(Clearwisdom.net) My father has been practicing Falun Gong since 1997. He has been very diligent in studying the Fa, and some predestined people also started practicing Falun Gong after he introduced it to them. He was very determined even when the persecution was most severe. Others all say that he is a very kind and nice person. He has been doing the three things that Teacher requires of practitioners. My father is now nearly sixty years old, and his mental state is very good. All of this is due to his practicing Falun Dafa.

My husband and I both started practicing Falun Dafa in 1997. Our eight-year-old daughter is also a young practitioner. Because we run a business in another city, we rarely have the chance to visit my parents. In the city we work in, we can hardly contact other practitioners, and are never able to share experiences with others. We can only obtain Minghui website materials and Teacher’s articles from my father when we go back to visit. Even under such circumstances, we have never slacked off in studying the Fa, practicing the exercises, sending forth righteous thoughts, clarifying the truth and encouraging people to withdraw from the Chinese Communist Party. Sometimes we print "Dafa is good" on some banners and put them up in the streets. We try to be very strict with ourselves and do the three things well, despite the harsh environment. But we still are far behind in comparison to other diligent practitioners.

This summer, my father told me over the phone that he had not been so well recently and he wanted me to go home and accompany him to the hospital for surgery. I could not understand his reasons clearly but it was not convenient to say too much over the phone. When our daughter finished school, our whole family went home. My father was very skinny and pale. He told me that a disease he had when he was very little had recurred. I immediately realized that this was not disease, but rather was due to the dark minions of the old forces. Practitioners don’t have any illnesses, as Teacher has already purified our bodies. Where could any 'illness' come from? I found several practitioners and discussed the matter with them. We all thought that it was the old forces persecuting him. We all then sent forth righteous thoughts.

My father has worked very hard during the past six months. Besides doing housework and making and selling Tofu, he also needed to take care of my mother. My mother previously practiced Falun Gong, but she was unable to maintain her xinxing after the persecution began on July 20, 1999, and subsequently gave up her belief. She later had a brain hemorrhage, and now she cannot take care of herself and relies on my father to look after her. My father has been busy all day long every day. Consequently he had little time for studying the Fa. He rarely finished reading experience sharing articles, and he would read Teacher’s articles once and then put them aside. He could not concentrate when sending forth righteous thoughts and he could not even hold his hands straight. He had little time for practicing the exercises and clarifying the truth. Overall, his cultivation state was very poor.

After thoroughly looking inward for reasons, he started paying attention to Fa study and sending forth righteous thoughts. The effect of his truth clarification soon became very good. However, several days ago, we had to leave because our daughter’s school term was about to start. My father couldn't let go of the attachment of sentimentality, and this plus some other things in his daily life made him angry. After failing to pass the earlier test, another test came. As a result, he once again started feeling very ill. He sweated profusely due to intolerable pain and could not eat. Sending forth righteous thoughts did not seem to help. He again started to think about going to the hospital. I could not bear to see him suffer and wanted him to go to hospital to relieve the pain. I figured that maybe he could try harder in cultivation after he was well again and make up for the losses. However, in my heart I felt regret for my father. How could he think to rely on hospital treatment after so many years of practicing? We all sent forth righteous thoughts, asking Teacher to support us and to not let any illnesses be detected in the hospital. If no illness could be found, perhaps my father could realize that it was an arrangement of old forces and his need to reject it.

Indeed, after examining my father, the doctor said to him, "Nothing major seems to be wrong. There is no urgent rush to have surgery. You can wait until it gets cooler." My father then clarified the truth to the doctors and told them that Dafa was miraculous. At that point he realized that he should not have surgery, but instead should go home and study the Fa more diligently.

Upon returning home, my father was very calm. I was also relieved. Fellow practitioners came to visit him, and they told him that he had come to an incorrect understanding and did not have an illness. It was instead due to manipulation by the dark minions. The so-called "illness" was in fact a cultivation state caused by his shallow understanding of the Fa. At the same time, we all realized that it was also because we had a loophole as a whole body. My father had not shared experiences with other practitioners for a long time. This caused him to take a detour in his cultivation. After discussion, my father decided to cultivate more diligently, reject all arrangements by the old forces, and walk the path arranged by Teacher and do the three things well with righteous thoughts and deeds.

My father asked me to write down his experience so that those practitioners who are still confused and not so diligent can wake up and avoid the old forces taking advantage of their loopholes. Studying the Fa is the prerequisite for our improvement, and the three things are all equally important.

Due to my limited level, please point out any understanding that is inappropriate.