(Minghui.org) I started practicing Falun Dafa in 1997. Although my cultivation path has not been easy, the principles of Falun Dafa, “Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance,” have taken root in my heart. No matter what happens, I can ultimately measure it against Dafa’s requirements and put others first.
I live in a rural area. My husband has two sisters, and he is the youngest in his family. Just a few months after I started practicing Falun Dafa, my mother-in-law suffered a stroke and was hospitalized.
My eldest sister-in-law was busy raising cattle and had no time to care for my mother-in-law. My younger sister-in-law’s family was struggling financially and couldn’t afford the travel expenses of a dozen yuan to get to the hospital. In the 1990s, even a few dozen yuan was hard to come by for those in the countryside, so the responsibility of caring for my mother-in-law in the hospital fell to me. Since my children were young, I had to leave them with my husband and father-in-law. As time passed, I wanted to return home to see my children and asked my younger sister-in-law to take over my mother-in-law’s care. My husband gave her 50 yuan for travel expenses, and she agreed to help me for a few days.
My mother-in-law could not walk steadily. I took care of her like a child, helping her walk and exercise daily, massaging her legs and arms. After the treatment, she recovered quickly. However, she kept choking while eating and would spit out her food everywhere. I didn’t mind this. A patient in the same ward noticed how attentively I cared for her and asked if I was her daughter. My mother-in-law replied, “No, she’s my daughter-in-law.”
In 2007, rural land began to become valuable. My village also received news of land acquisitions. At that time, the compensation for land acquisition was 50,000 yuan per mu (approximately 0.165 acres). My mother-in-law had received land when she was still alive. My younger sister-in-law, who lived in the same village as us, told my neighbor, “Although my mother passed away, she has land under her name. My parents had a total of 6.4 mu of land. The acquisition payment would be over 300,000 yuan! If we [the sisters] receive 100,000 yuan, my brother would still have over 200,000 yuan left.”
When I heard about this, I felt uneasy. In our countryside culture, it is customary for the son to inherit his parents’ property and debts. I thought to myself, “If my mother-in-law left behind debts, would you help pay them? They’re asking for land compensation even before the acquisition starts. I have treated you well and for several years, your family leased the land for farming and I provided the initial funding for the leased land. You only paid me back after you harvested the crop.” I began to harbor resentment and unease toward my younger sister-in-law. I forgot that I was a Falun Dafa practitioner and didn’t look inward.
Later, I overheard my younger sister-in-law tell my niece the same thing. I thought, “The land acquisition hasn’t even started, and they’re already talking about dividing the money.” I realized this wasn’t right. As a cultivator, I understand that nothing happens by chance. I wondered whether I was hearing about this money division because I could not let go of my desire for personal gain. I could not let money ruin our relationship, and decided to let them have the money if they wanted it. Maybe I owed them something from a past life, so I should pay it back. Since then, my younger sister-in-law stopped talking about the land acquisition and the money division.
In the winter of 2009, my father-in-law became seriously ill, and my two sisters-in-law came to visit him. I told them, “After Dad passes away, we siblings need to get along well. We can’t let trivial matters ruin our family ties. We have made a decision that if all our land is expropriated, we will follow our younger sister’s suggestion, and each of the sisters-in-law will receive 50,000 yuan.” My two sisters-in-law seemed a little embarrassed. One of them said, “We don’t mind if we don’t receive any share. If you decide to give us something, we will be happy.”
In 2014, half of our land was actually expropriated. After receiving the compensation, my husband and I withdrew 60,000 yuan from the bank. We then drove to deliver this money to my two sisters-in-law, giving each family 30,000 yuan. This story spread among our relatives and friends, and villagers were amazed by our generosity. They even commented that the Falun Dafa practitioner was truly impressive for sharing the money from her land expropriation with her sisters-in-law.
My son got married in October 2016. Many relatives and friends attended his wedding and brought gifts. After the ceremony, we returned home to sort through the gifts and noticed that several families who were financially struggling had also given gifts. While it is customary to bring gifts to a wedding, it was not appropriate for them to do so given their situations. Therefore, I decided not to accept their gifts. My husband supported my decision and agreed to help return the gifts to them.
My husband’s uncle and his wife are both in their 60s, and they do not have a pension. The uncle is bedridden year-round, is constantly on medication, and their family isn’t well off. I told my husband, “I feel uneasy about taking his money. Let’s return it.” A few days later, my husband and I returned the 500 yuan to their family. My aunt was surprised and asked why we returned it. I replied, “My uncle needs money for his medication all the time, so we can’t keep this.”
The eldest brother of my brother’s wife has been battling throat cancer for years. He and his wife live alone and have no income. I also returned their 200 yuan gift money. My second brother’s family is also struggling financially. He suffers from severe leg pain, which has caused his legs to bend, and he constantly needs medication. As a result, I returned the 1,000 yuan gift money to them as well. My third sister brought her three nieces, who came with gifts. But I didn’t take any money from them because they all come from rural areas and their families aren’t well off. Additionally, planting crops in the spring would need to begin soon, and would be quite expensive. I returned the 900 yuan gift money and also gave them 100 yuan for travel expenses.
Returning the gift money caused a stir among relatives and friends. People were amazed by our decision. I would have never done this before I started practicing Falun Dafa.
People nowadays are so obsessed with money. Some individuals do not support their parents, while others treat those around them as if they are enemies. If this trend continues, how dangerous might our society become? Only Falun Dafa has the power to change people’s hearts and restore their morality. I have learned to let go of the desire for profit, to be indifferent to it, and to treat others with kindness. It is Falun Dafa that has transformed me. Thanks to Master, I have changed from being a selfish person into someone who truly cares about others.