(Clearwisdom.net)
Originally I had a warm, close family. My daughter was well behaved and respected me. My wife took good care of me. After the persecution of Falun Gong started on July 20, 1999, I was illegally sentenced to one and a half years in a forced labor camp. As a non-practitioner, my wife was unable to bear all of this. She was very anxious and cried every day.
A year later I was released and went home. All of my family members seemed to hate me. They said that I was too selfish for only being concerned about my own personal cultivation while ignoring my family. During that period I felt worse being at home than at the forced labor camp (This way of thinking was not right. It was an attachment to myself). I even had the thought of leaving home. But eventually I remembered that Master requires us to create our own environment. Yes, I had to rectify the environment. I was once an assistant at a practice site and now I couldn't even harmonize the environment around me, let alone help other practitioners. Doesn't Master require us to search inward? Looking for our own shortcomings is solid cultivation. I clearly explained to my family that the persecution was illegal, and at the same time I looked for my own shortcomings.
As a practitioner, I didn't act according to Master's requirements. I spoke rudely to my family members and was not kind to them. I didn't look after my family well. All of this was my fault. But meanwhile I clearly expressed my attitude towards cultivation to my wife and other family members. I said to my wife that she could decide everything in the family, but concerning cultivation, nobody could change my mind. Later on my family members saw that I was so determined in cultivation that they gave up trying to stop me. I often helped to do the housework. I spoke less but did more. If I had spare time, I helped my granddaughter with her homework. Thus the atmosphere in my family improved a bit. I often read to my wife articles written by fellow practitioners, and slowly she herself found some other materials to read.
One day my wife brought a big bag of truth-clarifying materials with her and said that she would distribute them for me. I was so surprised that I could hardly believe it. But she did it whole-heartedly even though previously she had opposed my doing it. I was a bit suspicious and wondered whether she would destroy all the materials. I followed her secretly and found that she indeed gave them all away. I asked her why she went out to distribute the materials. She said that the article said that one would have blessings if one helped to spread the materials. She also said that she did it for me to reduce my risk. She said that others all knew that she didn't practice Falun Gong, so nobody would doubt her. I told her that she would have enormous blessings if she distributed truth-clarifying materials, but she did it for herself, not for me, because she herself would have the benefit. After that she often carried truth-clarifying materials with her and distributed them on the streets or in the countryside. When she saw that other practitioners wore tops with small pockets, she offered to make clothes with big pockets for them. She also made some super big bags for carrying materials.
Later on I took her to visit the practitioners in the city because I wanted her to learn more about our practitioners. Despite the intense persecution, every practitioner was in good spirits and sacrificed so much in order to do the three things well. When she saw that elderly practitioners were very healthy, she admired them tremendously. Sometimes she would say jokingly that she wanted to practice but she still hesitated. One day she suddenly fell to the ground and couldn't move one side of her body. She realized instantly that it had something to do with her disrespect of Dafa. She knew she was wrong and admitted her wrongs in front of Master's photo. Half a month later she went to hospital to have an x-ray and found that it was a comminuted fracture, and the broken bones were not connected. She was angry and cried. When the doctor learned that she was not under the state health care system, he didn't treat her. She took the x-ray home. I had a look and used a frame to hold up her arm. The next day she felt much better. Ten days later she had another x-ray, which revealed that the broken bones were connected. The doctor was very surprised and couldn't imagine how she had recovered in such a short time. The doctor said that she had saved at least six or seven thousand yuan in medical expenses and half of a year suffering. (If she had gone to the hospital, the doctors would have had to fix the arm using a steel plate.) She was very grateful to Master. She said that she would practice the exercises after she was completely recovered, but I told her not to wait anymore and that she could listen to the Fa and read the book right away. Then she listened intently to the Fa on an MP3 every day. Ever since then she has never said a single disrespectful word towards Dafa and Master. Before, she swore at anybody, and although I had told her not to do it many times, she didn't listen. But this time when she listened to Master's lecture on cultivation of speech, she stopped cursing at people. She stopped buying live fish and said that she didn't want to be killing things.
Only with the improvement of my xinxing can the cultivation environment be rectified. Now no one in our family opposes my practicing Dafa. In fact, they all support me. My son-in-law wanted to encourage his father to come to learn the Dafa exercises from me, as he was in poor health. My whole family has withdrawn from the wicked CCP, and they have offered to distribute truth-clarifying materials. Everyone asked for the "talismans" I brought home. My daughters, sons-in-law, and granddaughters have collected ten to a hundred telephone numbers from their colleagues and classmates and have asked me to upload these phone numbers to the Minghui/Clearwisdom website so that other practitioners could clarify the truth to them. They know the significance of saving sentient beings. I am very deeply touched whenever I read the following paragraph in Zhuan Falun:
"Therefore, one must pay attention to xinxing. We stress holistic improvement and holistic upgrade. If xinxing is upgraded, everything else will follow up."
One day in September, I took the bus to the city. Not long after I boarded the bus I saw an elderly man holding a senior bus pass. I knew immediately that he was an old principal. I stood up and gave my seat to him. He was very thankful. Then I talked with him and clarified the truth. I asked him if he had read the Nine Commentaries. He said that he had read it in other people's homes. I asked his opinion, but he didn't want to make any comment because he was fearful. Then I asked him to withdraw from the CCP using an alias. He agreed immediately. I gave him a bag of truth-clarifying materials. He gladly accepted it. Another elderly person sitting beside him saw me give up my seat. He asked me where he should get off if he wanted to go to the train station. I knew he must be a predestined person arranged by Master to learn the truth there. Because the time was limited, I briefly clarified the truth to him, and he withdrew from the CCP. I also gave him some truth-clarifying materials. He told me that he had a business in Beijing, and if I went to Beijing, to make sure to go to see him. He also told me his telephone number.
All sentient beings have come to this earth for the Fa. Their hopes rely on practitioners. We should use every opportunity to tell them the facts about Dafa in order to save them. This is our responsibility as practitioners. Our every word and action are the windows for them to learn Dafa. If we don't do well, we will affect people around us that are to be saved. I always pay special attention to the people around me and behave well to them, thus making it easier for me to save them. This is also an aspect of the cultivation of compassion.
In "Let Go of Human Attachments and Save the World's People" Master said:
"For a Fa-rectification period Dafa disciple, personal liberation is not the goal of cultivation: when you came, saving sentient beings was your great aspiration, and that is the responsibility and mission history has bestowed upon you in Fa-rectification. Thus great numbers of beings are to be saved by you. Dafa disciples, don't forsake the magnificent responsibility that has been bestowed upon you in Fa-rectification, and even less should you disappoint those beings, as you are now their only hope for entering the future."
Of course I still have much to do and still have to catch up with Master's requirements. I have to double my efforts in the future.