(Minghui.org) I live in a small city in northern China. Growing up, I searched in vain for higher truths and the meaning of life. I felt lost and helpless.
I was 30 years old in 1998 when my mother, who had been receiving medical treatment for all kinds of ailments, also developed heart disease. While she was suffering, a relative told her a friend’s story about practicing Falun Dafa.
She said that the friend used to have several serious illnesses but quickly regained her health after starting the practice. She also said that many people in this friend’s village had also taken up Falun Dafa. The relative suggested that my mother try it, too.
My mother contacted the friend and borrowed Lecture One of Master Li Hongzhi’s video lecture series. Because a lot of people were learning Dafa at the time, everyone had to take turns watching the lectures, one video at a time.
When I watched the lecture with my mother, I felt I recognized Master Li, like I had known him from a long time ago. I found his smile very comforting.
The contents of the lecture immediately captured my attention. The true essence of cultivation practice, the workings of the universe … I was riveted to the screen and even forgot about my mother. I didn’t know why, but I knew that every word Master spoke was a heavenly secret.
After finishing the lecture, I wished I could watch all nine lectures right away. Every day, I looked forward to seeing a new lecture in the evening.
After finishing all nine lectures, all of the confusion I'd harbored since childhood disappeared. I was overjoyed. I had finally found what I was looking for: the meaning of life! I knew that I would practice cultivation diligently, and nothing could stop me.
I began to conduct myself by following Dafa’s principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. Before this, I thought I was a perfect role model. Everyone regarded me as kindhearted, pure-minded, and detached from worldly concerns.
But as soon as I began to cultivate, I realized that I had been drifting away from traditional values and morality. In fact, many of my behaviors and thoughts had fallen short of the standards for being a truly good person.
My workplace had many employees, but not much work, and a lot of people slacked off. In particular, it was normal for young people to come in late and leave early. Playing cards, eating snacks, and gossiping were also common.
From the day I began practicing, I was the first to arrive. The hallway and staircases were always dirty because no one cleaned them, so I took it upon myself to mop them repeatedly.
My coworkers arrived and gave me surprised looks. During work hours, I no longer spent time having fun with them and no longer participated in improper activities.
Although my coworkers were surprised by my changes, they gradually learned that it was because I had started practicing Falun Dafa. They understood I was conducting myself according to higher moral standards.
One day, just after I finished cleaning the washroom and mopping, I ran into the director at the bottom of the stairs. Marveling at the clean staircase as he walked up, he mused, “I didn’t know there were so many benefits to practicing Falun Dafa! No more arriving late, and you’re even cleaning!” The smile on his face was heartwarming.
As my xinxing improved, I gradually developed compassion for my coworkers. Seeing them competing for fame and personal gain meant they were creating karma without knowing it; I empathized with them.
Using the wisdom Master had given me, I took every opportunity to subtly help these people understand the truth about the persecution and develop positive thoughts about Dafa.
In the environment of atheism and Communist Party culture, many people did not believe in anything. But I made sure everyone in my workplace knew about the goodness of Dafa. After the CCP began persecuting Dafa, everyone, from clerks to the managers, tried their best to protect me.
Before I started practicing Falun Dafa, I thought I was fulfilling my roles quite well at home. I took fame and personal gain lightly, tolerated others, and felt I was a devoted mother. But after practicing Falun Dafa, I looked inside and found that I had so many ordinary notions and behaviors I needed to correct.
For example, another child once bullied my son in kindergarten. My mother, my husband, and I tried to teach him how to deal with it. My mother said, “You’re so tall, fight back! You can knock him over with a simple push!”
My husband said, “If he bullies you again, punch him in the nose!” And I told him to tell his teacher. Everything we taught him had to do with retaliation.
Shortly afterward, my mother and I began practicing Falun Dafa. In private, I told my son, “We’ve done wrong. Your grandma and I didn’t know we shouldn’t have taught you those things, but we know now. You should follow Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance and look inside to see if you’ve done something wrong on your part. If so, you should apologize to him and not do it again.”
My son was a good kid. Even though he was only five years old, he understood what I meant.
My mother-in-law was brash and had a bad temper. I didn’t want my husband to be caught between us, so I never argued with her. But this led me to start resenting her. When I shared my grievances with my coworkers, they replied, “The more you give in to her, the more she bullies you.” I thought this made sense.
I proclaimed to my husband, “When your mother gets old, I won’t take care of her for even one day!”
But after I began cultivating, I told my husband, “I was wrong. I have come to understand that there are higher ethics in this world. Our elders, however bad they may act, are still elders, and we should treat them with respect. It’s not right for me to hold a grudge against her.”
I then started treating my mother-in-law with compassion, and she gradually became kind.
Her falling ill and dying was a process for me to look for ways to cultivate my character. Because I practiced Dafa, I treated her well and had no regrets.
When she first became bedridden, I went to buy a bedpan for her. I saw a pretty blue plastic bedpan of good quality and thought, “If it were for myself, I would definitely buy it; but for my mother-in-law, I’ll buy a cheaper one that’s more practical.”
Suddenly, I realized that this selfish and warped notion was not my true self. These were not the thoughts and actions of a true practitioner.
So I ended up buying the blue bedpan. My husband’s elder sister saw it and said, “Alas, you shouldn’t have bought such a nice one; how wasteful! Use it to wash vegetables instead.” My mother-in-law liked it a lot.
A few days before she passed away, I handed her the bedpan, and she remarked, “This bedpan you bought me is really pretty!”
What made me happy was that, in these small things in life, I found I had cultivated myself to be “living for others.” I’m infinitely grateful to Master!
Before she passed away, my mother-in-law publicly praised me whenever she had the chance. She said, “There was a saying, ‘Getting a good daughter-in-law is better than raising a good son.’ Indeed!” The fact that she could say something like that was truly a testimony to Dafa’s mighty virtue.
Both my parents-in-law have been dead for many years. Even when I visit their old country home now, the villagers, especially the elderly ones, give me approving nods.
I have come to understand that, among the three things Master asks us to do: studying the Fa, sending forth righteous thoughts, and clarifying the facts, clarifying facts is not merely about letting people know what is actually happening to Falun Dafa practitioners in China.
The predestined people in our lives: family, coworkers, neighbors, relatives, and friends have witnessed our behavior every day. If we cultivate well, our righteous actions are the best way to validate the beauty of Dafa and lay the foundation for them to be saved.