(Clearwisdom.net) A veteran practitioner has cultivated diligently while doing the three things well. However, in recent years he has suffered illness karma, which has been very severe at times. He looked inward for attachments but could not find any obvious ones. Later, with the help of Teacher's hints, he suddenly recalled one incident.
He still had a few years to go until reaching retirement age, but his family and friends kept telling him to claim retirement early due to illness. They would say, "This is just how it is nowadays. You just pay a little bribe and get a medical statement from the hospital. You shouldn't be so silly and stubborn." After resisting for a while, he gave in to their pleas and said to himself, "All right, I will try it and just go with the flow."
Right after he obtained the falsified documents vouching for his "illness" and retired, his health started to deteriorate. He kept having discomfort in different parts of his body and sometimes felt like he was snarled in a gigantic web that he could not escape, no matter how hard he tried. There was some relief when he sent forth righteous thoughts, but the discomfort returned soon thereafter. With Teacher's hints and discussions with fellow practitioners, he then realized that this health tribulation resulted from his decision to retire early by faking an illness. The old forces were able to use this as an excuse and say, "How can you get money for nothing? Since you, yourself, wanted to retire due to illness, we will let your wish come true. You get what you wished for."
Practitioners must live and cultivate in a righteous way and cannot do what ordinary people would do. Ordinary people would do anything to obtain personal gain. In today's society, you can get almost anything as long as you pay the price. Practitioners are walking the path toward godhood and our cultivation environment is a pure land.
We should be, in Teacher's words, "Stopping society's downward slide." ("Universal Illumination" in Hong Yin II)
How can we downgrade ourselves to the level of ordinary people? After coming to this understanding, this practitioner said in his heart, "Teacher, I am wrong. I will correct myself." After that, he donated all the pension money he had collected in the years of his undeserved retirement to the truth-clarification material production site.
He has not had any illness since then. His body feels light and full of strength. The gigantic web that used to cover his dimension has disappeared without a trace.
Teacher told us:
"There is another principle in our universe: If you pursue or want something, others are not willing to interfere."
"It is precisely because of one's ill intentions that one brings to oneself bad things."
"In practicing cultivation of our school, you will not have any problems as long as you can conduct your xinxing well, since one righteous mind can subdue one hundred evils. If you cannot maintain your xinxing well and go after this or that, you are bound to get yourself into trouble." (Zhuan Falun)
Sometimes when we are faced with hardships, it is very easy to be swayed by family and friends and do things according to ordinary people's suggestions but against Dafa principles. Some fellow practitioners in business say, "I will donate more money for Dafa activities after I make a lot of profit." However, after they make a lot of money, they spend most of it on themselves and their families, with only a little bit going toward Dafa activities. Some practitioners, on the other hand, do not have a lot of money, but they live frugally and donate whatever they can save to the material production sites.
One practitioner owns a restaurant that enjoys prosperity while other restaurants in the same area do not have much business. Why is that? She shared her understanding during an experience sharing with fellow practitioners: "Before I opened the restaurant, I had a wish that I would use all of the money that I make for Dafa activities." Following through on her promise, all of her profits, except for a small fraction needed to cover her daily necessities, is donated to Dafa projects. She said, "When you really spend the money on the right things, Teacher will help you." Her words shocked me and have remained with me for a long time.
Although we are cultivating with many hardships in this human world, Teacher and the deities will help us as long as we can put Dafa in the foremost position, do everything we can to improve our xinxing, and put everything we have into saving sentient beings.
This is my limited understanding. Please point out anything inappropriate.
