(Clearwisdom.net)
[Note: Although the reason that this practitioner is communicating with her family members by letter is not explicitly stated, we can assume it is because, like many thousands of Dafa practitioners, she has been forced to leave her home and family and move from place to place in order to avoid arrest and torture.]
Dear daughter and husband, how are you?
In about a month, it will be the fifth anniversary since the day that I fortunately obtained Falun Dafa. It is Dafa that allowed me to come to understand the true meaning of life and let me leave my illness behind forever. Falun Dafa has given me a new life and the amazing changes to my mental and physical health left a profound impact upon my workplace and my friends. As a result, my 90-year-old mother-in-law also started to practice and happiness and peace has filled my whole family. I cannot express my gratefulness with words.
Today I would also like to say thank you to you both. During these five years, along our cultivation path, you have given our mother and me much help. I feel even more proud because you are both fearless in the face of the bloody persecution by Jiang and you have both steadfastly protected "Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance." You have warmly welcomed and unselfishly helped every practitioner who came to our home. You have deeply moved our fellow practitioners and encouraged us to advance even more diligently along our cultivation paths.
My daughter, do you remember? Every time a small-scale Fa-conference was held at our house, your father would humorously say, "Today, I am once again undertaking many jobs. I am a security guard as well as a cook. We have many gods as guests today." Then he would continue to clean the house and make tea. At lunch time, he would quietly prepare the best meal and say, "Everyone has come here from a long way away, we don't have many opportunities to gather. You must all eat well and continue to share experiences with one another in the afternoon." Whenever this happens, our fellow practitioners are very moved. Our experience sharing usually lasts for a whole day. Whenever this happens, I feel so proud to have you both as my family.
My husband, I remember once I went to deliver truth-clarification materials. The temperature that day was 102 Fahrenheit (39 degrees Celsius). I left in the morning at 5:30 a.m. and arrived home more than 10 hours later. You were both very worried but I never thought that the first sentence you would say would be, "You left so early, and did not come home. I kept sending righteous thoughts for you!" At this time, I felt a rush of warmth in my heart.
My daughter, do you remember after July 20, 1999, when we still did not have our own truth-clarifying material site, you secretly photocopied Master's recent articles and other materials for us. You were not afraid at all. But as the persecution escalated, many practitioners were forced to leave their homes and many families were broken. Especially after you had seen pictures of practitioners who had being cruelly tortured, your heart was filled with fear and you were afraid that your mother would meet the same fate. I fully understand your feelings, but how can I forget a Dafa practitioner's sacred duty of saving sentient beings who are deceived by the lies? Before the third anniversary of July 20th, I wrote letters and posted truth clarifying materials to more than ten departments within the national public security bureau, Beijing City Police Station and the Beijing Television Station in order to clarify the truth and say a just word for Falun Dafa. When you saw this, you were truly afraid and said, "Mom, please do not send letters to these key departments. They have very modern detection devices and they just have to check the fingerprints." I said with seriousness, "My life was given by Master and Dafa; if one day I have to give up my life, I will not regret it." Then I saw tears in your eyes and your father walked over and said, "Daughter, don't be scared, let me write it." Later you came to me quietly and said softly, "Mom, actually I am very supportive towards Falun Dafa but I am afraid that something will happen to you. Look how powerful Jiang is. If you are not scared, I'm not scared either. Let me help you write it." You picked up a pen. At this time, I was so moved I could only say, "That's better."
My dear daughter, today I would like to solemnly say to you "I'm sorry." At that time, I truly did not have a compassionate heart. We are Dafa practitioners and are able to let go of everything for truth-clarification during Fa rectification. However, I overlooked the fact that you are not a practitioner. At this time, I should have used kindness to understand you, but I did not.
However, I definitely will not forget the day you came to me with 200 Yuan [Chinese currency, the monthly salary for an average Chinese urban worker is about 500 Yuan] before October 1st this year. You happily said to me, "Mom, this is a contribution for truth clarification. This month the salary given to me was larger." Do you know how happy I was? Later due to the fact that you were a good worker, you had another wage raise. You said to me, "Mom, I will take out 50 Yuan every month for truth clarification."
I especially cannot forget the fact that whenever I am going through a xinxing [mind/heart nature, moral character] test, you and your father would always point out my shortcomings and use "Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance" to measure me and tell me to "look within myself." Then I would feel very ashamed.
Whenever I think of all this, I feel very proud and moved. I deeply experienced Master's words, "Not Cultivating the Dao, Yet Already in the Dao." (Zhuan Falun (Volume II)) He is referring to righteous and kind people like you.
Written by a practitioner in China at Christmas 2002.
December 25, 2002