A Story about Receiving Praise

My son and I frequently praise each other. Ever since Dafa was persecuted, my insistence in practicing Dafa and spreading the truth without explaining the underlying reasons very well to my husband has made him curse quite often. Later on, I felt his hostility has gradually disappeared as the cultivation of my Xinxing [Heart/Mind nature] continued. However, he still did not praise me. My husband was sitting beside my son when my son said to me, "Good girl" the day before yesterday. I said: "Our son always praises me, but you haven't praised me even once." My husband replied: "Is it right? I remember I praised you for making delicious meals." Knowing that I was not satisfied, he added: "You told our son that we had to think if there was anything else that we could improve in ourselves when we heard praises from others. Why do you always think you are excellent?" Suddenly, I realized something, and did not say anything more.

I baked some potato chips in the noon today. As he ate, my son told me, "Thank you, Mummy. It is very delicious. You are a good girl!", I said, "You are welcome. Sometimes, I'm nice, but sometimes I'm not very nice." My son unexpectedly said, "You are a very good girl." I replied, "Thank you, it's very kind of you. But sometimes I'm very nice and sometimes I'm not very nice." My son followed, "Mom, you are always a nice girl." I said, "Thank you, but you have praised me too much."

It went beyond my expectation that my son praised me again, I replied sincerely to him that I was not always that good, but I would try. The scenario went on that I was praised for 4 or 5 times by my son. My husband came over, and said, "All right. Good girl." I said, "Thank you, but sometimes I'm a good girl, sometimes I'm not."

Teacher said, "As a practitioner, all the frustrations he comes across among everyday people are trials, and all the compliments he receives are tests." ["A Cultivator is Naturally Part of It" in Essentials for Further Advancement] I used to think I was not in the Dao [The Way, or the way of the universe in the Taoist school] at all.

In retrospect, the road that I have taken since Dafa was persecuted was truly a series of layer-by-layer breakthroughs on myself. In the past, I could not tolerate any frustration in my family life. Under the gross environment that Dafa was persecuted, and there were a lot of sudden obstacles in the family to overcome, it would have been impossible to be able to bear all of this if I had not been a Dafa practitioner. It is through cultivating in Dafa and upgrading my Xinxing that made it possible. Ordinary people may be destroyed by tribulations, but practitioners have to break through their tribulations. Although it was difficult, I made breakthroughs layer after layer, and I comprehended things that were hard to imagine in the past. Sometimes, I was emotionally excited to look back on the substantial improvement of my xinxing. However, a practitioner is not in the Dao if he always compares himself today with himself in the past. My original motivation was not to be praised but to let my husband understand the magnificence of Dafa through me and my request for praise was not in accordance with the Dao. Therefore, the more I pursued, the less I got. As a cultivator, we have to check ourselves all the time, cultivate our Xinxing, and minimize our desires such that we can stay in the Dao.

When I went to visit my local member of parliament, I introduced Falun Gong and the persecution of Dafa by Jiang's regime in China. I was a little worried about my performance. However, it appears that the following sentence has deeply impressed her. I told her, "As an individual, I am not a very good cultivator because I am still far away from the true states of Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance. However, I know Falun Dafa is very, very good." The M.P. replied, "Excellent!"

Translated on 17th November
Originally in Chinese at
http://www.yuanming.net/articles/200211/14195.html