectures in Dalian City, but he was too young to sit still and I did not insist.
I remember when the local materials center where I help out was having difficulties. Unable to attack me directly, the evil forces attacked Linger instead. He often woke up and cried in the midst of the night, as though something in his surroundings had greatly frightened him. He would not recognize anyone but me, and cried hard and huddled into my chest. I asked him to open his eyes and watch me, and consoled him while I sent forth righteous thoughts at the same time. He was at a loss and did not know what had happened when I asked him when he was fully awake. The next morning he could not even remember that he had cried the night before.
Once I tried hard to ask him exactly what had happened. He told me that he had dreamed that I was cuffed and taken away by the police. I smiled and asked: "What happened then?" He suddenly relaxed and said: "You escaped from them. It was OK." Once he told me that he had seen some horrible monsters. Since he was still young, I did not tell him to send forth righteous thoughts. The situation lasted for about half a year. Then I told him to recite the phases for sending forth righteous thoughts and told him to ask Teacher for help if he felt frightened, because he could see Teacher and the law wheel. From then on his nightmares occurred much less frequently.
It is a test for practitioners when such things happen. Parents' xinxing affects the state of their children. The parent must maintain his or her calm and keep their righteous thoughts to protect the children.
As parents, many practitioners are concerned that their children might not be able to remain silent about certain things, and might say things that they should not. They are afraid that the innocent children may tell other people that their parents practice Falun Dafa, for instance. In reality, kids who come to obtain Dafa all have wisdom and intelligence. One should not look upon them as ordinary lives. Teacher takes care of these young practitioners as well as arranging everyone's cultivation. If things are not supposed to happen, Teacher will not let them. Of course we need to be rational in facing these issues. We should not let things that are not meant to happen occur because we are afraid of being arrested and persecuted, nor should we adversely affect our children's cultivation because of our own selfishness.
Before Linger was interfered with, I had never told him about the persecution. The atmosphere at home was quite relaxed. He had no idea that I was doing work validating Dafa. After the interference began, I showed him the pamphlets for kids about the facts of Dafa, and Flash movies made for for children about the persecution. I also had him watch the VCD "Braving the wind and Rain"and the movie "Sandstorm". Later I showed him "The Shock" and "Tears Without Hatred". The first time he saw "Sandstorm" and "The Shock", I was afraid the brutal scenes in the movie might adversely affect him. But it turned out that my concern was unnecessary. A few days later he asked to watch them himself. The little girl in the movie moved him especially. In the NTDTV New Year show, the scene of the practitioner persecuted to death ascending to the heaven made a deep impression on him, and helped him enlighten to principles that we were unable to describe to him.
Although children cannot express themselves as well as adults do, the words they say sometimes are quite astonishing. His teacher said that he is a very wise and intelligent boy. It was the first time I heard someone describing a child that way.
Non-practicing relatives of ours repeatedly warned Linger not to say to people what he knew about his father's arrest. They appeared quite anxious. I stopped them immediately to avoid the possibility that they might create some stress for him. I strongly believe that whether it is a child or an adult, a practitioner needs to evaluate things with Dafa. One cultivates oneself; outside disturbances will disappear naturally. The child already knows and is used to the fact that cultivators and ordinary people are different and need to be treated separately. He will not tell non-practitioners about cultivators' concerns.
We also found that when Linger told his kids friends the facts about Dafa, he knows how to do it properly. Also, with Teacher's care, as long as our hearts are pure and calm, the evil not only cannot find any gaps, they will be completely destroyed by the righteous field. Linger often told me some of his thoughts and things he had encountered, and asked my opinion. I would calmly tell him my thoughts based on his situation. I would not put my safety as the number one concern, nor would I treat his questions with ordinary people's attachment.
Linger and I study the Fa together and I have gained a better understanding of the things discussed above. In recent years, certain things about Linger seem to be related to my experience of validating Dafa. The times when he experienced symptoms of illness often coincided with times that either I or the local information center were not in good shape.
(To be continued)