(Clearwisdom.net) "Don't listen to what the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) says. Falun Gong is the best belief in China. They truly believe in Buddha Fa..." I tried so hard to help my mother understand what Falun Gong is. She often listened with surprise. Every time she would also ask some questions. I knew my mother had great sympathy towards Falun Gong. She often condemned Jiang Zemin for persecuting Falun Gong. By chance, I found that a foul atmosphere existed in the local temples. Some of them recruited gangsters to be monks so they could fight with another group of monks over power and money. Some monks are for prostitution. Some steal things from the temples. Some drink and eat meat unscrupulously. Some spend thousands and even millions of yuan, from the temple treasury, to bribe high-ranking officials so they can be awarded the position of Abbot. This is the same dirty business that is happening among CCP officials.
A monk told me that the fighting in temples is no less fierce than in the outside world. He even told me many surprising stories to support his comments. I thought: Why would these people still fight over benefits if they chose to go to temples? I then did not like the temples that much. My mother also visited temples often. But she was still very argumentative. She has cultivated for several decades. But she has not cultivated to the level of "Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance" that Dafa practitioners strive for. One day, I asked my mother to practice Falun Gong with me. She immediately became serious: "Are you asking me to leave Buddhism? Wouldn't my cultivation of decades be wasted? No way!" I not only did not change my mother's belief, but also made her wary of me and unhappy.
My mother became a vegetarian for religious reasons in her thirties. She placed all hopes for her human life on Buddhism. It was not because she was afraid of the CCP's negative political situation or persecution. It was because she had put so much of her painstaking efforts into Buddhism. She thought it was time to reap the benefits. How could she give it up easily, just like that? For a follower like this, I really had no idea how to persuade her. Maybe it was because I had not started seriously practicing Dafa at that time; I was not able to find a breakthrough point. But no matter what, every time I visited her, I always tried to have a conversation to persuade her to practice Falun Dafa.
It was about a year ago that the "Mark Six" lottery started getting very popular. Almost everybody in the village participated in the lottery, even the elderly who have respect for the Buddha and Gods. Every time I reminded my mother not to participate in the lottery, she always said: "I will never participate. I truly believe in the Buddha and Gods. You can rest assured." She appeared to be so determined. I no longer worried about it. After all, there had been so many village people who lost their families or even lives because they were hoping to make a change and get rich through this. My mother did not participate in the lottery at the beginning. She did not even participate in any discussions about this. But when everybody in the village was talking about the "Mark Six" lottery, it was inevitable for my mother to hear it. She was forced to be in the discussions about the guessing of the numbers. Sometimes, she could guess the right numbers for a week or two. The problem might have started from there.
A year later, my mother started participating in the lottery like everybody else. My mother was playing the "Mark Six" lottery with an abbot in a nearby nunnery. She had her own theory. She said the nunnery needed expansion. But it was hard to get donations because there were less and less people going to the nunnery. So they decided to bet on the lottery so they could win some money for the nunnery expansion. My mother and that abbot often drew straws to ask Buddha and Gods about the numbers. But Buddha and Gods did not really give them hints. They sometimes won and sometimes lost just like everybody else. When losing, my mother could not sleep at night. She felt it was unfair. Sometimes, she even started having resentment towards the Buddha and Gods.
These issues were told to me by my third youngest sister. I then went home to talk to my mother. She argued that she did not do it for herself. She did it for the expansion of the nunnery. Then my mother blamed my sister for telling on her. I told my mother that playing the lottery was similar to betting, drug addiction or prostitution. I warned her that if she continued to play the lottery, I would break off our mother-son relationship with her and no longer come back to visit. She agreed to not to play on the surface and stopped playing publicly. But she was still involved behind everybody's back. She asked my sisters to not to tell me anything, no matter what. She lost several thousand yuan. She wanted to win it back badly. She claimed that once she got her money back, she would stop. After I learned of this, I gave her money and said: "I will cover all the money you lost. Would that make you stop?" However, how many of the losing gamblers could be reasonable and stop? The "Mark Six" lottery had become a demon that tightly controlled my mother's soul.
Looking at the people around us, no matter what kind of religion they followed, their minds were enthralled by the "Mark Six" lottery. Because of the lottery, some refused to have anything to do with their families and friends. Because of the lottery, many people in the village became lazy in doing their work. Some elderly people who used to have good moral standards also participated in the lottery. It was hard to find one individual who was not a gambler in a village of several hundred people. The temples used to be very sacred places. But now temples have become places with a foul atmosphere; murky places for people to ask the Buddha and Gods to give them hints about the numbers. The "Mark Six" lottery was like a demon that severely corrupted previously pure people.
Later, I said to my mother: "Why are you still a vegetarian? Why do you keep chanting Buddha's name? Would Buddha allow you to be a gambler?" She said it was for building the temple. I said, "If that is the case, the bigger the temple is, the more people it could hold and the more gamblers there would be. If that is the case, what is the benefit of building the temple? There is no more real Buddha in the temples. The ones you have been respecting are all evil. Do you know that?" My mother knew she was not right and did not want to argue for herself anymore. But there was no way to stop her from playing the lottery. What kind of society is this! People like my mother who have been respecting Buddha and Gods for their whole life have become gamblers. What is left to talk about belief! I said to my mother: "Look at these religious followers. How many of you do not play the lottery. Look at the temples you have visited, how many of them are not interested in power and money. Look at Falun Gong practitioners. They are not even interested in buying stocks, not to mention gambling in the lottery. That belief is a true belief. Those people are truly good people. Do you understand?" I was thinking in my heart: "It looks like only Master Li can help my mother come back to the right track."
I went on the Internet to download some stories for my mother about how some religious followers changed to believe in Dafa. Over and over again, she started showing signs of being awakened. She started thinking about the differences and similarities between Buddhism and Dafa. Finally, one day, she said, "It is true. What is the use of praying and worshiping the Buddha and Gods? I often doubted it too: If I pray and worship every day like this, would it be really useful? Would I return to paradise? But bad people could pray and worship like this too. Somebody said that if one reads some scriptures 5,000 times, one would go to a paradise. Then the bad people could also read it 5,000 times before they die and they would become Buddha and God? How unfair is that? Falun Gong only looks at people's hearts, not some outward form. This is great!"
I kept on trying to persuade my mother and asked her to listen to Master's lectures. Master said,
"Buddha doesn't recognize religion, but rather, only a person's heart. Man established religion: Jesus didn't establish a religion during his time, and Shakyamuni didn't establish a religion during his time, either. Instead, they recognized only the heart that the cultivator had. Of course, it's even better for cultivators to have a shared setting that fosters cultivation. That's putting true cultivation until reaching Consummation and Attainment Status as the highest priority. Isn't being attached to a setting or a religious society itself having intention? Some people believe, "I've constructed X-many temples, and I've built X-number of Buddha statues. So in the future I should be able to Consummate." I'd say you won't reach Consummation. Among everyday people there are many who are making Buddha statues as well, and it's nothing more than just a job--that's having intention. All Fa with intention are as illusory as bubbles--that's what Buddha Shakyamuni said. [If] your mind isn't truly elevating, and if an everyday person's head is full of thought karma, constantly manifesting bad thoughts, then to place him where a Buddha is would be just like placing a pile of trash before a God or Buddha--would that be acceptable? It absolutely wouldn't. So cultivation requires that everyone discard those filthy, bad things so as to achieve a pure, clear body, a clean way of thinking, and a higher realm of thinking. Only then can you go to that place. If you still can't give up or let go of those things that are so full of intention, wouldn't that be foolish?!" (Teaching the Fa at the Fa Conference in Australia)
After my mother listened to Master's lectures, she was completely awakened.
The seventh day into the Chinese New Year of 2004 is a day I will never forget because that day I officially walked onto the path of Dafa cultivation. I now have a better understanding of the Fa principles. The first several days, I could not wait to go home and show the five exercises to my mother. This time, my mother no longer resisted. She already knew the huge difference between Buddhism and Dafa. Within days, my mother could feel the energy. She truly experienced the truth that is stated in Dafa books.
Our great Master finally led her to the righteous path. The sleepless mother, due to losing her bets in the lottery, and the stubborn mother determined to follow Buddhism finally awakened. Every time I thought about this, my tears flowed. In this universe, who could save sentient beings whose moral standard had so deteriorated? Who could make people change to be good people and keep doing good? Isn't that our great Master? My mother studies the Fa and practices the exercises very diligently. She really has changed. The mother who was kind because she followed Buddhism, but later degenerated, now has really changed. She not only gave up gambling, but also changed her character of wanting to win over others and caring about her own misfortune too much.
My mother almost shouted at her previous fellow practitioners: "The real Buddha Fa has appeared. Please hurry up and stop playing the lottery. Please hurry up and leave the arguing and fighting. Please hurry up and leave the deviated religions!" Some people also were awakened and walked into Dafa cultivation. Some people discussed: "No, we cannot let them leave Buddhism. If one of us is going somewhere, we are supposed to go together." Those followers, who were fighting while playing the lottery before my mother started practicing Dafa, were trying to persuade my mother because they felt like they needed to protect Buddhism that way. This time, my mother did not want to go back any more. She started spreading the seeds of Falun Dafa on the hometown land that was polluted by the evil communist specter and different religions that had deviated from righteous beliefs. Because of my mother's righteous actions, many lives were saved. Many lives are also being awakened.
I grew up in a religious atmosphere. I have witnessed how the CCP's atheism made Chinese people have doubt in religions. Especially over the last ten years, under the CCP's rule, kind people were bullied. People who dared to loot or fight won promotions and got rich. The kinder one was, the more miserable one's life became. The more evil one was, the richer one got. There seemed to be no justice for kindness and evil. Therefore, the Chinese people, including people in the religious areas, lost their direction. Even when they fell into hell, they still felt good and did not realize it. People, you are on the edge of the cliff. One more step forward and things will be beyond redemption. I especially would like to advise the religious people to think and compare, to see if you have any experience similar to my mother's. My mother has become a good person. Her moral standard and level is rising. What about you?
