(Clearwisdom.net) My son studied the Fa with me when he was five years old. We frequently listened to Master's audio-taped lectures. He would listen while playing. Sometimes he would repeat certain sentences he heard. Since he was still young and he did not know how to read, he saw Falun and images of Buddhas on the words in the book Zhuan Falun, and saw Falun rotating. Sometimes he would even mention that Master told him something about himself.
When my son was little, I took care of him myself and he would study the Fa together with me. But after he attended school and grew older and had more contact with society, he became more difficult to manage.
The environment in China is extremely complex and full of danger. In addition, the schools use the CCP-devised (Chinese Communist Party) teaching materials every day to instruct the students. Furthermore, due to the lure of other unhealthy elements, my son became more and more distant from Dafa. He is immersed in bad social practices, only wants to enjoy life and is unable to endure suffering. My son knew in his heart that cultivation requires endurance and suffering and requires a pure mind and letting go of desires. He refused to continue to study the Fa. He preferred to be immersed in the transient world, and finally gave up his cultivation.
It is not easy to bring up a young practitioner in China. Chinese society considers these to be a standard of a good student: good academic results, good ranking in school, knowing how not to lose out, and knowing how to win the favor of others. Very little importance is placed on moral and spiritual education. Children lack the ability to differentiate right from wrong. Being polluted by the CCP-sanctioned social environment and the schools that teach CCP culture, young children find it difficult to make good decisions. Even if the child can differentiate between right and wrong, the rest of his peers will ostracize him because his views are different from theirs. Some children cannot withstand it when people view them as different, so they would rather give up or doubt their own beliefs.
I saw my son experience these things with my own eyes. I tried my best to help him persist in his cultivation. The environment in China has polluted his thinking, and he is now distant from Dafa.
I have seen many young practitioners in China around me who have become like this. They followed their family members to do things that validated Dafa and were also very diligent once. But as they grew up, they gradually gave up cultivation. When I read on the Internet about Taiwan's cultivation environment and the overseas young practitioners, I feel sad for the young practitioners in China.
I am discussing this phenomenon so that fellow practitioners can share their views and experiences.
