(Minghui.org) I always feel saddened when I see fellow practitioners being interfered with by illnesses, even losing their lives in some cases. This situation has prompted me to share my experience and understanding of illness karma.
In the first few days after I started to practice Falun Dafa, I felt fatigued and light-headed. My throat was dry and my nose kept running, with a thick yellow matter. I sweated profusely at night. I experienced similar symptoms about a year ago when I suffered a severe illness.
No matter how bad I felt, I did not think of going to the hospital or taking medication – I had made up my mind to become a practitioner after having read Zhuan Falun many times, which talked about the exact same scenario of illness karma in cultivation.
I also discussed my situation with fellow practitioners, who said to me, “Master is cleansing your body.” I was happy and felt encouraged upon hearing that. I knew I'd made the right decision.
Later as I looked back, I attributed my decision to three factors: Fa study, sharing with fellow practitioners, and not being attached to curing illnesses.
I had paranasal sinusitis since childhood. After some time into my practice of Dafa, all of those symptoms disappeared. I learned through Fa study that layers of illness karma had to be pushed to the surface dimensions little by little.
More recently in my cultivation practice, although various symptoms have come up and were sometimes fairly serious, such as heavy coughing and severe diarrhea, the notion of illness did not ever come to my mind.
But on the other hand, what I’ve learned through cultivation is that nothing happens by accident. When I feel physically uncomfortable, it’s probably a sign that I need to search within to see where I might have deviated in my mind.
Once, my right arm was sore and aching to the point that I could not raise it at all. This lasted for over a week.
Through searching within, I realized that I was spending too much time arguing with people on the Internet, which was a total waste of my time.
Initially, I was not clear whether a certain illness was due to my own karma or due to interference from the old forces.
I thought to myself, “If it is my own karma, that is arranged by Master as part of my cultivation, and I must walk the path well. But if it’s not Master's arrangement, I must completely negate it.”
Later I realized that the illness karma elimination arranged by Master would not interfere with us doing the three things. Illnesses that did interfere with the three things were most likely to be persecution by the old forces.
Now is the Fa-rectification period. We have Dafa disciples' solemn mission on our shoulders. Master has re-arranged our lives to enable us to practice cultivation and save sentient beings, and has arranged how we pay back our karma.
Since my life is given and guided by Master, I only accept the arrangements made by Master. I won't allow past creditors to collect old debts or waste a single second or a single dollar of my life, which is given to me by Master.
As for the appropriate time and means to repay my debts from the past, Master will make the best arrangement for me.
As Dafa disciples, we must be clear about our mission and negate the persecution with a righteous mind. At the same time, we should cherish everything we have at present, cultivate in the most solid and down to earth manner, and walk well the path Master has arranged for us.
The above is my understanding at my limited level. Fellow practitioners, please point out anything inappropriate.