Falun Dafa Minghui.org www.minghui.org PRINT

How to Position Ourselves Well in the Family

September 06, 2018 |   By a Falun Dafa practitioner in China

(Minghui.org) A fundamental requirement of Falun Dafa practitioners is to be a good person in society, and that includes playing a positive role in the family. But the standard of everyday people is very different from that of the Fa.

Many practitioners have misunderstandings on this issue and, if they can't look at it from the perspective of the Fa, the old forces can easily take advantage.

In modern society, the Chinese Communist Party has encouraged people to pursue money by whatever means necessary. Property prices keep rising, and buying a home has become a big burden for most families, whether in the city or the countryside.

Young men can find themselves especially vulnerable, as it is commonly accepted that they need to own their own home if they want to get married. Many families are forced to help by using the savings of two or three generations, but it may still not be enough.

I know a lot of practitioners who have spent a lot of time making money to help their children buy property. They forget about a Dafa practitioners’ mission to assist Master to save sentient beings. Many practitioners live for their children and can be dragged down by the attachment of sentimentality.

I was very impressed by how well one practitioner handled this kind of situation.

This practitioner is rather poor and lives in the countryside. Her son is 28 years old but hasn't married. He has been refused by girls many times simply for not having his own apartment. How would any mother feel seeing her son not be able to marry?

But this practitioner understands that her life is for Dafa. She will do her best to help her son, but her son has his own future, which is arranged by heaven.

Her son doesn't complain that his parents aren't able to help him, and he tells his girlfriends that his mother practices Falun Dafa.

The practitioner's husband, who does not practice Dafa, is away from home for long periods of time doing odd jobs to support the family. He always asks his wife to find someone to help harvest the crops if he cannot come back in time, and he reassures her not to worry about money.

Though they are not wealthy, they always help other practitioners who are experiencing sickness karma by asking them to stay with them for one or two weeks to look after them.

Her husband has never opposed this and is very grateful to Master Li Hongzhi (the founder of Falun Dafa) for giving his wife good health. He supports his wife’s practice of Dafa and always protects her from the police.

He once told the police, “My wife is a model of society and held in high regard by our family members. Why do you want to arrest her? She has a healthy body through practicing Falun Dafa. Why don't you allow her to practice?”

This practitioner's family follows traditional values and puts their hearts in the Fa. They don’t fight over material possessions and don't compromise on moral standards for money. The family members look after each other and live in harmony.

My family is very different.

I am a stepmother and have spent lots of money and effort to help my stepson's family over the past 18 years, but they still don't appreciate what I have done for them.

Master asks us to return to traditional values, but how do we do this?

In traditional culture, each family member has certain responsibilities in the family and should place themselves accordingly. But how do we balance the relationship between ourselves, our children, and Dafa? This issue has puzzled me and many other elderly practitioners for a long time.

For example, filial piety to one’s parents is a basic requirement for children. One should respect their parents and look after their own children. However, in modern society, many young people need their parents’ help to raise their children and support them financially. They don't have time to look after their own children, so their parents have to give up their time to support their children and grandchildren. This could affect a practitioner’s responsibility to do the three things they are supposed to do.

Master has prolonged many elderly practitioners' lives so that they can cultivate in Dafa diligently and save people. Once we get caught up in sentimentality and take time away from our own cultivation, the old forces will use it as an excuse to persecute us.

Dafa disciples should rectify the concept of how to be a good person in the family and balance family relationships well. This is genuine compassion for their children.

As Dafa practitioners, we should make the Fa a priority, cultivate ourselves well, and help save people. If we can't save our own children, it means that we have loopholes in our cultivation.

Our family environment is also a place for us to cultivate. The power of Dafa can disintegrate the old forces’ arrangements when we cultivate well. Only Dafa has such power and wisdom to rectify people’s hearts.