(Minghui.org) I’ve been practicing Falun Dafa for more than 20 years. My son has been practicing with us since childhood. He could recite Hong Yin at a very young age. Dafa’s principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance were deeply rooted in my son’s heart. I can always feel Master’s compassion and care for my family. 

My son went to school for his Master’s degree overseas and then found a good job there. He worked hard and got along well with others. He was soon promoted to assistant manager. He was very proud of himself, and so were we. We unknowingly developed a sense of joy. My husband and I often talked about how excellent our son was and how smoothly his life had gone.

Cultivation is serious. Practitioners who do not look at things from the perspective of the Fa will develop attachments and be interfered with. Things soon changed in unexpected ways.

Due to the pandemic, my son’s company had to shut down a factory for two weeks, which significantly affected the company’s profits. My son had to work long hours, even on weekends, without overtime. He started to complain about his job and was ready to quit. We didn’t understand why this happened.

At first, I told my son to be tolerant and that it was an opportunity to improve his xinxing. My son agreed with me. However, his boss became more unreasonable. Once, an employee on my son’s team made a mistake. As a result, my son’s boss withheld nearly 80 per cent of my son’s pay.

I developed an attachment to material interests and suggested that my son talk to his boss. My son was confused and said, “Didn’t you ask me to take it lightly? Now, what do you want me to do?”

I realized that we should look within to see if we had any loopholes in our cultivation. I gradually calmed down. I knew nothing was accidental on our path of cultivation. My son needed to look within, and so did we. We began to look inward and realized that we had been excited over material gain and a mentality of showing off.

Master said:

“You should be careful not to get carried away in any sense or at any point as you practice. A mind that’s prone to such extremes is susceptible to evil.” (The Six Talk, Zhuan Falun) 

My son worked late every day and went to bed right after dinner. As a result, he didn’t study the Fa for a while. On our end, we worried about him and texted him every day, chatting about his work.

Master gave us hints to read some experience-sharing articles on the Minghui website. I saw the gap between us and other practitioners when I read how other practitioners took fame, profit, and sentimentality lightly. 

We also asked our son to read some experience-sharing articles. We realized that we didn’t study the Fa well and didn’t treat ourselves as practitioners. When we encountered this conflict, we didn’t think of others. When we thought about my son’s boss again, we understood how challenging it was to run a business. It was inevitable that he would feel anxious and restless.

We are practitioners. Master told us to think of others first, to see the good sides of others, and understand other people positively. We realized that this was also an opportunity to improve our xinxing along with my son.

Having realized this, we rectified ourselves quickly. We studied the Fa more and sent forth righteous thoughts to eliminate the interference and attachments to sentimentality. With these changes on our part, my son’s situation gradually improved. He gradually calmed down and took the time to study the Fa regardless of how busy he was. His job gradually became less stressful, and the overtime work became much less.

I also found another deeply hidden attachment. We did all we could do and then sent my son to study and settle overseas, thinking it would be much better than being at home in all aspects. In fact, these were all driven by human notions and attachments to comfort. I didn’t realize this attachment until my son experienced this tribulation.

As practitioners, we must cultivate ourselves. This is what Master requires of us. We should first examine ourselves as practitioners when we have any conflicts.

Thank you, Master, for guiding us on the path of cultivation.