(Clearwisdom.net) Each time I read an article on Minghui.org/Clearwisdom.net about how the dark minions persecuted a fellow Falun Gong practitioner in the form of sickness karma, I would think, "It must be an elderly practitioner. I am young and healthy. This would never happen to me." But after what has happened to me lately, I have a more profound understanding of the true meaning of righteous thoughts and righteous actions, as well as completely denying all of the old forces' arrangements. I would like to share my personal experience as a lesson to those fellow practitioners who might be encountering similar attacks from the dark minions so that, as one body of Falun Gong practitioners, we will all be immune to the persecution from the dark minions, upgrade together in our cultivation, and catch up with the pace of Teacher's Fa-rectification.
At the beginning of January 2005, I suddenly felt unwell. My menstrual period would not stop and I had to urinate frequently. In just two days, I lost a substantial amount of weight and my complexion became pale and bluish. I felt weak and sleepy all day long and could not stop coughing. I thought it must be the dark minions' doing, so I searched inward really hard to identify the attachments I might have that they were exploiting. While I was suffering from the dark minions' interferences, I became busy at work. However, I did not stop doing the three things that Teacher requires of us. I searched hard for any attachment to fame, personal gain, emotion, or selfishness, and then sent forth righteous thoughts to eliminate the evil that was exploiting my loopholes. When I was more clearheaded, I would study the Fa. After several days of battling with the dark minions in this fashion, my menstrual period finally stopped. However, I continued to suffer from other symptoms. My elder sister is also a Falun Gong practitioner. She repeatedly read the Fa aloud and sent forth righteous thoughts next to me. She encouraged me, "You must have faith in Teacher. You must continue to drive out all interference and identify your attachments."
In my heart I said to Teacher, "Teacher, it appears that I have a very poor enlightenment quality. I have not found the root cause of my loopholes after several days of trying. I have repeatedly sent forth righteous thoughts, but I am still suffering from the dark minions' attacks. Would you please give me a hint?" After several days, I started to have headaches. The dark minions appeared to be escalating their attacks on me. They must be trying to drag me down and destroy my cultivation practice! How could I dance to their rhythm! That evening my sister and I started sending forth righteous thoughts at 7:00 p.m. I struggled to sit up and put my right hand in front of my chest. Then all of sudden I remembered a passage of the Fa!
Teacher said, "But it's not that you can't get rid of it. As I just said, even if sometime in history you did sign some kind of pact, if today your righteous thoughts are very strong, you don't recognize it, and you insist on not taking part in it, then you can in fact reject it. But this is a bit hard for you to handle in a case like this. What's hard is that the old forces won't let you go that easily, they'll try to take advantage of your gaps, and when you're just a little bit off they'll seize the opportunity. So when your righteous thoughts are very strong they can't take advantage of you, and this is because in Fa-rectification Dafa doesn't acknowledge the old forces' arrangements, and I, as your Master, don't acknowledge them either. Of course, each one of our Dafa disciples says that we don't recognize the old forces' arrangements, but that's not something you just say--you have to follow the requirements of Dafa and the Fa-rectification. "I absolutely will not acknowledge any of those things you arranged in the past, old forces. I don't even acknowledge you." When your righteous thoughts are very strong you can purge it and you can reject their arrangements. (Applause) And that's because we absolutely cannot acknowledge them." ("Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Philadelphia, U.S.A.")
Then I thought, "Am I one of the practitioners who signed a pact with the old forces? Have the old forces made an arrangement to make me ill at this stage of the Fa-rectification to damage Falun Gong's reputation and to obstruct people's opportunities to learn the truth about Falun Gong from me?" I started to cry. At heart I said to Teacher, "Teacher, if I signed any pact with the old forces, then I must have signed it when I did not know better. Now that I am a Falun Gong practitioner in the Fa-rectification period and I carry the important mission of saving sentient beings on my shoulders, I must not fall down to the ground at this pivotal moment."
Teacher said, "Today I can tell you this: your cultivation is absolutely not a personal, simple matter of reaching Consummation--your cultivation is saving the countless sentient beings in the cosmic body that corresponds to you and who've put infinite hope in you. The cultivation of you all is saving the sentient beings in every single gigantic cosmic colossal firmament." ("Touring North America to Teach the Fa")
It follows that when the dark minions were attacking me, they were also murdering the countless sentient beings in my cosmic body that correspond to me. Was I responsible for my sentient beings while I gave in to the dark minions' attacks? I must not cause any damage to the Fa or let my sentient beings down. I immediately started sending righteous thoughts again and this time I felt my righteous thoughts were very strong. Meanwhile, I asked for Teacher's help. I asked Teacher to nullify any pact I might have signed with the old forces and to eliminate the dark minions. I also asked Teacher to take over the future of my sentient beings and me. I am a Falun Gong practitioner so I will listen to no one but Teacher. I asked for Teacher's reinforcement of my righteous thoughts, and then I started to recite the formula of righteous thoughts. Immediately after I arrived at the above understandings, I became very clearheaded, sharp and alert. Although I was still feeling unwell, I felt very clearheaded and refreshed. After I sent forth righteous thoughts again at midnight, all of the symptoms of sickness disappeared completely.
I think the reason why I was able to completely deny the old forces' arrangement at the end was because I changed my fundamental thinking.
Teacher said, "The beings of the past were selfish, but the cosmos of the future is not founded upon selfishness, and everything will be better." ("Teaching the Fa at the Meeting with Asia-Pacific Students")
When I tried to deny the old forces' arrangements at the beginning, I did it for personal gain. In other words, I tried to free "myself" from the dark minions' attacks and the physical pain. Eventually, I decided to deny the old forces' arrangements out of selfless reasons. I let go of the thought of life and death and was determined to be responsible for all the righteous elements. I think the moral of my story is: If our fundamental thinking is correct, all the difficulties we face in our cultivation practice will dissolve naturally. Besides, Teacher is watching over us and protecting us at all times. For those fellow practitioners who are experiencing similar attacks in the form of sickness karma, please become clearheaded at once! Position yourselves correctly according to the Fa and you will be able to completely deny the old forces and the dark minions' involvement or interference in Teacher's Fa-rectification. We will also be able to eliminate all the barriers between us Falun Gong practitioners and form one invincible body.
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