(Minghui.org) Several practitioners in my area recently passed away. At the surface level, they had different illnesses, but deep down, they all had some fundamental attachments. This is a serious lesson. I am not trying to criticize fellow practitioners, but I do want to remind us that the old forces will take advantage of our loopholes.
Some of these practitioners did not pay attention to minor things in their daily lives, some did not cultivate solidly, others did not look inward in the face of conflicts, and some could not deal with problems based on the Fa. Some could not see life's tribulations as good things, some could not let go of human notions, while others did not have a good understanding of “Practicing Only One Cultivation Way” (Zhuan Falun). There were also those who could not deny the pledges they made to the old forces.
Moreover, some practitioners did not take cultivation seriously and spent their lives, which Master had extended, seeking personal enjoyment.
Following the Old Forces' Arrangements
The major problem was that these practitioners did not have solid belief in Master and the Fa. They said that they did, but in their hearts, they had doubts. They could not solidly cultivate, so at the key moments, the old forces took their lives away.
One of these practitioners, a local coordinator, did the three things well. She also had strong righteous thoughts. One night, she clearly heard a voice saying, “Follow me.” She did not understand what was going on, so she did not reject the instruction. She passed out a few days later and died.
Another practitioner heard a voice say, “You have all reached consummation. It is time to follow me and leave.” She answered, “I am not ready yet. Let me go home and finalize a few things. Then I will follow you.” She told a second practitioner what she had heard and said. The second practitioner also did not realize that it was the old forces' arrangement, so she also went home to finalize her personal affairs. Two hours later, she passed away.
In contrast, yet another practitioner heard a voice in her dream say, “You should follow me now.” She answered, “I am not going to follow you. I only follow my master.” A few days later, this voice called her again. This time, she said, “I don't follow you. I follow Master. You go die!” That was the last time she heard that voice.
These practitioners probably signed agreements with the old forces, so the old forces sneaked in when they were sleeping. If the practitioners had studied the Fa solidly and denied the old forces' arrangement, they wouldn’t have followed the old forces and been destroyed.
Master said: “What’s not a right mind? It refers to a person’s inability to always treat himself as a practitioner.” (Zhuan Falun)
Some senior practitioners, before they started to cultivate, used to consult fortune tellers or were treated by witch doctors, and they trusted those people. When they started to cultivate, they still had those things on their minds. They often thought, “Isn’t it time for me to have some tribulations?”
Attached to Human Notions
Some practitioners are attached to their human notions, such as to heredity.
A 40-year-old male practitioner did the three things well, and he appeared to cultivate diligently. One day he said, “None the males in my family live very long. It is probably an inherited tendency—it’s in the genes. I was in bad health before I started to cultivate, so I often think to myself that I will not live long.”
“Your ancestors and relatives that died young are in the past,” I said. “Our paths have been re-arranged by Master. Our lives are lives of cultivation and have nothing to do with the old forces' arrangements. You need to reject those thoughts immediately.”
Because he often thought about it, that notion became very strong. Moreover, he did not reject those thoughts, which meant he acknowledged the old forces' arrangements. The old forces took advantage of his loophole. He had a stroke and passed away.
Trusting in Master Brings Different Results
How much one trusts Master will determine the consequences.
A 60-year-old practitioner had symptoms of liver cancer. He passed out at home. His family took him to the hospital, and he was in a coma in the Intensive Care Unit for three days. When he woke up, the first thing he said was, “Falun Dafa is good.”
He solidly believes that “True cultivators have no illnesses, since my Law Bodies have eliminated them.” (“Explaining the Fa for Falun Dafa Assistants in Changchun” from Explaining the Content of Falun Dafa.) He is still alive.
In contrast, a 40-year-old practitioner was diagnosed with lung cancer. A senior practitioner asked the cancer patient to move in with her. They studied the Fa, did the exercises, sent forth righteous thoughts, and shared understandings. A week later, she got better. When Master purified her body, we could smell a strong foul odor. If she could have had solid belief in Master and the Fa, she would have survived this tribulation.
However, when her family pushed her to go to the hospital, she chose the everyday person's way and gave in.
Master said:
“When you continually practice cultivation, you will constantly prolong your life. With consistent practice, your life will be constantly prolonged. Those elderly people with good inborn quality will have sufficient time for practice. There is a criterion, however, that the life prolonged beyond your predestined time to live is completely reserved for your practice. If your mind goes wrong a little bit, your life will be in danger because your lifetime should have long been over.” (Zhuan Falun)
She chose the path arranged by the old forces and gave up on cultivation. Master takes care of cultivators, not everyday people. Two weeks after she went to the hospital, she died.
Lacking Good Understanding of the Fa
A female practitioner, age 59, hated her husband over trivial things. These were chances for her to improve, but she thought they were unfair. We talked to her, and she told us that she understood, but deep in her heart, she did not have a good understanding of the Fa. So, she would keep complaining about him a few minutes after she said she would no longer complain.
Her hatred was already very strong, and the old forces saw this loophole—her inability to deal with the problem based on the Fa. She developed breast cancer and passed away.
Failing Tests
A male practitioner, 60, had a strong attachment to money. He spent a lot of time making money and had little time to study the Fa. In daily life, he did not pay much attention to cultivating his xinxing. He could not pass tests, big or small, and they accumulated.
Master said:
“There have also been cases where someone didn’t take some minor things seriously in his cultivation, and they turned into major problems.” (“Fa Teaching Given at the 2015 New York Fa Conference”)
Finally, he developed leukemia. When his doctors gave up, he then remembered to beg Master for help. He was motivated by his desire to live, however, and not to cultivate. A week later, he passed away.
Solid Cultivation
Since we cultivate in the everyday world, it is inevitable we will have human notions every now and then. If we let those notions develop and take hold, they will get stronger and become big attachments. Then the old forces will see them, enhance them, and take advantage of us because of them. They will arrange tribulations to make us fall or even destroy us.
The old forces' goal is to destroy us, while Master's arrangement is to have us reach consummation despite the old forces' arrangements. If we can solidly cultivate and follow the Fa rigorously, we will be able to deny the old forces' arrangements and walk the path Master has arranged for us.
As Dafa disciples, we need to understand that cultivating Dafa does not guarantee that one will never pass away. The maze that is everyday society cannot be revealed, and the state of everyday society cannot be disturbed.
We have learned from the Fa that the human world should have been destroyed in 1999. Master extended our lives for the Fa-rectification, so that we can save sentient beings. We live in everyday society. If you follow your human notions and do what an everyday person does, then you are an everyday person. An everyday person will, of course, age, get sick, and pass away.
Only when we rectify ourselves with the Fa constantly can we be called cultivators. Only when we reach the criteria of the Fa can Master protect us and extend our lives. Master only takes care of cultivators, not everyday people.
So we should understand how dangerous it is if we deviate from the Fa.
Category: Improving Oneself
