(Clearwisdom.net) For several years there have been practitioners facing interference from sickness karma. Some have even lost their lives due to sickness karma, including those who passed away shortly after being released from forced-labor camps or detention centers.
The reasons behind this are, of course, complicated. I think, however, that some cases ending in death could have been avoided. Some practitioners find out in prison that they have cancer, so the jail shifts the responsibility to family members, releasing the practitioners and sending them home to die. Of course, sickness karma results from the persecution. But after these practitioners are released, it is critical how we treat it, how to understand the Fa based on the Fa, and whether we have righteous thoughts or take action. For new practitioners, Teacher can get rid of a tumor with a wave of the hand. Then as practitioners who have practiced Dafa for several years, why can we not enlighten that illness symptoms can be created just as easily? Maybe it was just a way to help us to get out of jail. Cancer could disappear overnight, and the doctors would claim it was simply a misdiagnosis. The evil forces want to ruin practitioners who lack righteous thoughts.
Teacher said,
"You're a practitioner, so if you always think it's a health problem you're actually asking for it--you are asking for that problem, and now it's able to set in." (from Zhuan Falun)
If the practitioner thinks that it is an incurable illness and feels a lot of pressure, then the evil strengthens and enlarges the attachment. Doesn't that thought follow the arrangements of the old forces? The difference between two thoughts causes different results. Our thought at the critical moment reflects whether our cultivation is solid or not. How can Teacher purify our bodies if we, ourselves, think that we cannot be cured? Some practitioners recovered very fast, even the prison doctors could not believe it. These practitioners devoted themselves to validating the Fa soon after they recovered and made up for the time lost while they were in jail. However, some practitioners did not recover, and some even passed away very soon after their release. That critical thought plays a very important role in many different cases.
Take myself as an example. One month before I started practicing Falun Dafa in 1997, I was taken to the hospital for a severe illness. The doctor asked my children to arrange for my funeral. However, my children persuaded me to practice Falun Dafa. I had one thought at that time: I will practice it! Teacher did everything for me just because of this thought. I completely recovered within several days. It was as if I had never been ill.
I took many detours after the persecution began because I didn't study the Fa well. In January 2000, I rushed home because I wanted to make a banner that I could hang out in public that evening. All of a sudden, I fell down on the ice. I heard a "crack," which sounded like a bone breaking. I immediately thought, "That is too bad! One of my bones fractured." When I looked at my feet, I found that the skin on my feet had turned black. My heart became even more desperate, so I asked a few people to take me to the hospital. I comforted myself by thinking, "Let Teacher and the hospital treat me together." That thought was even worse. I took some medication and felt worse and worse. Several days later, I realized that I had not treated the tribulation with a practitioner's righteous thoughts, so the persecution worsened. I was lucky that I realized my mistake and rectified myself. Teacher then arranged for some practitioners to look after me. Soon after that I was able to walk as if the accident had never occurred.
There was another experience I cannot forget. I was detained in a forced labor camp in 2003 because I went to Beijing to validate the Fa. I was tortured to the point that I could not walk. After I was released, my limbs gave me severe pain, and sometimes they hurt so badly that I could not even put my clothes on. One morning last year I was suddenly hit by such a severe headache that I could not stand when practicing the exercises. I lied in bed and begged Teacher to save me. I thought to myself that I was a disciple of Teacher. Only Teacher could arrange my cultivation path, and no evil could test me or persecute me! Then I sent forth righteous thoughts to eliminate the interference. The same thing happened the following two mornings. I was suffering so much that I felt the evil was about to take my life. I firmly believed that I would not be in any danger because we have Teacher and the Fa. I insisted in sending forth righteous thoughts and clarifying the truth. Sometimes the headache was so severe that I could not sleep. Sometimes I had all kinds of tribulations each day. Finally, I passed through them. One evening when I was reading, a thin voice said to me twice, "Stop reading and die." I replied at once, "Why should I die? I haven't reached consummation. I will follow my Teacher, not you. I will never be taken advantage by you and damage Dafa's honor." I then sent forth righteous thoughts. (I had traveled a crooked path during my detention.) After some time, the same thin voice told me to die again. I then sent forth righteous thoughts again. The old forces interfered with me again and again and gave me many big tribulations.
Sometimes I think that the practitioners detained in jails are being persecuted and that the evil is watching practitioners at home. The evil attempts to pull down any practitioners who have attachments. They justify the tribulations with the excuse that practitioners have to eliminate karma and upgrade their xinxing. We should realize clearly that while we did accumulate a lot of karma in our past lives, we don't have to eliminate karma this way. The more important thing is that we should not even have the concept of "sickness." On one hand, we should look inward to see where our loopholes are. On the other hand, we should eliminate them with firm righteous thoughts and deny the destructive tests. I also think that it is a test of our enlightenment whether we ask Teacher for help. I think that a practitioner who just sighs in front of hardship is the same as a practitioner who cries for his or her mother during tribulations instead of calling for Teacher. I am a senior citizen. From my experience these past years, I have found that when I could think of Teacher when facing dangerous situations, the result was good. Teacher did everything for me as long as I could let go of life and death and attachments.
We must save sentient beings now! We should display a state of physical and mental health to validate the greatness of the Fa. Many people won't listen to what we say. Instead, they want to see our behavior. I hope that all practitioners can keep in mind that Teacher cares about us, and that no one can move a practitioner who has righteous thoughts and actions.
2006-02-06