[Righteous Thoughts and Righteous Actions Series] Looking at Being Free from Sickness Karma for Five Years

(Clearwisdom.net) I obtained the Fa about five years ago. Since that time, I have had very little sickness karma and those that I did have lasted a very short time. At first, I believed that it was a natural phenomenon for Dafa practitioners and that it was nothing. However, later on I saw practitioners who were constantly tormented by sickness karma, and I want to share my understanding about it with everyone.

1. From changing mentalities to standing steadfast in Dafa

In 2000, I obtained the Fa through reading Zhuan Falun in a bookstore. After I finished reading the book, I immediately began to treat myself as a Dafa practitioner. At the time, I believed that practitioners had no illnesses. When I first started, the evil was at its peak and Dafa was being persecuted severely. I was very worried and wanted to tell everyone about how great Dafa is. Although my family members do not oppose Dafa, they did not believe that the practitioners' truth clarification efforts would ever amount to anything. As I had just started practicing, I did not know how to clarify the truth. The only way I knew was to say loudly, "We practice Falun Dafa. We are not afraid of death, so why would we be afraid of the evil persecution?" or "I am a Falun Gong practitioner. Since I started practicing, I have never been sick. I can promise you that I will not get sick in the future either." Every time I said this, I felt as if I was one of the practitioners in Tiananmen Square, calling out "Falun Dafa is good." I felt righteousness coursing through my whole body. Later on I realized that what I had said was at too high a level, and non-practitioners might not be able to understand it. Looking back on it now, my steadfast understanding on sickness karma from the perspective of cultivation deeply engrained itself upon me and later became a great influence in allowing me to overcome tribulations.

2. Improving my understanding of the Fa and strictly adhering to the standards

As my understanding of the Fa deepened, I understood the idea of putting others' interests before my own. When I clarify the truth, I must think about others and not force them to think the way I do. Other than this, my every action in life is important. I do things for Dafa and not for myself. On the issue of sickness karma, I know that practitioners do not have illnesses, but there will be tribulations. I believe that people cannot differentiate between eliminating karma and illness. If I allow them to see me passing through a tribulation, they will think that practitioners get ill too and we are just using a different term for it. So, in order to get them to understand, I feel that I must not stay in the state of eliminating sickness karma.

In Zhuan Falun lecture four, Teacher discussed the issue of karma:

"Why do you encounter these problems? They are all caused by your own karma. We have already eliminated for you many, numerous pieces of it, leaving only that tiny bit which is divided into tribulations at different levels for upgrading your xinxing, tempering your mind, and removing your different attachments. These are all your own tribulations that we use to improve your xinxing, and you will be able to overcome them. As long as you upgrade your xinxing, you can overcome them. Unless you, yourself do not want to do so, you can make it, provided you want to overcome them."

Also in the article, "Sickness Karma" from the Essentials for Further Advancement:

"Sickness karma was arranged to improve your enlightenment quality while eliminating the karma from your different previous lives. Besides, this is also to test whether you are determined in following Dafa; this will continue until your cultivation reaches Beyond-Triple-World-Law. This is putting it in general terms."

So my understanding is that we certainly have karma, but it does not have to manifest itself through sickness. If we can recognize this and do our best to eliminate the loopholes, then the old forces will have no excuse to use sickness karma to create tribulations for us.

Ever since Teacher taught us how to send forth righteous thoughts and told us about the goals of the old forces, it has become even easier to eliminate sickness karma. I remember once when I was attending a class in the computer room. Because I was sitting in front of the computer and directly facing the air conditioner, I felt that it was very cold. Suddenly my tonsils began to swell, a symptom that I was catching a cold. At that instant I immediately realized that, "Feeling chilly means that I will catch a cold," is a human notion. Meanwhile, I was also with a lot of other students that I needed to clarify the truth to. I soon denied this notion completely and sent forth righteous thoughts. When I looked at the time on my watch, it was less than two minutes and my tonsils had stopped swelling.

3. A stable foundation of cultivation will manifest onto the surface

Two years ago I joined the army. Since the life in the regiment is very strict and disciplined, I was both tired and busy. After a while, I rarely studied the Fa and did not practice the exercises at all. I became very negligent and had many loopholes. In spite of all this, I still had a good foundation in my understanding of sickness karma. No matter how cold or hot it was, whenever I had symptoms of a cold, my righteous thoughts would arise and tell me that I could not make Dafa look bad and that I must deny those thoughts completely. Immediately after this thought, I felt cured. It has become a habit for me on the issue of sickness karma. That is, we must not allow the old forces any excuse. Teacher said in "Explaining the Fa During the 2003 Lantern Festival at the U.S. West Fa Conference," "You should exhibit compassion and tolerance, and consider others more, and here among human beings it will become a habit for you."

A month ago, many of my co-workers contracted influenza. Someone looked at me curiously and asked, "People all around you are coughing. How come you are still so healthy?" Right after this inquiry, my co-workers answered for me, saying, "It's because he practices Falun Gong." Even though they do not acknowledge this often, they all see the effects of Dafa.

Conclusion

Over the last five years, people around me such as my family members, friends, classmates, friends in the regiment and now my colleagues, all know that, after I started practicing Falun Gong, I never got sick. I believe that this is the most vivid image that will be retained in peoples' thoughts, so we must be diligent.

March 6^th 2005