(Minghui.org) Some practitioners’ family members were supportive of their practicing Falun Dafa but refused to listen when they clarified the facts about the persecution or cultivation-related matters. They also discouraged practitioners from going out to tell others about the persecution. As a result, some practitioners seldom talked to people. This situation made me wonder how we should interact with, and truly be kind to our family members.
An elderly practitioner’s experiences inspired me. She was previously illegally arrested by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party). After returning home, she stayed with her middle-aged, unmarried daughter. The practitioner felt bad because she wasn’t able to take care of her daughter while she was persecuted for years, so she catered to her requests.
The practitioner wanted to focus on studying the Fa and doing the three things a practitioner should do. However, her daughter monitored and interfered with her to the point where the practitioner followed her daughter’s instructions to take medicine and only went out to clarify the facts behind her daughter’s back. The practitioner became distressed because her daughter even threatened to commit suicide if the mother did not do what she said.
Fortunately, the practitioner cultivated well. She increased her Fa study and realized her mission as a Falun Dafa practitioner during the Fa-rectification period was to fulfill her promise to offer salvation to people. If she did not complete her mission, she was allowing the old forces to make her daughter interfere with Fa-rectification, which would harm her.
She put aside her worries, behaved with righteous thoughts, and did what a practitioner should do. As a result, her physical condition improved and her daughter no longer used extreme measures to threaten her to do things that a practitioner should not do.
I felt very touched when I heard her story. I recalled what Master Li said,
“Those who are attached to affection for family will definitely be burned, entangled, and tormented by it. Pulled by the threads of affection and plagued by them throughout their lives, they will find it too late to regret at the end of their lives.” (“Cultivators’ Avoidances,” Essentials for Further Advancement)
The family ties that practitioners cannot let go of become shackles in our cultivation. How terrible it is if practitioners make the wrong choices because of their family members! In that case, they won’t succeed in cultivation, nor fulfill their vows while seeking ordinary people’s peace and happiness.
Their family members may also be in danger if they aid the old forces. Practitioners must not comply with wrong requests. They should fulfill their vows with righteous thoughts and upright actions, and clarify the facts to their family members to help them understand the truth. This is the only way to truly be kind to our family members.
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