Taking Cultivation Seriously

(Minghui.org) I have been practicing Falun Dafa since 1996. I would like to share two lessons I learned that helped me with my cultivation.

First Lesson

At the end of October 2019, I had a toothache. At first, I thought perhaps it was due to my diet, that I ate too many hot chilies resulting in too much “heat” in my body.

The pain got worse. It started in my right lower right wisdom tooth. The gum around the tooth became quite inflamed. Other teeth next to the wisdom tooth also started to hurt. Eventually the swelling spread to my entire lower gum, my throat, and my head. And I developed a splitting headache. My head hurt so bad some nights that I could not sleep. Three days later, my face swelled so badly that my eyes were like two slits.

As I reflected on my recent cultivation state, I realized that I had slacked off some. I had not allocated sufficient time for Fa study and the exercises. I often just did the exercises but didn’t study the Fa. Clarifying the truth was out of the question. Because I was busy making lunch for my family at noon, I missed sending forth righteous thoughts at that time. When I did send forth righteous thoughts, I had a hard time focusing. My thoughts were constantly on how hard my son worked at school and what kind of food I would cook for him. I thought about that when I was doing the exercises as well. I regretted all this.

I started to spend more time studying the Fa and sending forth righteous thoughts. When I could not sleep because of the pain, I sent righteous thoughts.

Another practitioner said, “Go to the hospital if you can’t take it anymore. The way you are practicing, maybe you should go to the hospital.” I hesitated. I thought I must have deviated from Dafa. Tearfully, I worried that maybe Master had abandoned me. I resolved to not go to the hospital. It was my fault that I did not cherish the time I had for cultivation.

At around three the next morning, I felt some irritation in my throat and carelessly bit down on the inflamed tooth. Suddenly I was spitting up copious amounts of mucous and blood. The pain was gone! I cried as I realized that Master was still watching over me!

My swollen face and inflamed gums returned to normal. The entire ordeal lasted two weeks. As a result of this experience I realized the seriousness of cultivation.

Master Li said,

“Moreover, it is not an easy thing if one wants to cultivate. I have said that this is a very serious matter. It is something beyond everyday people and more difficult than anything of everyday people. Isn’t it supernatural? Therefore, the requirement for you is higher than any matter of everyday people.” (Lecture Three, Zhuan Falun)

Second Lesson

I have a desk job and sit for much of my day. I began to think about doing physical exercises and started to jog after work. During that time, my son was on a one-week sleep-away school trip. His teacher sent out pictures and trip updates on WeChat every day. Even though I had already stopped using WeChat, my heart was moved to use it at this time to get the teacher’s updates. Even while I jogged, I looked at WeChat. I thought it would be alright to just delete the app once I finished using it during the school trip.

A week after my son came home the end of November 2019, I went through sickness karma again. Many people around us got the flu. My son’s whole class, including teachers and parents, were sick. I had chills, a sore throat, and a stuffy nose. I had a fever but it broke the next morning. My nose was still draining and I had a productive cough, but I felt better and even did a big load of laundry that day.

A week or so later, I was feverish again. This time, the fever was higher and lasted longer. My throat was so sore I couldn’t eat. My stomach started to hurt in the evening. That night, I listened to Master’s lecture recording and dozed off.

For the next five days, I had all the symptoms of a cold. My sinuses and lungs were full of thick yellow mucus. A constant cough kept me up at night. I lost all sense of smell and taste.

The strange thing was that even though other family members suffered the same symptoms as me, their symptoms were milder. By the sixth day, I was able to sleep and started to recover. Since I was a child, my sinuses frequently got inflamed and stopped up. This time, my sinuses cleared up completely. I was able to smell the fresh air.

Later, I reflected on this episode of sickness karma.

First, I was jogging for exercise. I was thinking like an ordinary person, that physical exercise would improve my health. As cultivators, we purify our bodies from within. Through cultivation, every cell in our body is filled with high energy matter. That is the fundamental difference between Falun Dafa and everyday physical exercises.

Other practitioners saw me jogging and suggested reading Master’s teaching on a related topic. I hadn’t thought too much about it, but they were correct. I did not study the Fa well, so I still had ordinary human thoughts.

Second was the attachment to my child. In regard to using WeChat, Minghui published an announcement about that long ago. I came up with excuses to use this application again, which was the wrong thing to do.

Every practitioner has a different cultivation path, but everything that happens to each of us is related to our cultivation. Obstacles and tests are not frightening in and of themselves. The scary thing is when we are unable to use the Fa as a measuring stick and keep righteous thoughts.

Taking the time to write this sharing article was an opportunity to reflect on my cultivation state. I was more sober by the time I finished it. Any thoughts of embarrassing myself before other practitioners by sharing this were gone.

By writing this article, I urged myself to hasten my pace of cultivation. I am thankful for Master Li Hongzhi and Dafa. In the future, I will also constantly remind myself to be aligned with the Fa and stay diligent.