Looking Within Is Amazing

(Minghui.org) After I got home from work my mother (a fellow practitioner) said, “Your brother called and said his wife will do her internship at the hospital near our home, so she wants to eat lunch and take a nap here. She wants a key to our home. I wanted to refuse but I didn’t know how. What should we do?”

I replied, “This must be a cultivation opportunity, so we should think about how to handle this based on the Fa.”

My mother is almost 80 years old and has difficulty walking. It would be challenging for her to prepare lunch for my brother’s wife. She started criticizing my brother and his wife. My daughter chimed in and complained about them. I immediately sensed something was wrong.

I said, “You two should not look down on them or hold a grudge. Otherwise, you would be stooping to their level or you would be just like them. They aren’t practitioners. We should look within to see if there are any areas where we need to improve.” When I said that they stopped complaining.

I thought about this matter based on the Fa. I recalled Master said,

“Before, when many of our students ran into conflicts with people outside our circle, or when people or certain departments of various functions in society treated us unfairly, we didn’t examine ourselves to find the cause, and instead stressed what was wrong with others. Certain things have indeed been really bad, and they were wantonly trying to harm us. But has it occurred to you that although they were bad and demonic acts, could those things have happened just by chance? Could it be that their negative aspects were utilized to have us see our own negative aspects? I’ve often said that when two people have friction between each other, each one should examine him or herself. Not only should the two people with the friction examine themselves, but also the bystanders who happen to observe the incident should. That’s when you will really improve by leaps and bounds.” (Teachings at the Conference in Singapore)

Following Master’s Fa, I examined my brother’s and his wife’s behavior and compared it with mine. They were selfish and making my mother do something that was hard for her to do. Oh, I understand now. They were forcing others to do something for them—something which was hard for the other person to do. They were inconsiderate and imposed on others.

I realized I also did this. Some of my students talked among themselves while I lectured. Despite my repeated admonitions and attempts to reason with them, they persisted, leaving me no choice but to constantly correct them.

It was possible that they were facing difficulties that were hard for them to overcome. Shouldn’t I look at the issue from their perspective?

I told my mother and my daughter about my insights. They also examined themselves to see if they had similar attachments. Both of them found that they did, and we all improved based on the Fa.

Afterwards we discussed what happened. If it wasn’t for the “bad” behavior by my brother and his wife, we wouldn’t have discovered our hidden attachments. Not only should we not bear grudges against them, we should thank them from the bottom of our hearts! Everything suddenly became clear, and we improved ourselves through the conflict.

My mother said, “In that case, I will cook for her tomorrow.”

I replied, “That will not do. From the perspective of human ethics and morality, we should respect our elders. You are nearly 80 years old. If you wait on her, a woman in her 40s, wouldn’t that violate moral principles? It would cause her to lose virtue and wouldn’t be in her best interest. We can order lunch tomorrow.” Mother agreed.

By noon the next day, my brother’s wife still did not come. When my daughter called her she said she wasn’t coming because she brought lunch. Her colleagues left the office, so she could take her lunch break there. She said if she needed to come, she would call us. She also said that there was no need to prepare lunch for her, because she would bring her own food.

When we were able to make use of this matter to improve our cultivation I felt the problem would be resolved, but I did not say this as I wasn’t sure it would happen.

As long as we can look within, assimilate to the Fa, and follow the Fa’s requirement, everything around us becomes harmonious. Being able to cultivate in Falun Dafa is truly wonderful!