(Clearwisdom.net) Recently I heard that some practitioners were affected by "sickness karma." Some people even had to stay in the hospital due to the extreme interference, leading to their inability to be diligent in the three things. My understanding is that once the body develops "sickness karma," then, we need to take it seriously, and not regard it as a small problem. A careless attitude might result in even more serious problems. I would like to talk about my recent experiences in "sickness karma." Hopefully, it can serve as a reference for other practitioners.
Last Friday morning, I felt I had a headache after I woke up. It became worse gradually after I went to the office. I felt chilly, my bones were aching and there was a general weakness in my entire body. I deeply regretted my recent slackness in Fa study and in doing the exercises. The evil had already sneaked into my loophole. I started to send forth righteous thoughts in my heart: "If this is Master's arrangement for me to endure, then I must endure it without any hesitation, but if this is the persecution caused by the evil, then they don't deserve to do this. Even though I did not do very well, I will make it up. The purpose of the evil is to interfere with the Fa-rectification and not to help me in cultivation." I started to recite the Fa-rectification verse.
After I got off work, all the previous symptoms of headache, chill, and bone ache still persisted. Looking inwards and trying to decide whether I needed to go home to rest, I decided to follow my original plan to do my grocery shopping. After I reached home, I practiced the standing exercises for an hour. Not feeling any relief in my body, I studied one chapter of Zhuan Falun. I was feeling so ashamed for not studying for several days. After Fa study I found that the headache had disappeared but my bones were still aching.
After sending righteous thoughts at midnight, I felt very sleepy. However, instead of sleeping, I started doing the sitting meditation. Usually when I do the sitting meditation, my legs do not ache at all and one hour of the sitting meditation is very comfortable for me. That day I felt uncomfortable after sitting for some time. I was thinking of taking a rest after half an hour. I resolutely kept sitting even though my legs felt very painful. I resorted to leaning forward and backward to reduce the pain. A thought struck me that if this was something that I supposed to endure, then why I was indulging in certain actions to reduce the pain by changing the sitting position slightly? Was I trying to escape from the pain? Was I not supposed to suffer? Didn't I just say if this was Master's arrangement I would take it without any hesitation? How can I cultivate in this manner by swinging my body around? I did my best to sit straight until I had finished the meditation. Actually, my legs were not that painful, and it could not compare to how it was when I had started to practice, which was very painful to endure even for a second.
By the second day, when I awoke, everything was normal as my headache was gone and I felt good. In retrospect, I really didn't do much. At the very beginning, I did pay attention by sending righteous thoughts to not acknowledge the persecution while I studied the Fa and did the exercises. Thus, I made it through the "sickness" state. Everyone's situation is different and maybe in my situation I was able to get through my state in a shorter span of time.
Please point out anything inappropriate with compassion.