(Minghui.org) I have been cultivating for the last 28 years and have experienced difficulties on the path of cultivation. In addition to Master’s protection, our righteous thoughts are also crucial. I’d like to share some of my insights of upholding our righteous thoughts in the face of sickness karma.

Some local practitioners recently developed sickness karma, and a few have passed away. Their family members and relatives lost faith in Dafa, including those who previously supported Dafa. My heart grew heavy when I heard about this. Many of the practitioners plagued with sickness karma had gone to Beijing to appeal for Dafa, filed lawsuits against Jiang Zemin, and were incarcerated because of their faith. They made it through all the rough storms but “capsized in the small ditch.” I feel sorry for them and even more pained that it affects the salvation of sentient beings. I helped some of them, and discovered that what these practitioners had in common was that they lacked righteous thoughts at the very beginning and allowed the old forces to seize the loophole and drag them down.

To give an example: fellow practitioner Shu was very diligent in many areas, but she was recently hospitalized. When I finally caught up with Shu, she told me what happened to her. Since her appetite was poor for a few days, her children were concerned and took her for a checkup. The doctor discovered a lump on her neck and surgically removed it. A few days after Shu was discharged, she began vomiting again. The doctor said it was a bowel obstruction and performed another operation. After that, Shu developed kidney failure and required dialysis three times a week. She was worn out and seemed to age a lot in just a few days.

Several fellow practitioners visited Shu, joined her in sending righteous thoughts, studied the Fa and exercised with her. They encouraged her to look within and let go of the interfering and distracting thoughts. She recovered quickly and resumed her efforts in saving people. Thinking about her story, I feel that her first thought upon learning about the diagnosis was acknowledging it. If she rejected the interference at the very beginning, maybe much of her suffering could have been avoided.

When her appetite was poor, she could have considered this a body purification process and not let sentimentality interfere. When the lump in her neck first appeared, it could have been negated and regarded as the transformation of a cultivator’s cells into high energy matter. Vomiting may also have been viewed as another body purification process.

I went through an intense body purification process some years ago. My experience is that whenever tribulations come, we should negate them with righteous thoughts and firmly believe in Master and Dafa. When I was 46, my period lasted a very long time and the blood flow was heavier than usual. I thought I was approaching menopause, so I didn’t pay much attention. It got worse over time to the point where I could not leave home. My husband was concerned and asked me to see a doctor. I told him not to worry and that my body was going through purification.

One day, while my husband was away from home, I lost a great deal of blood and was so pale and weak that I lay breathless in bed. I could hear my blood flow and it was fast and steady, like water from a faucet. Shortly after that, I felt like my body was floating in the air. I was immediately alerted: was my main consciousness leaving the body? No, I could not die this way; if I did, my family and relatives would doubt Dafa and that wouldn’t do! I used all my strength to sit up and sent forth righteous thoughts. After ten minutes, I could sit up straight, and the bleeding stopped. I felt more energetic, and I knew I would be fine.

After intense Fa study, I learned how to cultivate and how to measure myself against the Fa. I was able to find many attachments, such as resentment, impatience, looking down upon others, being short-tempered, and Party culture. I gradually rectified myself with the Fa and my abnormal bleeding disappeared.