(Minghui.org) A fellow practitioner told me about a dream she had. In the dream, she stepped on one of her daughter's shoes, and they came off. I am not familiar with the practitioner or her daughter's cultivation state, so I will not comment on it. However, this reminded me of something else.
Prior to the persecution of Falun Dafa, initiated by the Chinese communist regime in 1999, many children of Dafa practitioners cultivated along with their parents. Some of them were just a few years old. Although they liked to play a lot, as children do, they had good enlightenment quality, and their remarks were consistent with the Fa. Even those who were not actively cultivating were remarkable. For example, I saw one child running around in the living room of his home, while the three characters of Zhen, Shan, Ren (the principles of Falun Dafa: Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance) were swirling around him.
Many of these children are now grown and have started their careers. Many have stopped practicing Falun Dafa. However, some do still treat Dafa with the right attitude and support their parents' efforts to clarify the truth. Others have fallen away, and some are even against Falun Dafa. I saw one who was seemingly cultivating and found him to be merely an ordinary person. I am not surprised though, considering the parents' cultivation state and how much they spoiled the child – much more so than ordinary people do.
Still others are not doing well at all. I believe that their parents, as well as society, are responsible for the outcome.
Morality has gone down the drain in society, and people are, in general, very selfish. These practitioners' love for their children was not about teaching them to be good and consider others first, but rather about how to be successful in human society and how to obtain personal gain. In other words, the children are being taught warped concepts.
Master said, “Parents often teach their kids to be more calculating so that they will make it in life, in a worldly sense.” (Zhuan Falun)
These once good children no longer have good manners. It is such a shame. Due to their parents' selfishness and spoiling them, they really did step on their shoes on their way to godhood and destroyed their future.
Everyone has come a long way to become a Dafa practitioner. Those who can be born into the family of Dafa disciples must have suffered a lot of hardships to have the opportunity to obtain the Fa and progress into the future.
Master said, “The farther away from the Dao, the more difficult to return through cultivation.” (“Practicing Cultivation After Retirement” from Essentials for Further Advancement)
As parents, if you can introduce cultivation to your children or at least guide them with the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance so they can develop their innate compassion, that would be the best gift you can give them. Why would you go with the flow of society to teach your children like ordinary people do? Do you realize how much harm you have brought to them?
Perhaps you have satisfied their desire for material gains and emotional needs, and the children as a result, got what they were looking for. But they are further away from the goal for which they came to this world. It will increase the difficulties they have in cultivation if they are already cultivating or may possibly do so. To the parents, you are not only negligent but also run the risk of destroying them. I hope this article can serve as a wake-up call to these parents.