(Minghui.org) I started practicing Falun Dafa a bit more than a year ago when I was 30 years old.
A few days ago, I suddenly began experiencing pain in my neck and shoulders. It started suddenly, for no apparent reason. At first, I was pleased and felt grateful for being able to repay my debts quickly.
After an hour or two, the pain spread to my chest and then to my left arm and shoulder. It became much stronger and very sharp. I had difficulty breathing, and I began trembling from the pain.
I was just about to go with my parents to a meeting scheduled with some salespeople. We still had a few minutes, so I thought that doing the first exercise would help me not wallow in pain and not succumb to a passive state. While doing the exercise, I had difficulty moving my left arm, which would only do part of the movements.
I decided that the most important thing would be to keep doing the exercise as usual, and not ascribe any importance to such phenomenon. I also decided that I would not tell my parents anything and thus not to give the pain any further room or expression.
Master teaches us in “Upgrading Xinxing” in Zhuan Falun:
“A person over fifty years old was dragged that far by a car and knocked down to the ground. Where could her body be injured? Everywhere. She could have stayed on the ground without having to get up. Go to the hospital? Sure. She could have stayed at the hospital and would not move out. An everyday person might be that way, but she is a practitioner and did not do that. We have said that good or evil comes from a person’s spontaneous thought, and the thought at that moment can bring about different consequences. With her old age, if she were an everyday person, how could she not be injured? Yet her skin was not even scratched. Good or evil comes from that instant thought. If she were lying down there claiming, ‘Ugh, I feel terrible. Something is wrong here and there.’ Then, her bones might really have been fractured, and she would be paralyzed.”
The pain continued, and I recalled a conversation I had with a friend, who told me the symptoms of a heart attack – which include pain in and difficulty moving the left hand, chest pressure, and trouble breathing. Suddenly I thought: "Wait a minute, perhaps something is happening here. Could this be a heart attack? I am experiencing the exact same symptoms."
For a brief moment, I thought: “Maybe it's because of my lifestyle, my nutrition, or my sleep patterns.” For a moment I felt angry, and then I recalled what Master said in “Your Mind Must be Right” in Zhuan Falun:
“Yet one day he suddenly seemed to suffer cerebral thrombosis and fell to the ground. He felt that he could not move and as though his four limbs were out of commission. He was sent to a hospital for emergency rescue. He was then able to walk again. Think about it, everyone: With cerebral thrombosis, how could one walk around and move both arms and legs again so quickly? Instead, he blamed Falun Dafa for making him go wrong. He did not think about it: How could he recover so quickly from cerebral thrombosis? If he had not practiced Falun Dafa at that time, he might have really died there when he fell. Perhaps he would have become paralyzed for the rest of his life and would have indeed had cerebral thrombosis.
“This is to say just how difficult it is to save a person. So much had been done for him, yet he still did not realize it; instead he said something like that.”
Another thought popped into my mind: “Maybe the pain will increase and my situation will worsen, and maybe I will collapse and be taken to the hospital just like the person who seemed to suffer a stroke in the book.” I went on thinking that, if this was to be my fate then so be it. At least this way I would quickly repay all my karmic debts.
I then recalled part of Master's answer from the lecture “Teaching the Fa in the City of Los Angeles,” 2006:
"But how could a divine being have ordinary people administer treatment on him? And how could ordinary people heal a divine being's sickness? (Applause) (Teacher laughs) These are Fa principles. But often the case is that you really don't come across as having all that strong of righteous thoughts. When you can't handle yourself well, then go ahead. If your mind is unsteady, that means you are not meeting the standard, and prolonging the process won't lead to any changes. And if someone holds out for the purpose of saving face, that is adding attachments on top of attachments. In such cases there are only two choices: You either go to the hospital and thus give up on trying to overcome the test, or you completely let go of everything, behave like an upstanding and noble Dafa disciple who has no resentment or attachments, and leave it to Master to arrange whether you stay or go. When you are able to do that, you are a god."
I said to myself: “Whatever happens is for the best, and it is all part of my path that Master has arranged.
Some of the people around me were curious and demanded to know why I was so quiet, and why was I standing bent like that. They even began complaining to me about it. I felt very bad and even had difficulty answering them. I remained quiet, and, to my surprise, the questioning stopped.
We started our drive to the planned meeting. I was lucky not to make any eye contact with my parents during the whole ride, and they also didn't notice my restless posture, my heavy breathing, and the agony that clearly showed on my face.
After arriving at the meeting the pain gradually subsided. After an hour I felt much better. I still had some localized pain and a slight feeling of sickness that kept up throughout that evening and the following day, but it was much more subtle.
Before going to sleep, a small feeling of apprehension arose: “What will happen tomorrow morning when I wake up and do the exercises? Maybe I should rest and skip them tomorrow? What if the pain will make it hard for me to do the exercises and even increases while doing the exercises?”
I decided that the opposite was the right thing to do. I should practice as usual because the exercises are good for us and they cultivate our bodies. I realized that, if I took a rest, that would be exactly what the karma wants – to put me in a passive state so it can escape from being eliminated.
I didn't succumb to these thoughts and got up the following morning as usual to do the exercises. During the exercises, I felt normal again and even quite comfortable – it seemed I had passed the test and achieved a better state than before.
Views expressed in this article represent the author's own opinions or understandings. All content published on this website are copyrighted by Minghui.org. Minghui will produce compilations of its online content regularly and on special occasions.
Category: Improving Oneself
