PureInsight | February 1, 2010
[PureInsight.org] I had toothache for more than half a year. I often sent forth righteous thoughts and constantly looked within. What was causing this? Was it a hint that I needed to cultivate my speech better, pay less attention to qing (sentimentality), or do the Three Things better? I looked within for a long time and tried to correct myself. But things did not improve.
Over the past month, the toothache became more and more severe. It was painful when I drank cold or hot water or ate vegetables. When touching my teeth with my finger, I could feel that most of the upper teeth and two of the lower teeth were loose. Several people told me about a toothpaste containing a Chinese medicine that could relieve my toothache. Considering it just toothpaste rather than a medical treatment, I wanted to give it a try. After using it for two days, I did see some results. On the third day, however, the pain came back and was even more severe than before. My younger sister, who is also a practitioner, heard about this and told me to stop using the toothpaste since I was using it for its medicinal ingredient. So I stopped using it.
Because my xinxing (heart/mind-nature) fell to the level of an everyday person, I was tired and sleepy every day. It was the worst time since I began to cultivate, and I could not do well in Fa-study or doing the exercises, either.
In the October 13, 2009 issue of Zhengjian Weekly, I saw an article by a fellow practitioner on how they resolved a toothache in a righteous way. The article was helpful to me and I also sent forth righteous thoughts to benevolently resolve the toothache. On the third day of sending forth righteous thoughts, I told the specter that was causing the toothache, “This is the last chance for you to be benevolently resolved. Please run away and do not miss this opportunity. Otherwise, even if I do not eliminate you, the cosmos’s Fa will no longer allow you to be here.” When sending forth righteous thoughts in this way, the pain became less. On the next day, I was able to eat vegetables and even peanuts.
However, I still did not have resolute faith in Teacher and the Fa. With human notions, I touched the teeth from time to time to check if the pain was indeed gone. I was also wondering how loose teeth could recover so quickly. Because of these wavering thoughts, the toothache continued to come back and then go away again.
When reading Zhuan Falun today, I was struck by Teacher’s words: “However, upon having it removed for him, his mind still worries about it. He always thinks that the condition still exists. He still thinks that it is there, and this is already an attachment called suspicion. As time passes, this person may bring it to himself again. One should give up this attachment, as this spirit or animal possession no longer exists.”
In another passage in Zhuan Falun, Teacher says: “The enlightenment that we actually refer to is a matter of whether in the course of cultivation practice one can enlighten to and accept the Fa taught by the master or the Tao taught by the Taoist master, whether one can treat oneself as a practitioner upon encountering tribulations, and whether one can adhere to the Fa while practicing cultivation.”
Teacher has explained this clearly in the Fa, so why didn't I follow the principle? Was I still a practitioner? My loose teeth were just superficial phenomena; it was really testing whether I could truly understand and accept the Fa. Although the specter was benevolently resolved, whether I was in the Fa or not was clearly seen by evil beings in other dimensions. They may take advantage of my loopholes to persecute me. This is very risky and so I have corrected myself. In fact, the power of Dafa is boundless. Several years ago, my daughter had also witnessed it. Because of improper medical care when giving birth to her child, she had a disability. Her right arm was painful whenever she raised it. After finishing the second set of exercises, the pain was gone. How come I wasn't clear when a similar tribulation happened to me?
I have recited Zhuan Falun in the past and have been studying it every day. But how to resolve the various problems encountered in daily life is where the tests come. I have cultivated for seven years and my previous illnesses are gone, including hemangioma (an abnormal buildup of blood vessels in the skin resulting in lesions). Other family members have also witnessed many times that Dafa is extraordinary. With so many examples, why was I still unable to have full faith in Teacher and Dafa? The critical point is that I still had human notions.
In “Teaching the Fa at the Western U.S. Fa Conference,” Teacher gave an example about steadfast faith:
“In the past, there was a cultivator of the Dao walking on the street while drinking. He suddenly saw someone. This person was just who he had been looking for—someone who could cultivate the Dao. So he wanted to save this person and take him as his disciple. He asked this person, ‘Do you want to follow me to cultivate the Dao?’ This person’s enlightenment quality and inborn quality were very good, and he said, ‘I do.’ ‘Do you dare to follow me?’ the cultivator asked. The person replied, ‘Yes, I do!’ ‘Do you dare to follow me wherever I go?’ he then asked. ‘Yes,’ was the reply. The cultivator then said, ‘Okay. Now follow me!’ Saying that, he put his palm-sized wine gourd on the ground, opened the lid, and jumped into the gourd. The person saw that his master had jumped in, so he imitated his master and likewise jumped into the gourd. The bystanders all leaned over and looked inside the gourd. ‘Wow!’ they exclaimed. There was a vast world inside the gourd, really vast.”
If this student had had any doubt that the small wine gourd could hold him, he would not have made it. Therefore, having faith in Teacher and the Fa is very critical for us.
When drinking a cup of water, we know the water goes into our body because we can see and feel it. But for our supernormal abilities given by Teacher, we may not fully believe in them since we do not sense them directly. This is an issue of whether one has steadfast faith in Teacher and the Fa. If one truly has faith, he will fully concentrate on using his supernormal abilities to eliminate the evil when sending forth righteous thoughts. Sending forth righteous thoughts corresponds to a battle in other dimensions. How can one slack off? We should have faith in Teacher and the Fa. We should believe in supernormal abilities, both to protect ourselves and to eliminate all the evil elements that attempt to damage Dafa and sentient beings.
At the time of writing this article, my toothache was completely gone.
Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2009/10/23/62212.html
