Some Thoughts Regarding Illness Tribulations

(Minghui.org) I experienced sickness karma in the form of coughing and a fever, so I had to stop making truth clarification phone calls. At one point, I coughed all night. When another practitioner asked me the next day to distribute flyers with her, I immediately agreed.

She reminded me to, “Just keep reciting Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good.”

I smiled and said nothing because I thought, “If I keep reciting these auspicious phrases, it may mean I have an attachment to pursuit.”

But if I kept coughing while distributing flyers, people might have negative thoughts about Falun Dafa, so I recited “Falun Dafa is good. Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good,” and my cough lessened.

This incident reminded me of something Master said:

“Saying “Dafa hao” is not only effective for ordinary people, but also for Dafa disciples since it clears away the bad things in the mind. When you have every cell in your body saying that Dafa is great, you will find that your entire body feels the reverberations. (Applause) It is the Fa that your mind is invoking, so that’s why it is so powerful.” (Teaching the Fa at the 2004 International Fa Conference in New York)

I understood that when I recite the phrases, all the cells in my body are reciting with me. If those interfering elements in my body agreed with what they were reciting, they would assimilate to the Fa, and the interference would disappear. Those that continue to interfere are eliminated by the power of the Fa.

However, when I got home, the cough returned. It could be that I stopped reciting the phrases, or I still needed to enlighten to what caused my sickness karma.

I recalled complaining about another practitioner earlier in the day. Afterward, my cough was so bad that it was hard to breathe. I realized the root cause of the sickness karma was my complaining about others – an attachment I never paid much attention to.

I complained whenever someone disagreed with me; my heart was filled with anger when those who betrayed Dafa attacked us; I blamed others when I felt they didn’t meet my expectations, etc. One practitioner told me, “You’re strict with yourself and others.”

I was surprised when I examined myself. Being harsh towards others indicates a lack of kindness, while complaining about and criticizing others when they don’t meet my standards can lead into resentment and bitterness, which is a manifestation of demonic nature and harms both myself and others. I’m now working to eliminate this attachment.

I would like to share another understanding I gained while helping a fellow practitioner overcome sickness karma.

I feel strongly that if you experience tribulations, you should let the other practitioners know instead of waiting until you’re too weak to study the Fa and do the exercises.

Master said in the poem “The Master-Disciple Bond” in Hong Yin II, “When disciples have ample righteous thoughts, Master has the power to turn the tide.”

My understanding is that supernatural phenomena come from the Fa, and practitioners experience miracles only when they are clear-headed and have strong righteous thoughts through Fa study. It’s also important to dig out the root cause of the persecution when we experience tribulations.

A practitioner in our area began practicing in 2017. She suffered a sickness tribulation for over a year without seeking treatment in the hospital, until the pain in her toes became too intense to endure.

A checkup in the hospital indicated that she had an advanced stage of bowel cancer. Doctors were surprised that she hadn’t sought treatment earlier, but she didn’t feel any pain where the cancer was. Further checkups found she had a few other health issues and she had to be admitted to the ICU twice.

Although she’s a relatively new practitioner, she’s very committed to promoting the Fa and Shen Yun. Every year, she spends weeks traveling to nearby cities to promote Shen Yun. She works as a white-collar professional and when she runs out of her annual leave, she takes days off to promote Shen Yun and help wherever she’s needed.

Last year, when she heard that someone needed to put up posters for Shen Yun in a township a bit further from the city center, she offered to go. Since she was still too weak to do it on her own, she took her daughter with her. While her daughter talked with people, she sent righteous thoughts to strengthen her and eliminate any interference.

I was very touched by what she did, but at the same time, I felt she needed to deepen her understanding of the Fa principles so her cultivation could improve.

I told her, “You didn’t feel any pain even though you had advanced bowel cancer. This shows that Master has been looking after you all along. If it hadn’t been for Master, you may have died. You are very firm in Dafa cultivation, which is really good. You were diagnosed with a terminal disease by the medical profession. It’s also a life and death test from the cultivation point of view. Dafa has standards, and it may not change one’s fate simply because one has done well in one aspect of cultivation.”

Through looking within, she found that she indeed neglected many aspects of cultivation. For example, Master once dropped a hint in her dream, reminding her not to kill (she wanted to kill a chicken); she acted very aggressively during an argument with her daughter in another dream; she also realized that she had lustful thoughts, etc.

I’ve now gained a deeper understanding about practitioners suffering long-term sickness karma: We all cultivate in the maze and no one knows how long one’s life span is. Some people’s life spans have been extended by Master, but they do not know this. If one fails to take cultivation seriously and look inward, one may still encounter life-threatening situations.

The parts in us that have not been cultivated well are still those of everyday people, whose life cannot be extended lightly. A loophole in this dimension may appear insignificant, but the impact may be huge in another dimension, which the old forces may use as an excuse to block you.

Our compassionate Master has explained all the Fa principles to us—how to pass tests, how to purify our minds and bodies so we can ascend to higher realms. We must truly cherish these precious opportunities that come along only once in a million years! We must truly cultivate ourselves in Dafa to be able to return home with Master! The ordeals that practitioners face reflect the enormous karma Master is bearing for practitioners and sentient beings.

As for myself, I feel that I am not as diligent in cultivation as I was at the beginning. Due to my relaxed attitude toward cultivation, my sending forth righteous thoughts is also like going through the motions sometimes. When we do not follow the Fa’s standards, our actions may have a negative impact on Dafa and affect the whole body of practitioners.

Only when we Dafa practitioners become more diligent in cultivation and conduct ourselves by the Fa principles, can we put an end to the ordeals as soon as possible.

The above are some of my personal understandings. Please kindly point it out if there’s anything inappropriate.