PureInsight | September 5, 2005
[PureInsight.org] One night when I returned home from a group practice of Falun Gong exercises, it was almost 10 P.M. My husband was surfing on the Internet and my son was playing next to the coffee table when I suddenly needed to make two urgent phone calls. Because we had dial-up connection for the Internet, I had to ask my husband to log off so that I could make the calls. I was shocked that my husband suddenly started to throw a tantrum and told me he would not log off. My son heard and immediately tried to uphold justice. He told his Daddy, "You have to let Mommy use the phone!" My husband knew he was being unreasonable, so he promised our son he would log off, but he continued to surf on the Internet and told me to wait for two more hours. At first I found it amusing to see him acting like a big child, so I waited for a while like a patient mother, hoping that he would come to his senses shortly. However, he did not appear to be sorry for his attitude after a while. Watching him shamelessly keeping the telephone line to himself, my anger started to rise.
I took a seat cushion and walked out to the backyard. While sitting alone in the dark, I felt a knot in my belly because I was really unhappy. After a while, my husband and my son opened the door and saw me sitting on the lawn. They didn't seem worried and went back inside the house. Watching the night sky full of twinkling stars, my anger gradually diminished. I knew something was wrong with what I had been feeling. I suddenly remembered: When people treat me unfairly, I must continue to think of treating them with kindness. I should not complain or argue with them. I must be generous to them and forgive them to cultivate forbearance, generosity, kindness and sincerity. How can I call myself a cultivator if I talk back all the time? Where did my kindness go?
Teacher said, "A benevolent person always has a heart of compassion. With no discontentment or hatred, he takes hardship as joy." (From "Realms" in Essentials for Further Advancement. )
After realizing my inadequacies as a cultivator, I got up and returned to the house. My son asked me, "Why did you go sit in the backyard?" I replied in a happy voice, "I wanted to watch the stars!" My son laughed happily, and my husband smiled.
When I returned to the bedroom, I found my husband had logged off. I could finally start making phone calls.
Afterwards, I was astonished by my husband's transformation. He had a daily routine of surfing on the Internet for a long time after he got off work. In the past when I needed to make phone calls and asked him to log off, he would be very annoyed. He has repeatedly given me xinxing tests on this issue. He always tried to drag his feet when I asked him to log off. But after my "stargazing" episode, things started to change.
One evening around 8 P.M., a fellow practitioner called me when my husband was about to get on the Internet. When he saw me talking on the phone, he went outside to play soccer with our son. After I talked to the fellow practitioner for about 30 minutes, I heard my husband asking me from the backyard, "Have you finished your call?" "I will finish the call right away," I shouted back. He probably didn't hear anything except the word "finish," so he said semi-jokingly, "Hey, why didn't you tell me when you finished the call?" When he entered the house, he saw me still on the phone, but he didn't say anything. He returned to the backyard and continued to play soccer with our son. I was on the phone for another 15 minutes. He was very patient and did not make any complaint. It was such a pleasant feeling. As soon as I finished the call, I told him the phone line was available now. Then he entered and connected to the Internet.
Since then, my husband has never lost his temper or acted annoyed when I needed to use the phone. He has become very reasonable.
Teacher said,
"Buddha's light illuminates everywhere,
Propriety and justice are perfected and illuminated."
(From "Harmonizing with the Fa" in Hong Yin.)
I feel lucky to be a cultivator because I have learned to search inward at all times and not to complain or be strict with others. When I discipline myself to follow the Fa in my daily life, I find that my environment and people in it are naturally becoming increasingly pleasant and harmonious. Falun Dafa is truly the magnificent Fa!
Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2002/10/9/18822.html
