(Clearwisdom.net) Recently, several practitioners that I know have developed symptoms of sickness karma. They have spent thousands of dollars in hospital bills and yet they haven't recovered from their illnesses. A few of them could not even look after themselves. In order to help them improve on the Fa, several other practitioners moved into their homes. However, even these practitioners had an incorrect understanding of illness karma--they still believed it was an illness and continuously talked about it.

Addressing this situation, I want to share my understanding about illness tribulations. Perhaps it will be helpful for those practitioners suffering from severe sickness karma.

Before I practiced Falun Gong, I used to suffer from numerous illnesses, including kidney stones and hydronephrosis of the kidney. I always had a fever of 104 degrees F and couldn't fall asleep. Even after visiting many hospitals and spending lots of money, I didn't recover. I later needed a kidney transplant because my right kidney did not function anymore and my left one had stones. At that time, I was reduced to skin and bones and was on the brink of death as there was no more money.

In August 1998, when my health had seriously deteriorated, someone said there was a person practicing qigong, but she didn't know what kind. After hearing about this, I went to her place. She told me that it was Falun Gong. I asked if it could get rid of kidney stones. She said, "No." I then asked how much I had to pay. She told me it was free. "I formally want you to be my teacher then," I said. She replied, "Don't say that. If you say that, then I will fail." She didn't give any more explanation. I still wanted to practice even though it didn't heal illnesses. It was free and I didn't need to take someone as my teacher. It was too good to be true.

From then on, I forgot about my illnesses and never once thought about them again. It was not long before all of my illnesses disappeared and I regained a healthy body. I blamed the practitioners for not going out and telling others about the practice, and hence I heard about Falun Gong very late.

People in my town saw the changes in me. My husband asked me to go get a check up at the hospital, but I refused because I am a practitioner and I didn't have that attachment. After practicing Falun Gong, I was deeply impressed with what the fellow practitioner had said, "It does not heal illness." I began practicing, but it was not to have my illnesses cured. I no longer thought about my kidney stones. It didn't matter for me any more. Once I did the fifth Falun Gong exercise for two hours, although my legs were extremely painful. At that time, Teacher gave me a hint. I saw something like an intestine. When I squeezed it, snakes and other animals started to come out. I then understood that human beings don't have illnesses. Instead, they are all karma that are living beings in other dimensions.

If illness tribulations affect our doing the three things, we should search inward for our attachments, rectify our mentality, and send forth righteous thoughts to eliminate the evil. One day in 2005 at around 8:00 p.m., just before I left my home to distribute truth-clarification materials, I became stiff and chilly. After searching inwards, I couldn't find any reasons and so I sent forth righteous thoughts to negate it. I had only one thought, "I am going to save sentient beings. It is not allowed to persecute me." After delivering the materials, I sat on the bed and felt pain in my stomach. I sent forth righteous thoughts immediately. However, it got worse. I sent forth righteous thoughts until 11:00 p.m., but then I started to vomit. I then became aware of the seriousness of this problem because I used to vomit like this before practicing Falun Gong. The evil wanted to confuse me by creating this illusion in human society. I was full of righteous thoughts in my heart. I said, "Stop it! I will not allow you to vomit. I am a Falun Dafa practitioner. Only everyday people vomit." Immediately, I stopped vomiting.I then sent forth righteous thoughts again. It was already 2:00 a.m. and I said, "You just want to hurt me, right? I won't think about you. You are not me." Then I went to bed and slept peacefully until the next morning. It seemed like nothing had happened. If at the beginning I had considered it an illness and gone to the hospital, then it would have brought a different outcome.

One time a practitioner I worked with didn't show up, so I asked her husband where she was. He told me that she was at home with a fever. I replied, "It isn't a fever but persecution. You must ask her come." When she arrived, I asked her, "What's the matter?" When she said that she had a fever, I told her, "It is not a fever, but persecution. You must deny it." Her righteous thoughts then emerged. She felt a warm energy flow through her body and she recovered instantly. Another person witnessed this and said, "Just one sentence and she recovered immediately. If I didn't see this my own eyes, I wouldn't have believed it. It is a miracle."

In 2005, I met with a practitioner who, after being released from a forced labor camp, was locked up by her family members. She had started to experience sickness karma in her eyes. Her family members took her to the hospital. After having eye surgery, the doctors still couldn't find the cause of her disorder. She told me, "At that time, I knew it was not an illness, but I couldn't firm up my righteous thoughts." As a result, she couldn't open one of her eyes that kept blinking frequently. She regretted having the eye operation. Recently, she started to cough. I told her the tribulation was arranged by the old forces. "From now on, you must pull yourself together, search inwards, and rectify your thoughts. Another practitioner and I will send forth righteous thoughts for you. You should cooperate and also send forth righteous thoughts." Just as we were getting ready to send forth righteous thoughts, this practitioner felt pain in her legs, cold fingers, and a cold breeze around her body. However, she continued sending forth righteous thoughts. On the third day, she felt better and her eye didn't blink as frequently as before. But her cough became worse, and she even soiled her pants. I asked her whether she searched within herself. She said, "Yes, I did." I told her, "It's not enough. If you find the right attachment, the sickness karma will be eliminated immediately."

Th next day, she excitedly told me, "I recovered! Before going to bed yesterday, I searched within myself, and I finally found the right attachment and the cough stopped instantly." I said, "You must not slack off. We should continue to send forth righteous thoughts for a few days as well as ask Teacher to strengthen your thoughts. Your eye will recover on its own." Her husband also saw noticeable changes in her. After awhile, she said, "I didn't pay enough attention to sending forth righteous thoughts. As a result, the evil took advantage of my shortcomings. If I had sent forth righteous thoughts at the beginning, my eye would not have become a problem."

I hope the practitioners who are experiencing sickness karma can completely shed their human concepts of illness. We should deny it thoroughly. At the same time, we need to search within ourselves because every practitioner must look inward and this is in accordance with the Fa. The Fa can eliminate all of the evils persecution.

Please kindly help me understand any shortcomings I may have.