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A Tribulation Due to My Attachment to Watching Online Videos

March 28, 2021 |   By a Falun Dafa practitioner in the U.S.

(Minghui.org) An illness karma tribulation hit me suddenly in early February of this year. Although I had experienced some tribulations in the past, I never had to pass an illness karma trial. This seemed to be the very first time, and I didn’t realize that it was a tribulation. 

I lost my appetite. Then, I became very weak, and could hardly walk. One time when I went to the restroom, I sat on the toilet for three hours. I also had difficulty standing up. Even so, I didn’t know I was undergoing a trial, as I never had any experience in this regard. Thus, I was at a loss on what to do. 

At night, I lay in bed and kept shouting, “Ah! Ah!” I ate some rice congee and drank some water. What I couldn’t figure out was why I shouted like that. 

I didn’t experience any pain, but I lost my memory and consciousness. The whole process seemed a bit odd, and I forgot all about what happened. Only my daughter remembered some of it. 

The next morning, my daughter played Master’s lecture recordings for me. While I was listening, I started eating and drinking and stopped shouting.

I also appreciated the support and help from practitioners who were also members of a project to make phone calls to China, as well as their sending forth righteous thoughts for me. Every time practitioners showed concern about me, I was shocked deep down. I could truly feel that their caring carried energy. After that, I became more and more conscious.

Now, when I recall it, I realize that I was being persecuted by the old forces. As a result, my main consciousness wasn’t clear, for I didn’t know that I was undergoing a life and death trial. I held onto my faith in Master and Dafa. 

Dafa is a cultivation way of mind and body. Every time I thought about that, I knew that there were no such things as life and death situations for a practitioner. We need to enlighten to and understand that. 

This tribulation was triggered by the fact that I'd been watching online videos. They were not TV drama series, but rather news anecdotes, and commentary programs. I developed all kinds of attachments. The more I watched, the more attachments flared up, but I didn’t realize that.

Later on when I wrote an experience-sharing article, I analyzed their content. Now, I know that we shouldn’t have any attachments. With attachments, one can’t become a divine being but only remain at the human level. I understood I should stop watching those videos. 

This incident has shaken me. In the past, I particularly loved watching these programs, such as New Tang Dynasty's sketches. I didn’t want to miss any episode. I was like this when I was back in China. Especially after I emigrated from China, it was more convenient to watch them, so I became more obsessed. 

All my family members are practitioners. They also tried to talk me into giving it up. Later, I also came to realize this principle, that I shouldn’t pursue anything in the human world. Now, I have completely let go of this attachment and understand that cultivation is to eliminate every attachment that one has. 

Please use my experience as a reference, as the lesson I learned was profound.