(Clearwisdom.net)

"What's meant by "not proper thoughts"? It's when somebody always has a hard time thinking of himself as a practitioner" (Zhuan Falun)

I understand this to mean that it is wrong for one to "always [have] a hard time thinking of himself as a practitioner," so one should always think of oneself as a practitioner. One should think of oneself as a practitioner at every moment, in every place, and in every situation! Master said in Zhuan Falun,

"When we talk about real enlightening it has to do with whether we can, while we're cultivating, come to understand that we're cultivators when we run into difficulty; with whether we can understand and accept the Law that the master teaches, or the Dao that a Daoist master teaches; and with whether we can, in the process of cultivating, do things in line with that Law."

Dafa practitioners are all familiar with these words. Although it is not easy to truly follow these words, it can become easy once one's mentality changes. Differences in one's thoughts show the difference between a divine being and a human being.

I'll relate three senior fellow practitioners' experiences just for reference in your own cultivation.

Once a senior practitioner became muddle-headed because of high blood pressure and was brought to the hospital by his children. He persisted in studying the Fa in the hospital but was forced to stay there for one month. The second time this happened, he could not even leave his bed because of severe rectal bleeding. Afraid of losing his human body, he agreed to stay in the hospital. He did not pass the test, so it recurred for a third time. This time the symptoms were abdominal pain and vomiting blood. He reflected on the lessons learned during the previous two episodes. For several days, he persisted in studying the Fa and sending forth righteous thoughts, and he did not go to the hospital. I happened to study the Fa with him at that time. We studied the passage in which Master said in Zhuan Falun,

"You're a cultivator, so if you always consider yourself an ordinary person and always think these things are health problems, then how are you going to cultivate? When calamity strikes during your cultivation, if you still consider yourself an ordinary person, I'd say your character dropped to the level of ordinary people at that time. Or at least with this one thing you've dropped to the level of ordinary people."

I said, "We have not paid much attention to these words that we often read. Master has compassionately advised us many times that our character drops to the level of ordinary people when we think these things are health problems." The man said, "It is an issue of the extent to which one believes in Master and Fa!" Then this practitioner went to the toilet again. But he came back immediately and said, "My abdominal pain is gone, and I'm not vomiting blood any longer." I saw his back straighten up, too. It works if you truly believe it.

Yet another person, who works as a manager, said that he did not come to Dafa cultivation for the sake of healing illness, because he did not have any illness. He decided to cultivate simply because he thought Dafa was great. But when his abdomen ached dramatically, and he burped and vomited as well, his family could not cope. When he was so weak that he could barely talk, his family brought him to the hospital against his will. When his symptoms recurred several days later, he refused to go to the hospital no matter what his family and friends said. I visited him when I heard this. Together we analyzed the situation: if it was karma elimination arranged by Master, it would not have affected his work or his doing the three things, so it must be interference from the evil. But even if it is interference from the evil, one has to look at oneself and ask, "Why is it interfering with me?" He looked inside and sent forth righteous thoughts with me to eliminate the evil that interfered with him. In time his body gradually returned to normal. Later on when the symptoms recurred, he calmly studied the Fa. When he had studied to a certain paragraph, he felt that he was a human being in cultivation, i.e., a divine being, with whom nothing could interfere. No more than a minute after having this thought, he completely recovered. He shuddered with emotion, "The difference in one thought can determine if someone is a divine being or a human being!"

Another example concerns my wife and me. We cultivate together. Several days ago she had a stomachache and vomited. She was in so much pain that she kept rolling around in the bed. She searched inside and said, "I ate a green onion today and I did not cultivate very well, either." I said, "Yes, cultivating is serious. It is cultivating for Buddhahood!" I asked her to look for her problem in her xinxing as I sent forth righteous thought with her and read her the book. Her symptoms would still come and go. Although our children know that we have never fallen sick or taken any medicine for ten years, when they saw her turning over and over all night, they insisted that she go to the hospital. She kept her faith and refused to go. Afterwards, she kneeled down in the bed and begged Master again and again. I said, "Still you are not looking inside hard enough. Your determination to better yourself is not strong enough!" I again read her fellow practitioners' experience sharing articles. She enlightened, "I am a Dafa practitioner walking on the way to Godhood. The righteous thought that I send out is powerful and can definitely conquer all tribulations!" Immediately after this she completely recovered. When our children rushed to our house after hearing about her situation, their mother seemed as if nothing had happened to her. Our children felt that Dafa was really supernormal!

Master said In "Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Philadelphia, U.S.A.":

"You are Gods, and you are the future rulers of different cosmoses, so who would you count on? All the beings are counting on you! That's truly how it is."

Faith in Dafa and thinking of oneself as a God make one a God. Always thinking of oneself as having health problems makes one an ordinary person.

June 20, 2005