(Clearwisdom.net) I'd like to talk about the negative effect on non-practitioners when practitioners who are seriously ill emphasize the importance of not taking medications or having injections.

I have a friend who came to visit me last year. I played the Shen Yun DVD for her and she praised it highly. Then she watched the DVD about the special stone with the words "Chinese Communist Party Eliminated" engraved on it. She withdrew from the CCP after she learned the truth.

Several days ago we chatted about Falun Gong again, and I found that her attitude toward Falun Gong had changed dramatically. She said we were "obsessed," "mentally abnormal," etc. She even tried to persuade me to give up Falun Gong.

I wondered why her attitude had changed so much. As a practitioner, I had to look within first to see if I had done something wrong. I found that I had a big attachment, which was that I would feel very pleased whenever I heard people praise Dafa or anything that conformed to my notions. However, I would be upset when I heard people say the opposite. What's more, I liked to argue with them instead of dealing with such situations with righteous thoughts (with God-like thoughts). By doing this, I not only didn't save them but rather had the opposite effect. So I thought, "I must pay attention this time" and sent out one thought: to eliminate the evil that controlled her and help her to see Dafa in a positive light. Then I asked her what caused her attitude to change, and she told me about her neighbors.

Her mother's neighbors, an older couple, both practiced Falun Gong. After the police arrested them, the husband wrote a guarantee statement giving up Falun Gong before he was released. The wife was very determined in her belief and didn't write any statement. Their family members resorted to every means and finally got her released. (I think that maybe she walked free by her own righteous thoughts.) The husband said that she was too stubborn, that she should have told the police that she would give up Falun Gong, and, then after coming home, she could practice again. Later on the husband developed a serious illness and couldn't get up. The wife read Zhuan Falun to him. One day she helped her husband to stand straight against a wall and propped him up so he wouldn't fall down. Then she read Zhuan Falun to him. She did it in front of non-practitioners. Her face broke out in a rash. Somebody told her that she would recover if she used a certain ointment. She replied that, as a practitioner, she didn't use any medications or submit to injections. (I think that she could have just smiled back as a reply instead of actually saying anything.)

I now understood why my friend had misunderstood Dafa. I told her that the wife's understanding could not represent Dafa. I said, "After practicing the Falun Gong exercises, we are healthier and don't need to take medication or get injections. If one is healthy, why take medicine? All medications have side effects. But if you want to stay healthy, you live according to the principles of Truth-Compassion-Forbearance and try to get rid of bad thoughts and different attachments. The husband told lies and did something not in line with a practitioner's standards. He didn't look inwards to try and see if he had done anything wrong. Instead, he blamed his wife for her stubbornness. He actually was not a practitioner, at least in that regard. It is normal for a non-practitioner to have disease, to get old, and to die. Your mother didn't practice Falun Gong, but she lived to be 90. All the same, she recently passed away. The man's wife went to extremes and didn't look for anything wrong with her xinxing. For her to do that in front of people would cause damage to Dafa and thus might allow her rash to manifest." After my explanation, my friend changed a bit and warned me to be careful.

Another practitioner was taking care of her mother, a non-practitioner, at a hospital. When she was measuring her mother's blood sugar, she decided to check her own blood sugar, and her level was as high as her mother's. After her mother passed away, she herself suffered from diabetes symptoms. She had previously been very healthy. Now, her teeth started to fall out and she couldn't see clearly. She looked like she was in her 70s even though she was only 50 years old. She went into a coma several times and was revived through emergency procedures at hospitals. All the same, she didn't look inward for the reasons why this was happening. She didn't want practitioners to know, but her non-practitioner friend told other practitioners about it.

Her fellow practitioners wanted to help her to improve in this matter, yet she didn't want to improve. Instead, she asked other practitioners to look within themselves. Gradually, she fell unconscious more and more often. Her son had her take medication and injections. She said that Teacher said that practitioners didn't take medication or injections. But every time, her son sent her to the hospital to be resuscitated. For several years she was like this, claiming that she was passing tests of life and death. Previously, her son had been very supportive of her practice of Falun Gong. Now, he wanted to take away her books and didn't allow her to contact practitioners. He sent practitioners away as soon as he saw them. She wrote things on the walls, yet she couldn't even see. Her son followed her, cleaning them off. Her behavior had a negative effect on people.

Another, who became a practitioner in 1998, went to her hometown in the countryside after the persecution began in 1999 because she didn't want any trouble from the local police. Yet the local police found her through China's household registration system. She was afraid and didn't dare to practice Falun Gong. But still she wanted to practice because she knew that after practicing, she had become healthy. She wanted to practice, but at the same time she couldn't let go of her fear. Gradually the diseases she had before recurred. She secretly practiced the exercises but also took traditional medicines. What's more, she took health products called "Perfection" that her apprentice promoted to her. Practitioners pointed out to her that what she was doing was not in line with the Fa. She replied that it was not medicine, but food. Her apprentice said in front of her that she had become healthy after taking "Perfection." She didn't say anything or give any explanation. Later on, she started to promote this kind of product in the name of her child. Eventually, she suffered from diabetes and its complications and was hospitalized. She stayed in several big hospitals and spent all her savings before she finally passed away.

Many incidents of this sort happened among elderly practitioners. I am writing this article to serve as a reminder to others. Master said in Zhuan Falun:

"There is a criterion, however, that the life prolonged beyond your predestined time to live is completely reserved for your practice. If your mind goes wrong a little bit, your life will be in danger because your lifetime should have long been over."

Many of our veteran elderly practitioners cultivate very diligently. They walk swiftly and ride bicycles with ease as though someone were pushing them forward. They don't feel tired no matter how many stairs they climb. They are not behind younger fellow practitioners in regards to preparing truth-clarification materials or distributing fliers. I have first-hand experience in this regard. The lightness of our illness-free bodies is something that non-practitioners cannot imagine.

Just think: if a person is not willing to let go of bad notions and on the one hand clings to Buddha while the other holds tightly to personal interests and dirty attachments, how can he or she talk about letting go of the test of life and death? Master has told us clearly what a Dafa disciple should do in the Fa-rectification period. We should do the three things well and grasp every opportunity to save sentient beings. If you cannot save yourself, how can you save sentient beings? Elderly practitioners should treasure their time more and cherish what they have. You have already obtained the Fa. What else can you not let go of? "So why not also abandon the fear of attachment, itself? Isn't abandonment without omission a higher sacrifice?" (from "Non-Omission," Essentials for Further Advancement)