(Minghui.org) It was not until I grew up that I came to understand the meaning of an old Chinese saying: “A father's love is as heavy as a mountain.”
I used to be a disobedient, selfish child and made bad grades. It was my father, with his tolerance, love, and guidance, who helped me to grow into a mature person with a good college education and a decent job.
Tolerance
My father started practicing Falun Dafa 23 years ago. At the time, I was only 2. My parents divorced when I was 12. My mother – who was against Falun Dafa – took me to Canada with her. Though I had grown up under Dafa's influence, I eventually became distracted by computer games, TV shows, and other mundane things.
Five years later, I returned to my father in China. By then, I was no longer the innocent, lovely girl I once was.
I went to high school and found myself a boyfriend. Many times, I would be out on the streets past curfew. When I didn't come home, my dad would ride his bicycle around the whole city to look for me. I turned off my phone so that he wouldn't know where I was.
Once, when I got home, my relative asked me if I had seen my dad.
I replied, “My dad died.”
I didn't show my dad much respect and often challenged him. I asked him to buy me expensive clothes, even though I knew he didn't earn much. Once I even kicked him because I didn't like the clothes he bought for me. Now, looking back, I am terribly sorry for my behavior then.
In addition to his full-time job, my dad had to take care of both of us at home. He asked me once if I could wash my own clothes.
I cried and shouted, “You're abusing me!”
He did not ask me again. Instead, he washed all my clothes without another word. Sometimes when I had my period, I would go through several pairs of pants in one day and even stained my bedsheets. But my dad never complained – he just washed them for me.
No Pressure
Our high school required us to attend additional evening study classes. I'd never had these intense school activities in Canada, so I told my dad that I didn't want to go to school anymore.
My dad (although I think now he must have been very sad to hear that then) said to me mildly, “I can only give you my recommendation. You can make your own decision. But I think it is better for you to go to school.”
And that's the way he always was: he never forced me to do anything, just gave me suggestions. This helped me learn to make my own decisions.
In high school, I was only good at English, thanks to my Canadian education. My grades in other classes were all consistently F's and I was ranked in the bottom tenth percentile at my school. Yet, my dad never yelled at me or scolded me.
When I told him that my grades were not good, he was calm.
“As long as you put in your best effort, it is okay even if your grade is not ideal.”
Once, I did well in my studies and made it into the top 20 in my class of over 40 students. I was so happy.
I asked my dad, “Is it too late for me to start studying diligently now?”
“As long as you start,” came the reply, “it is never too late.”
Guidance
One day, my dad asked me to study Falun Dafa and do the exercises with him. I agreed.
The national college entrance exam is the biggest hurdle for every high school student in China. While other students were under a lot of pressure and studied late every night to prepare for the exam, I just went home after my evening study class to study the Fa with my dad, then go to bed. When Master published new articles, we would wash our hands and then read them carefully. To my surprise, I was able to go to a good college.
The fifth Falun Dafa exercise requires one to sit in meditation with the legs in the full lotus position. It really hurt me to do it and once I even cried from the pain. But my dad smiled at me and told me that I had improved because I could endure and keep going despite intense pain.
Practitioners in China normally got up really early to do the exercises. My dad usually woke me up a few minutes after 3 a.m. One day, when he suggested that I don't go out with my friends, I shouted at him, “You always judge me by your standards. Actually, I didn't want to get up to do the exercises in the morning—I did it just to make you happy.”
After that, he stopped waking me up to do the exercises. I could sleep more, but somehow I felt sad. Now I realize that, without my dad, I would not have been able to keep up with the exercises before I fully committed myself to Dafa.
Another thing my dad told me was to measure myself according to Dafa's standards.
I went to buy breakfast one day. There was no line—everyone just called out their orders to the cashier. I waited quietly and didn't compete. The cashier kept taking orders from everyone but me. Eventually I couldn't stand it anymore and cried, “How can you just ignore me?”
When I told my dad, he said to me, “You did very well when you were waiting quietly.”
I all of sudden realized that I didn't guard my xinxing well in that situation.
Another time, the student in charge of cleaning our classroom asked me to wash the broom during our physics class. The physics teacher, however, told me to stay in the classroom. That student then reported to my counselor that I didn't follow orders and didn't want to clean the classroom. The counselor called me into her office to talk. I felt that I was wronged and cried for an entire class period.
When my dad heard the story, he said, “You should apologize to the student.”
“Why? He was mean to me. How could I apologize to him?”
“It was a test on your xinxing. You were angry and cried. Shouldn't you apologize?”
Hearing that, my anger and hatred towards my classmate disappeared.
One time a boy hit me. I asked my dad to yell at him, but my dad said, “I shouldn't do that. If I do, I am no longer a practitioner, but an ordinary person.”
I didn't like that, so I went to the boy's house to reproach him. I even insulted his parents. In short order, his dad came to my home to argue with my dad. My dad invited him in to sit down, offered him fruit, and apologized to him. That easily resolved what could have been a war between the two parents.
I gradually learned to follow Dafa's standards. Once, I took two of my cousins to play badminton.
“You spend too much time playing computer games,” I said to one of them. “See your other cousin? He loves to study and has good grades.”
The first cousin started crying. I then realized that, based on the Fa, I didn't mind my speech. So I apologized to him sincerely.
He stopped crying and smiled.
Conclusion
There are many other stories about my dad. Once, he fell asleep while waiting for me to pick out a birthday gift for my classmate.
I woke him up, “How can you sleep during the day?”
“I was up the whole night making brochures to help people understand Falun Dafa.”
I had a new understanding of my dad that day.
Another time, I had a temper tantrum and locked my dad outside the apartment. He knocked on the door for a while and then stopped. As soon as he stopped, my anger seemed to vanish instantly. I went downstairs to look for him.
When I found him, he was sending forth the righteous thoughts, which must have eliminated the anger factors in my head. That was the first time I felt the power of sending forth righteous thoughts.
I am writing all this down because I am really grateful to my dad. I used to complain all the time that he didn't do this or didn't do that for me. But now when I look back, I realize he has given me the most precious thing, because he has changed me from being an impolite and rude person into a person who is uniquely good.
