PureInsight | October 15, 2014
[PureInsight.org] Yesterday I heard a practitioner mentioned about the child of another fellow practitioner. He noticed there was nothing righteous about the child! When I discussed this with another fellow practitioner, he also knew of another boy who was led poorly by his practitioner parents. His dad even said, “This kid came from such a high realm, we don’t need to worry about him!” I was saddened upon hearing this.
Another fellow practitioner said, “Since practitioners got married and have kids, they should take it seriously and walk this path seriously. Isn’t whether we walk this path well a reflection of our responsibility towards ourselves and our children, not to mention leaving this behind for the future?”
Master had the following reply in “Teaching the Fa at the Assistants’ Fa Conference in Changchun”:
Question: If a child refuses to listen when being disciplined, and if he continues to be stubborn, is it correct to let him have his way?
Teacher: Not exactly. Parents are committing a crime when they indulge their children. You can’t say the degree of depravity today’s human society has sunk to has nothing to do with you, generation after generation. Let me tell you that you have to discipline your children. I’ve noticed that the society in the United States has been so restricted by its laws that people can’t discipline their children; disciplining children is almost like breaking the law. Children are thus being indulged and spoiled. Those children don’t even know the most basic things about human behavior, let alone manners. What bunch of humans are being shaped for the future?! But let me tell you this: China has the kind of tradition where you must discipline and educate your children. You can’t indulge them. You may spank or scold them. We say that cultivators shouldn’t get angry, but you can discipline children. If you’re in a good mood and you spank them with a smile, they’ll still feel the pain. The purpose is to teach the child a lesson, to tell him not to do bad things. Educating children isn’t wrong. You can just think about it this way: “I’m not doing this because I’m attached to my own things; it’s doing a good deed for society and for the future humankind.” But if you’re overly attached to it you’ll go to the other extreme. What I mean is that it’s not a problem to discipline children, but you should do so sensibly.
The first thing I want to say is that many children here in the Fa-rectification period are truly special. Didn’t they come to the human realm so that they could have a cultivation environment in a Dafa disciple household? If that’s the case, teaching our kids to be polite and to cultivate is our incumbent responsibility. If we let our children loose, isn’t that disappointing the children’s initial intentions? Secondly, if children are too young and are not yet mature, then their state and behavior is a direct reflection of their parents’ states. In other words, like the two parents mentioned above, it is because they themselves don’t take cultivation seriously and permit demonic nature that they let their child loose. Plainly, our own dimensional field’s lack of righteousness is the cause for these problems. Because we did not live up to “Buddha’s light shines everywhere, propriety and righteousness harmonize everything” (Zhuan Falun) became wishful thinking.
Whether it’s marriage, disciplining children or living a single life, whatever path we choose to take, we must walk it rationally and seriously. Do not leave stains and regrets for yourself and your sentient beings.
The above is my own understanding. Please point out anything inappropriate.
Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/node/134432
