Salary Tribulation

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My in-laws live in the countryside with a big yard for my father-in-law’s workshop. Before I got married, my in-laws had been living like this for many years. My father-in-law could take orders and make all kinds of power generators that he designed himself. My husband and I would often visit them and help them do chores.
My husband’s college major was physics and he could help my father-in-law make some parts. My major was arts, and I could do things according to instructions even if I never touched the parts before. One time, a client of my father-in law placed a large order and the three of us completed the work in his workshop.
On the way to my father-in-law’s house, I met that client and he told us that he already gave our salary to my father-in-law. When we got to the house, my father-in-law did not say anything about the salary payment and complained about how that client didn’t pay him after we did so much work. I was laughing to myself and thinking that my father-in-law was so greedy since I already knew about the payment. I felt a little unhappy and did not want to continue the work.
My husband saw me and whispered to ask if I was moved. I told him, “Yes, indeed, your father is so greedy.” My husband then said, “We are cultivators and Master has told us that anything that happens is a good thing because it happens during our cultivation. Do you still remember Master’s Fa?” I said resentfully, “Yes, I remember.” However, I still felt resentful because of my attachment to pursuing gain. Just like what Master said, “People play mind games and compete for a tiny bit of personal gain; the thoughts they have and the tricks they use are very vicious” (Zhuan Falun, Lecture Four, “Transformation of Karma”). It seemed that nothing happened on the surface but I was struggling in my heart at that time. I thought about the salary all the time.
In Zhuan Falun it says, “Cultivation practice must take place through tribulations so as to test whether you can part with and care less about different kinds of human sentimentality and desires. If you are attached to these things, you will not succeed in cultivation” (Lecture Four, “Upgrading Xinxing”). I recalled Master’s Fa again and again and gradually calmed down. Watching those thoughts in my mind I felt them annoying and laughable. I was a cultivator and I should not see things with an ordinary person’s mentality. I continued my work and remembered one part of the Fa: “Since studying Falun Dafa, these workers have been coming to work early and going home late. They work very diligently and will do any assignment the boss gives. They also no longer compete for personal gain” (Lecture Four, “Upgrading Xinxing”). Wasn’t this the standard I should reach? I gave up this attachment and didn’t think about it or complain to my father-in-law any more. Instead, I thought that my father-in-law was very old and we should help him enjoy the remainder of his life. At the moment I had this thought, I saw two beautiful blue lotus flowers rotating and falling on my hand. The whole workshop was full of small lotus flowers, bright and shiny.
I smiled thinking that it is so wonderful to cultivate in the Fa. After finishing work, my husband and I cleaned the yard, threw the garbage out and decided to leave. My father-in-law called us over and said, “I have some money which I won’t use, you can take it.” That money was much more than our salary. We declined the offer but my father-in-law insisted. My husband laughed and thought that this is the first time his father was so generous.
On the way home, I felt like I was walking on clouds. My whole body was very light and I had no human notions. My heart was very calm like a pool of crystal clear water and I thought cultivation was so great.

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