(Clearwisdom.net) One chapter from the book Journey to the West talks about the illness karma that Tang Seng endured. When Tang Seng was coping with the illness karma, Ba Jie shouted out that he wanted to break away and leave the group. Wu Kong was the one who explained the real cause of the illness, which lay in Tang Seng's past. Once upon a time in the past, Tang Seng was the second disciple of Buddha Rulai. One day he did not listen carefully to the Buddha teaching the Fa and took a nap. Then he unintentionally stepped on a grain of rice. He was therefore demoted and sent down to a lower level world. That caused his illness tribulation, which was destined to last three days, and he would be fine after that.

When I read this chapter, I could not help thinking, "Are there situations like this in our cultivation of Dafa?" I came to the understanding that there must be. Apart from interference and sabotage by the old forces, there may be times when we must pay back karmic debts in the form of illness. At the same time, the tribulation of illness serves as an opportunity for us to raise our xinxing levels. So, when facing the illness, we should conduct ourselves with righteous thoughts. But it doesn't mean that we can merely focus on denying the old forces' arrangements. What we are supposed to endure and pay back is still to be endured and paid back. Maybe we did similar wrongs when we were in heaven or in our past lives. The persecution that is imposed on us by the old forces is what we should deny and eliminate. I think we shouldn't forget to cultivate ourselves at all times.

The above is just my personal understanding. Fellow practitioners, please kindly point out anything incorrect.

Editor's note: The illness that doesn't hinder Fa study, truth clarification, and saving sentient beings may have some factors for our improvement, but the tribulations that hinder Dafa disciples' doing the three things or even threaten disciples' lives should be dealt with using righteous thoughts.