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Reincarnation: The Relationship between Karma, Chronic Illness, and Purifying the Heart

Dec. 2, 2002 |   Written by Zi Jun

(Clearwisdom.net) Weeping and wailing, we are led by our hands to enter this vanity-filled human world. After experiencing cycles of happiness and bitterness, fate takes us away in complete silence. The continuous cycle of reincarnation, generation after generation, is how a person's life develops in an endless way. The karma accumulated from bad deeds in previous lifetimes has to be repaid during the current lifetime and the altruistic deeds from previous lives are rewarded with good fortune. How can even one selfless act or one evil deed escape the eye of Heaven? Can you imagine that an illness in this life is retribution for karma from a previous lifetime and that you can cure your illness if you cultivate your mind and pay attention to virtue? For an insight into the answer to this question, let us refer to a true story from the book entitled Many Mansions by Dr. Gina Cerminara.

In this book, there is an account of a reading that clairvoyant Edgar Cayce did for a patient, a 34-year old electrician who had been suffering from multiple sclerosis and who had not worked for three years. The loss of his eyesight prevented him from reading or writing, and he fell down whenever he tried to walk. He was repeatedly diagnosed as critically ill. In despair, he asked Cayce to do a life reading on him. The reading revealed to him that it was because of karma from wrongdoings that he committed in his previous life that he suffered from chronic illnesses in this life. He pleaded with Cayce to tell him how he could free himself from it. Cayce advised him to free his mind of all thoughts of hatred and resentment, and prescribed for him a doctor's detailed instructions.

One year later, the electrician asked for a second reading. In his letter to Cayce, he mentioned that after strictly following the doctor's instructions, his physical condition had improved immediately and it remained so for four months. But later, since he only paid attention to taking medicine and physiotherapy, and neglected the cultivation of his mind, he failed to achieve any further results. In the second reading, Cayce told him that although he had made some improvements in his physical condition, he could have done much better. Cayce emphasized once again that his illness was caused by karma. Physiotherapy might improve his physical health, but if he kept being selfish and paid no attention to his behavior, if he kept hatred and resentment in his heart, and if he could not forbear the long-term suffering continuously, or failed to remain kind, and if he did not improve himself fundamentally from his inner self, it would be impossible for him to become physically healthy. Only when he changed himself from deep within, as well as his words and behavior, could he actually make further improvements in his physical condition.

This life reading case is reminiscent of an old Chinese teaching: It is by no means a groundless saying that one should pay attention to virtue and accumulate virtue. Only when the young electrician paid attention to changing his behavior and to his spiritual cultivation, and developed a compassionate, modest, and selfless heart could he improve his physical condition. When he only paid attention to the physical treatment and neglected his spiritual cultivation, he saw very little results. If a person pays attention to virtue and cultivates his mind, it will help cure his illnesses. For the sake of a healthy life you can hardly afford to neglect cultivating your mind.

Reprinted from the PureInsight Website