PureInsight | April 11, 2013
[PureInsight.org] There are a number of insightful articles by fellow practitioners regarding how to root out the cause of sickness tribulations. Some eliminate the interference through sending forth righteous thoughts (SFRT), looking inside to rectify themselves based on the Fa, and employing a benevolent resolution to pay back the karma. These methods result in successfully eliminating the sickness karmic and having their bodies recover. Some, however, are not in a positive situation and struggle with the karma for a sustained period of time, incurring torment, confusion, and helplessness. Because their method yields no specific changes to the situation, their ordinary human mindset thus gets stronger. Some even waver in their faith in the Fa, others wind up being hospitalized, and others even pass away. I would like to share what I enlightened to from the Fa regarding these situations, along with the experiences of two practitioners from my local group who overcame sickness tribulations.
There is some sickness karma left on the surface of disciples’ bodies during Fa-rectification, which can be driven out soon after we elevate our xinxing. That, with no doubt, prevents us from dwelling in the tribulation for too long. Regarding transforming karma, Master said: “It will be divided into numerous portions for different phases of your cultivation practice. They will be used to upgrade your xinxing, transform your karma, and increase your gong” (Zhuan Falun, Lecture 3).
Why are there still fellow practitioners suffering from tribulations for a long period of time then? Where does the difference lie? Master explicitly pointed out in his lecture “Teaching and Explaining the Fa at the Metropolitan New York Fa Conference”: “The other reason is that you’re being interfered with. When you’re interfered with you can’t always think, ‘I have to destroy whoever is interfering with me, no one can interfere with me.’ (People laugh) 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!”
Master had already warned us in "Expounding on the Fa" in Essentials For Further Advancement: “You should also be clear that ‘natural’ does not exist, and ‘the inevitable’ has reasons behind it.” We therefore have to look inward unconditionally, finding the correct means to solve problems and rectifying ourselves in the Fa so that the best outcome comes out when encountering ordeals.
One practitioner had a terrible toothache a while ago that caused her to hardly eat or sleep. She tried to SFRT for considerable periods of time, employing a benevolent resolution toward the sickness karma to reduce the pain and looking inward for reasons, but she still could not find out what was wrong. Her husband is an ordinary person working outside of town. When her husband came home, she had to pretend that there was nothing wrong even though she was in a lot of pain in order to prevent her husband from denigrating the Fa and urging her to have a check-up. She came to my place for Fa-study and shared this matter with me. Before finishing her words, the agony from her tooth made her mouth clench and she was unable to sit still. She then said with a bitter face, “I am sorry that I can no longer take it. I have to go home and will share with you sometime later.” I encouraged her to toughen up for some more Fa-study and sharing. I asked her, “Given that employing a benevolent resolution, SFRT, and looking inward are still to no avail, what comes to mind when the pain strikes?” She replied, “It is like a gripping pain which terrifies me that it is unendurable. The torment fills me with fear.” I seemed to realize then and guided her to ponder over the issue: “Try to think whether it is an attachment to fear or not. At first, you get rid of the fear with a strong mind and then try to transform your concept of enduring the pain as a positive thing.”
I then recited a paragraph from the Fa in Zhuan Falun, Lecture 6, "Cultivation Insanity": “If qi is indeed blocked, it still will not cause any trouble. It is usually our own psychological factors at play. Besides, one will be scared upon learning from a phony qigong master that when qi moves to the top of the head, one will go awry. With this fear, it may indeed bring this person some trouble. Once you are scared, it is an attachment of fear. Isn’t that an attachment? Once your attachment surfaces, shouldn’t it be removed? The more you fear it, the sicker you will look. This attachment of yours must be removed. You will be made to learn from this lesson so that your fear can be removed, and you can advance.” To my surprise, she said with joy before I finished reciting, “I don’t feel any pain! This is amazing!” Cultivation is certainly miraculous and supernormal. A miraculous disappearance of her toothache took place immediately after she found out her attachment, which is truly in accordance with the Fa mentioned in Hong Yin II- “Remove your human thoughts and evil will naturally die out.”
There was another practitioner who used to be a diligent cultivator, but she became less diligent when she learned that a practitioner who was in touch with her was abducted by the police last summer. Her fear was evoked and so she left home to work somewhere safer. The strength of the fear and her human mind-set became stronger and exploited her gaps of constant lack of Fa-study, doing the exercises, saving sentient beings, and SFRT. She was in a state of severe sickness karma and had excruciating pains in her abdomen since last October. After coming back home, she looked inward and was filled with remorse for realizing that she wasn’t meeting the Fa’s criteria. She employed a benevolent resolution toward the karma and even asked fellow practitioners to come over for Fa-study, sharing, and helping her SFRT, however, none of this helped. She knew it was not illness, but she ended up undergoing surgery because she was tormented day after day and could not endure it anymore. After the surgery the symptoms were gone, but unexpectedly another much more serious sickness manifested. She had been interfered with by this tribulation for half a year, during which there were many fellow practitioners helping her out, but all in vain. She was almost in a state of complete desperation and hopelessness.
Later on some fellow practitioners helped her again during sharing and asked her how doing the exercises, household chores, and going out for saving sentient beings went after learning about the aforementioned circumstances. She touched her abdomen and said with a bitter smile, “It’s impossible. The pain makes it hard to just stand still and breathe, and I barely do anything. I constantly SFRT to exterminate the evil persecution, but it seems ineffective. Having looked inward, finding shortcomings, and understanding what Master said, I was determined to make up for it and give it a try, but anyhow, it is useless. I deeply regret having this omission that I created and I will be diligent in cultivation once I bounce back.” One of the fellow practitioners responded, “From what you said, in fact, you actually acknowledge this persecution, and that is why you are still suffering.” The practitioner remained in denial however of his viewpoints. The fellow practitioner continued his talk, “Don’t be stubborn. You say that you cannot do anything about the interference, but that amounts to accepting it. You refuse to be interfered with in your mind, but on the other hand generate the interference with your behavior. The interference therefore cannot be eliminated. On top of that, your diligence toward true cultivation is conditional on your tribulation being eliminated. Why don’t you dedicate yourself to true cultivation first? What makes you different from the person mentioned in Zhuan Falun that says that only when their illness was cured would they practice cultivation?”
Then the fellow practitioner recited a passage of Fa from Master’s lecture: ‘“I’m Li Hongzhi's disciple, I don’t want other arrangements or acknowledge them’—then they won’t dare to do that. So it can all be resolved” (“Fa-Lecture During the 2003 Lantern Festival at the U.S. West Fa Conference”). The practitioner did not wait for the other practitioner to finish his recital and said immediately, “I also recite this passage of the Fa often, and not....” But the fellow practitioner interrupted and continued, “Given that you recite the Fa often but do not behave in accordance with the Fa, you cannot eliminate the interference. Master continued saying in the lecture: “When you can really do that, not just saying it but putting it into action, Master will definitely stand up for you” (“Fa-Lecture During the 2003 Lantern Festival at the U.S. West Fa Conference”).
The practitioner then said, “May I ask? Did you really put this into practice? If not, how could Master stand up for you and instead only worry for you? If one is determined to eliminate evil interference, one must take action—one cooks when it is time to cook, one does the exercises when it is time to do the exercises, one saves sentient beings when it is time to save sentient beings. In summary, do whatever you should when it is time to do it and make the utmost effort in it rather than merely attempting it. As a Fa-rectification disciple, one should have righteous thoughts and righteous actions.”
The fellow practitioner continued to recite from Master’s lectures:
“What’s important for cultivators is righteous thoughts. When you have strong righteous thoughts, you are able to withstand anything and do anything. That’s because you are a cultivator: someone who is on a divine path and who is not controlled by the factors of ordinary people or low-level principles” (“Teaching the Fa in the City of Los Angeles”).
“Cultivation is hard. It’s hard in that even when a terrible calamity strikes, even when evil madly persecutes, and even when your life is at stake, you still have to be able to steadfastly continue on your path of cultivation without letting anything in human society interfere with the steps you take on your path of cultivation” (Essentials for Further Advancement II, Path).
“When you are overcoming a real hardship or tribulation, you try it. When it is difficult to endure, try to endure it. When it looks impossible and is said to be impossible, give it a try and see if it is possible. If you can actually do it, you will indeed find: ‘After passing the shady willow trees, there will be bright flowers and another village ahead!’ (Zhuan Falun, Lecture 9).
Master’s Fa is the golden key to untie the knots in our minds and break through attachments. Through sharing, the practitioner eventually found her weakness according to the Fa and genuinely rectified herself using righteous thoughts and actions to deny the interference and persecution of the evil forces. She strove forward diligently to do the three things done well, and lived up to her sacred mission as Fa-rectification Dafa disciple. She was back on the right track and shortly delivered on her promise of helping Master rectify the Fa and has been striving forward in saving sentient beings since then.
As a matter of fact, sickness karma derives from many causes and one must not generalize it. The above-mentioned examples are meant to “throw out a minnow to catch a whale,” reflecting a logical understanding: karmic tribulations are not intimidating so long as we look inward according to the Fa and rectify ourselves in the Fa to fundamentally eliminate attachments. The karmic tribulation will then be solved smoothly. That is where the strength and profundity of the Fa and the benevolence of the Master lies. As Master pointed out, “The Fa can break all attachments, the Fa can destroy all evil, the Fa can shatter all lies, and the Fa can strengthen righteous thoughts” (Essentials for Further Advancement II, Drive Out Interference).
There is a condition with the above examples, however: they only apply to true cultivators. As for those who do not follow the Fa principles or are unsteady practitioners, it will be a different scenario.
If you find anything inappropriate in my personal understanding, please kindly point it out!
Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/node/113703
