(Minghui.org) My mother, a Falun Dafa practitioner, experienced abnormal health conditions early this year. Her back became bent, and she walked lopsided. She felt so weak that she had to stop every few steps. Her lower abdomen was so painful that she could not cross her legs. Her arms were so weak she could not lift them for the second Falun Dafa exercise. Despite all her discomfort, she continued to clarify the facts of Dafa. However, she could not be very effective given her condition, which worried her.
I asked my mother to stay with me to study the Fa, do the exercises and send forth righteous thoughts. By looking within, mother found the root cause of her health problem. She had recently spent a lot of time and effort on making cured meat and sausages for my brother. She took the meat outside to dry during the day, and worried that it might get wet on cloudy days, or too dry on sunny days. This had turned into an attachment.
Finding Loopholes
In addition, my mother had held grievances against my father for many years because she thought he did not care about her. Cultivating had improved her xinxing. However, when father complained about doing housework, my mother would argue with him. She said, “You complain about doing a little bit of housework because you are in your 80s, but I'm only a couple of years younger than you. Why should I do everything?” Her recognition of her old age must have invited the old forces to give her the symptoms of old age.
After finding her loopholes, mother and I sent forth strong righteous thoughts to disintegrate the interference. She thought, “I'm Master Li's disciple. I only follow Master's arrangement. Although I have loopholes and attachments, I will correct myself based on Dafa's standards.”
Master said,
“Dual cultivation of nature and longevity means that while cultivating your character, you are also cultivating longevity, or in other words, you are transforming your innate body. While your body is transforming and human cells are being gradually replaced by high-energy matter, the aging process slows down. Your body will show signs of returning to youth, returning gradually and transforming gradually. When it’s finally completely replaced by high-energy matter, your body will have been entirely transformed into another kind of physical body.” (Zhuan Falun)
Since we were told that a cultivator's body is transforming towards being youthful, how could she admit she was aging? After mother gained this understanding of the Fa, her health condition returned to normal. Now, she looks more energetic than some young people.
Finding Attachments
I also found many of my attachments during the process of helping my mother. After being told about mother's health condition, my first thought was that she was old. I had often reminded her not to over-work herself because she was getting old. My words obviously recognized her aging.
I also found that I was impatient, wanting to take things easy, and holding personal goals. As mother wanted to clarify the truth every day, I had to tag along and got tired of pulling her. I thought, “Why don't you stay at home to study the Fa or send forth righteous thoughts, and go out after you get better? We are wasting a lot of time.”
Mother overcame her difficulty and persisted in clarifying truth, rain or shine because she knew the precious time Master had extended was for us was to improve. She recovered very quickly.
I felt ashamed when comparing myself to my mother. After she went home, I felt relieved – which is a selfish attitude. My loophole of selfishness was taken advantage of by the old forces. I fell to my knees and twisted my foot. I thought I would be fine because I'm a cultivator. I walked back home by myself. My ankle soon became badly swollen and I could not walk.
I knew it was my bad thought that had invited this incident. I stood before Master's portrait and confessed that I had held the wrong thought. I also begged Master to help me so that I wouldn't miss my truth clarification the next day. I did have a loophole on mother's issue, but I refused to recognize the arrangement by the old forces. I was able to walk again the next day and did not miss a single day of truth clarification.
Cooperating With Fellow Practitioners
My daughter and I usually clarify the truth together on weekends, but she had to work one weekend. This was not a bad thing, as I could go out on my own and distribute more truth-clarification brochures by myself.
As soon as I stepped out of my residential area, I saw another practitioner waiting for me near the gate. My heart sunk. A bad thought came to my mind, “It's too bad I can't take the route that I want to go. She ruined my plan. I won't be able to distribute too many fliers today.” I knew it was a bad thought, but I failed to correct myself immediately.
I walked behind this practitioner but tripped and fell to the ground. It turned out that a piece of iron wire on the cement pavement got into my sandal and tripped me. Master hinted through this incident that I had to eliminate my attachment to showing off and complaining.
Master said,
“Of course, the way karma gets transformed isn’t always in the form I just described. It can also be expressed in other arenas, out in the world, at home—it can take place anywhere. Maybe you run into trouble while you’re walking down the street, or it could be somewhere else out in the world. The attachments you can’t let go of around ordinary people all have to be let go. All your attachments, as long as you have them, all have to be worn down in different settings. You will stumble, and from that grasp the truth. That’s how you cultivate.” (Zhuan Falun)
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Category: Improving Oneself