(Minghui.org) I have witnessed several practitioners being persecuted by the illusion of sickness karma. The phenomenon is quite common. I want to talk about this topic from my personal understanding and awareness from the Fa.

Taking A Firm Grasp Of Every Thought And Notion Befitting A Cultivator

It is my understanding that a cultivator’s path is the cultivator’s personal enlightenment to Fa’s different requirements at different levels.

Humans possess many innate abilities, but over long years of worldly exposure, many warped ideas and wrong conceptions form, covering up our pure nature with layer after layer of thoughts that depart from the characteristics of the universe.

As a result, a person becomes muddied by and in agreement with worldly illusions, leading to blunders and irreparable damage in a person’s cultivation practice.

These bad substances will gradually reduce or be eliminated after the person begins to practice cultivation. Innate abilities will gradually be revealed or harnessed.

That is to say, the closer a practitioner is to reaching the end of his or her journey of cultivation, the more important it is to make sure they have a solid grasp on every thought and notion.

Here, I would like to talk about a few things I encountered in my cultivation practice.

About seven or eight years ago, my wife and I returned to her hometown. My wife asked me to go get a fish from the fishery nearby.

When I got there, I took a look at all the fish swimming about. I thought, “How can I buy them while they are alive?”

I noticed three or four fish with their bellies facing upward and their mouths gasping for air. I knew they were dying.

I watched the fish for a while and thought, “I’ll just wait for them to die, then I can buy them.”

I watched and waited for about half an hour, then returned to my wife empty-handed.

That night, I had a dream. I was at the edge of the sea, holding a rope wrapped around the neck of my boss, as he was being dragged further out to sea.

When I looked back at him, I saw him with his belly facing up and his mouth gasping for air, just like the few fish at the fishery.

I woke up with a start. A very clear concept popped into my consciousness: “I’m killing a life.”

I tried to examine what I had done recently and was sure I did not commit any murder. Then, I recalled what had just happened during the day at the fish pond and knew the two scenes were quite similar.

I was waiting for the fish to die before buying them. I was waiting and wishing for their death. I realized that this thought was wrong.

Seven years ago, when my daughter was about to have her baby, my wife and I went to Jinan to help her out.

When my wife and I boarded the sleeper car on our return trip, my wife remarked twice, “It would be best if we could arrive home at midnight.”

At the time, Falun Gong was under severe persecution, so it was generally not advisable to be seen going home during daylight hours.

When we were on the road, the National Highway, for some inexplicable reason, closed down for nine hours, and nobody could figure out why.

Later, we were further delayed for a few more hours when the right rear tire went flat.

So, all told, we were 15 hours late to finally reached our destination. When we arrived at home, the clock showed exactly 12 midnight.

I realized it was not a coincidence, but truly the result of a practitioner’s state of unconscious thought that played a role in another dimension.

Master says:

"Does he truly treat himself as a god and pay no attention to any of it whatsoever? Today I read a report on the Minghui website. A student was beaten so badly that her legs were smashed and broken into pieces, and they didn't set her bones before applying a cast. It never even occurred to the student that she would become handicapped because of this. She didn't pay any attention to it at all. She just studied the Fa every day, and her righteous thoughts were very strong. When she was able to sit up a little bit, she started to do the exercises. The doctors told her that her bones had been smashed and fractured in several places, and that the cast had been applied before the bones were set. It was all done by those people in the prison hospital. She didn't pay any attention to it and just told herself, "I want to cross my legs and do the exercises." She pushed herself and did it even though it was extremely painful to do. As time went by, she no longer felt any pain when she crossed her legs. The end result is that she has recovered. She can now jump up and down without any problem, and she's just like a completely normal person. (Applause) If any of you can conduct yourself like that, the old forces will absolutely not dare to touch you. Whoever can be like that will be able to make it through when encountering tests. What are "righteous thoughts" about? That is what righteous thoughts are about. (Teaching the Fa in San Francisco, 2005)

With the retelling of this story, I would like to ask fellow practitioners who have been persecuted by the illusion of sickness karma, how often is your thought that of a cultivator? Are you aware that your every thought plays a role in another dimension? Have you thought about it?

Early on, when I was detained in a forced labor camp, I passed around some Fa lectures. The guards decided I broke their camp rules and wanted to lock me up in solitary confinement.

I thought, “Good. That gives me peace and quiet to do my exercises.”

I was feeling happy in my heart, but I noticed the chief’s hands tremble a little.

He asked me, “Are you planning to go in and exercise?”

I asked him back, “How do you know?”

He said, “I could feel you’re up to something.”

He proceeded to make a phone call and ordered them to stop getting the solitary room ready for me.

That incident made me gradually understand this: As cultivators, when we encounter tribulations, if we can be comfortable with facing them head on and refuse to take the difficult situations seriously, then evil will recede, because the law of the universe does not allow evil to persecute people who walk the path toward divinity.

Master has repeatedly talked about the issue of hardships during His Fa teachings.

Master says:

“I’ve told you that practicing cultivation is not easy. You have endured many hardships. Enduring hardships only occurs in upright religions or upright cultivation practices. If a practice can be carried out smoothly without any tribulations, it can’t be called a cultivation practice and it cannot lead one to reach Consummation—this is an absolute truth.” (Lecture at the First Conference in North America)

Practitioners enduring persecution are in the grip of tribulations.

For example: what I noticed is that practitioners being persecuted generally display a look of helplessness and impotence. Their movements are sluggish and they speak with a low and weak tone of voice.

I believe their outward appearance is, in fact, a true exhibition of their inner state of mind. It also demonstrates their understanding of what it means to face hardships in cultivation practice.

I also believe that as cultivators, if we could stay calm and remain unmoved when hardships confront us, all illusions would disappear.

We should not allow ourselves to be swayed by evil.

To put it plainly, we should face everything with a clear thought that we are in control of ourselves, so that whatever we need to do, we will do it. If we want to sleep, we will sleep. If we want to exercise, we will exercise. If we feel pain, we can decide to feel the pain or not.

If we do not allow ourselves to be restricted by any outside factors, if we do not entertain any thought or take note of any physical sensation, if we do not care if we feel cold, numbness, pain, pressure, outside messages, etc., evil will have no choice but to back off and leave us alone.

When I encounter interference, I almost always negate it with righteous thoughts.

For example: if I hear the remark, “You are getting on in age. You are old.” My response is “Dafa is returning us to our original, true selves. We are in fact becoming younger and younger.”

Sometimes when a human notion will continue to hound me, I will say, “I have Master. You have no power over me.

Sometimes, when evil tries to use my body to persecute me with sickness karma, I will say, “Cultivators don’t get sick. All that happens to me are good things. I won’t associate anything with any sickness…” and soon the symptoms would disappear.

Generally speaking, when the illusion of sickness karma shows up on me, it almost always passes quickly. It usually takes half a day, or several hours, or even a mere few minutes.

My greatest ammunition is to study the Fa with due diligence and in all seriousness, not just as a formality, to frequently look inward to scrutinize the possibility of hidden problems, and to take immediate action to deny and eliminate any thought or action that may be compromising.

That is to say, not lying in bed and not allowing others to help in any way.

I believe I can solve all problems by myself so I have never once asked practitioners to send righteous thoughts for me. However, this is just my personal understanding and should not be copied.

Another is the most fundamental issue for cultivators, and that is our trust in Master and the Fa.

Falun Gong has been under persecution for 17 long years, but I have never once doubted Master or Dafa.

Whenever I run into any difficult situation, my first thought is Master. I will seek Master’s help, completely trusting that if my motivation is not one of selfishness, Master will come to my rescue.

I firmly believe everything is accomplished by Master. I just need to have the correct thought and desire. I do my best not to have my heart bent out of shape whether my entreaty is answered or not.

That’s why we say when things go well, it is Master and Dafa’s mighty power, when things don’t, it is Dafa disciples’ personal problems. We will have to find out where we are inadequate and what created the discrepancies.

I believe this to be a righteous understanding of Fa principles and should not be neglected or ignored.

Some persecuted practitioners have issues with trust. They would question, “Can I overcome this? Is Master still managing and watching over me?”

Cultivation Practice Is About Changing From the Core

When we cultivate within the Fa, Master's fashen are sure to protect us and not allow anybody to persecute us, because that is the law of the universe. That’s why, as cultivators, we must first look inward to uncover our problems when we run into difficulties and tribulations.

However, I often notice many persecuted practitioners become detached from the whole body. They do Dafa things but without cultivating themselves. They also consistently fail to pass xinxing tests in family conflicts.

That is to say, they behave quite well outside, but as soon they are home, they become careless in their thought and actions.

At home, all they see are familiar faces, so they think it’s permissible to let loose and it doesn’t matter much if they act according to their moods.

Factors of the old forces will not think likewise but will take full advantage of the loopholes to induce various means of persecution.

It is only when practitioners’ bodies show signs of sickness karma will they finally try to figure out what has gone wrong.

There are practitioners who always have regrets. In fact, it’s very normal to fail to do well the first time. It’s also not too much of a problem when failing the second time. But, failing a third time should really be regarded as a problem.

If, in your practice, you routinely feel regret, that means you either don’t know how to cultivate or you are not truly cultivating, and that is a real problem.

In other words, physical persecution and these factors have a close relationship. Therefore, to cultivate is to make changes from our basic natural inclinations, to truly cultivate our hearts.

Sometimes, practitioners are stuck in the quagmire of the human notion of right and wrong, and can’t break away to look at themselves to see where they may have strayed from Dafa’s principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.

If they can extract themselves from this quagmire and put aside the self, they will be just fine.

Practitioners who run into conflicts and contradictions in the family often try to change their non-practitioner family members rather than themselves. Is that cultivation?

Practitioners whose physical selves are being persecuted to such an extent that they are no longer in control, and whose family members don’t understand Dafa and may even voice attacks against Dafa, what negative impact are they creating in the eyes of the world?

Let me give you an analogy:

You are assigned to wash a 300 garments. If you wash three items a day, in 100 days you will have the job done.

But, you don’t start washing the three items today, then, tomorrow, you’ll have six items to wash. If you push off washing the six items on the second day, then you’ll have nine to do the third day.

If you keep pushing off, you’ll keep cumulating, then, when will you be able to finish your assigned job?

In other words, if you only say you are a cultivator but don’t use effort to cultivate, are you really cultivating? Cultivation is similar to rowing upstream. Even if you don’t row forward but just stay put, your boat will still be carried backward by the undercurrent.

Walk The Path Of Cultivation Well

More than once I’ve heard fellow practitioners say in their experience sharing,

“I’ve sought out a fortuneteller over the affairs of my children…”

“I bought a live fish, but it was killed by a non-practitioner family member…”

“I often take medicine in stealth. If Master is not taking care of me, the medicine may help a little bit…”

There are practitioners who talk about the issues of ignoring Master’s Fa teaching about practicing only one cultivation way, and so on.

Often, these practitioners work on a lot of Dafa projects but don’t spend time and effort working on themselves.

The female practitioners being persecuted are mostly strong women to whom family members tend to pay obeisance and dare not say a contradictory word in order to alleviate conflict and maintain peace in the household.

I have witnessed fellow practitioners enduring tremendous hardships. We have faced many tribulations under relentless persecution and had suffered much, but we have overcome them.

Yet, in family conflicts, cooperation among practitioners, and diligence doing the three things every day, we are not persevering very well.

A person may find it easy to accomplish things in the human world. However, no matter how easy anything is, if there is no perseverance and firm determination, it will be very difficult to endure until the end.

To achieve final success, everything depends on personal perseverance.

It’s even more so in cultivation practice. Only when we are able to remain steadfast to the end can we move toward consummation.

These are my personal perceptions and understandings. If there is anything that is inconsistent with the Fa, kindly point it out to me.