(Clearwisdom.net) A Dafa practitioner that I know has been released from prison for more than six months. Her living environment and personal situation are not very good, and she has experienced a lot of interference while doing the three things, including sickness karma, which has been going on for some time. She was very distressed.
While sharing experiences with her, I discovered that she felt that she had brought a lot of pain and suffering to her husband and child, because she was arrested and persecuted in prison for over a year. She felt that she had let her husband down, that she owed him and wanted to make it up to him.
In my understanding, this is not the right way to think as a practitioner. I believe that this practitioner did not have a clear understanding of the Fa. When the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) persecutes practitioners, it also persecutes their families. What those families members have suffered was brought upon by the CCP. As a Dafa practitioner, she did not let her husband down, owe him anything or need to make it up to him.
Due to this practitioner's thoughts, these emotions towards her husband brought her endless interference. We are practitioners, regardless of our environment or the tribulations that appear. A practitioner's first thought should be to validate the Fa, and that is a practitioner's fundamental responsibility and duty. That is not to say that our fellow practitioner is at fault, as this practitioner did not waver in the Fa and stood firm in her belief. My only intention was to help this practitioner, so that she and I could both look inward, find the root of our problems and elevate together.
My understanding on this matter arose from my own experiences and the lessons that I learned from them. My understanding of the Fa was almost the same as this practitioner's at one point. I too, experienced a lot of interference when I was released from a forced labor camp a few years ago. At that time, my nephew owned a business selling coal, and asked if I could help him with the business. I thought that this would be a great way to repay him, as he had helped me when I was in trouble, so I did so for a few months. Then, my sister-in-law got cancer, and I was asked if I would look after her in the hospital. I thought that as I had brought a lot of trouble and suffering to my relatives over the past few years, this would be a good opportunity to repay my debt to them. I stayed with her until she passed away. Then, my elder sister was admitted to the hospital, so I ended up taking care of her as well. In no time at all, I had spent more than half a year without doing the three things well, and was living like an ordinary person. During that time, I was completely submerged in emotion for my family and could not rid myself of the attachment. I felt like I was stuck in a cage, first in the cage of the forced labor camp and then a cage of emotion.
One night I had a very vivid dream, that I was climbing a huge mountain, with my mother on my back, my son clinging close to my chest, holding my daughter by the hand. Every step was extremely difficult to make. I understood that Master was guiding me, letting me know that only by letting my emotions go, could I ascend. I read, "A Dafa disciple should put the Fa first in everything he does--whenever you evaluate something you have to consider the Fa first" (Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Boston). I then understood that the reason why I encountered so much trouble and interference was because I did not "put the Fa first" or "consider the Fa first" during cultivation. I had put ordinary people affairs first, and then the Fa and cultivation behind them.
When I elevated in the Fa, whenever I encountered a tribulation or I was about to do something, I first thought of what Master had said, and then evaluated what I should do according to the Fa. Then the interference quickly dissolved. It was actually Master who awakened me, and I was then able to walk a straight path of cultivation.
I came to understand that a Dafa practitioner is part of the Fa, and only found in the Fa. Where does this Fa come from? It came from Master. In other words, because of Master there is the Fa, and as a result, there are Dafa practitioners, who are Master's disciples. Since we took the title of Dafa practitioners, we should heed Master's words and follow the Fa's standards.
Our affection for our families is normal in this world and offers a cultivation environment for practitioners. The ultimate goal of cultivation is to return to our true selves. We do not exist or cultivate for any ordinary person. If we put everything in the ordinary world first, and regard cultivation as unimportant, then we would be ordinary people. How could we then call ourselves Dafa practitioners? Master told us to harmonize with our families, and to do so in accordance with the Fa. By creating harmony in the family, we help our family members to believe in Dafa's goodness. This must be made clear, because we are Dafa practitioners and not ordinary people.
Cultivation is serious. We have to understand the fundamental principles of the Fa, or endless interference may come. When we do encounter interference, we must remember to look inward, find out what human attachments created the problem, eliminate them quickly and regain our path of cultivation once more.
"With no attachment to anything
The path underfoot is naturally clear"
("No Obstacles," Hong Yin II)
This is from my limited understanding, please kindly point out if there is anything inappropriate.