(Minghui.org) Sickness karma is one of the methods the old forces use to persecute Falun Dafa practitioners. Their excuses are that practitioners have attachments, omissions, human thoughts, or have done something that doesn’t conform to the Fa. Thus, they are using sickness karma to “help” practitioners improve. By doing this, the old forces are causing damage to Master’s Fa-rectification.
Some practitioners suffered sickness karma so severely that their ability to do the three things was impaired, and some even passed away. Sometimes practitioners are unable to find their attachment. Thus, they are stuck for a long time and unable to overcome it.
Many practitioners, however, were able to eliminate the sickness karma persecution by intensifying Fa study, doing the exercises, sending righteous thoughts, and looking inside. In this article I am using two practitioners’ personal experiences to illustrate the importance of intensifying one's cultivation to break through sickness karma persecution.
One practitioner is around 50 years old. She has practiced Dafa for more than 20 years. In early 2019, she began to have an upset stomach and would throw up after each meal. She had to change her eating habits. At the beginning, she could eat some porridge or noodles, but later on, she threw up these light foods as well. She had to skip meals altogether and could only drink milk. As a result, she lost a lot of weight.
She continued to study the Fa, did the exercises, sent righteous thoughts, and clarified the facts about Dafa every day, but the situation continued to worsen. Soon, her stomach began to ache, and sometimes it was so painful that it was difficult to bear. One day, the pain was so severe that she almost went to the hospital.
Her physical condition no longer allowed her to even work from home, and she had to quit her job in early October 2019.
With ample time now, she intensified Fa study and increased doing the exercises. She practiced twice a day: three hours in the morning (one hour of holding the wheel, one-and-a-half hours of the sitting meditation, and half an hour of standing exercises) and two hours of group practice on the RTC platform in the afternoon.
She also spent about five hours a day memorizing Zhuan Falun – paragraph by paragraph. She looked inside, found an attachment to self interest, and removed it.
After three to four days of this, she could eat a little. She kept improving with the intensified routine. While she was visiting her former coworkers in late November, the director told her she was welcome to return to work at any time. She indeed returned to work in January 2020.
Another practitioner is also around 50 and has practiced Dafa for more than 20 years. At the beginning of November 2019, he felt constant thirst, had to drink a lot of water, and had to go to the bathroom a lot. He was very tired by February 2020. He ate very little but drank several full water glasses at night. He said he was so exhausted that he felt fatigued when doing the exercises.
One day, he fainted, and his family called 911. A medical professional ran a test on him and said he had very high blood sugar. He was taken to the emergency room (ER) and put on a ventilator. He didn’t wake up in the ICU (Intensive Care Unit) until three days later. He stayed in the hospital for 15 days before being discharged.
He fainted again in early April 2020 and was taken to the ER again. He was later moved to the general ward where he stayed for six days. At home, he could eat an entire watermelon a day in addition to soft drinks, but still had no appetite for food. Just like the other practitioner experiencing tribulation, he lost a lot of weight.
He fainted again in early August and was taken to ER. The doctors injected insulin. On the third day, he had blurry vision. He stayed in the hospital for another 10 days before being discharged on August 12. He was told he must inject insulin at home every day.
He also intensified the exercise by practicing three times a day (two-and-a-half hours each time, including one-hour wheel holding). He listened to Master’s lectures and studied Zhuan Falun as much as he could every day.
In less than a week, his condition began to improve: he could eat some food, and gained some weight. He gradually reduced the insulin. He later changed to practicing the exercises twice a day, so he could have more time to study the Fa. He completely stopped taking insulin by August 27.
Now he is getting better and better. He is planning to clarify the facts to his doctors at the hospital to validate Dafa.
Master said,
“How can you increase gong simply by practicing the exercises a bit longer when the arms are sore from being raised and the legs are tired from standing? How can you increase gong with only a few more hours of exercise? That only serves to transform one’s benti, but it still needs to be reinforced with energy. It does not help upgrade one’s level. Mentally overcoming tribulations is the key to truly improving one’s level.” (Lecture Four, Zhuan Falun)
In my understanding, Master has made it very clear that exercise can transform our benti. The sickness karma is targeting our flesh body, therefore intensifying the practice is an effective way to disintegrate the sickness karma persecution.
Of course, improving our xinxing is fundamental, because after all, it was our omissions and wrongdoings that have given the old forces the excuse to persecute us. Therefore, while intensifying our practice, we must intensify Fa study and memorize the Fa too. We must look inside thoroughly, find the omissions, and fix them.
By doing these things we can beat the old forces at their own game and indeed improve in cultivation.