(Clearwisdom.net) Recently, some local practitioners have manifested serious illnesses. This has occurred mostly among elderly practitioners. Some went to a hospital for a check up but no illnesses were found. However, doctors still seemed to find some excuse to give out prescriptions. Some practitioners felt well when they left the hospital but sick again when they arrived home. Some practitioners have shared their experiences with me and here I present my understandings and hope other practitioners will add their understandings.
For a long time some practitioners have been satisfied with the fact that Dafa can heal illnesses, especially those elderly practitioners. Some used to have very serious illnesses, which were cured after practicing Falun Gong. The practitioners would tell everyone that Falun Gong is good. However, whenever a xinxing [mind or heart nature, moral character] test came along, it was hard for them to pass. Sometimes they would even react like ordinary people, and if they really couldn't pass the test they would share their experiences with practitioners and ask for help. I am not against practitioners sharing experiences. I am just saying that the Fa that Teacher taught is for us to use in cultivation. If we study the Fa but don't apply the Fa, are we not studying the Fa just for the sake of studying? If this occurs for a long time, are we still cultivating within Dafa? Teacher said, "Why do I tell you to study, read, and memorize Zhuan Falun? To guide your cultivation!" ("What is Cultivation Practice?" Falun Dafa Essentials for Further Advancement)
When this drags on for a long time and the hardships increase, it is even harder to enlighten to the problem. Teacher said in Teaching and Explaining the Fa at the Metropolitan New York Fa Conference:
"For a long time now some students just haven't gotten rid of their fundamental attachments! And as things have piled up, at the end they aren't able to overcome them and their tribulations get big. When problems occur, instead of searching for problems in their xinxing, fundamentally improving themselves, or truly letting go of the matter and coming through in an open and dignified manner by another route, they focus on the thing at hand--"Goodness? why is it that I still can't overcome this thing? I've done better today, so it should have improved a little. Tomorrow I'll do even better and it should improve some more." He can never let go of that thing. On the surface it appears that he's letting it go--"Look, I'm doing well now." You're doing well now but you are doing well now for its sake. You aren't doing that for the purpose of doing what a true Dafa disciple should do!... As a matter of fact, for many students it's been so long now, and especially after going through July 20, 1999, you should really take a good look at a lot of things on a fundamental level. You should calm down and truly think things over. Don't think, "now that I'm a Dafa disciple I should have nothing bad happen to me. If anything happens then it's not right." And don't think that you should go through whatever other people go through. Each person's situation is different. The key is how well you yourself really do. What you're attached to in your mind all day long are all ordinary people's things, you're even befuddled head-over-heels by feelings, and yet when tribulations come you say, "I'm a Dafa disciple who's suffered from tribulations for a long time.""
Fa rectification has nearly reached its end yet practitioners still have not broken through the self-cultivation circle. Even though we are clarifying the truth and sending forth righteous thoughts, we have not realized our real duties in our hearts. Some practitioners are still at the eliminating disease karma stage. If practitioners are burdened by such attachments for long periods of time, the evil will take advantage of them. When Teacher gives hints, even if some practitioners enlighten to it, they still do not follow them, but continue to ask Teacher for help. I truly hope these practitioners can look within themselves, eliminate all ordinary people's attachments, and not just talk about letting go, but really do it. Cultivation is a very serious matter. "No human attachment can be taken to heaven." ("Teaching the Fa at the Western U.S. Fa Conference") How can we consummate when we hold on to our attachments and refuse to let go?
Some practitioners are burdened by sentimentality. If others are good to him, he is happy. If others are not good to him, he is very upset. Teacher taught us, "When some people say that you're good, you might not really be good, and when some people say that you're bad, you might not really be bad." (Zhuan Falun). The only standard for measuring good and bad is "Truthfulness, Compassion, and Tolerance." Even though we are practicing within the ordinary people's society, we cannot look at ourselves as ordinary people. We must treat ourselves as practitioners every minute of the day. Under any circumstances we must not be moved by ordinary people's attachments and must keep a compassionate and peaceful mind.
I hope that we can all study the Fa well, and at the same time we should follow Dafa and do well the three things that Teacher asks us to do. Only in this way can we keep up with Teacher's Fa rectification process.