(Minghui.org) Both Mr. Chen (alias) and his wife are Falun Dafa practitioners. His wife was not very diligent in her cultivation, and had a bad temper. He took an out of town job to help pay off the debt of a newly-built house, and during this time he was not diligent on his cultivation path.
Improving Collectively as One Body
Mr. Chen had a car accident in late 2017. Ms. Li (alias) and I went to visit him after the accident. He was not injured, but was muddle-headed and couldn't even remember a phone number.
He had some trouble when reading Zhuan Falun, and it was clear to the other practitioners that his cultivation state had caused this tribulation.
We usually would have pointed out his cultivation problems, and talked with him about fixing them, but we decided to change our approach. Through Fa study, reading experience sharing articles on the Minghui website, and hints from Master, we believed that the old forces had been persecuting practitioners because of their cultivation shortcomings. We wondered why we were still falling into their trap.
I suggested that all of us should look at how we fell short, so that we could improve collectively. I then talked to the couple, to help him identify his xinxing issues.
We then sent righteous thoughts, and felt that our field became very pure. We studied Zhuan Falun, and he was able to recite the Fa from memory.
We stopped going to Mr. Chen's home after that. A few days later, he had a relapse and was taken to the hospital, which alarmed us.
When we first visited him, we couldn't talk openly with him because other members of his family were visiting him as well.
When we later learned that one of his relatives was also a practitioner, we sent Mr. Chen a message through this relative, telling him to keep righteous thoughts. We learned that he decided to take early retirement due to his physical problems, which was seeking illness in our opinion. We thought about sending righteous thoughts to help him, but remembered that we hadn't achieved a good effect in similar situations in the past.
I recalled that our latest approach worked very well when Mr. Chen first ran into the tribulation. I immediately went to Ms. Li and told her that we should talk with fellow practitioners and ask every one of them to use Mr. Chen as a mirror to check on their own shortcomings, get to the root cause of each one, and then send righteous thoughts to eliminate their problems.
When we act as one body, the field is pure, and all of us benefit from the activity and rectify ourselves in this field. Our actions also helped Mr. Chen. I felt that Master wanted overall elevation from us.
Realizing the Seriousness of Cultivation
When the weekend arrived, right after we finished sharing with other practitioners, Mr. Chen had recovered sufficiently, and was being discharged from the hospital. He dropped the idea of taking early retirement. When we went to see him at home, he excitedly shared with us the hints he had received from Master, and his understanding on the Fa. His righteous thinking was evident.
But his tribulation didn't end there. Because the old forces had seen his thoughts, he encountered one problem after another. His brothers and sister insisted on helping him begin the early retirement process. They made use of their network to arrange everything for him, and all Mr. Chen had to do was put his fingerprint on the paperwork. But since he had come to realize how serious one's cultivation is, he refused to sign.
His siblings then tried to force him to sign by claiming that if he didn't, they'd cut off their relationship with him. Though he was firm in his decision, they encouraged his son to separate Mr. Chen from other practitioners and to burn Zhuan Falun. He was under tremendous pressure, for he had trouble speaking at the time.
One night, Mr. Chen came to see Ms. Li and me. I suggested, “As the tribulation was caused by himself, he should look inward, dig out the root cause, rectify himself in the Fa, and not complain about his family or relatives. Furthermore, he should apologize to his relatives for the trouble he caused them, and show his firm attitude. This would also be an opportunity to clarify the facts to his relatives. Lastly, ask for Master's empowerment.
Ms. Li and I had been helping him send righteous thoughts. We didn't dare slack off even a bit this time. We ran into him a couple of days later and saw that his mental state had improved. He also told us that he had repaired his relationships with his relatives.
Category: Improving Oneself
