(Minghui.org) With Master’s help, I have cultivated Falun Dafa for over 20 years.
In the past, I did look inward on my cultivation path and behaved like an ordinary person who was taught to reflect on his or her issues three times a day. Sometimes I did not look inward because I felt I did not do anything wrong and only looked within when I did find that I had done something wrong.
Master said:
“Some people are always stressing that they’re right, but even if you are right, even if you’re not wrong, so what? Have you improved on the basis of the Fa? The very act of using human thinking to stress who’s right and who’s wrong is in itself wrong. That’s because you are then using the logic of ordinary people to evaluate yourself, and using that logic to make demands on others. As gods see it, for a cultivator to be right or wrong in the human world is not important in the least, whereas eliminating the attachments that come from human thinking is important, and it is precisely your managing to eliminate those attachments rooted in your human thinking as you cultivate that counts as important.” (“Fa Teaching Given in Manhattan,” Collected Teachings Given Around the World, Vol. X)
After making sense of Master’s quote, I looked inward unconditionally. If I do things on a conditional basis, that means I am looking outward and finding excuses for myself.
I often had arguments with my wife and children. From a human mindset, it was all their fault. Sometimes I knew clearly that I needed to forbear, yet I still had to argue with them to determine who was right and who was wrong. Now I know I was wrong.
Later on, I forced myself to look inward, and gradually I could control myself. My attachment to not being able to accept criticism became weaker. I thought of Master’s Fa every time I raised my voice to yell at the children.
Master said:
“Some people will lose their temper in disciplining children and yell at them, making quite a scene. You should not be that way in disciplining children, and neither should you, yourselves get really upset. You should educate children with reason so that you can really teach them well. If you cannot even get over a trifle and lose your temper easily, how can you expect to increase your gong?” (Lecture Nine, Zhuan Falun)
I realized later that my children were helping me to cultivate and elevate and that I could not repeatedly make excuses for missing these opportunities to elevate my xinxing.
I truly learned how to cultivate and know to unconditionally look inward after I understood the Fa principles based on Fa.
The 610 Office forced the Bureau of Education to remove me from my teaching position and assign me staff work because I refused to give up Falun Dafa. It was clear that this was because of the persecution and violated Chinese law. I talked to the principal and the vice principal and wrote letters to them.
My main purpose was to help them learn the facts about Falun Dafa and the persecution, rather than to get my teaching position back. But I later enlightened that everything of mine is arranged by Master. My blind and unprincipled endurance was actually my countering the persecution within the persecution. I should reject the Party’s and old forces’ persecution from its roots. Master arranged for my teaching position and would never deprive me of the privilege of teaching just because I have gaps in my cultivation.
I clarified the truth again to the principal and the vice principal by writing letters and talking to them face-to-face and asked them to unconditionally restore me to my teaching position. I am grateful to the relevant articles on the Minghui website, particularly the articles that explained that Falun Dafa is legal in China. The vice principal was surprised to hear this and looked up the 14 cults listed by the Chinese government. It was a surprise to him that the list indeed did not include Falun Dafa.
The principal conveyed through a mid-level administrator two weeks later that they had agreed to restore my teaching position. I was calm when I heard that. I knew everything was done by Master and determined by Master. As long as I have sufficiently strong righteous thoughts, everything will move in a good direction.
I once again realized Teacher’s Fa: “The master takes you through the entrance, and it is up to you to practice cultivation.” (Lecture Three, Zhuan Falun)
The wastewater system in our building often got clogged. We have to hire people to clear the clog twice a year, which was expensive and required quite a bit of effort. Someone suggested that digging from the basement of my home and installing a new pipe would solve the issue. But they were afraid that I would object. I said that, as long as it worked, I was willing to let them go through my basement. They all praised my generosity. Actually, putting others first is a basic characteristic of a Dafa practitioner.
Then we ran into another problem. We could not find a contractor who would do the job for a reasonable price. To save money, I discussed it with the owner of another unit and suggested that we work together and do it ourselves. That way we could save a lot of expense.
First, I drove a distance to my hometown to get the equipment and used my SUV to transport the cement and sand. We sweat from morning until night for two days and finally finished the job. All the neighbors were pleased and gave us high praise.
We applied to the homeowners' association and got 900 yuan in compensation. After deducting the cost of materials, we had over 500 yuan left. I gave it all to the other owner who had worked on it with me. I was on my summer vacation and being paid, but he took time off from work and his wages had been reduced accordingly.
As Dafa practitioners who live among ordinary people, we need to cultivate ourselves well and be living examples that “Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good” so that more people can know the truth and be saved.