Our Responsibilities to Young Practitioners

My son Qiqi is five years old. My husband and I are both practitioners. My husband works, and Qiqi and I spend most of our time together at home.

One day, while I was reading Zhuan Falun to Qiqi, my husband came home from a business trip. Before he could put down his luggage, Qiqi jumped up and ran over to him, forgetting about the Fa study and asked, "What have you got me?" I said, "Qiqi, we're not done yet. How come you ran away?" My husband said to him, "Did you come to get me to join your Fa study? A good child studies the Fa a lot! Come along, let's study the Fa together."

Qiqi became quiet immediately. My husband took him back to me, he sat down with us and we finished studying the lecture of Zhuan Falun together.

I remember a practitioner had said, "The inappropriate actions of a child are a reflection of shortcomings from the parents." I recalled that for a period of time, my husband had been buying a gift for Qiqi on his way home, almost every day. Therefore, Qiqi had formed a habit of expecting a gift from him as soon as he stepped in and he would put down anything he was doing to look for the gift, even though he was in the middle of Fa-study or exercises.

I talked about it with my husband and we both realized the problem, that our attachments had formed and magnified Qiqi's attachments. My husband stopped buying gifts for Qiqi and soon enough, Qiqi was able to concentrate on Fa-study, exercises and sending forth righteous thoughts. We learned that it is extremely important for parents to watch our own behaviour in order to be responsible to our young practitioners, because home is the environment for them to practice cultivation, which needs to be purified and rectified by us.

Children have a pure heart and very few notions, and are very fast in memorizing the Fa. Besides reading Zhuan Falun, I taught Qiqi to memorize Hong Yin and Lunyu. Before long he could memorize every poem in the book.

Qiqi suggested we go hiking on one spring day last year. I agreed and planned to distribute truth-clarification materials along the way. Qiqi helped me to put the materials together.

Half way up the hill, Qiqi said he was too tired to continue. Taking it a good opportunity to temper his will and perseverance, I encouraged him to recite Climbing Mount Tai. I said to him, "You need to have strong perseverance in doing everything. Isn't it a pity if we quit now? We will regret it for our lack of persistence. Master told us to:

'steel the will, and lift thy leaden leg,
Endure the pain, diligent, and cast off attachments' (Hong Yin, "Climbing Mount Tai" )

You are Master's little disciple, we can only achieve our goal in cultivation practice by enduring hardships, just like climbing a mountain."

Qiqi re-gathered his strength and finally reached the top of the hill, and I also finished distributing the materials.

Master said, "Reading the books more and studying the books more is the key to truly elevating yourself."("Melt Into the Fa" from Essentials for Further Advancement)
With constant Fa study, Qiqi's xinxing (heart and mind nature, character) has been elevated, and he was able to view and do things according to the Fa.

One day I took Qiqi with me and went to a shopping mall. Suddenly, I lost sight of him. When I turned around, I saw him picking up something from the ground. I was a little mad, and said to him, "Didn't I tell you before not to pick things up from the ground? What did you get?"He opened his little palm and said, "A pushpin. I didn't want people to get their feet hurt or bicycle tires poked. Didn't Master tell us to think of others?"I was relieved upon seeing this.

It was a small incident, but the child's heart exuded the Fa's principles, showing consideration in thinking of and being kind to others.

One day, several kids came to our home to play. One of them mentioned the Chinese classic Journey to the West, and the kids became excited. Interestingly, they all wanted to play the role of the Monkey King, and nobody wanted to play the Pig Zhu Bajie. When the kids were gone, I asked Qiqi why. He pondered a little while and answered, "The Monkey King has supernatural powers and is very capable." I asked him, "What about the Pig?" He didn't know how to put it, and only said, "He is not firm enough to do things."

I started to talk in his language, "In this story of cultivation practice, you can see how many difficulties and dangers Monk Tang has gone through from the beginning of his journey to the end. But he was able to let go of everything and never drew back, firmly advancing forward without fear. I'd say he was the firmest and most faithful one in his group. Today we're practicing cultivation in Falun Dafa, the fundamental Dafa of the entire universe, therefore we should treasure it even more, and walk every step well. Don't you agree?"

To better guide Qiqi, when I browse the Minghui website, I pick out the articles that are suitable for children and read them to him.

Now Qiqi is sending righteous thoughts with us every day. Sometimes he even reminds us when we're in the middle of something.

After I read him some articles about truth-clarification money, one day, Qiqi asked me what it was. I took a bill out of my wallet and showed it to him. After a while, he came back to me and said excitedly, "Mom, I have my own truth-clarification bill too!" Indeed, he had copied what was written on the first bill I showed him to another bill. He said he would use it next time.

My husband also encouraged him, "Saving people is a duty of each one of us. Now you can make your own truth-clarification bills too. Good job!"

To help Qiqi understand the truth behind the staged 'Self-immolation' when we played the video, we started to analyze the suspicious points from the Sprite bottle that wasn't burned. Because among other things, the Sprite bottle might have been the most familiar household object for him. He understood quickly. I heard him talking to his friends a few times, "The self-immolation was fake. You see, the person was burned, but the Sprite bottle was not. The self-immolation was used to frame Falun Gong." His friends thus understood the truth.

Today, we live in the era when the Lord Buddha descends to Earth to save us, an opportunity that doesn't happen in a very long time. Therefore, it is Master's wish for us to bring up our young practitioners well, which is our inexcusable responsibility. It requires our studious attention and patience.

This concludes my personal understandings. Please point out anything improper.