(Clearwisdom.net) I became a Falun Dafa practitioner in 1998. However, I stopped cultivating when the persecution started in 1999 and did not return to the Fa until 2005, when I started to really put my heart into doing the three things well.
Between 1999 and 2005, I only read the Dafa books in secret. I did not do the exercises and did not send forth righteous thoughts. Consequently, I had a poor understanding of the Fa. I often thought about telling my son, "Dafa is good. Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good," but I was worried that he was too young and would not understand. He was less than four years old at the time.
When my husband's company wanted him to work in another city, it meant that he would have to leave home for long periods of time. While my son and I were alone at home, I started to do the exercises again and began reading the Dafa books to him. Eventually he was able to memorize Lunyu. One night, I showed him how to do the sitting meditation exercise. As he put one leg on top of the other to sit in the lotus position, he shouted, "Mama, I see the book of Zhuan Falun!" Since then he says he has seen Teacher with his third eye, heard Teacher's voice, and dreamed many things.
As my son was growing up, I often told him not to worry about missing out on not having any of the toys available to most children or to feel sad that we lived a simple lifestyle. I told him that we did not come to the human world to enjoy the comforts and material things available to most people, but we came to fulfill our historic vows and that one day we can return to our real homes. At that moment, my son's pure, bright eyes lit up to reveal a sense of fascination and intrigue.
In my son's first year at school I did not discipline him very much. He was too eager to play and did not like to read the Dafa books. His grades in school were also not good. He often told me his classmates hit him and that he suffered a lot at school. I suggested that he send forth righteous thoughts more often and taught him to endure more. He told me that sometimes sending forth righteous thoughts did not work well and it frustrated him. He is a smart kid, but his grades were steadily getting worse and worse, which really worried me. I thought that this did not match the status of a Dafa practitioner. When I looked within I realized that I had a deep attachment to my son's grades in school. I worried that I would not get any praise from my friends and family if my son did not get excellent grades. I was also worried that my husband's sister would blame me for spending too much time studying Dafa and not helping my son with his studies.
At the beginning of my son's second year at school, his classroom teacher asked all the children to copy a piece of text in their own handwriting My son was very determined to do well at transcribing the text. But when I checked the completed work, I saw that he had missed one sentence: "The little lion says: 'It's so much hard work to practice every day. I don't think I would like to work so hard!'" When he re-wrote the text, he left out the same sentence again. He tore up the paper and re-wrote it a third time, only to make the same mistake. By this time he was very tired and began to cry. The next morning, I woke him up just after six o'clock. He was determined to re-write the essay correctly. But when I took a look, he still left out the sentence. He got angry and cried like crazy, and he said a lot of foul words that I did not know he even knew. I knew that it was not a good time to scold him, so I tried to calm him down. Then we decided to work on the essay together. I read one sentence and he transcribed it, doing one at a time. Finally he finished copying the essay, and everything was correct.
Throughout the day I kept wondering, "Why did he always leave out that same sentence? Why did he get angry?" I thought that the little lion's words could be a reflection of my son's thinking. I knew he was afraid of working too hard and did not like to do the exercises. He probably became angry because his knowing side hated himself for it. That night we had a talk about what had happened and I explained what I thought the problem was. He agreed he was wrong.
Because young practitioners also need to cultivate, we can't not discipline them because of Teacher's benevolence towards them. If we do not spend time with them and guide them to do things correctly it will not work. Some veteran practitioners have said that Teacher has His arrangements and as long as children or family members do not slander Dafa, that is enough. I believe this standard is too low. Anyone who does not cultivate is not a Dafa practitioner. At most, he or she is only a good person.
My son said that Teacher would not see him until he passed his test. After his school re-started for the next term, older children beat him, and his classroom teacher accused him of something and made him stand in front of the whole class. As he stood there, a lot of children laughed at him. He felt very sad because of this. I told him it was a small thing, but for a young child it was not a small thing. When he asked me if this was a test he had to pass, I replied "Yes."
Category: Improving Oneself