(Clearwisdom.net)

Recently, several fellow practitioners in our area have experienced severe sickness karma. Some of them have passed away. Here I would like to share some of my understandings.

Practitioner A had nephropathy (a kidney disorder), but recovered after practicing Falun Dafa. However, he stopped practicing after July 20, 1999, when the persecution started. Consequently, the nephropathy recurred, and the doctor could do little about it. So he resumed his Fa study and did the exercises, but he was not diligent. After his symptoms were alleviated, he again returned to ordinary life, so the disease became worse. His wife, also a practitioner, and other practitioners noticed that he focused on his disease and kept it in mind constantly, although he did not take medication to treat it. Finally, his life was taken away by the old forces.

It was interference by the evil forces, although he was very clear that we should break through the interference by the old forces. Why did he follow the old forces' arrangements? He did not take any medication, but he could not let go of the attachment of being cured. As Teacher said,

"So he also knew, 'Oh, as long as I don't mention treating illness and don't ask Teacher to heal me, Teacher will surely cure my illness in due time.' You see, he didn't say it verbally and he might have even stopped mentioning his illness to anyone, but after a long period of time he was still thinking deep inside, 'As long as I do the exercises Teacher is sure to heal me in due time.' He was still thinking about it like that. That tiny deviation made for a real, fundamental difference. That tiny bit of deviation revealed his true nature: He was still concerned with getting healed."(Teaching the Fa at the Conference in Europe)

I understand that the key point for practitioner A was to get rid of his attachment to being healed. It is the fundamental difference between humanness and godhood. How does one do that? Only by studying the Fa! We should pursue nothing and gain naturally, as the Fa teaches us. When studying the Fa, owing to the interference of our attachments, we may not fully concentrate on it, so we have to deny and expel them. Gradually, we will improve ourselves. Teacher will take care of everything that should be taken care of.

Teacher pointed out,

"If you face death today--regardless of what form of death--and are completely fearless, if you aren't concerned about it whatsoever and think, 'Perhaps I'll go to Heaven after I die,' then death will truly no longer take place. The key is a person's mind. Our Dafa cultivation aims exactly at one's mind--to cultivate is to cultivate the human mind. If your mind doesn't change everything else you do means nothing. Outward acts mean nothing." (Teaching the Fa at the Conference in Europe)

How should his family help him? Of course, their assistance should ideally be based on the Fa rather than on family love, because family love itself is an attachment that needs to be eliminated. If his wife's heart and mind wavered constantly based on his symptoms, then she also did not pass the trial well and was also taken control of by the old forces at this point. How could she deny the arrangements by the old forces?

Here I am not recommending practitioners to be indifferent to our family members, but just suggesting that we use righteous thoughts, more encouragement, and complain less. The better we do, the fewer excuses the old forces have to take advantage of. The purpose is not to prevent interference by the old forces, instead, we should do well as required by the Fa.

What about other fellow practitioners? We should look inward for everything to see if there is anything that we did well superficially but did not meet the requirement of the Fa in our hearts. Some may think, "Practitioner A was still harmed by the sickness karma, and he cultivated badly!" This thought is actually a reflection of a lack of compassion. As a fellow practitioner, we must be compassionate. This thought will form a gap between us, which is what the old forces want. As a practitioner, we should help him to establish righteous thoughts unconditionally and reinforce his righteous thoughts. But when he dies, we should follow the ways of ordinary people. Otherwise, if practitioners surround the corpse and send righteous thoughts, misunderstandings may arise.

It was reported that one practitioner revived eight days after entering the state of death. That may have been a case in which the practitioner put down the attachment of life and death without reservation. We should remember that there are no models in cultivation, so we should not follow this example just because it was reported. Pursuing a result is an attachment. There is no problem in sending righteous thoughts to break through the interference by the old forces, but we should be very righteous, or else the loophole will be exploited by the old forces.

We also should not regard taking medication as a crucial point to judge a practitioner. Teacher said in Zhuan Falun,

"How can being a vegetarian enable one to cultivate Buddhahood? Everyone knows that eating meat is only one attachment and desire--this is only one attachment. Being a vegetarian only removes this one attachment. One still needs to relinquish jealousy, the competitive mentality, the attachment of zealotry, the mentality of showing off, and various other attachments; there are numerous human attachments. Only by removing all attachments and desires can one complete one's cultivation practice."

As a practitioner, if one does not pass this trial well, just pay a lot more attention to it and stand up again after falling down, because removing every attachment is equally important, not just one, such as taking a pill. If everyone overreacts on this point, it is the exact loophole the old forces will take advantage of. That is why the CCP regime fabricated the lie that Falun Gong practitioners are not allowed to take medicine.

This article is not to criticize fellow practitioners but to remind everyone that we must have stronger righteous thoughts under such circumstances to form an indestructible whole body.