My Realm Has Elevated as I Followed the Fa

(Minghui.org) I have been practicing Falun Dafa for 27 years. I’d like to share how I’ve benefited from the practice, how my realm has elevated, and some of my touching experiences. Thank you, Master! Thank you, Dafa!

Dafa Gave Me a New Life

I began practicing Falun Dafa in 1997, motivated by my poor health. I was plagued by a myriad of health problems, such as heart disease, epilepsy, liver disease, stomach issues, and others, 25 relatively serious ailments in total. The one that was especially bad was epilepsy. When I had an epileptic seizure, I fell down, went into spasms, and lost awareness and control for a while. Sometimes I broke a window and attempted to jump out of the building. I often bit my tongue when I had an attack and always wet myself.

To treat my epilepsy, I went to top hospitals in Beijing, Shanghai, and elsewhere. I also sought out well-known doctors and took a lot of different medications, but none of them cured me. Because of the epilepsy, my wife worried about me greatly.

After I began practicing Dafa, all my illnesses went away. I’m now in my 70s. Because I am illness-free, I feel light and I walk very fast. I am grateful to Master from deep down inside. It was Dafa that gave me a new life.

Being Considerate of Others

I have four older sisters and two younger brothers. After we all got married, my youngest brother supported our parents. Because of that, he owned my parents’ house.

When my father passed away 20 years ago, I was responsible for the funeral arrangements and burial, so I lent my mother 10,000 yuan to cover the costs. She said she would reimburse me later, but she never did. After my mother felt she had lived at my youngest brother’s house long enough, she asked the rest of us to take turns letting her live with them, which caused family conflicts.

My mother was 97 years old in 2017. Because she suffered from severe dementia, her issues caused too much trouble at her children’s homes, so my eldest sister and youngest brother put my mother in a nursing home that also had a hospital. My youngest sister-in-law didn’t think they should have done that and argued with me, saying that she didn’t believe my eldest sister couldn’t even stand having my mother stay with her family for a month. I told her, “It’s already been handled, so please don’t say anything else. Just be more tolerant.”

Not long after my mother went into the nursing home, it was renovated and all the stair rails were taken down because they installed an elevator. My mother lived on the fourth floor. One day, the caregiver didn’t keep an eye on her, and she headed down the stairs. Because there were no railings, she rolled down from the third floor all the way to the ground floor. She was covered in bruises and cut her head so badly she had to get seven stitches. They gave her a CT scan and saw nothing was fractured. Although the nursing home took care of her right away, they never apologized for their negligence.

My youngest brother and his wife were bent on suing the nursing home. From a legal point of view, we could have won easily. It cost us a lot to get Mother 24-hour care , which the nursing home should have been accountable for. However, as a Dafa practitioner, I knew that, if we sued the nursing home, its reputation would suffer. Also, the caregiver who was taking care of my mother would suffer financial loss and might even end up getting fired. Neither the nursing home nor the caregiver intended to harm my mother. Anyone could have made such a mistake. Besides, my mother had severe dementia and often tried to run away, making it difficult to watch her.

Knowing I needed to be kind and considerate of others, according to Dafa’s principles, I did not agree to file the lawsuit.

I said to my sisters and brothers, “It was the nursing home’s fault, and we would definitely win if we were to sue them. However, from a conscience point of view, our mother is not easy to take care of—that’s why we put her there. If she had an accident in one of our homes, would we hold them liable? Even if we won the lawsuit, the nursing home would only compensate us 10,000 or 20,000 yuan, so we wouldn’t get rich from it, and the money would be gone in no time. However, the caregiver would be penalized. Then we wouldn’t feel right spending the money, would we? To make it up to us, the nursing home has already arranged for more caregivers to take care of Mother and even sent us gifts. Let’s forgive them.”

My youngest brother’s wife responded, “But if we don’t sue them, others will say we are cowardly and easy to take advantage of!”

I replied, “This is not cowardice. It is compassion. No matter what others say, we are being true to our conscience, and that is a great virtue. Going to court would take a lot of time and effort, and even if we won, we wouldn’t get much out of it. Plus, the nursing home and the caregiver would hate us for the rest of our lives. Is it worth making enemies over such a small matter and such a small amount of money? You have been in charge in situations like this, so you know this better than me, right?”

In the end, all of them dropped the idea of suing the nursing home. Both the management and the caregiver in the nursing home were very appreciative. They also learned the truth about Dafa.

It was incredible to think that a 97-year-old could roll down three flights of stairs without breaking any bones. Not only that, bruised as she was, my mother didn’t have any pain. She recovered in a week and could stand up with our help. This really came down to a kind thought and the gods and Buddhas helping her.

How My Mother Benefited from Dafa

Even though my mother never went to school, she could read some Chinese characters. She did read Zhuan Falun about a dozen years ago and believed that Dafa is wonderful. Because of that, she benefited greatly from Dafa in her later years. For example, she was blessed to recover so quickly after falling down the stairs in the nursing home.

My mother developed cataracts in her 80s. When we took her to the doctor, he advised us that, at her age, there was no point in having surgery and we should just go with conservative treatment.

My mother was blind in her left eye and the vision in her right eye was gradually declining. Eventually, she couldn’t read her Dafa books, so my eldest sister took them away. My mother wasn’t happy about that and told me so. She also told me that she had trouble sleeping. I said, “Let me suggest that you just recite the two auspicious phrases quietly, deep down inside: ‘Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good.’ That will help you.”

She said she couldn’t remember the words, so I told her, “I’ll print them out for you in large text.” I typed the phrases in the largest font and asked her to read them.

Two days later when I went to see her, she said cheerfully, “I fell asleep as soon as I recited those phrases. They really work!” Yes, the phrases are better than a panacea. Whoever recites them will benefit.

To Show Respect for One’s Mother, One Has to Sacrifice

Master said,

“...while cultivating in ordinary human society, we should be good to our parents and look after our children. Under all circumstances, we must be good and kind to others, not to mention to our family members.” (Lecture Six, Zhuan Falun)

Respecting the elderly is one of the traditional virtues. In ancient China, respecting parents was regarded as a sign of a person’s noble character. Therefore, the ancients said that filial piety comes first among all virtues. As a practitioner, we should hold ourselves to the requirements of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.

Because the nursing home was still under renovation and in a mess, we discussed moving our mother to another home. Since none of us had the conditions or ability to take care of her, we moved her in August 2017 to the best nursing home in the city, where the setting, food, and care were first-class.

My mother was 102 in 2022. My eldest sister was 82, and my two other sisters also needed to be cared for. My fourth sister’s family didn’t live in the same city. So the responsibility fell on her three sons (including me), and conflicts arose among us during that time. Our youngest brother was supposed to care of Mother, but now the duty fell on her three sons. We brothers didn’t say anything about caring for our mother, but the daughters-in-law had some ideas. I just used the Fa principles to conduct myself. I followed Dafa’s principles, and whenever I heard or saw any conflicts, I would talk to them kindly. I also tried to lead by example.

My mother’s pension covered her nursing fees to the penny. However, she needed more than 400 yuan extra a month for diapers. My two brothers and I took turns month to month to buy the necessary supplies and cover her other expenses, which came to least 600 to 700 yuan per month. Then in 2019, my middle brother became seriously ill and could no longer help out, so my youngest brother and I shared the task of taking care of her needs.

My mother’s caregivers all knew that I practiced Falun Dafa. They said that I didn’t look like I was in my 70s, that I could have been in my 50s. I often clarified the truth to them. Every year when I made truth-clarification calendars, I gave one to each of them. There were some new caregivers, who also knew that I practiced Dafa, and they also admired me.

I clarified the truth to a few residents near where my mother lived. A resident named Zhou was one year younger than me. Whenever he saw me, he would ask me for some materials, so I always brought him some. He acknowledged Dafa and quit the Chinese Communist Party and its youth organizations.

I brought the blessings of Dafa from the families of our seven siblings to the two nursing homes. They all witnessed a practitioner’s kindness and great compassion. I truly came to feel that, even though my words and actions, at times, fell short of Dafa’s standards, they could feel my selflessness, tolerance, compassion, and kindness. I wanted to tell these people from the bottom of my heart, “It’s Master and Dafa that are so wonderful!”

Handling Family Matters Properly

Our mother passed away in December 2022. The pandemic was quite serious at the time, and most of our family members tested positive. One sister and I were the only ones who were not infected. We assisted the funeral home with my mother’s body, put on the shroud, and made sure things were done right at the funeral so that our mother could rest in peace.

After Mother passed away, some issues arose, especially around distributing the inheritance, which was not easy to deal with. I’m the oldest son, who typically handles these things. As a practitioner, I naturally wanted to take care of this properly. I realized there were some things that only I could handle so that everyone would be satisfied. For example, my mother’s house was sold 20 years ago for 20,000 yuan, which was all given to my youngest brother, who promised to support my parents until they died. But he didn’t fulfill that promise. My middle brother said, “The house should not have been given to him in the first place. None of us got our parents’ property, so why should it have been given to him?”

My youngest brother proposed reducing his portion of the inheritance by 10,000 yuan to settle it. I didn’t agree. So, in order to handle this well, I decided not to reimburse myself the over 10,000 yuan I’d paid to cover my father’s funeral expenses 20 years ago. Today, that 10,000 yuan would be equivalent to 100,000 yuan. The inheritance included both allowances for my parents’ funerals and the remainder of my parents’ money my second brother held for them. After all expenses were deducted, it was divided equally into seven parts and distributed to each child. Everyone was happy about this, especially my youngest brother, who didn’t expect us to be so generous in the first place.

The Message for Predestined Ones

Master said,

“The real purpose of building those up is to pave the way for you back to heaven. And that is what’s most crucial, not the brief round of happiness that they can bring you in this lifetime!” (“How Humankind Came To Be”)

Falun Dafa is the Buddha Law that teaches people to cultivate their mind nature and pursue kindness. Thus, we should do more good deeds. If everyone could do more good, this society would be more beautiful. If everyone’s family could be harmonious, then society will be more peaceful.