(Minghui.org) I obtained the Fa before 1999 and I was just a kid at that time. I would like to share my experience of overcoming an episode of sickness karma.
About 10 years ago, a fellow practitioner was going through sickness karma. To help her, I sent forth righteous thoughts and contacted fellow practitioners to help her. The night before we were going to visit her, I woke up in the middle of the night and heard a loud humming sound; it sounded like the Falun eliminating evil. I sat up to send forth righteous thoughts, but I felt my heart pounding faster than normal and I felt weak.
I’d always had a strong heart and I was a good runner. When the false symptoms of a heart attack appeared, I knew I couldn’t go along with it. I started to send forth righteous thoughts, but the evil kept attacking my mind. A voice repeatedly said, “You are about to die.” I couldn’t clear my mind or recite the formulas for sending righteous thoughts.
When I finally held up my right palm, the attack became less intense. However, a chill started to go from the top of my head down my spine. I felt myself getting colder, like I was going to die. Evil continued to attack my mind, making me think terrible thoughts, such as “A fellow practitioner in the same situation died in her house” and “A practitioner died at home and no one found her until much later.” But I knew that Master was helping me, that I did not need to be afraid, and I continued sending righteous thoughts and reciting Master’s Fa.
The chill continued down to my nose. I wanted to ask my mother, also a practitioner, to send forth righteous thoughts for me, but I did not want her to help, because I thought her attachment to emotions was strong at that time. So I continued sending righteous thoughts on my own.
I planned on visiting the fellow practitioner going through sickness karma, but I thought the chill would be down to my knees by the morning. I worried about whether I should tell my mother or not.
But wasn’t that interference trying to stop me from seeing fellow practitioners? This is what the evil wanted. Since sending righteous thoughts for myself wasn’t working, I decided to send forth righteous thoughts for other practitioners going through sickness karma. I didn’t worry about what was happening to me.
The chill stopped at my lips and didn’t go down my body, but it didn’t completely disappear either. So I sent righteous thoughts for another hour and felt the chill disappearing and I was myself again.
When the sun rose and my mother woke up, I had been sending righteous thoughts for four hours and she didn’t bother me when she saw me. Under Master’s watch, I felt much better and could visit fellow practitioners.
After this episode, I realized how fortunate I was to cultivate in Dafa and the importance of sending forth righteous thoughts. I was 27 years old at the time, but I realized that, no matter how young or how old I was, the standards for cultivation are the same for everyone, and younger practitioners are not given special treatment.
I looked within. Despite obtaining the Fa at a young age, I realized that I had never truly cultivated or studied the Fa seriously. I had been busy with work and hadn’t tried to eliminate my attachments. I hadn’t been sending righteous thoughts as much as I should, and there were many evil spirits in my dimension. Besides, I never looked within.
Because of my attachment to this practitioner, when I heard that the fellow practitioner was very ill, I wept and the evil in other dimensions reinforced my attachment. I cried for three days. I attempted to control my emotions during that time, but evil controlled my emotions.
After that incident, I recognized the importance of sending forth righteous thoughts and cleansing my dimension. I would spend one to two hours cleaning my dimension every day or every other day. If I do the three things well, the energy is strong when I send righteous thoughts; when I don’t do the three things well, the energy is weak.
In recent years, whenever I hear of another practitioner passing away, I remember the tribulation I went through. I realized that many of the practitioners who passed away appeared to have had good character and cultivated well, but they might not have studied the Fa, done the exercises, or sent forth righteous thoughts as often as they should have. The evil forces persecute practitioners based on small flaws in their character.
Dafa practitioners come from different high places, carry different messages, and have different historical backgrounds, so we cannot judge a practitioner based on what we see on the surface. There are many things in other dimensions that we cannot see, and the act of saving people itself brings challenges and tribulations. Therefore, we must be diligent about doing the three things, follow Master’s instructions, extend the time we send righteous thoughts, and do the exercises. It is important that we cleanse our dimensions and eliminate the evils within each level in order to reduce the damage and the interference.
Master said,
“Let me tell you, all those who remain and that can persecute Dafa and Dafa disciples are due to our students themselves. Students who haven't taken sending forth righteous thoughts seriously: the evil in the dimensions that you are supposed to shoulder and be responsible for has not been eliminated. That's the cause.” (“Fa-Lecture at the Conference in Florida, USA,” Collected Fa Teachings Vol II)
“How far a person wants to cultivate to and what realm a person wants to reach are his own business. Master can only tell you the importance of sending forth righteous thoughts.” (“Fa-Lecture at the Conference in Florida, USA,” Collected Fa Teachings Vol II)
After studying the Fa, I have learned the importance of sending forth righteous thoughts. We have to send forth righteous thoughts even if evil is not persecuting us, because the evil in our dimension can persecute other practitioners. I used to think that sending forth righteous thoughts was only to eliminate evil, but I have realized that it also relates to a cultivator’s character and gong level.