(Minghui.org) I would like to share a recent cultivation experience.
When I was cooking rice porridge one day, the congee gushed out of the rice cooker because I hadn’t put the lid on properly. I was afraid that my husband would criticize me, so I tried to hide the incident. I wiped the outside of the cooker clean, poured water into it, and put it in a high place so that my husband wouldn’t see it. Unexpectedly, he found out and scolded me. I told myself it was a good thing that he did. Actually, it wasn’t really my husband who criticized me.
Master taught us:
“As a practitioner, the first thing you should be able to do is to not fight back when you are beaten or sworn at—you must be tolerant.” (Lecture Nine, Zhuan Falun)
I didn’t react when my husband started criticizing me. However, he continued scolding me without stopping. He talked more and more loudly, and his words were hard to swallow. I kept reminding myself to be tolerant, but my heart was no longer calm.
Although I did not say anything, I was a bit angry, but chose not to respond to him. I had an attachment to not wanting to hear criticism, but I didn’t realize it at the time. Master might have seen how I was trapped in human notions, and arranged something for me the next day.
The next day I drove back to my hometown with my husband sitting in the passenger seat. As soon as we were on the road, he started commenting on my driving and making recommendations, which was a little too noisy for me. But I told myself to endure it and to not be bothered by his nagging.
On the highway, when a car in front of us slowed down, I reduced the speed. My husband got angry and said, “Are you asleep?!” I felt that I was about to explode. I reminded myself that I was a Dafa practitioner, and I should be tolerant. In the meantime, I thought that I woouldn’t drive again when he was in the car.
Not being aware to look inward, I used human notions to avoid conflicts. After we arrived, my husband got out of the car and instructed me to park the car. He wasn’t merely directing me to park the car, he was clearly roaring. Observing his roughness, the neighbor suggested that he park the car instead of me. I finally parked the car, got out of the car, and saw that my husband’s face had turned blue with anger.
I knew that nothing is accidental for a cultivator. My husband had yelled at me as if he had lost his mind. I wondered what attachment I needed to remove. I knew I should look inward. The rice cooker incident on the first day pointed out the attachment of not wanting to hear criticism, even when I did something wrong. Although I did not fight back, I did get angry, which indicated that I had human notions. During the next day’s driving incident, he went from nagging, to criticizing, to yelling, and the attachment of not wanting to hear criticism was escalated by the human notions. And that attachment then returns to control me and makes me wander among an ordinary person’s mindset.
I sincerely thanked Master for the arrangement, which allowed me to realize this attachment. I immediately confessed my mistake to Master and begged him to help me eliminate that attachment. My husband’s yelling at me helped me to cultivate. In fact, I should be grateful for what he did to me. From it, I realized I was a person who never admitted any wrongdoing. I then took the initiative to admit my mistakes to my husband. Master had helped me get rid of my attachment to not wanting to take criticism.
I had a clear dream, where an evildoer was torturing a good person. The evildoer ordered the man to put his finger into the fire and burn it. I stood up and said to the evildoer, “Don’t do this!” The evildoer turned to beat me. I dodged and ran while shouting, “Master, help me!” I then stopped, turned around, and together with the good man, we advised the evil person by saying, “Your nature is good, you should abandon the evil acts and follow the good.” The evil person didn’t listen, but continued throwing some objects at me, including a pair of very sharp scissors used by doctors for surgery. The scissors was pointed at my heart, but they did not penetrate. It seemed that I was wearing armor. I knew that Master was there to protect me. After a while, many people surrounded the evil person and beat him to death.
The evil old forces took hold of my attachment of refusing to take criticism, and attempted to kill me. It was Master who protected me and helped me get rid of the evil. I am grateful to Master for his constant care and compassion!