(Minghui.org) We have noticed from reading recent Minghui articles that practitioners in many regions are experiencing “sickness karma” and some have died as a result. Practitioners from these regions have spent a great deal of energy taking care of the problem. We have had similar cases in our area as well. In this article, we will first describe the “sickness karma” cases in our area, and then consider the possible issues causing the problems.
1. “Sickness Karma” Cases in Our Area
Practitioner A was a female practitioner in her eighties. Being one of the first people to attend Master's lecture in Beijing during the summer of 1993, she did a very good job introducing the Fa to people and clarifying the truth. This elderly practitioner had participated in the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) “War of Liberation” and received many awards. She had a collection of books published by the CCP, along with medals, and stamps with the CCP's figureheads. Although she knew those things were not good, she didn't want to throw them away and gave them to her son. Sometimes she stayed at her son's home where her collection was stored. She hung up a photo of Master in her home. During the summer, she often studied the Fa, conducted her daily routine, slept, and walked around the house naked. When her husband died, her family bought her a burial lot next to her husband's, and she didn't tell them that she did not want it. Later she passed away from a “brain hemorrhage” and was buried next to her husband as she had wished.
Practitioner B was a man in his 70's. He attended Master's Guangzhou lectures in 1994. He participated in the Korean War and received many awards. He had a collection of books published by the CCP and some medals. Although he knew these things were bad, he just wrote the word “eliminate” on them. During the persecution of Falun Gong, he was released from a brainwashing center because of his righteous thoughts and actions. However, he kept the “Works of Mao Zedong” neatly on the top shelf of the bookshelf and casually placed Dafa books on the bottom shelf. He died from “respiratory and heart failure.”
Practitioner C was a woman in her 50s. She became a practitioner in 1996. Over a long period of time, she made Dafa materials at home and seemed to do the three things well. She often studied the Fa sitting on the bed, and stored Dafa books in the drawer underneath the bed where she and her husband slept. Her home was full of CCP newspapers and magazines. When they remodeled their house, they built the balcony roof top in the shape of three “卍.” To make more money, the couple opened an Internet cafe and allowed teenagers to watch pornographic videos at the cafe. She had a stroke, and although she felt better after an operation, she later died from it.
Practitioner D is a woman in her 70s. She began the practice in 1996 and seemed to do the three things well. Her daughter-in-law had several abortions but she did nothing to stop her. A practitioner gave her boxes of Dafa books and she stored them under the bed and then she slept on that bed. Later she had severe back pain and went to the hospital to get a CT scan. She was diagnosed with “thoracic spinal neurofibroma.” She had surgery, and the incident prompted her to look inward. She realized this had happened because she had hid the Dafa books under her bed and disrespected Master and the Fa. She immediately acknowledged her mistakes, and studied the Fa, sent forth righteous thoughts, and clarified the truth more frequently. It took her several months to recover from the sickness karma.
Practitioner E is a man in his 70's who learned the practice in 1997. After a stroke, he had a hard time recovering. When another practitioner was visiting him, he noticed there were a lot of CCP newspapers in his old-fashioned furniture and cabinets. He used the newspaper as drawer liners to keep the clothes and cotton clean. He had put Dafa books all over the house. They were on the bed and in the drawers mixed with clothes and socks. During Chinese New Year, the family paid respect to the ancestors by burning incense. He placed Master's photo next to the incense burner when he paid respect to the ancestors. After suffering a stroke he could not walk, so his wife burned incense for him to the ancestors. She asked him if she could put Master's photo next to the altar and he said yes. Later, he almost choked to death on phlegm. Fortunately, other practitioners went to his house to send forth righteous thoughts for him. Although he didn't die, he has not recovered from the stroke.
Practitioner F is a woman in her 50's. She became a practitioner in 1996, and did a good job of validating the Fa during the persecution. Later she became very busy making money and gradually spent less time studying the Fa, so her righteous thoughts weakened. Her son's first child was a girl. When her daughter-in-law found out she was pregnant with another baby girl, she wanted to have an abortion. The daughter-in-law asked practitioner F for her advice. She told the daughter-in-law that it was up to her and didn't try to stop her. Her father, a fish farmer, bought a few hundred kilos of live fish for the daughter after she aborted the baby. Although practitioner F didn't kill the fish, she helped carry the fish out and let someone else kill the fish. She usually hung clothes on the balcony to dry, and placed Dafa books under the clothes. Later, she had a stroke and was taken to the hospital. Fortunately, she remembered to shout “Master please help me,” and practitioners were there to help her understand the situation from the Fa's principles. She realized her mistakes, corrected herself, and began to study the Fa more and send more righteous thoughts. She recovered quickly under Master's protection.
Practitioner G is a woman in her 70's who learned the practice in 1996. During the persecution, she stepped forward to validate the Fa and did the three things well. Other practitioners thought she had strong righteous thoughts, so they took copies of Minghui Weekly to her house after they finished reading them. These magazines contained Master's name and lectures. She kept the magazines in a storage room that contained junk. Because of the high humidity in the room, the magazines began to mold and attracted vermin. In 1999, she consulted a fortune teller. The fortune teller told her that she was going to encounter certain tribulations. She failed to negate what the fortune teller had told her. Later, just as the fortune teller had predicted, she had a stroke and was hospitalized. Practitioners sent forth righteous thoughts and studied the Fa with her. She gradually recovered under Master's protection.
Several years ago, her practitioner husband had a stroke. He used a wheelchair and crutches to get around. After his death she gave away the wheelchair and the crutches. But when she was unable to walk, she wanted them back. Once she had those thoughts, she fell hard and could not move. She became bedridden and has not fully recovered.
Practitioner H is a woman in her 60's. In 1994, she attended Master's lectures in Jinan, Zhengzhou, and Guangzhou. She was also a coordinator. During the persecution, she led other practitioners to validate the Fa and did the three things well. Because she was a practitioner, her work unit refused to pay her after the persecution began. In order to make a living, she worked odd jobs here and there. Her boss gave her two pheasants as a gift for last year's Chinese New Year. She took them to the mountains and set them free. This year for Chinese New Year, her boss gave her three chickens and four fish. She gave away the chickens but kept the fish and let her husband kill them. After this, she experienced dizzy spells and has had a lot of conflict in her family. She became very busy, didn't take time to study the Fa, and hasn't been diligent.
Practitioner I is a woman in her 30's who became a practitioner in 1995. During the persecution, she led practitioners to validate the Fa and did the three things well. After her practitioner husband was released from jail, she became pregnant without intending to. After she gave birth, she had a big appetite. Her sister raised a lot of chickens that were given to her to eat. Not long after this, practitioner I experienced severe back pain and had difficulty walking. After Master gave her hints, she began to spend more time looking inward, studying the Fa, sending forth righteous thoughts, and clarifying the truth. She threw away the CCP things that were in her home. She realized that she didn't have enough respect for Master and the Fa, and her posture needed improvement when she studied the Fa. She began to pay more attention to details. She kept Dafa books in a place of respect at home, became respectful toward Master and the Fa, and fully exposed her experience of being persecuted. Her back pain eventually disappeared and she is healthy now.
Practitioner J is a woman in her 40's who learned the practice in 1995. When the persecution began, she appealed for justice for Falun Dafa and did the three things well. She abhors evil things, but often goes to extremes. She throws away anything she considers bad. Her practitioner husband was "transformed" by the CCP and did things to defame Dafa. Therefore she didn't allow him come home. She changed her son's last name to her maiden name, and doesn't allow him to attend school. She would not talk to her husband's family and threw away everything he had at home, including his clothes and books. She is not a tidy person and doesn't do any household chores. Her husband was the one who did the household chores. When he was jailed, the house was a mess. She doesn't take care of her personal hygiene nor the hygiene of her son. The house is dirty, and she places Dafa books, Minghui Weekly magazines, and truth-clarification materials in the drawers, under the bed, and on the balcony. She sleeps on the bed and her son plays on the bed. Dafa books are dirty and the pages are torn or missing. The mother and son are unkempt and look like lunatics and beggars when they go out. She seems to be suffering from “mental illness” and is not clearheaded.
Practitioner K is a man in his 70's. He learned the practice in 1996, and in no time his wife became a practitioner. When the persecution began, his wife was afraid and gave up the practice. She died in 2005. He was interfered with by the demon of lust, and moved in with a woman. The woman stole 30,000 yuan from him and left him. Later he moved in with another woman. He refused to listen when practitioners pointed out his mistakes. He looked outward, cultivated half-heartedly, and treated cultivation as child's play. Later he was hospitalized for a cyst on his hand and ran into the woman that had scammed him out of his money. The woman threatened him and told him to pay her 100,000 yuan as compensation. He refused to pay her and got into a physical altercation with her. The woman broke one of her legs, and practitioner K had to pay her 20,000 yuan as compensation.
2. The Underlying Causes of “Sickness Karma”
We have listed eleven cases in this article. Even though each case is different, they all share something in common; these practitioners learned the practice but failed to raise their xinxing level according to the standard of the Fa. They created a huge negative impact for Dafa, brought shame to Dafa, Master, and themselves, and caused a great deal of difficulty for local practitioners' efforts to save sentient beings.
When practitioners fail to walk their paths with righteousness, it may manifest as sickness karma on the surface body. The old forces have likely taken hold of their human attachments. The following are some of the underlying causes.
Being Disrespectful to Master and Dafa
It is essential that we respect Master and Dafa. The Fa-rectification is the most important thing in the cosmos. There are many stories of people who cultivated well throughout ancient Chinese history.
In the past, when a cultivator committed a disrespectful act, or had disrespectful speech and thoughts against the Dharma and their master, it was considered a dire offense and they would not be able to complete their cultivation. During the Fa-rectification period cultivation, Master has given practitioners who have committed this kind of mistake an opportunity to correct themselves. This has never happened before, and we should cherish this opportunity.
However, if a Dafa practitioner commits this type of mistake and has no remorse, then the old forces will use it as an excuse to persecute the practitioner. One of the many manifestations could be “sickness karma.”
If practitioners who cultivate in ordinary society do not pay attention in this regard, it would be easy to make this type of mistake. One example would be placing Master's photo in a filthy place or at a low level in a room. Another would be walking around naked or changing clothes in front of Master's photo. Studying the Fa, doing the exercises, and sending forth righteous thoughts half-naked or wearing pajamas is another example. While studying the Fa we should not have poor posture, constantly making certain body movements, talk, eat, drink, read the wrong words, skip words, think of other things, and we should certainly keep a pure and calm heart. A few more things we should not do include placing or hiding Dafa books in a pile of clothes or under the bed, using saliva to turn the page, and burning, staining, or tearing the pages of Dafa books. We must not change the format of the lectures to make it easier for us to read. For practitioners who were “transformed,” saying disrespectful things against Master and the Fa and betraying other practitioners is wrong. A married couple should not be intimate in front of Master's photo, and a single man and woman should not have improper conduct in front of Master's photo. These are all examples of being disrespectful to Master and Dafa.
A local practitioner who owns a business printed Falun symbols on ceramic products, and inlayed Master's image on a glass table that she then sold. She said this was her way of spreading the Fa. We think this is being disrespectful to Master and the Fa.
During the Fa-rectification, the old forces are taking note of practitioners and beings in the cosmos who have been disrespectful to Master and the Fa. Master and Dafa are merciful but also solemn. It will be too late to have regrets later. I think everyone has committed, to varying degrees, similar wrongdoings like the cases mentioned in this article.
Master said,
“But there's one problem, which is, if you don't respect Master, it's wrong according to the principles of the cosmos, and the old forces will take advantage of the gap and destroy you because of this. They'll have seized the biggest excuse to destroy you, since they've seen the entire process of my saving you.” (Fa-Lecture During the 2003 Lantern Festival at the U.S. West Fa Conference)
The Issue of Killing and Not Treasuring Life
Master talked about the issue of killing in Zhuan Falun. But some practitioners still don't take it seriously, and knowingly kill, until they are faced with sickness karma. Killing, directly or indirectly, has consequences, as we can see from the stories of practitioners F, H, and I. Master has explained this issue clearly in Zhuan Falun, so it is up to us to become enlightened to it.
Although some practitioners do not take lives, they still raise animals. Master has also spoken about the issue of “not raising animals and not taking lives” in his lectures.
Unwilling to Eliminate the CCP Culture
The ancient divine Chinese culture was created to prepare practitioners to understand Dafa. The CCP was created to prevent sentient beings from knowing the truth, to interfere with practitioners' understanding of the Fa, and to control the old forces in destroying mankind. When a practitioner has CCP items in his home, he is storing CCP culture in his mind, and the evil specter will have a place to hide. Not only will it hide in a practitioner's home, it will also hide in his heart. This will nourish the bad elements, prevent him from raising his level, and invite the evil elements to persecute him and others. Practitioners mentioned in this article have all made mistakes of varying degrees in this regard. Therefore, we must get rid of all the CCP items at home and send forth righteous thoughts to eliminate the party culture from our mind. This is a step that we must take on our cultivation path.
The CCP culture is manifested in many different ways. We should burn any tangible items in our living environment and eliminate the intangible elements from our minds. This is the best way to destroy them thoroughly. If they are given away, others will be harmed and we will ultimately be responsible for this action.
The Issue of Pursuit
Master mentioned the issue of pursuit in Zhuan Falun, but some practitioners have not paid attention to it and continued to make mistakes until they “became ill.” Some people have died not knowing what mistake they made.
What manifests in the human world when we have the attachment to “pursuit” is very complex. Using the examples from this article, some of the most obvious forms of “pursuit” are making arrangements for one's death, such as in the case of practitioner A. Failing to negate the fortune teller's prediction was the same as acknowledging the prediction, such as what happened to practitioner G. Practitioner G was unwilling to let go of things from the past.
The Attachment to Lust and Desire
We must treat the attachment to lust and desire seriously as told to us in Zhuan Falun. Practitioners who made mistakes in this regard have dealt with sickness karma or died.
We know from Master's lectures that the old forces take this issue most seriously. When practitioners commit mistakes in this regard, the old forces place depraved elements in their dimension and create tremendous tribulations for them, causing their level to fall. Sickness karma is one form of manifestation.
Master said in “Teaching the Fa in the City of Los Angeles,”:
“Disciple asks: Master, I swore before your picture that I would stop failing the test of sexual desire, but later on I failed it again. I deeply regret it and I am afraid of losing everything.
“Teacher: For a cultivator, a Dafa disciple, that is something truly dishonorable. In Buddhism they require people to adhere to precepts, and when someone breaks the precept on chastity it is really a very grave matter! Did you know that Dafa disciples have metamorphosed from the old cosmos and have emerged beyond the old Fa principles, but the old cosmos, the old Fa principles, the old beings... all of that is trying to hold you back!
“I have talked before about the old forces' interference. Have you thought about the following? [Sexual desire] is one of the factors [they use] to hold you back! What do the old forces and the old cosmos see as the gravest thing? Lust, [in the form of] sexual activity outside of marriage. That's what they see as the most serious of things. In the past, once someone violated the precept on that, he would be thrown out of the temple, and his cultivation would be utterly finished. So how do gods look at this now? Do you know what they have said in the prophecies that they left behind? They prophesied that all of the Dafa disciples who would be left in the end would be those who had maintained their purity along these lines. In other words, these things are extremely serious to them. So the old forces and all of the gods in that cosmos will not defend anyone who violates the prohibition on this, anyone who doesn't do well in this regard; in fact they will push you downwards. They know [and think to themselves], "Li Hongzhi, you won't abandon your disciples, so we will make you abandon them." That's why they have the students who have made mistakes make more mistakes, over and over, and in the end do wicked things and go to the opposite side. "We will fill his head with crooked understandings and make him damage Dafa. Then we will see if you still keep him." And you know, that is what they have done. Do you think all those who have "enlightened" along an evil path really wanted to go toward evilness? There are reasons behind all of that.”
Putting One's Self First
During the Fa-rectification period, some practitioners are still holding on to the concept of personal cultivation. They think cultivating Dafa is for personal improvement, and they treat it as the most essential aspect of cultivation. They are unclear about the distinction between personal cultivation and Fa-rectification period cultivation, and place a great deal of importance on the self. Master requires that Dafa disciples shift from personal cultivation to Fa-rectification period cultivation. One must consider the Fa and Fa-rectification as the most important thing. Because some practitioners didn't understand Master's requirement and failed to walk the path arranged by Master, they followed the old forces' arrangements instead. Therefore the old forces took control of them and forced serious tribulations upon them. When they failed to pass the tribulations, they were eliminated. That is one of the reasons that some practitioners have encountered sickness karma.
Of course, there are many causes of sickness karma. We are only naming some of them in this article. These are attachments that we need to get rid of.
Master is with us during the Fa-rectification period, so we should look at things from Master's point of view. We should understand and solve problems with righteousness, use our capabilities to the best of our ability to harmonize with Master's arrangements, save more sentient beings, and set an example for the future universe.
After sharing with other practitioners, we gathered everyone's input and wrote this article together.
Please kindly point out anything that is inappropriate.
Category: Improving Oneself
