(Clearwisdom.net) One day two middle-aged practitioner couples came to my workplace. We sent forth righteous thoughts together at noon. One female practitioner pulled down the top part of her jacket, which closely covered her face and neck. She unzipped the jacket and showed that on her neck there was a large area of blisters. Later the blisters disappeared, but on the same spot there appeared red lumps. She tried to soothe them with toothpaste. Somebody told her that these symptoms looked like herpes zoster. She wanted to treat it with smoke oil. Later on her mouth became crooked and one eye squinted. She even felt nauseated and once lost consciousness. She asked Master for help and kept sending righteous thoughts. Her situation eased a bit. Her practitioner husband and her son and other practitioners helped to send forth righteous thoughts for her, but the situation was still serious. Mentally she was under intense pressure.
There are also other incidents among our local practitioners who have various sickness symptoms, such as vomiting blood, numbness of half of the body (a symptom like cerebral thrombosis), deafness, bad colds, passing blood, an unclear main conscious, nausea, feeling unsteady like having car sickness, being diagnosed with certain diseases when being examined in the hospital, etc. For a long time, "Minghui Weekly" reported that many practitioners in prisons, forced labor camps, and detention centers suffered from various diseases. Also, a considerable number of practitioners who had such symptoms died after they were released.
During the Fa-rectification process, we urgently need practitioners to save sentient beings. Then why do such things happen? How can we extricate ourselves from this state as soon as possible? Let's read Master's Fa first:
"Except for newer students, from July 20 of 1999 on, Master hasn't created any personal cultivation tests for you, and that's because overall your personal cultivation has changed in every respect so that it's in the direction of saving sentient beings and validating Dafa." ("Explaining the Fa During the 2003 Lantern Festival at the U.S. West Fa Conference")
The symptoms suffered by practitioners severely hinder them from saving sentient beings and validating Dafa. Especially for those veteran practitioners who started to practice Falun Gong before July 20, 1999, since Master hasn't created any personal cultivation tests for us, then these symptoms are forced upon us by the old forces, dark mimions, and rotten demons who take advantage of practitioners' lack of understanding of the Fa to persecute them. Where are the practitioners' shortcomings in terms of Fa understanding? What attachments do practitioners have that causes the evil to exploit them and persecute them so severely?
1. During the period of personal cultivation before July 20, 1999, a significant portion of practitioners formed fixed concepts of sickness, sickness karma, karma, dissolving karma, and repaying karma. When practitioners are persecuted, they automatically think in this way instead of actively clearing away the evil. The evil then says: "You see, he doesn't have righteous thoughts." Practitioners still think in terms of "sickness," "sickness karma," "karma," "dissolve karma," and "repay karma." Don't they themselves grasp those things and not let them go? Don't they ask for them and want them? So the various symptoms occur, and some even threaten practitioners' lives. Some practitioners are still confused. They think: "I do send forth righteous thoughts and I do deny such persecution. Why do they still exist? Why do the righteous thoughts not have positive effect?" Some even think: "Why does Master not take care of me? And why do those Fa guardians not protect me?"
It is a principle of this universe that nobody should interfere with what you pursue (Lecture 1 in Zhuan Falun, English translation versioin in 2000). When we are enlightened in the Fa priciples, Master and the Fa guardians will do anything for us. However, nobody can cultivate for us. We should see things from a higher standard. The notions of sickness, sickness karma, karma, dissolving karma, and repaying karma are admissions of the evil's persecution and are attachments formed by our notions. They are the substances forced upon us by the evil before the persecution. They are the illusions that the evil has conjured up. Those are the substances we should get rid of during our cultivation. As cultivators, we should clearly know that the persecution by the evil and dark minions has nothing to do with ordinary sickness or the dissolving of karma in cultivation. Persecution is persecution. The evil often hides itself so we cannot find it. But now the evil comes to us and we should grasp the opportunity to completely eliminate it.
2. The forms of persecution are varied. In the current period it raises practitioners' awareness if practitioners are arrested. Practitioners make phone calls, send letters, distribute flyers, and put up posters to expose the evil people and their deeds and send forth righteous thoughts to rescue practitioners. But when the above mentioned incorrect states appear, many practitioners show their apathy. They don't take action, and they appear oblivious and even think this is a matter of personal concern. Or they may just say that the practitioner lacks righteous thoughts or that his or her thoughts are not pure. They may say the practitioner is not diligent in cultivation or doesn't do the three things well. Though they help to send forth righteous thoughts for practitioners, they give up in the end when they see that practitioners don't improve. They don't tell other practitioners about the persecution so that they can join in sending forth righteous thoughts for the practitioner. The result is that the practitioner is persecuted for a longer time or that the same symptoms recur again and again.
Every practitioner is a particle in Dafa. Every act of persecution forced upon every practitioner is an act of persecution against the whole body of practitioners. Whenever even one such incident occurs, the evil uses it to damage the whole body. If practitioners can realize that the persecution of other practitioners is the same as they themselves being persecuted, then every practitioner help the practitioner who is being persecuted to improve from the Fa's perspective. Together we could send out strong righteous thoughts to completely dissolve the evil. When all practitioners form an unbreakable body, all the evil will then be completely dissolved and destroyed.