(Minghui.org) I am a Falun Dafa practitioner from Shandong Province. On September 3, 2018, I completed the five sets of exercises according to my morning routine before heading to the kitchen for a drink. However, as soon as I tried to drink, my mouth felt numb and the water dribbled down my chin and on my chest.
Shocked, I touched my face, only to discover that I had lost all sense of feeling on the right side and my neck was stiff. I went to the mirror and saw that my facial features had become distorted. The right corner of my mouth was drooping, while the left was turned up. I was unable to close my mouth properly. Even my eyes were affected, with one eye larger than the other. I cried while silently begging Master for help.
My husband, who is also a Falun Dafa practitioner, anxiously told me that it looks like Bell’s Palsy (a type of facial paralysis). A work colleague was similarly affected, and now his mouth is still slanted. My husband said, “It's up to you to decide how to handle this situation.”
Furthermore, that day was my grandson’s first day at school and I had promised to take him there. My relatives and friends all knew I practice Falun Dafa. What would they think on seeing my condition?
My husband told me that Master’s new lecture mentioned that we can seek treatment at hospitals. But my severe migraine and uterine fibroids were cured soon after I started practicing Dafa. In 2014, our entire family was involved in a serious car accident but were not harmed. I knew that Master would help me overcome this tribulation and decided not to go to the hospital.
I slowly forced out my reply from my stiff and uncooperative lips, “It's an illusion. I deny it.” As soon as these words left my mouth, the right side of my face twitched and a comfortable warmth flowed from the top of my head to the rest of my body.
I was able to feel the right side of my face again! I looked in the mirror and found my facial features looked less disfigured than before. Instinctively, I knew that Master had removed a large amount of karma from my body. Overjoyed, I shouted, “Thank you Master! Thank you Master!”
While taking my grandson to school, I kept thinking of ways to deal with this tribulation. From Master’s teachings, I knew that we should treat everything we encounter as a good thing, an opportunity to elevate in levels.
I searched inwards and identified my attachments to pride, blaming others, resentment, showing off and the inability to accept the opinions of others. These attachments had become second nature, such that I had not even detected their existence.
I recalled in particular an incident that had occurred on Sunday night. My young grandson wanted to play in the park, but my son-in-law suggested they stick to their plan of going out to watch a movie. In the past, I had advised my daughter (a fellow practitioner) not to visit the cinema and watch movies produced for ordinary people. Although my daughter remained silent, her expression showed her disagreement. I knew that if I disagreed with their plans, the young couple would be upset and my grandson would also voice his displeasure. Hence, I kept silent as they left.
Afterwards, I started harboring resentment towards my daughter. We had decided to live together in order to help each other along our cultivation path. I willingly shouldered the burden of looking after her child, cooking, cleaning and dealing with the housework. However, she ignored my advice and wanted to go out to watch a movie.
My anger grew, disrupting my mental state and interfering with my ability to study the Fa, practice the exercises and send forth righteous thoughts.
The environment in our family became very tense because of my anger. My husband constantly asked me to focus on improving my xinxing and forbearance. However, I refused to follow his advice and stubbornly stuck to my own opinions, insisting that my daughter and son-in-law were the ones in the wrong, spending time on movies when they should be doing the three things.
Much later, I realized that my anger had been misplaced. The family had not gone to watch a movie and instead visited the Animal World Park.
This tribulation jolted me to my senses. Despite cultivating for so many years, like an ordinary person, I still firmly insisted on my opinions being right.
On my return home, I sat in the lotus position, reverently lifted Zhuan Falun with both hands and sincerely apologized to Master. “Master, I was wrong. I will correct myself.”
Because my mouth remained somewhat stiff, I initially wanted to read the First Lecture of Zhuan Falun in silence. However on reconsidering, I thought that this would just be complying with the tribulation conditions imposed by the evil forces. Therefore I started reading out aloud, slowly enunciating each word with care.
Master said:
“Then how should we handle that incident? When you run into that type of conflict, we should first keep calm, and we shouldn’t handle it the same way he did. Of course, we can explain it kindly, we can clarify things—that’s not a problem. But you shouldn’t get too attached.”
“For us cultivators conflicts come up suddenly. So what should we do? If you always keep a compassionate heart, and a peaceful state of mind, when you run into problems you’ll handle them well because it will give you space as a buffer.” (The Fourth Talk, Zhuan Falun)
Clearly, I had not followed Master’s teachings. I did not try to explain things clearly and harbored a great deal of anger. On encountering problems, I did not stop to think of others. This tribulation was rightfully mine, to allow me to recognize my shortcomings.
Afterwards, I spent hours studying the Fa, practicing the exercises and sending forth righteous thoughts every day. My attachments had been formed over many years, but in the face of this tribulation and Master’s kindness, I was finally able to fully eliminate my dissatisfaction and resentment.
Feeling gradually returned to the right side of my face and soon I was able to eat, drink and talk normally, prompting my daughter to happily exclaim, “Mom, your condition has improved so much! Dafa is amazing!”
Ten days after I first discovered my condition, I happily told my husband, “I have fully recovered.”
My husband carefully examined my face, and said, “Not fully. Your mouth is still a bit slanted.”
I looked in the mirror, and knew that I still had attachments to pride, being right and looking down on others.
My journey to eliminating attachments continues and I cherish this opportunity to cultivate and elevate in levels.
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Category: Improving Oneself
