Dafa Awakened Me, a “Wicked Stepmother”

(Minghui.org) Mine is a blended family formed through a second marriage. Because I was strong-willed, selfish, and domineering, I became the unquestioned authority in our household. I had the final say in everything, big or small, and everyone had to obey me—no one dared to provoke me.

My husband has a son, and I have a daughter. However, I always looked down on his son and ignored him. My words and actions toward him were harsh and extreme. Year after year, resentment, jealousy, discrimination, exclusion, competitiveness, and revenge accumulated in my heart. If he ate even one extra bite of food, my anger flared up uncontrollably. Driven by various evil thoughts, I sometimes became irrational.

Over the years, I played the role of a “wicked stepmother” to the extreme, and created enormous karma. The accumulated corrupt substances formed a solid, insurmountable mountain that left me feeling suffocated. I knew deep down that I was not acting according to the Fa, and I felt deep regret. Yet I couldn’t restrain this “stepmother” persona, which led to repeated conflicts. I was anxious and eager to cultivate myself well as soon as possible and return to my true nature.

Eventually, I confided my situation to a fellow practitioner. She said, “There’s one simple approach—study the Fa more, improve your xinxing, understand the Fa from the Fa, and use the Fa to measure and rectify everything.” We began studying Master’s recent lectures together.

Through Fa study and sharing with other practitioners, my heart was filled with complex emotions. Every word of Master’s Fa pierced deeply into my heart. When I recalled my behavior, I felt overwhelming remorse. I felt unworthy of Master’s compassionate salvation. I studied the Fa every day, yet I was not truly cultivating. Once I put the Fa aside, I reverted to doing whatever I pleased.

Then another thought struck me: this child is also Master’s family—what right did I have to treat him that way? I was filled with regret. At that moment, I suddenly gained clarity and said to myself: I am a Falun Dafa practitioner. That “wicked stepmother” is not my true self. She is a false self formed by acquired notions and karma. I do not want her. This “stepmother” role was imposed on me by the old forces in an attempt to destroy me. I do not acknowledge their arrangements. I will walk the path arranged by my Master, cultivate myself well, and help Master save sentient beings.

The practitioner smiled and said, “It was Master—it is Dafa that awakens the ‘stepmother’ in you.” I smiled knowingly as well. Thank you, Master!

A few days ago, because I relaxed in my cultivation, my body suddenly manifested symptoms of illness karma. Through this process of eliminating karma, my attitude toward my son underwent a dramatic transformation. He held no resentment for how I had treated him in the past and was just as filial as ever. He took meticulous care of me, bought me fruit, and cleaned the house.

When I saw him kneeling on the floor scrubbing the kitchen, my heart shattered and tears streamed down my face. Scenes from the past replayed before my eyes like a movie. I realized how vicious I had been—I did not have a practitioner’s dignity or compassion, I behaved worse than an ordinary person.

From that moment on, I resolved that as long as Fa-rectification has not ended, I still have time to do better. I must cultivate true compassion, be a genuine and steadfast practitioner, and treat everyone around me with kindness.

I then made a firm effort to study the Fa more diligently and thoroughly, holding myself to the high standards of the Fa at critical moments. I also increased sending righteous thoughts. I asked Master to strengthen me so I could completely eliminate selfishness, self-interest, viciousness, and all other corrupt substances in my thoughts. Anything that does not conform to Dafa—including arrangements imposed by the old forces and the nine toxic elements of the communist evil specter (evil, deception, incitement, struggle, robbery, gangsterism, infiltration, destruction, and control)—I sought to eradicate completely, from the macro to the micro level.

“fă zhèng qián kūnxié è quán miè”(“The Two Hand Positions for Sending Righteous Thoughts” in Essentials for Further Advancement II)

At the same time, I realized that while my understanding improved internally, I also needed to make a breakthrough in how I behaved. My son is now twenty-five years old, and I wanted to explain everything to him face to face and sincerely apologize, to soothe the deep wounds I had caused him. Seeing my genuine desire to cultivate myself, Master arranged the opportunity.

One day at noon, I said to him directly: “Son, over the past few years, Mom truly wronged you. I didn’t take care of you or look after you properly. My methods were extremely negative, and I used violence to control you without ever considering your feelings. I was truly wrong. Please don’t hold resentment against me. The way I behaved wasn’t my true nature.”

He replied calmly, “Mom, honestly speaking, if it hadn’t been for your strict warnings, I might have ended up in prison.”

Hearing this, my heart felt heavy and conflicted. From then on, I resolved to cultivate Dafa well, listen to Master’s teachings, change my deeply ingrained notions, eliminate discrimination, regard him as my own, and treat him with genuine kindness.

Today, our relationship as mother and son is harmonious, and our family is filled with warmth and happiness. Whenever negative thoughts or bad notions arise, I can immediately identify them, prevent them from taking effect, and eliminate them.

With the limited time remaining, I will strengthen my Fa study, assimilate fully into the Fa, and cultivate diligently.