(Clearwisdom.net) I obtained the Fa on December 30, 1995. Before that, I had converted to Buddhism in order to pray for Buddha's help. I spent more than ten years practicing several types of qigong; however, I never experienced any healing or fitness. But just three days after I read Zhuan Falun, my dozens of diseases from head to toe disappeared. I felt that I had been renewed.
Thus far, I have practiced Falun Gong for fourteen years. What Master has given me is the immeasurable Buddha's grace, which is more than I can express in words.
Before practicing cultivation, I was a sentimental person and keenly drawn to things, especially to the affection among family members. Master said in "Lecture Four" in Zhuan Falun that
"everything in the entire human society comes from this sentimentality. If this sentimentality is not relinquished, you will be unable to practice cultivation."
During the course of my cultivation practice, I have experienced many challenges with sentimentality. Without Master's compassionate salvation, I would be totally ruined by now. Without my fellow practitioners' help, I could hardly have passed through such challenges by myself. Experiencing all of that, I deeply realize that while being entangled in sentimentality, we can easily stumble; but once we step out of it, we will find the seas and the skies boundless.
Stumbling at Every Step While Being Entangled in Sentimentality
The marital sentimentality was the most difficult aspect of sentimentality for me to part with. My husband and I were congenial and inseparable, and we got along with each other very well. After I practiced Falun Gong, I miraculously became healthy. My husband felt very happy about it, but he still didn't want to practice at that time. In October 1996 he fell down from the river dike while riding a bicycle. The handlebar and pedals of his bicycle were broken, but he was not hurt. My husband thought that it was Master's hint to him, and he then started to practice Falun Gong. After that, we both went to Fa-study group and the exercise site together, and we benefited a lot.
Then just two years later, my husband unexpectedly passed away due to liver cancer in January 1999. I was in tremendous grief then, and I became deeply entangled in missing him and thinking fondly of him. I often had a tearful face at that time, even when I studied the Fa and did the exercises. No matter what I did, I was in a bad mood.
Although I was in bad mood, my determination towards practicing cultivation didn't waver. I kept studying the Fa and doing the exercises every day. Fellow practitioners also shared experiences with me every day. There was an older fellow practitioner who also suffered misfortune. Both her husband and her second son passed away within half a year. However, she was neither sorrowful nor did she cry, to which I was shocked.
"The Fa can break all attachments..." ("Drive Out Interference" in Essentials for Further Advancement II)
I recited the Fa about relinquishing sentimentality from "Cultivator's Avoidances" and Zhuan Falun again and again. Finally, Master saved me out of sentimentality. The demon of sentimentality was disintegrated, and I became free.
Relinquishing Affection among Family Members and Validating Dafa
Master said in "Lecture Four" in Zhuan Falun,
"If you are free from this sentimentality, nobody can affect you. An everyday person's mind will be unable to sway you. What takes over in its place is benevolence, which is something more noble."
Not long after I stepped out of sentimentality, I encountered my son's and daughter's marriage changes in succession. Because I was already free from affection among family members, these issues no longer disturbed me. Therefore, I was neither confused nor worried; I only persuaded them to do the right thing.
My son's marriage change came with a storm that made ordinary people jumpy. My daughter-in-law wanted to jump from a height with her daughter, and her family members wanted to beat my son. I treated my ex-daughter-in-law as my own daughter, and I lived with her and her daughter. I carefully took care of them, but disturbances still occurred every day. Then I kept reciting Master's Fa in my heart,
"Then, as a practitioner and one who rises above and beyond, one should not use this approach to judge things, and one should break away from them. Therefore, as to the many attachments that come from sentimentality, we should take them lightly and eventually abandon them." ("Lecture Six" in Zhuan Falun)
In the end, my son's mother-in-law told me, "You people who practice Falun Gong are really terrific; no one can do as well as you." I told them that it is Master who requires us to do so, and that I could not achieve this if I didn't practice cultivation. They all said that "Falun Dafa is good," and they all quit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) at the same time.
Nobody Can Affect Us If We Are Free from Sentimentality
Two months later, when my younger grandson attended school, each student had to join the Young Pioneers. My grandson was the only one who did not join because I clarified the truth about Falun Gong to his teacher in advance. His father made a big stink over this matter several times. Facing this, I looked within. I found that I did not clarify the truth enough and that I still had affection and even the feeling of resentment; then I relinquished them. As a result, I saw that one righteous mind can subdue one hundred evils. No one mentioned this matter anymore. I firmly believe that Master is right around us, and that as long as we do everything righteously, the evil dare not do anything.
During that time, someone thought it might affect my grandson's development in school and suggested, "Why not join the party first, and then quit it?" I thought that would be taking Master's compassion as a joke. In no case will Dafa disciples join the evil CCP. Let's imagine, if none of the Dafa disciples, our relatives, and friends joined the evil CCP, could it survive? I cannot mislead little disciples about this. What I did was to protect a child's life and lead a little Dafa disciple. Therefore, I feel very easy in my mind. Seeing that my grandson is growing up healthy and sound, and that sometimes he can perform according to the Fa, I feel very happy.
In summary, sentimentality saturates each of our cells, and it also produces many attachments. I enlightened that if we relinquish it, we will find another world with broader roads where we can upgrade faster and more freely.