(Clearwisdom.net) Today, I silently recited the following paragraph of the Fa: "What I just addressed are some problems resulting from practitioners' inability to conduct themselves properly; that is, those problems are caused by an incorrect mind." (Zhuan Falun) When I recited it, I suddenly remembered my own recent experience of a severe tribulation and sickness karma. Was the tribulation caused by an unrighteous thought?
Not long ago, practitioner A and I were on our way to do something and along the way, we noticed everywhere on the streets many traces of burned fake paper money. It was during the middle of the month. In China it is customary to burn fake paper money for one's ancestors as a memorial. Practitioner A asked me whether I had burned paper money for my ancestors yet. I replied: "I haven't. As practitioners we should not burn such fake paper money for our ancestors." I told him that after I started to practice Falun Gong, I no longer did such a thing.
One day my husband, who is not a practitioner, had a fever. He exclaimed that the bones in his body felt like they were on fire. I told him without hesitation: "To reduce your pain you might need to burn some fake paper money to your late parents. They might ask you for it." It was exactly this poor thought, which deviated from the standards and behavior of a practitioner, which caused me to have a huge tribulation.
The next day, I suffered from a fever and I had to stay in bed. I was not able to get up. The bones in my body were in extreme pain and felt as though they were broken. My head felt like someone was using a saw and hammering nails in it. This suffering was worse than dying and it tortured me all day long.
Even though I was feverish, my mental state was very clear. I encouraged myself not to fall down and that I must overcome this suffering with a practitioner's stubborn will. I prayed to Master to help me pass this difficult time and send forth righteous thoughts. The evil's black hand caused this loophole in my cultivation, and was trying to bring me down. I will never acknowledge nor allow this evil persecution, and I have to rectify myself during this Fa-rectification.
When I felt muddle-headed, I listened to revered Master's lectures. When my head was slightly sober, I silently recited the Fa. At night, I struggled to practice the Falun Gong exercises. The next morning, my pain finally eased up. With Master's compassionate care, I was getting better day by day, and finally I passed the test of life and death. Like a layer of skin being peeled off, Master removed a lot of bad things from my body. This had helped me to enlighten to many Fa principles and better understand the seriousness of cultivation. At the same time it gave me a deeper understanding of myself.
In fact, I am someone who can handle big problems well but not small ones. Especially in everyday life, when I am faced with a number of small conflicts, trouble, and xinxing frictions, I easily overlook having righteous thoughts, and fail to grasp every single thought in order to cultivate my xinxing. Therefore, I may have let a single thought that was not on the Fa slip away and even allowed it to occupy my brain. This led to my actions and words not being on the Fa.
In the Fa teachings, Teacher told us: "he is full of great aspirations while minding minor details." ("Sage" from Essentials for Further Advancement) My understanding is that as practitioners, no matter how major or minor things appear to be, including a single thought, we have to work them out and assimilate to Dafa, which is according to practitioners' standards and according to the Fa's requirements. Only by taking one step at a time can we cultivate our xinxing, thus being able to build a solid foundation. When we accomplish this, we will be able to take every step in the Fa-rectification well and save sentient beings, fulfilling and honoring our prehistoric vows.
Every tiny thing or small trouble contains factors of cultivation. If we ignore these tiny things, we in fact give up a good opportunity to cultivate and improve xinxing.
I have cultivated for ten years in this time of Fa-rectification. I recognized a principle, which is, we can pass any tribulation, but only if we always trust in Master. We might not pass tribulations well if we do not have enough righteous thoughts or if we are interfered with by other things, such as acquired notions, unstable factors, and foreign messages. All these factors can deny the truth and a correct understanding of the universe.
Written: November 30, 2009
