(Clearwisdom.net) There are quite a few articles on Clearwisdom Net about sending forth righteous thoughts for practitioners who are haunted by illness demons. I would also like to share my understanding with my fellow practitioners on this issue.
The situations of practitioners suffering from illness demons are different. It is mainly a result of the loopholes in one's mind being taken advantage of by the old forces. The loopholes can be categorized into two types. One is that the practitioner's fundamental attachment has been eliminated. In other words, he is clear that the goal of cultivation is to return to one's true self, rather than to have one's illness cured and live a life of ordinary people. However, he may have a momentary lack of a righteous mind, such as slacking off in studying the Fa (1), doing something wrong, or having a new attachment that was taken advantage of by the evil dark minions. As long as the cultivator has attachments, he is unintentionally acknowledging the old force's arrangement. As Master said, "...and once you unknowingly acknowledge their arrangements they'll have excuses to control you and create various types of danger for you." (Explaining the Fa During the 2003 Lantern Festival at the U.S. West Fa Conference) Under such circumstances, if one's main consciousness is clear and can actively deny the old force's arrangement and expel it, then it is useful for other practitioners to help send forth righteous thoughts to eliminate the dark minions, and it will have a good effect. On the other hand, if one's main consciousness is not very clear and he is not aware that it is interference from the dark minions, he might not think to eliminate them. He can only try to forbear the suffering and is limited to the state of individual cultivation. It won't be that effective for other practitioners to send forth righteous thoughts for him then. Sometimes there is no effect at all. Master said, "If he himself isn't rational, whatever we do amounts to nothing. Sending righteous thoughts can eliminate what's outside him but not what's inside his mind. Whatever a person wants to do comes from a single thought of his--it's he who decides if he wants something or not." (Explaining the Fa During the 2003 Lantern Festival at the U.S. West Fa Conference)
If we want to give help to a practitioner, we should help him fundamentally by studying the Fa with him. When his understanding of the Fa is upgraded, he will have a clear main consciousness and righteous thoughts to actively eliminate the interference. Then, practitioners' sending forth righteous thoughts for him will have a good effect. Take one case in our area as an example. An elderly practitioner became preoccupied with doing housework and one day he couldn't move. He needed someone to take care of him. Another practitioner told him that it was the interference imposed by the dark minions and asked him not to allow them to persecute him at will. The other practitioners advised him to study the Fa more, to look within and to get rid of his attachment. They also told him to send forth righteous thoughts to eliminate the dark minions. Meanwhile, other practitioners also helped him to send forth righteous thoughts. Several days later, he recovered.
The second type is that one's fundamental attachment is not eliminated and one is not very clear about the purpose of cultivation. Their doing the practice is not to return to their original, true selves, but to have their illness cured and live a better life as ordinary people. Practitioners in such a situation seem to practice diligently, but deep in their thoughts they still have the human mindset. When the time comes, the human notions will emerge and cause serious problems. It is just as Master has pointed out,
"Some students show their attachments, but some students don't, they keep them inside and they're incredibly attached, and in the end they can't let them go on their own. The evil will make you more and more abnormal, and make you fall hard--so hard you'll never forget it for the rest of your life." (Explaining the Fa During the 2003 Lantern Festival at the U.S. West Fa Conference)
Master also said in "Teaching and Explaining the Fa at the Metropolitan New York Fa Conference":
"For a long time now some students just haven't gotten rid of their fundamental attachments! And as things have piled up, at the end they aren't able to overcome them and their tribulations get big. When problems occur, instead of searching for problems in their xinxing, fundamentally improving themselves, or truly letting go of the matter and coming through in an open and dignified manner by another route, they focus on the thing at hand--'Goodness... why is it that I still can't overcome this thing? I've done better today, so it should have improved a little. Tomorrow I'll do even better and it should improve some more.' He can never let go of that thing. On the surface it appears that he's letting it go--'Look, I'm doing well now.' You're doing well now but you are doing well now for its sake. You aren't doing that for the purpose of doing what a true Dafa disciple should do!"
For these practitioners, it's useless to send forth righteous thoughts for them. Master said in Zhuan Falun, "If you cannot relinquish the attachment or concern for illness, we cannot do anything and will be unable to help you."
If we really want to help those practitioners, we have to do it fundamentally by helping them study the Fa and cultivate the mind. During the process, they will be able to let go of their attachment to illness and have a clear idea of what cultivation really is so as to cultivate solidly. Only in this way can the fundamental problem be solved. I hope such practitioners can study more of what Master said here and think it over. Master said,
"Why don't you stop and think about it: Why is someone interfering with you? Why is it able to interfere with you? Is it because you have an attachment, or because you have something you can't let go of? Why don't you look at yourself? The true reason lies with you yourself, and that's the only reason it can exploit your gap!" ("Teaching and Explaining the Fa at the Metropolitan New York Fa Conference")
Master also said,
"In some isolated cases some students really did come down with an incurable disease. But think about it, so many people who had severe health problems or incurable diseases before they learned the Fa became well after learning Dafa, so why is it that some students on the other hand can't make things work? Is it that Dafa makes distinctions among sentient beings? Is it that I, your Master, treat students differently? I really have to ask you: Are you truly cultivating? Have you truly followed Dafa's requirements?" ("Teaching and Explaining the Fa at the Metropolitan New York Fa Conference")
In our area there are several practitioners who are just like that. On the surface, they practice diligently, but they didn't really get rid of the attachment to illness. As a result, they left this world. There is one particular case. The practitioner was regarded as very diligent in every aspect. He went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong many times. He was very firm in the custody center and didn't give in to the persecution. He made great contributions to the work of clarifying the truth in our local area. During the hard times when the persecution was extremely severe, he was the coordinator of the truth-clarifying materials in the surrounding areas. Everybody said he was firm and solid in the practice. However, he was not quite clear about the purpose of cultivation. He once said, "I have no children. So no one will take care of me when I am getting old. Practicing Falun Gong will give me good health so that I won't suffer when I die." Consequently, the old forces took advantage of his attachment. On his way to the bathroom after doing the practice in the morning, he fell to the ground in the courtyard and died. The incident caused great distress in our area. I think we should be aware of the specific situations of different practitioners and help them accordingly.
In any case, we cannot wait until the problems get really serious. Then it will be hard to turn around. When we see any practitioner with a fundamental attachment that he cannot give up, we should kindly remind him and help him. When the problem is clear, we can send forth righteous thoughts to lessen his pressure and interference. It will help the practitioner to strengthen his righteous mind and follow through.
The above is limited to my level of understanding. Please kindly point out my mistakes.
Note:
(1) Fa: Law and principles; the teachings of Falun Dafa.
