(Minghui.org) I’m 84 years old. My husband was the first one in our family to start practicing Falun Dafa. My daughter, one son, two daughters-in-law, and I then embraced the practice, one after another.
Guarding Our Fa-Study Site
With the spread of Falun Dafa, many people started to practice, and they came to my home for group Fa-study. We had several practitioners in the family so, naturally, our home became a logical meeting place. My husband later passed away.
In 1999, Jiang Zemin, then Chinese Communist Party leader, started the persecution of Falun Dafa. My children and I were persecuted to varying degrees, with some being sent to labor camps. Despite the terror and high-pressure environment, the Fa-study group continued to meet at my home.
My daughter passed away six years ago. My two sons bought houses in the city, leaving me alone in the village. Over the years, I have experienced the loss of my husband, the evil persecution, my sons moving away, and my daughter’s passing. These were challenging years of hardship for me, but I’ve been steadfastly maintaining the Fa-study environment in our village. Master Li (Dafa’s founder) has put much effort into protecting us.
In 2020, in order to support me in safeguarding the Fa-study site, my sons and daughters-in-law helped renovate the old house I lived in. This way, I no longer needed to go to the city for the Chinese New Year holiday, as my children would come home to celebrate with me.
My third eye is open, and I have seen many things during my cultivation. When the house was being renovated, I stayed at my son’s home in the city. On the day they were putting up the new roof, my son called me on a video call. When the crane was lifting the tile slabs, I saw a strong energy field around the crane, with countless golden lights gathering at the top of the crane’s arm. I thought that Master and the righteous gods were helping with the renovation of my house. My heartfelt gratitude cannot be expressed in words. This scene also strengthened my confidence in safeguarding our Fa-study environment. After the renovation, I continued to study the Fa with practitioners in my house, and we did the three things together.
There were many opportunities to improve my xinxing during the renovation. For example, the neighbors piled peanut seedlings behind my house to feed their sheep. My space is not large, and there was no more room for the contractors to store sand, but they just wouldn’t move the seedlings away. I thought about talking to them several times, but I decided to let it go.
One day, however, the neighbor got up early and removed the peanut seedlings; no one from my family asked them to do so. Soon after, the truck carrying the sand arrived, and the work was not delayed. Master helped me. I told my sons and daughters-in-law about this incident, as well as seeing the energy field helping with the crane. They were happy to hear that.
I experienced many other miraculous occurrences during the renovation. Only through diligent cultivation and true practice can we repay Master’s compassionate salvation and Dafa’s immense grace.
Looking Within and Cultivating Diligently
Last year, I had three dreams in a short period of time and realized that Master was giving me hints.
In the first dream, I was on my way somewhere on foot. There was a person selling vinegar who insisted that I buy some, and asked me to taste it. I tasted a bit, and it was extremely sour. I said, “I won’t buy it.” Not long after, another person came along selling vinegar and also insisted that I try it. This wasn’t as sour, but I still said, “I don’t use vinegar. I won’t buy it!”
In the second dream, I was also on my way somewhere when someone stopped me and wanted to sell me hawthorn slices that were rolled up. He asked me to taste them. They were very sour, so I didn’t buy any and continued on my way. Another person then stopped me, wanting me to buy hawthorn slices too. They tasted delicious but I still said, “I won’t buy!”
In the third dream, I was cooking a meal and gathering corn stalks to start a fire. While the corn stalks were burning, I saw a cob that hadn’t been picked yet. I wondered how I could have missed a big corn cob when I had picked through the stalks so carefully.
Upon waking up, I realized that Master was hinting to me about having attachments in my cultivation, just like missing the corn cob. I should continue to look inward. A practitioner helped me write an experience-sharing article, and I shared Master’s hints in the dreams with her. She said, “I’m not sure if my understanding is correct, and it’s just for reference. [Chinese] people often use the phrase ‘eating vinegar’ or ’feeling sour’ to describe jealousy or envy. Could your first two dreams be Master’s way of pointing out something in your heart that is jealous?” I looked inward and indeed found two issues that had been bothering me for a long time.
The first one was related to my daughter’s family, who have been farming our family land for many years. When my daughter was alive, she used to give cornmeal and flour to her two brothers every year. It’s been five years since my daughter passed away, and her husband stopped giving them anything. He even took away the agricultural subsidy for the land.
My sons and daughters-in-law take care of all my living expenses, and my granddaughter also gives me money. I haven’t spent any of my pension, and I truly don’t lack money. It’s just that I felt my son-in-law’s actions were unfair to my two sons’ families. My sons and daughters-in-law would never ask him for anything. They are well off financially, and because they are practitioners, they wouldn’t even think about arguing with him.
Another reason I felt it was unfair was that when my daughter was alive, my son-in-law also practiced Falun Dafa. But shortly after my daughter passed away, he stopped. He picked up his old habits again, like smoking and drinking. I didn’t like these habits of his and, sometimes, when he was ill, I would encourage him to continue practicing Falun Dafa. But he would say negative things about Dafa, so I looked down on him.
I discussed this with practitioners and found my jealousy in feelings of unfairness, and looking down on my son-in-law for not practicing. I knew it might be a debt I owed him in a previous life. Additionally, his decision to stop practicing was also due to being unable to withstand tribulations. By finally discovering my attachments, I was able to let them go.
There was another incident that bothered me, which I felt was unfair. In the past, a neighbor swapped land with my family. In 2020, the government acquired that piece of land to build a highway, and this neighbor received over 20,000 yuan as compensation. I knew that once the land was swapped, there was nothing I could do. However, this still stirred up my attachment to loss. I neither lacked money nor spent much, but my attachment to self-interest was still deeply rooted.
The true me doesn’t cling to self-interest. That’s why in those dreams, I didn’t buy anything, whether it was vinegar or hawthorn slices, I didn’t want any. These were just notions I needed to remove from the root completely.
By looking inward, I found jealousy and human notions that brought obstacles to my cultivation. When I removed them, the knot in my heart was untied, my mind became clear, and the principles of Dafa resonated within me.
Breaking Through Tests with Righteous Thoughts
One evening not long ago, I felt pain in my chest. I tried to endure it, but I later couldn’t sit or lie down. The pain was so intense that I was unable to focus on looking inward. I couldn’t bear it any longer and begged Master to strengthen and save me. By relying on firm righteous thoughts rooted in my trust in Master and Dafa, I passed the tribulation.
I’m considered old according to ordinary people’s standards and should be taken care of by my children. However, I’ve been living alone for many years and need to meet the Fa’s standards to pass key tests of whether I genuinely believe in Master and Dafa.
Copyright © 2023 Minghui.org. All rights reserved.
