Looking for the Root Cause of Sickness Karma

(Minghui.org) I began practicing Falun Dafa when I was six. However, due to my poor understanding of Dafa teachings, I failed to live up to Master’s expectations which ultimately caused me to nearly stop cultivating in Dafa.

Illness Karma Actualized from Poor Enlightenment

When I turned 20 years old, I began to have small red dots all over my body. Doctors said that I had psoriasis, a skin disease marked by red, itchy, and scaly patches, which were caused by a poor immune system. The rashes were painful and itchy at the same time. My first reaction was to do Dafa exercises to heal the disease. 

Master Li Hongzhi, the founder of Falun Dafa, told us, 

“Can you be considered a Falun Dafa disciple if you just practice these few sets of exercises every day? Not necessarily. This is because true cultivation must follow the requirements of the xinxing standard that we have mentioned, and you have to truly improve your xinxing—then, it is true cultivation.” (Lecture Three, Zhuan Falun)

The thought of believing I was sick in itself indicated that I was not cultivating earnestly. Every day while rubbing medicine on the rashes and doing Dafa exercises on and off, I thought to myself: I did the exercises but the disease was not cured, so the exercises did not help.

This continued for ten years until 2012 when I met someone who told me that there was a retired doctor who could cure my disease and that she herself was cured by the doctor. So, I quickly found the doctor and brought home the medicine she prescribed. 

A Nightmare Woke Me Up

That night, I had a dream that someone put silkworms in my head. When I woke up, I felt chills on my back and my whole body was numb. Although I realized that it was Master Li giving me a hint, I continued taking the rash medicine every day, thinking that it had cured many patients and besides I already spent so much money on it. Soon afterwords, I felt better which made me happy. But that happiness was short-lived as I began to have a hard time falling asleep at night, and I was also gaining a tremendous amount of weight. It turned out that the drug I was taking was a steroid.

Completely losing hope for a cure, I felt sad and hopeless. I did not want to take any medicines anymore. When I thought of Master Li, my tears streamed down silently—I had failed Master and was not worthy of Dafa’s salvation. For so many years, Dafa had always been by my side, and Master had given me hints, but I did not take cultivation seriously. Tears kept flowing down my cheeks, yet the more tears I had, the firmer and clearer I became with my determination to cultivate in Dafa—I would follow Master till the end even if the disease would never be cured. 

Eliminating Karma Firmly

After strengthening my belief in Master and Dafa, I could concentrate better when reading Dafa books, and the Fa principles in the book became clearer than before. I could clearly feel that I was improving. Meanwhile, the red spots on my body did not bother me as much.

Due to the remnants of the steroid in my body, there had been many recurrences after I stopped taking the drugs. Each recurrence was extremely uncomfortable for a period of time, then my condition improved, before flaring up again. The cycle repeated itself, which made it hard to know if I was getting better. 

During that time, I would run into friends who would comment that the psoriasis had worsened, and that I should see a doctor. I laughed it off and was not moved by it anymore. In the summer, I wore long sleeves to cover the ugly red dots. When it itched, I used toothpaste to relieve it. I thought to myself: in the process of eliminating my karma, I must be firm.

Resisting All Interference with Righteous Thoughts

One day my father told me that many people’s psoriasis was cured after taking a biologic injection (a psoriasis treatment that targets specific parts of the immune system) once a year. Their skin also became smoother, so there was no need to wear long sleeves in summer. Hearing that tempting news, I would have been very excited, but this time I was calm. 

One night, a thought came into my mind out of the blue, “Look at your disease. You’ve been so miserable. Just one injection will make you feel better and you won’t be the only one benefiting from it. Now your children incur a lot of expenses, the quality of life is not good because the disease is preventing you from landing a good job. If it’s cured, you can continue doing the exercises, go out to clarify the truth, and it will be beneficial and harmless for everyone. Taking one injection won’t hurt!” 

Immediately I rejected that thought—No! I do not follow the path arranged by the old forces. I refused to take any injections. I fell asleep with that righteous thought.

When I woke up the next morning, I saw that the rashes had minimized, the color dimmed, and they stopped itching. My body felt light and clean. I realized that Master had been by my side all these years, but my poor enlightenment and insufficient Fa-study had caused the disease to haunt me for so long. I am sorry for myself but very grateful for Master’s merciful salvation.

Master said, 

“Among those concerned with ideology and theory, people have been continuously arguing about which comes first, matter or mind; they are continuously arguing over this question. They debate and try to understand the two separately. I say they are actually one thing—they are integrated.” (“Teaching the Fa in Beijing at the Zhuan Falun Publication Ceremony,” Explaining the Teachings of Zhuan Falun)

I read this paragraph repeatedly, pondering whether this phenomenon in my body should also correspond to a certain factor in my mind and spirit. If so, which factor could it be? 

The manifestation of this disease among ordinary people is that there is a problem within the person’s immune system. I realized that the reason why this disease sustained so long in my body was mainly because of my poor xinxing and enlightenment quality. Accepting that I was ill, I had given the elements behind the disease to occupy my body and distract me from Dafa cultivation. It is true that mind and body are all integrated! 

If a cultivator does not believe in Master and the Fa, he is not worthy of being called a Dafa cultivator. I will work on solidifying my belief in Master and Dafa, cultivating more diligently, and keeping up with the progress of Fa-rectification to become a true Dafa cultivator.

Thank you, Master and Dafa!