(Clearwisdom.net) I recently visited a fellow practitioner to share experiences, and she said she was busy helping fellow practitioners who were experiencing severe sickness karma interference. There have been similar cases in many areas. Some of the "ill" practitioners were very firm before and did a great deal assisting Master in Fa rectification.

I also remembered reading death cases on Clearwisdom.net that described many fellow practitioners who were experiencing severe sickness karma. This tells us that the persecution from the old forces isn't stopping. Even if the Fa-rectification were to end tomorrow, the persecution would continue through today. In addition, as Fa-rectification continues, the old forces are becoming more frenetic, creating a severe test for all Dafa practitioners. This shows us how serious cultivation is, that we need to keep our minds clear and calm at all times, and never become complacent.

There are many different reasons for this problem. One is that some practitioners are still in an individual cultivation status. Though they are studying the Fa and doing the exercises, they rarely do any truth-clarification work. Some practitioners are so "ill" that they can only lie on the bed. They can't read the book or study the Fa, not to mention participating in truth clarification work. Some even forget about the Fa and about sending forth righteous thoughts. I remember an article I read on Clearwisdom.net that told a story about a practitioner being imprisoned by the evil forces. Though the practitioner was firm in Dafa cultivation, he did not enlighten to the fact that he needed to completely deny the old forces' arrangements, escape from the prison, and join the Fa-rectification process. He thought that as long as he was firm in Dafa, he would consummate when Fa-rectification was complete. As a result, the old forces kept him in prison, even though they gave up on trying to "transform" him. The fact is, however, that he lost the time that Master arranged for him to cultivate. He did not let go of his attachment to Consummation, he did not save sentient beings in his own surroundings, and he did not fulfill his own prehistoric oath. How will he consummate if he still has human attachments, and doesn't fulfill his responsibilities? Today, the severe sickness karma situations are similar to prisons, though they are not direct persecutions by evil persons. Nevertheless, they stop Dafa practitioners from saving people and cultivating.

In "The Fourth Talk" of Zhuan Falun, Master said in the section "Transforming Karma":

"Why do you run into these problems? It's all caused by your own karmic debts. We've already decreased it by countless portions for you, and there's only a little bit left, which is distributed across different levels so that you can improve your character. The tribulations are set up to temper your mind and get rid of your different attachments. They're your own tribulations, and we use them to improve your character. You should be able to overcome all of them. As long as you improve your character, you will be able to overcome them--it's only that you might not want to overcome them. If you want to overcome them you can."

From this, we see that tribulations arranged by Master use our own karmic debts and are all for the purpose of improving our xinxing. We can overcome them as long as we improve our character. On the contrary, tribulations arranged by the old forces are all "destructive," such as brutal beatings of Dafa practitioners in prisons in the name of calling out practitioners' righteous thoughts. Their true purpose is to persecute Dafa practitioners and destroy our minds. Thus, their tribulations are severe. They do not want us to overcome the tribulations, in order to further interrupt Fa-rectification. Therefore, today when the main tasks for Dafa practitioners are clarifying the truth and saving people, the severe sickness karma situations are all interruptions by the old forces. They want to stop us from following the path Master arranged for us, to stop people from being saved. Though they took advantage of Dafa practitioners' omissions and attachments, we should not passively suffer the tribulations. We must look inward to find our own omissions, and completely deny the old forces' arrangements.

The only way to improve in situations of being severely interfered with by sickness karma is to do well the three things Master told us to do. Fellow practitioners should send forth righteous thoughts in groups, targeting the practitioners being interfered with, to eliminate the evil factors persecuting them. We should also recite or study the Fa in front of them, and encourage them to study the Fa more. For those who are too "ill" to study the Fa, at minimum they should keep reciting "Falun Dafa is great," especially when they are in extreme pain. They should ask Master for help, and remember that they are Dafa practitioners, firmly on the cultivation path that Master arranged. In the meantime, they should clarify the truth to their own family members and other people they meet. This way they can completely eliminate the evil factors.

Dafa practitioners are one body. When encountering severe tribulations, we should help each other in order to follow Master's path.

March 15, 2005