My Father Passed Away Peacefully

[PureInsight.org] I obtained the Fa in July 2009. In mid Feb 2021, my father passed away at the age of 102. I would like to share my experience.

In mid December 2020, I received a message from my family. My mother told me that my father was in a critical health condition and asked me if my elder sister could come back home immediately. My father was intubated and sent to the emergency intensive care unit. Due to coronavirus restriction, we could only visit our father twice a day. Seeing my father plugged with the tube, I hoped that I could pull the tube up so that my father would not feel so painful. Every time I saw my father, I really did not know what to say. I kept sending him the sacred nine-character “Falun Dafa is good; Zhen-Shan-Ren is good.” to him, asking him to keep it in mind. I firmly believe that all living beings are coming for this. Two weeks later, my father was successfully extubated.

1.    Financial Hardships

After my father was transferred to general ward, I encountered other ordeals. Every time I was just allowed to see my father for one hour. For this reason, I had to spend my normal work hours and ask for leave. Instead of causing troubles to others, I spent money employing other teachers to help with my class affairs.

My mother was getting old. In order to keep my mother from hard work, my sister and I hired a carer to look after my father 24 hours a day. That was the first time that we had learned everything from the beginning. Meanwhile, our financial hardships have never stopped. After 42 days of hospitalization, my father was finally discharged, but he became a bedridden person who could not move, and needed a respirator, a nasogastric tube, and regular kidney dialysis to survive. We let my father live in a residential care institution, whose cost was expensive. Meanwhile, in order to solve the dialysis problem of my father, we have made every effort to manage transport and to seek a decent dialysis center.

First, we called on an ambulance to pick up and drop off my father, which cost more than 7,000 yuan for round trips. He had his kidney dialysis twice a week, which was a huge cost. Later, we bought oxygen cylinders, rented high-back wheelchairs, and asked for taxis. We overcame difficulties one by one. At that stage, I used half of my savings to fund my husband’s car purchase as a tool for making a living after changing jobs. The remaining half was to pay for the children's tuition, daily life needs and project turnover funds. Our daily life expenses were likely to be curtailed, which made us feel financially stressful.

2.    Family Test

Master said in Zhuan Falun, “But, to people’s surprise, they all talked about one unique situation—and they were all consistent on this—and that is, at the very moment they were dying they didn’t have any fear, and just the opposite, they suddenly felt a sense of relief and could feel an excitement brewing. Some of them felt like they’d been suddenly freed of the restraints of their bodies, as if they’d floated up like something buoyant and wonderful, and they saw their own bodies, some of them saw beings in other dimensions, and some even went off to various places. They all said that they experienced at that instant a sense of relief and a brewing excitement, and there wasn’t any feeling of pain.”

I understand that death does not seem to be terrible, but rather a relief. When we have a mortal human body, we are suffering. According to Master’s Fa teaching, I learned that life is not a lifetime, whilst the spirit is immortal, and the death of a person is just taking off the outer shell.

My father used a nasogastric tube to be fed, took oxygen to maintain his breathing, and he had to go through kidney dialysis. The quality of life was really bad. The current science and medical technology are limited. It might not be right to use artificial means to intervene in the passing of life. I hoped that my father could spend the last mile of life peacefully. Thus when deciding whether to sign a consent form for giving up first aid, I had always been sure. This was because I know the laws and principles of higher-level, but my relatives do not.

My sister studied medicine, worked as a nurse, and stayed in a cancer ward. She reckoned that medical intervention would do. I put forward my opinions, but also I respected my households’ thoughts, hoping that every relative could find a suitable place for my father’s spirit. Was it necessary to have father discharged and to care for him at home? I cooperated with my relatives’ decision-making, endured the pressure together, and tried my best to provide a better environment for my father.

3.    Blessings

My sister hoped that there would still be a chance to bring father to bask outdoors. Since my father fell ill, my mother had been to ICU, the general ward, residential care facility and dialysis center to visit father every day. We took turns to ask for leave to accompany father. It was like responding to our expectations. During the days in the care institution, my father suddenly became sober and could sit in a wheelchair and let us push up to the top floor to bask in the sun. We kept precious photos. On the second day of the Lunar New Year, my father still needed dialysis, but we successfully took him home and spent a short period of New Year together. Our father passed away after the Chinese New Year, which made us deeply impressed.

My father, who was over a hundred years old, could still take care of himself, eat and walk on his own, and was praised by relatives and friends. When I saw my father wearing a respirator, utilizing a nasogastric tube to be fed, and needed dialysis, I felt very sad.

Master said in Teachings at the Conference in Houston, “As to enduring health problems, whenever a human being endures pain he is eliminating karma. Enduring health problems is eliminating karma. Just now I said that if a person doesn’t fall ill his whole life, he is doomed to go to hell after he dies, because throughout his life he was only creating karma and not paying it off.” In addition, Master stated in Teachings at the Conference in Houston, “Why do people suffer? While living in this world people create karma. Some people’s karma is great, some people’s is small. Some people are in pain before they die. With suffering they can pay off much of the karma created in one lifetime, and in the next life they will lead a good life, for when some people pay off the karma that they owe at the moment of death they won’t have [that] karma anymore.”

My father was admitted to hospital on Dec 14, 2020 and passed away on Feb 24, 2021. I viewed the two-month pains that he suffered positively. Meanwhile, I utilized Master’s Fa teaching to comfort and reassure my mother.

Although my father was aware that death is a necessary process, we had never discussed the funeral arrangement with him before his death. What kind of funeral ceremony should be held? After death, should the body be buried or cremated and where should it be placed? When he fell ill, he had been in a state of unconsciousness and there was no way to really seek his own opinions. During his lifetime, he placed great emphasis on personal self-cultivation. He was upright and tolerant throughout his life. He always showed kindness to others without asking for anything in return. Therefore, he met with the help of the nobleman and made everything go smoothly.

Looking back on this period, my family members and I did not quarrel and complain, and supported each other to tide over the difficulties. We did our best to take good care of my father, so I feel no regrets. My father’s virtue, mother's perseverance, and the sister's filial piety made everything go smoothly. I have witnessed the importance of "Virtue" in Master’s Fa teaching.

4.    The Miracle

During this period, I often went back and forth in hospitals, natal families, care institutions, and kidney dialysis centers, which challenged my mental and physical strength. In addition, I was economically impacted. However, I tried to stay unmoved. In fact, compared with many poor people, this hardship was nothing.

After my father passed away, a range of expenses have been stopped. After our application for funeral subsidy had been granted, almost all the expenses paid in the past had been flattened. Moreover, when dealing with our father's inheritance, we did not have any disputes and we all consider how to take care of my mother.

My father’s virtue has positive impacts on later generations. He spent little in the hospital. Because of his half-life military contributions to the country, he could live in the National Military Demonstration Cemetery after his death without any cost, and his retirement pay also guarantees mother's future life. Master said in Zhuan Falun, “So we cultivators should do that even less. We cultivators always let things happen naturally. If something is yours, nobody will take it away, and if something isn’t yours, you won’t be able to get it even by fighting for it.” In that instant, my financial hardship disappeared.

5.    Ending Remarks

The separation of life and death is like a drama. Thank you, benevolent Master, for helping my family go through the hardship and letting my father spend the last part of his life peacefully.

Chinese version: www.zhengjian.org/node/271176