(Clearwisdom.net) A fellow practitioner that I know has gone to Beijing dozens of times to validate Falun Dafa. She also has gotten out of forced labor camps twice through her righteous thoughts and actions. But her family does not support her at all and she felt that she couldn't do anything about it. There have been several times that I wanted to write down my own understanding and experiences in this regard, but every time I tried, I stopped because I was afraid I couldn't write well. Later on, I realized that this is a human notion that can only make the evil happy. As long as my article helps other practitioners, even a bit, I should write it. Below are some of my experiences and insights to share with you.

During this unprecedented evil test of Dafa disciples, the old forces also interfere with the Dafa disciples' relatives and control them to prevent the disciples from validating Dafa. We should never acknowledge this. Therefore, we should break through the interference using our righteous thoughts, cleaning out our own dimensional fields and leaving no room for the evil. We shouldn't be deceived by any superficial kindness of those who intend to persecute us. On the surface, it may seem that our relatives are afraid of us getting into trouble if we validate Dafa. In fact, this is a distorted human notion. We should reason with them from the standpoint of the Fa and help them break through their notions so that they can understand us.

Teacher said,

"No matter how difficult your environment is, no matter how busy you get, you cannot forget to study the Fa. You must study the Fa, because it is the absolute, most fundamental guarantee of your improvement. I can't meet with every student, especially with the current situation in Mainland China. And under these circumstances where our students aren't able to see me, they can't come find Teacher whenever there's an issue, so they can only take the Fa as the Teacher. And in order to enable you to do cultivation practice and improve, I've infused this Fa throughout with every element that can enable a person to improve and ascend through cultivation. As long as you study, any problem can be solved. As long as you cultivate and as long as you're able to understand the Fa from the Fa, there's nothing you can't achieve."

("Fa-Lecture at the Conference in Florida, U.S.A.")

"The Buddha-light illuminates everywhere and rectifies all abnormalities."

Only as we improve ourselves can we keep strong righteous thoughts. And then we can better offer salvation to sentient beings. As Teacher says in Zhuan Falun,

"Because the energy cultivated from a righteous way is purely righteous and benevolent, everyone sitting here feels an atmosphere of serenity and compassion. I have cultivated myself this way and carry these things with me. Everyone sitting here is harmonious without ill thoughts in mind, and no one even thinks about smoking a cigarette. In the future, you should also follow the requirements of our Dafa, and the gong that you develop through cultivation practice will also be this way. With your ever-increasing gong potency, the energy scattered from the gong in your body will also be quite powerful. Even if it is not that powerful, an everyday person within your field will still be restrained. Or if you are at home, you will also restrain others, and your family members may be restrained by you. Why is this so? You do not even have to use your mind to do this. This field is one of pure harmony, compassion, and right faith. Therefore, people are unlikely to think of bad things or commit bad deeds. It can have this effect."

This righteous field can rectify any abnormalities. Oftentimes, it is because we cannot understand the Fa from within the Fa, and are being influenced by our attachments, that our righteous thoughts are sometimes not strong enough to restrain others. I remember once my husband quit smoking. He said, "I can't smoke any more, your field is too strong." Indeed, if we cultivate ourselves well, we can change the environment around us. It is exactly as Teacher said in "Teaching the Fa at the Washington, D.C. Fa Conference,"

"Those who do well will change the environments around them, and those who do poorly will make the environments around them change according to their states of mind."

All is from the Fa, so we have to study Fa well and then we will have the power to offer salvation to sentient beings.

Some practitioners perform well outside the home, but slack off at home. They are careless about the minor details or even go to extremes, causing misunderstandings at home. In fact, our every speech and action are the natural manifestation of our Buddha nature after the improvement of our xinxing [mind-heart nature, moral nature] through Fa study. They are not for the purpose of showing off to others. Wherever we are, we are cultivating.

"As I said, superficial changes are for others to see. Whether or not you can be saved depends on the change and ascension of your own heart. If change does not occur there, you cannot improve and nothing can be achieved."

(Essentials for Further Advancement: "Dafa Cannot be Used")

Teacher also said,

"Your work and your studies are absolutely not cultivation, but as a person who practices cultivation, your improved xinxing will manifest itself in your work and studies. This is the relationship. So, wherever Dafa students are, people will all say that, as a person, you're just so wonderful. This is the state that's a reflection of your cultivating while conforming to everyday people's society to the maximum extent."

("Lecture at the Australia Fa Conference")

If we do everything well, do we lay a good foundation to clarify the truth to others? As for our family members, we interact with them a lot. This has its advantages and disadvantages. More contact gives us more opportunities to clarify the truth to them, but they also easily see our shortcomings. If we don't do well, it is as Teacher says,

"And it's possible that one sentence or one action of yours will make them unsavable or create a bad impression of Dafa."

("Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Boston")

Since our non-practitioner relatives don't read Dafa books, they only see the performance of Dafa disciples.

Especially in the situation in China, facing the persecution, and the misunderstanding from workplaces and society, as well as various other pressures, Dafa disciples display their great compassion and forbearance. They have no complaints or hatred and have no selfishness and fear. They always keep a positive mind. An ordinary person can't accomplish this. In addition to bearing the tremendous pressure, they console their family members. While they take care of their work and family matters well, they do Fa-rectification work well. Therefore, ordinary people truly respect us. Indeed, when a Dafa disciple defies brute force, bravely confronts the evil and gets out of detention by holding a 100-day hunger strike, don't people admire that? Even an evil policeman said, "I can't even put up with it if one meal is not good, let alone holding a hunger strike." As one family member who knows the truth said, "If Falun Gong were as bad as said on TV, there would not be millions of people studying it. And then there would be no point banning it. The more the persecution continues, the more people abroad study it. Moreover, the Chinese constitution allows people to have freedom of belief. It is apparent that the (Jiang) government lacks reason.

When some Dafa disciples clarify the truth outside the home, the effect is generally good. But when they clarify the truth to their relatives, they feel it is difficult. I remember Teacher once said while answering a question that addressed this problem,

"This attachment has to be let go of. The Fa is evaluating the actions of all sentient beings at this time. If someone hasn't done damage to the Fa then there's no problem. But if someone has bad thoughts about Dafa, then from the perspective of saving all sentient beings, you should first explain things to your family members; you should try your best to explain things to them and help them get rid of those thoughts."

("Touring North America to Teach the Fa").

As matter of fact, the poor effect when Dafa disciples clarify the truth to relatives is mainly caused by their attachments, for example, anxiety, grievance, and so on. Basically, practitioners are restrained by their sentimentality. This in general leads to endless arguments and ends up with unpleasantness. Whenever you clarify the truth with sentimentality, it is not convincing. Teacher said in "Lecture at the Australia Fa Conference",

"Whenever you're stirred up by emotion, you're unable to act rationally at all."

[...]

"As a cultivator, if you can't let go of emotion, all of your behavior is human behavior. Valuing emotion is in fact defending emotion. In that case, you're just an ordinary human being. If you can let go of it, then you're no longer a part of it and are a God. This is the principle."

"Whether you can let go of ordinary human attachments is a fatal test on your way to becoming a truly extraordinary being. Every disciple who truly cultivates must pass it, for it is the dividing line between a cultivator and an everyday person."

(Essentials for Further Advancement: "True Cultivation")

If we clarify the truth to our relatives with attachments, the evil will take advantage of this loophole and the effect could be the opposite of what we wanted. One time when I clarified the truth to one of my relatives, I was too eager for her to learn about Dafa and not oppose Dafa any more. As a result, she became very angry and said, "The more you want me to read the books, the less I want to read. You are too attached to your thoughts." Her words put me at a loss. Was I wrong? Later on, she told me, "It is weird. On that day, there were five times that I picked up Teacher's articles and wanted to read them. But as you asked me to read, I put them aside five times and didn't want to read." I was astonished. It was my so-called "kind heart" that harmed her. Later on, I let go of my human heart and also eliminated the evil elements behind her. She read the Fa until midnight that night.

Some Dafa disciples don't clarify the truth to their relatives since the effects are not good. They develop the fear of that difficulty and therefore stay in the passive state. This is exactly what the evil wants. In fact, the course of clarifying the truth to relatives also provides a course for us to cultivate. It is a test to see whether we can understand the problem from within the Fa, whether we can look into ourselves and discover the reason why they don't listen to us. What Dafa disciples have done is the most righteous. In the past three years, people in the world have seen clearly who is violating the law and who is right and who is evil. When we tell them the truth wisely with a pure heart, we are eliminating the evil elements controlling them.

"It's like sharp swords shooting out together from their mouths,
Shredding apart the rotten demons' lies."

from Teacher's poem, "Hurry Up and Tell Them"

Everyone has a side that is clear. I think if we do things righteously, the environment will change.

Teacher said,

"I often say that if all a person wants is the well-being of others and if this is without the slightest personal motivation or personal understanding, what he says will move the listener to tears. I have not only taught you Dafa, but have also left you my demeanor. While working, your tone of voice, your kindheartedness, and your reasoning can change a person's heart, whereas commands never could! If others are not convinced deep down inside but only superficially comply, they will still conduct themselves according to their own will when no one is around to see them."

(Essentials for Further Advancement: "Clearheadedness").

When we try to convince others, when we become frustrated upon seeing that the effect is not good, do we look into ourselves?

We should try our best to direct our relatives to read truth-clarifying materials. Let them know how Falun Dafa now flourishes all over the world, and the truth of the persecution.

If our relatives can stand on the side of Dafa and resist the evil persecution, they will clarify the truth to their relatives and close friends. This way, there will not be any market for the evil.

The thoughts above are just my personal understanding. Please correct me if there is anything incorrect.