PureInsight | May 2, 2005
[PureInsight.org] My mother- and father-in-law arrived from Mainland China to visit us and help us take care of our new baby. Since they had heard too many negative reports about Falun Gong, they were against my practicing it. On the other hand, I have had a hard problem getting used to some of their behaviors, too.
A few months have passed. Their presence here has made me realize a few principles.
One: Cleaning and Hygiene
I've had a number of roommates. I always told them, "If you are very neat and clean, I will rise up to meet your standard of cleanliness. If you are rather messy, I can live with that too." My meaning is this: I can adapt to the habits of whomever I meet.
I realized that this philosophy did not completely work with my mother- and father-in-law.
After I went to college, I started to get lazy and stopped making my bed every morning after I got up. After my in-laws came, my father-in-law would make our bed every day for us. It felt awkward. Through the years, dust had built up everywhere in our house. Now no matter whether it is the kitchen, washroom or any other room in the house, there isn't even a speck of dust because my in-laws are so clean. I had developed the bad habit of piling up my dirty clothes and not folding them up properly after I washed them. When my in-laws came, my father-and mother-in-law took all of our dirty clothes out, washed them, dried them, folded them and put them in their proper places neatly.
Over the years I've acquired many lazy traits. It has come to the point where I cannot live well with people who like cleanliness anymore.
Actually isn't it the same way with cultivation? During one's lifetime, how many dirty things has one gathered unconsciously? Sometimes we might think we have done well, but when we truly compare ourselves with the Fa, how do we measure up?
I have now begun to do a lot more housework.
Two: Cooking
My father-and-mother-in-law have had some problems with me. For example, they feel that I am too laid back and lazy, and that I am not considerate enough toward my wife. I worked hard on improving things, but the results were minimal. So, I thought to myself, "In any case, I cultivate 'Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance;' you will come to understand in the future…."
Today is Saturday and it is my turn to cook lunch. We had bought a bag of cauliflower a long time ago. When I took it out, I saw there were a lot of dark spots on the vegetable. So I started to scrape the outside layer of the vegetable off. I discovered that even though there were dark spots on the outside, it was perfectly fine on the inside.
Subsequently I realized a point. Sometimes because of my own personal attachments and other reasons, others might not like some of the things I have done. Even though I realized others have a problem with me, I would still intentionally or inadvertently make excuses for myself.
Nevertheless, ordinary people can only see the surface of things. When they see that the veggies have some dark spots they would be likely to think that the whole vegetable is bad, no matter how good it might be on the inside. Similarly, when they see our inadequacies, particularly when they lack understanding and we do not have enough communication with them, they would have their low opinion of us and would not think that in reality we cultivate "Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance."
Their opinions of individual practitioners may influence their understanding of Dafa. Yet, this misconception is something that we, ourselves, have created. In fact, this problem is not only limited to a household - there are similar situations in our work environments.
In reality, if we are just a bit more diligent and more considerate toward others, it might take very little extra effort to make a tremendous difference on their opinions of us. It is usually our own notions and attachments that really restrict us.
Cultivation practice is the process of purifying ourselves. If you can genuinely treat everything with the righteous mentality and really consider other people's eternal futures, Falun Dafa's harmony and power would surface.
Practitioners of Falun Dafa cultivation can give up their concerns about life and death. Why is it that they can't even give up their attachments and many notions? Other than hindering our own path, what other purpose does the existence of these elements serve?
Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2005/4/10/31895.html
