(Clearwisdom.net) There is a 65 year-old practitioner in our Fa study group who started practicing Falun Gong in 1998. She had always done the three things well and was diligent in her cultivation. Especially during the worst persecution period, she never gave in to the evil forces or stopped clarifying the truth. There were times when she went to the police station to talk with the leaders, helped fellow practitioners who had attachments of fear, and brought Fa study materials and Minghui Weekly to help fellow practitioners advance together.
Yet she started experiencing serious sickness karma around May 2008. She coughed, couldn't sleep well, and had difficulty breathing at times. Her symptoms often got better after fellow practitioners sent forth righteous thoughts together, but then she soon relapsed. The situation went on for quite a while until she became too weak to even walk. She had no choice but to stay home to do the exercises and study the Fa. This past August her symptoms got worse. There were a total of four times when she vomited blood. Her family finally came to learn about it the last time it happened. It was midnight and the amount of blood was more than a small bucket could hold. As her righteous thoughts weren't strong enough, she allowed her family to take her to the hospital. After being on IVs for four days, she was transferred to a tumor specialist at another hospital. There the test showed she had a tumor in her abdomen and lymphoma as well. The hospital issued a notice stating that she was "critically ill." During her stay in the hospital, she continued listening to Master's lectures with an MP3 player. Her fellow practitioners kept visiting her, sending forth righteous thoughts for her, and sharing their understanding of the Fa with her. She understood that the test results were just illusions and that a hospital was not a place for practitioners, as practitioners should not have illnesses. Yet she still spent nearly a month in the hospital, getting daily IV treatments. Her stay in the hospital didn't yield any improvement whatsoever. She was still bone thin, coughed all day long, had trouble sleeping and eating, and her tumors remained the same. Many practitioners urged her to go home, "How can divine beings have illnesses and how can ordinary people cure illnesses for them?" They also made her realize that her problem of not being able to get along with her family was a huge attachment that she needed to eliminate. She took their advice. On the day she was released from the hospital, her family took the liberty of arranging a chemotherapy treatment for her without her knowledge.
She often told fellow practitioners that her husband never cared about her, was unfair, and that they never saw eye to eye on any single matter. Arguing was a common solution between them. She failed to treat herself as a practitioner each time this topic was brought up. She was so tired of their married life that she thought of moving out a couple of times. Even before she was released from the hospital, she was considering a plan to do so. She didn't realize that her resentment and her unwillingness to see or live with him had already become a strong attachment.
For a week after she returned home, many practitioners near and far went to her place to send forth righteous thoughts for her, yet her condition didn't improve. Fellow practitioners concluded that as their intense actions of sending forth righteous thoughts for such a long period of time didn't seem to help improve her condition, the root cause must be her own xinxing problem that was derived from her strong attachment. Although she said she had already cultivated away the attachment, her heart had never truly let it go. This was why the tribulation lasted so long. They decided it was time to have a serious discussion with her. No matter what her reaction would be, it was for her own good and for everyone to advance together as a group. (In the past due to her outstanding record in doing the three things, some practitioners didn't dare to offer her any constructive feedback.) We decided to let one practitioner talk to her in the bedroom, while the rest all gathered in the living room to send forth righteous thoughts. The representative went in and said, "So many fellow practitioners have come to send forth righteous thoughts for you, yet your condition hasn't improved a bit. Do you know the reason why? It is because you knowingly hold onto this fundamental attachment toward your husband. You have been mad at him all along, and to the point that you simply don't want to see him anymore. You endure it with tears and make your own life miserable."
"You must get rid of this attachment along with its root cause. Please treat yourself as a cultivator in this matter and upgrade your xinxing. Try to tolerate him and forgive him. We'll eventually leave this mundane world. We should not care for anything that interests everyday people. Can you bring to heaven these things that you cannot let go of? Why are you gripping it tenaciously? Master said, 'If you cannot love your enemy, then you cannot reach Consummation.' ("Teaching the Fa at the Fa Conference in Australia" in 1999) Let alone, he's been your husband for over 40 years. Hatred is also sentimentality that needs to be eliminated. Why can't you treat him as one of the sentient beings that you want to save? This time you must handle it well." She replied, "Right." The practitioner went on to say, "Open your heart to him. Share with him how you feel. Forgive him and let go of all the unpleasant memories. After you remove the wall that's separating your heart from his, he'll forever regard you as his wonderful wife. If you can do so, your condition will instantly improve. You must have the firm belief that you will be able to follow Master home by the time the Fa-Rectification period is over." "Right," she replied.
That night she apologized to her husband. She asked for his forgiveness in areas throughout their entire marriage where her improvements could be made. She also told him that she'd no longer hold feelings against him and that she'd start by improving herself.
The next day we went to her place as usual to send forth righteous thoughts. We saw that her relationship with her husband had changed. She only coughed a little and could finally eat and sleep. She was also strong enough to study the Fa with us. Her husband told us happily that there was nothing between them. He also sat down and joined our Fa study. Her condition is now improving daily, and her spirits are high. We are genuinely happy for her. We believe she will recover soon through studying the Fa and doing the exercises. We are waiting for her to continue her efforts in clarifying the truth.
Through this experience, we concluded the following. First and foremost, if someone does well in clarifying truth, it does not necessarily mean he or she has cultivated well in all aspects. Family is also a cultivation area that we should not ignore. Whenever problems occur within our families, we should use the Fa to guide us through. Rather than choose to avoid them, we should face problems with an open heart. Secondly, when it is clear that a fellow practitioner still has a certain strong attachment, we need to point it out immediately, instead of worrying about hurting the person's feelings. If it goes unattended, a small loophole could self-develop into a huge one, which could easily be used by the evil forces to turn into a life-threatening tribulation. Lastly, when someone does well in truth-clarification, we should not idolize that person. It is a practitioner's responsibility to do well in clarifying the truth. If not, he or she should strive to improve. In fact if we give too much attention to the outer performance, we might bring tribulations to that person. Yet, when our fellow practitioners are facing sickness karma tests, we should care about it and offer help with compassion. We remember what Master said, "The next person's things are your things, and your things are his things." ("Teaching the Fa at the Washington, D.C. Fa Conference" on July 22, 2002)
The above were some of our shared experiences from our Fa study group. Please kindly point out anything improper.
