(Clearwisdom.net) From reading fellow practitioners' experience sharing articles on the Minghui website, I have discovered that even though practitioners all know that we should send forth righteous thoughts when the evil interference and persecution take place, the effects of their righteous thoughts have differed greatly. For instance, when the police were outside their doors, some practitioners' righteous thoughts could drive them away and some could distract the police by changing the environment, such as making their cell phones ring so that the practitioner could escape. However, some practitioners' righteous thoughts weren't able to do much, and the practitioner was still taken away by the police.
Some cases of persecution are in the form of severe "sickness karma." Some practitioners' righteous thoughts can make the symptoms disappear right away, some had to repeat their righteous thoughts for a period of time before he/she could break through, and some did not have much effect, and thus they had to go to the hospital or lose their precious human body.
We are all Master's disciples and study the same Fa, so why do our righteous thoughts differ so greatly? To my personal understanding, when tribulations come, the reason for sending forth righteous thoughts must align with the Fa, which determines its effectiveness. Just like Master said,
"We have said that good or evil comes from a person's spontaneous thought, and the thought at that moment can bring about different consequences." (Zhuan Falun, Lecture Four)
To elaborate, if the basis of our thoughts is selfish and we are trying to benefit ourselves, such as keeping our cultivation practice from being interrupted or sparing ourselves from suffering, then our righteous thoughts will most likely be powerless, because those thoughts would be a form of "pursuit" instead of true righteous thoughts. Another situation is if we think the evil is powerful and we become afraid of it, and when our minds become unstable or worry about the effectiveness of our righteous thoughts, then the effect of our righteous thoughts will indeed be poor. These thoughts are not a god's thoughts, but an ordinary human's. If one can wholeheartedly and truly believe in Master and the Fa, bear in mind that righteous thoughts are for saving sentient beings and absolutely negate the old force interference, then our righteous thoughts will surely eliminate the evil in other dimensions, which will naturally manifest itself in this dimension, where persecution or signs of illness disappear.
Once, a fellow practitioner was stricken by sickness karma. Amidst great pain, all she could think of was what kind of attachments she had that were not yet removed which had been taken advantage of by the evil. As a result, it took her over a month to get over the tribulation. However, it was quite different for another practitioner who was also stricken by sickness karma and all of a sudden could not move. Two hours later, she suddenly had a thought: "There are so many things waiting for me to do, I cannot just lie down like this. No matter what attachments I have left, I will most certainly get rid of them!" Then she got up. She was able to stand up as if nothing had happened. Later, she told me that the thoughts of negating the old forces must be very strong, as if they can penetrate right through a mountain.
Every practitioner knows that he/she should send forth righteous thoughts to negate the old forces when stricken by sickness karma, but how can we achieve having powerful thoughts? In my humble understanding, one must first completely immerse himself in Fa-rectification and the saving of sentient beings instead of personal cultivation, so as to negate the old forces selflessly.