(Minghui.org) During the past year, some of our local practitioners experienced sickness karma, and one even died. Two elderly practitioners chatted with me one afternoon and asked me to share our discussion with fellow practitioners.
One elderly practitioner began to practice Falun Gong in 1996, and his serious illnesses gradually disappeared. Despite the persecution of Falun Gong launched by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1999, he did not give up his cultivation practice. He still had a strong belief, although he did hold some fear.
He did everything a practitioner is supposed to do, such as studying the Fa, sending righteous thoughts, and telling people about Falun Gong and the persecution.
Sometimes he argued with fellow practitioners, and at times followed everyday people’s principles. In this way, he did not act as a practitioner all the time.
His former illness symptoms reappeared in early 2015. His asthma acted up, he had trouble breathing, and he used a steam inhaler to stop his coughing. After he went on a trip in July for a few days, he had lost weight and his cough had worsened by the time he returned home.
He soon came to my house and we talked. I thought it was a test arranged by the old forces to see if he truly believed in Master and the Fa, and if he truly treated himself as a Falun Gong disciple.
He claimed that he did not see his coughing as an illness; he said that he just could not bear the pain, so he used the inhaler. I told him that by using that small machine, he indeed treated it as an illness, and had fallen into the trap set by the old forces, I added.
Master said:
“If it continues endlessly and if there do not exist other problems in your xinxing or conduct, it must be that the evil demons are capitalizing on the weak spots caused by your lack of control.” (“Expounding on the Fa” in Essentials For Further Advancement)
I told him that if he continued to treat his affliction as an illness, he was acknowledging it, which could thus bring him all kinds of tribulations.
I recommended that he study the Fa more, let his main consciousness control his mind, and deny his human thoughts—for I felt that the entire ordeal was interference from his thought karma or human notions.
He listened, but he did not seem to understand what I said. His answers to my questions were not in line with the Fa.
My wife and other practitioners also talked to him, but he still did not get over his sickness karma and his condition has worsened.
A 73-year old female practitioner had a stroke several months ago. When she came to my house several weeks later, she had a difficult time climbing stairs, was out of breath, and had to sit still for a while before she was able to talk.
There was some worry in her mind, although she did not treat her problem as if it was an everyday person's illness. However, we felt she was lacking strong righteous thoughts. My wife and I talked with her from the perspective of the Fa.
“This is fake,” she repeated after us. “Master gave me the best! I will listen to Master! I am a true Falun Gong practitioner and I will be fine!”
After several more weeks, she came again to my house and thanked us. I told her she needed to thank Master because it was Master who had removed her sickness karma after her xinxing improved.
Another practitioner, in her 70s, left school after the fourth grade. Yet, after she began cultivation, she never doubted Master and Falun Gong. Her cultivation path was thus very smooth.
She watched Master’s Fa-lecture video at my house. I took pictures with my camera during this time and found layers and layers of colorful Faluns attached to her body.
When she came down with a painful skin disease last year, the symptoms lasted over 20 days. Still, she said she never lagged in Falun Gong's requirements or her chores around her house.
“I knew it was not a sickness, and I treated it as a good thing,” she said. “I had Master to take care of me, so what should I have been worried about?”
I have shared my limited understanding of sickness karma through the above three cases. One needs to be extremely careful of the first thought that crosses one’s mind regarding health problems. If the first thought centers around a former illness, that thought must be eliminated immediately. Otherwise, the old forces will use this loophole to attack the practitioner. The process of removing this type of thought is also part of the cultivation process, which is also the path of becoming divine.
When a practitioner faces interference, he or she must immediately change their thoughts to whatever the evil interference would not like. If it insinuates that we should not practice the Falun Gong exercises, then we need to do them right away. The same method should be applied when there is interference when we study the Fa and when we are told to go to a hospital. We always should do the opposite to what this voice in our mind tells us. In my understanding, this is one way of denying the old forces' arrangements.
My wife and I think that the required standard of reaching consummation has become higher.
Any trivial thing that happens in one's family, workplace, society, or among practitioners are all aimed toward our stubborn notions. If we let the chance go by and do not improve our xinxing, the old forces will have an excuse to persecute us.
Master said:
“However, you shouldn’t treat the little issues you have like they are nothing. The evil will seize upon any gaps. Many practitioners have even passed away on account of little things; it really was due to something very minor.” (“Fa Teaching at the 2015 West Coast Fa Conference”)
We need to have a clear mind and clearly know what we want. What this means is that whether our thoughts are selfish or considerate, good or bad, with or against the Fa, we need to resist and dissolve all thoughts not in line with the Fa. We must do and act at all times in accordance with the Fa. A cultivator must look within unconditionally at all times.
Further, Falun Gong disciples in the Fa-rectification period should get rid of any selfish thoughts.