(Minghui.org) Shan, an elderly practitioner, has had serious sickness karma recently. He cannot eat, is often fatigued, and often vomits. Looking inward and sending forth righteous have not changed anything.

He has contributed a great deal to our local Dafa activities and suffered a lot of hardship. It made me sad to see him like that, and a thought popped into my mind: "Can I bear some sins for him? Even if it were just a little bit, it might help him break through this tribulation. How can I leave him stuck there like that?"

Then I had another thought: "Maybe it will not help him, but only serve to damage my own cultivation." Master said in Zhuan Falun:

“If you use up your own white substance, your black substance can be transformed into the white substance by undergoing suffering. If it is still not enough, you may bear the sins of your friends or relatives who do not practice cultivation, and you can still increase gong. This requires that someone has reached an extremely high level in cultivation practice; an ordinary practitioner should not think of bearing sins for relatives. With that large amount of karma, an average person could not succeed in cultivation. I am explaining here principles at different levels.”

I asked myself: “Am I a cultivator who has reached an extremely high level?” If not, wanting to bear karma for another practitioner may destroy me. If I have reached an extremely high level, how much karma should I bear for him? Moreover, what is my motivation? Is this a selfish thought, or is it because of my emotional attachment for a fellow practitioner? I thought about it a lot, but still did not know what to do.

I went to Shan's house. Two other practitioners were also there. One of them said, “When I was sending forth righteous thoughts, trying to help eliminate the evil that is interfering with Shan, a voice told me, 'Will you really bear sins for him?' I said, 'No, I will not. You have interfered with him, and this is your sin. Why would I bear his sins?'”

The other practitioner said, “When I was sending forth righteous thoughts, a voice also asked me whether I would bear sins for Shan. I said, 'I will not. You have been persecuting Dafa disciples. This is a big sin, which should be borne by you. A Dafa disciple should walk down the path arranged by Master.'”

Shan's wife, who is also a practitioner, then said, “A few days ago, he was in great pain. So I thought that maybe I could bear some sins for him so that he could break through this tribulation. But I got very sick and was in bed for a whole day with fever and vomiting. I knew that my thought was wrong and begged Master to forgive me.”

Through sharing, we realized that this is a serious matter and that a cultivator should not have such thoughts. Master's arrangement for every cultivator is very detailed and elaborate. Master knows exactly what kind of tests each of us should go through, and when we should go through them. We cannot interfere with Master's arrangement with our human notions.

Master said, “It's hard for you even just to bear what's your own [karma], not to mention things for others.” (“Teaching and Explaining the Fa at the Metropolitan New York Fa Conference”)

We have learned from the Fa that only Master, and no one but Master, can bear karma for cultivators. We need Master to eliminate our karma. How can we bear others' sins? When fellow practitioners are interfered with, we can help them by looking inward for loopholes so that they can improve in cultivation. We can also help to send forth righteous thoughts to negate the persecution.

But we should not think of bearing their karma. Such a thought reflects a heart of pursuit, although it looks like a good thing for the fellow practitioner. The old forces can easily take advantage of this loophole and will bring us bigger problems.

The above are my understandings. Please correct me with compassion if there is anything wrong.