(Clearwisdom.net) My daughter is seven-years-old. She has been around Dafa practitioners since she was born. Her behavior has always been different from children the same age. When she was one or two years old, she could loudly recite Hongyin in Minghui Class. She also sang songs created by Dafa practitioners with older children. I took care to study the Fa with her and told her cultivation stories. We listened to the "Young Practitioner's Corner" program on Minghui Radio. She validated the Fa where she was able. From kindergarten to elementary school, various teachers gave her good evaluations: intelligent, kind, independent, responsible, good concentration, etc. All these built a good foundation for teachers to get to know about Dafa. When she had any health issues, I didn't deal with it using everyday people's means. She's growing in good health. All these were benefits from Dafa, blessed by Master!
However, the road of cultivation with a young practitioner is not smooth. What's regrettable was that I missed many good opportunities for further improvement. If I had striven forward in the Fa and looked within, I would have walked a less circuitous path. It is the easiest to bring one's fundamental attachment home, reflecting on the concept of raising children. Because I had attachments, conflicts happened from time to time, which collided with human notions. I would get angry over trivial things, and it happened a lot with my child. I realized that the reason that I threw a fit was usually because my plans or my schedule was messed up, or when she did not do as I told her to do. I held her responsible a lot when things didn't go well. On the surface, those were all for the good of the child. Relying on my human-side experience, I was worried over whether she would get hurt. My human sentiments towards family members caused me to force my child to follow my will.
Through cultivation, little by little, I found out my fundamental attachment. It is my attitude towards Dafa and cultivation: pursuing gains and happiness in the human world. Because I didn't dig out the root of this attachment earlier and did not meet the requirement of a practitioner, my demon-nature was sustained. When I didn't do well, I further became depressed. In my tedious daily life, when facing tests, do I use the inverted principles of the human world to look at issues, or use righteous principles to cultivate? When my child became mischievous, didn't listen to me, or talked back, it was because I carried an unrighteous field which caused that to happen. At that time, I should have rectified myself in time and correctly guided the child.
The fact that different lives are able to come together in cultivation was caused by predestined relationships of thousands of years. Dafa practitioners treasure lives, save sentient beings, and need to treasure the young practitioners around us even more. They are Master's young practitioners. To practitioners who have young practitioners at home, they must face the issue of how to take care of them. It is the responsibility of those adult practitioners, and we should do it well. Looking at it from another angle, Dafa practitioners' cultivation states will definitely reflect on their relationships with young practitioners, as well as the process of educating and guiding them.
Several months ago, after a practitioner reminded me, I began to recite the Fa with my kid. It was hard at the beginning. Originally, I wanted her to memorize two to three sentences each day, but I can't even make that happen. My child didn't seem to be able to concentrate. My heart was troubled and once I wanted to give up. But thinking from another angle, I needed to be patient and to keep it up. Eventually, we were able to memorize a paragraph a day. One time, when I concentrated on memorizing the part "Qigong is Prehistoric Culture" from Zhuan Falun. I suddenly felt that my body, both inside and out, was memorizing the Fa. All incorrect thoughts were suppressed. I was very moved at that moment, and I realized the importance of letting go of human notions.
One time, we couldn't memorize a paragraph no matter how much we tried. I encouraged her by saying, "Look at it as if a big stone was blocking our path to move forward. When we memorize one bit, the stone will become one bit smaller. When we memorize all of it, the stone will disappear." When we finally memorized it. We looked at each other and smiled. When school was out, I extended her time to memorize the Fa. I also urged her to do the exercises and send forth righteous thoughts, but I was not sure whether she could do it. One day, she suddenly said to me, "Mom, I like to memorize the Fa." She also said, "When I was young, I didn't know how to look within, now I know." She volunteered to copy "Lunyu." Looking at her confident face, I was truly happy for her. Her father also praised her, "You seem to have grown up." Sometimes, it was after 10:00 pm or 11:00 pm, I couldn't memorize a paragraph after many tries. I was sleepy and agitated. But my daughter didn't look tired yet, she checked my recitation again and again, and patiently told me where I had recited wrong. So I kept it up until it was memorized. When I made that breakthrough, my mood was uplifted. Another time, we went out to distribute The Epoch Times newspaper together. A Chinese factory worker took the paper from her hands and yelled at her, "What is this? What is this? What is this?" Afterward, I asked her if she was afraid. She said, "No fear. I sent forth righteous thoughts towards him." For me to be able to study the Fa in a pure state, it was easy for me to get along with her. I didn't need to force her to do anything. In that lighthearted environment, she shared with me things that happened in school. I felt my previous pressure and exhaustion disappear little by little. Then, I realized the danger of not being able to study the Fa with a calm mind for a long time in the past.
Because I was able to keep up with Fa study, I could seize any wicked thoughts as soon as they surfaced. Once, my mother-in-law asked about my daughter's score in her exams. I was secretly satisfied because all her scores were above 90, and she did well in her class. But my mother-in-law suddenly said that my daughter's younger cousin scored 100 in math. My heart moved a bit and I realized that was not good. I have always felt that young Dafa practitioners should do better than ordinary people. When I examined it closely, I was using Dafa to pursue personal gain in this world. I took my child as my possession, pursuing ordinary people's interest to satisfy my own vanity. On the surface, I told my daughter that studying well was a student's duty, and good scores were not obtained by pursuit But deep down, I had a dirty mind of personal gain. Unconsciously, I had polluted a young practitioner.
Master said,
"Human society never had true principles to guide it before, so man has not resolved his problems via shan. Instead, man has always resolved things through fighting and conquest, and that has thus become man's norm. If man wants to become divine and transcend the human state, then he must forsake that frame of mind and use compassion to resolve things." ("Fa Teaching at the 2009 Washington DC International Fa Conference")
I think that when it comes to taking care of young practitioners, we should use compassion to resolve issues that may come up, and this is also where I have the most to improve.
