Lessons Learned from a Fairy Tale

(Minghui.org) Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen wrote many fairy tales, one of them being “What the Old Man Does Is Always Right.” It is a story about an old peasant and his wife who lived in a small farmhouse. They had one possession that they could not do without—a horse. But over time, they thought that it would be best if they sold the horse, or exchanged it for something that might be more useful to them. So the old man took the horse to the fair, and, on the way there, he exchanged it for a cow. He then exchanged the cow for a goat. After several exchanges, before he even got to the fair, he ended up with a sack of rotten apples. When two Englishmen heard the story of his trades, they said they would accompany the old man back to his house, wagering a bag of gold coins that the old man would be scolded by his wife when she heard the news. When they all arrived at the old man's house, he recounted the story to his wife, and handed her the sack of rotten apples. The old woman praised her husband and gave him a big kiss. So the Englishmen handed over a hundredweight of gold to the old man.

Although I heard this fairy tale when I was a child, I did not understand the meaning behind it. After I began to practice Falun Dafa, whenever I had conflicts with my family, or saw practitioners blaming or not cooperating well with each other, I would think of this story.

The old man should have been scolded by his wife, but why wasn't he? Instead, she was pleased with him? Hans Christian Andersen was a Christian, and the meaning behind his story came from his understanding that there should be harmony between husband and wife.

Whenever I got into a conflict with my family, I always thought that they were the ones at fault. Because I did not cultivate myself well for a long time, I almost tore my family apart. After the persecution of Falun Gong began in 1999, my husband had an affair. He traveled with the woman while I was at home taking care of his ill father. When he was at home, he would beat me. My family also wanted me to stop practicing. They did not know the facts about Falun Gong, and tried to stop me from studying the Fa, doing the exercises and contacting other practitioners. They even wanted to report the practitioners who visited me to the authorities. Although I tried to clarify the facts to them in various ways, they still didn't understand.

One day I thought of Hans Christian Andersen's story as well as Master's words:

“A wicked person is born of jealousy.
Out of selfishness and anger he complains about unfairness towards himself.
A benevolent person always has a heart of compassion.
With no discontentment or hatred, he takes hardship as joy.
An enlightened person has no attachments at all.
He quietly observes the people of the world deluded by illusions.”

(“Realms” from Essential for Further Advancement)

In the past, many Christians were able to relinquish their material gains and human notions of selfishness, and live a life without grudges or hatred. I felt ashamed in comparison, as I am supposed to be a Dafa disciple.

From that day on, regardless of how my relatives treated me, I would have no discontentment or hatred towards them. After my husband returned home from a day of leisure, while I worked hard at home, I still handed him a cup of tea with a smile. When my mother-in-law, who hurt me badly, came to visit us, I cooked delicious food for her, and squeezed in more time to accompany her and listen to her. I reduced my sleeping time so that I could study the Fa and do the exercises. When my sister-in-law, who was against everything I did, had problems at home, I would remind my husband to help her.

Whenever I did poorly in my cultivation and couldn't calm down, I would recall Master's words:

“These are all your own tribulations that we use to improve your xinxing, and you will be able to overcome them. As long as you upgrade your xinxing, you can overcome them. Unless you, yourself do not want to do so, you can make it, provided you want to overcome them. Therefore, from now on when you come across a conflict you should not consider it a coincidence. This is because when a conflict occurs, it will take place unexpectedly. But that is not a coincidence—it is for improving your xinxing. As long as you treat yourself as a practitioner, you can handle it properly.” (Zhuan Falun)

As I often wrote articles to validate the Fa, I read and listened to the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party and Dissolving the Party Culture, which helped me greatly in eliminating my attachment to competitiveness.

My relatives' criticism of me gradually became a mirror that helped me to find my attachments. One day, I suddenly understood that this was not to make me feel better, but to help me become more forgiving and tolerant. When Master talked about “three thousand small universes constitute the second-layer universe” my understanding was that if the second-layer universe contains three thousand small universes, then as our realm elevates, we will be holding more beings that are below our level. Once I realized this, the conflicts with my family disappeared, and they even started to support me. Whenever my thoughts were not righteous, I could see my attachments and eliminate them immediately. I also enlightened to Master's words:

“Only through "the Buddha Fa," can the mysteries of the universe, time-space, and the human body be completely unveiled. It is able to truly distinguish what is righteous from evil, good from bad, and eliminate all misconceptions while providing what is correct.” (“Lunyu” in Zhuan Falun)

My understanding is that the real truth is based on the standard of the Buddha Fa, and we would be entangled in endless conflicts if we measured right and wrong according to ordinary people's notions.

When I previously saw my relatives' shortcomings I would think, “So and so is very selfish. She is a smooth talker and would do anything for small gains. He only wants to have fun. She always embarrasses others with her words, etc...”

One day, when I studied the Fa, I saw the words “Buddha-light illuminates everywhere and rectifies all abnormalities,” (Zhuan Falun) and remembered that Master told us that the energy scattered from our bodies can rectify all abnormal conditions. Illnesses, conflicts with others, and family members who display selfishness are all abnormal conditions. Why couldn't I rectify the abnormal conditions within my energy field? I looked inward and noticed that I had these abnormal conditions and attachments in myself. So how could I rectify something if my own dimensional field was not pure? Since then, I have been rectifying every thought I have—eliminating many attachments, including lust and desire—and letting go of things as required by Master.

I had a dream last night, that I was driving a car with several passengers in it. As I was driving I hit an obstacle in the middle of the road. The guard that looked after that obstacle would not let me continue, and kept giving me a hard time, telling me to do this and that. I patiently finished the tasks he asked me to perform, and then he finally said, “I'm going to let you go. It would not be right if I didn't let you go.” I knew that I had overcome an obstacle on my cultivation path. Master was encouraging me to do things according to the Fa. As I was passing through the obstacle, I saw someone's name. The name carried this meaning, “Follow this path to elevate your xinxing and establish your mighty virtue.” I understood that I needed to continue to elevate my heart.

Why did the old couple from the fairy tale gain a bag of gold coins? It was because they deserved it. But I've gained something even more precious than the gold coins—the elevation of my heart, the support of my family members, and their salvation.