Improving My Xinxing While Purchasing a House

(Minghui.org) My husband and I learned about Falun Dafa in 1997, but we only read Zhuan Falun for a few days. We did not continue to practice due to the persecution. In 2004, a Falun Dafa practitioner met us and helped us resume our cultivation. Despite the ups and downs in the past few years, we have persisted in our cultivation in Falun Dafa under Master’s protection. We would like to share our experience of improving our xinxing throughout the process of buying a house.

In March 2022, my husband and I found a house that we wanted to buy. The owner was a woman in her 60's. She told us that her husband and her daughter lived in another town and wanted her to join them, so she had decided to sell the house. She said that they had put a lot of effort into renovation and maintained this house well, because they had originally planned to stay in it for a long time. The woman sounded very attached to the house, but her daughter had insisted that she sell it and move in with them.

The woman was the only one at home when we visited for the first time. Both of us liked the house so much that we made up our minds to buy it on that day. After signing a simple contract, we paid a deposit of 10,000 yuan (USD $1,390). We made an agreement to close the deal in May. However, unexpected things happened before May. The woman called to ask us if we wanted her TV and said if we wanted it, we would need to pay extra for it. We asked her, “Didn’t we agree that everything in the house would be included in the price?” She said that the furniture was included, but not any appliances. (In fact, our verbal agreement at that time was to include the appliances.) We didn’t want to argue with her, so we told her that since we didn’t watch much TV, she could take it.

A few days later, she told us that we would have to pay extra for the full-length mirror on the wall, the framed cross-stitch artwork, and even the Chinese knot decoration if we wanted them. She complained, “You don’t want the TV, so do you want an old woman to stand on the streets to sell it?” I said, “We don’t mind if you don’t include it, so you can sell it to make some money. Isn’t that a good thing?”

When my husband and I talked about it later, we agreed that nothing was accidental, and we Falun Dafa practitioners should follow Master’s teaching to put others ahead of ourselves. We decided to let her give us a price for all these items, and we would pay the additional amount. I felt upset about her unreasonable behavior, but I thought buying these items would be the end of her complaints.

However, a few days later, she called us to go over things again. We realized that she didn’t want to sell the house, but she did not want to pay for breaking the contract, so she wanted us to say that we did not want to buy it anymore. After we unexpectedly agreed with all of her unreasonable requests, she had no choice but to tell us that she did not want to sell the house anymore. I became irritated. I recalled that she had told us on the first day, “I am a person who keeps my word, even my spit turns to nails.” 

My husband was able to let it go easily. He said, “We won’t buy it since she doesn’t want to sell. Not a big deal.” When the woman called us over to pick up our deposit, my husband went by himself. He did not mention the fees she owed us for breaching the contract and even told her with a smile, “Let me know if you decide to sell it again.” The woman looked stunned and then embarrassed. She was speechless.

A few days later, the pandemic broke out in our area. Our city, community, and even houses were locked down for over a month. When we saw the woman again, she looked emaciated and weak. We later heard from her husband that she had almost died during the lock-down, because she had fallen ill and had no one to take care of her.

Not long after that, the woman’s husband called and asked us if we had bought another house, and if not, they still wanted to sell us the house. My husband told him that we hadn’t bought another house, and we were still interested in their house. A bad thought immediately came into my mind, “Since they initiated the contact, they might be willing to sell it at a lower price. And they owe us the fees for breaching the contract.” My husband said that we wouldn’t do that, because we must follow Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. His words immediately made me realize my attachment to personal gain. I certainly didn’t want this attachment. We would pay the agreed upon price, and it wouldn’t be compassionate to take advantage of the situation.

My husband replied to them, saying that we would still buy their house at the same price. The woman’s husband was very touched upon hearing it. He said that we could contact him directly if there were any problems and admitted that his wife hadn’t handled it well. Actually, the woman had attempted to sell the house to one of their relatives, and a friend of ours had also wanted to buy the house, but none of them had reached an agreement. Eventually we reached an agreement to buy the house again.

On the closing day, we went to the bank with her to process the house payment. She kept apologizing to us. She acted like a totally different person from before. She even said to me, “I have never done anything so stupid in my life. My fault.” I knew that our sincerity and kindness had moved her. It was our cultivation according to Falun Dafa that had enabled us to be generous, tolerant, and forgiving.

The woman’s husband came back to town when we were in the process of getting the deed. We told him the truth about Falun Dafa. And thanks to Master’s arrangement, we bought the house and validated the goodness of Falun Dafa as well. We are especially thankful to this woman for helping us improve our xinxing throughout the process. We deeply feel that it is truly wonderful to follow Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance in everything we do!