(Minghui.org) I am 88 years old, and have cultivated for 23 years. I would like to share some of my experiences of how I overcame tribulations with righteous thoughts.

Dangerous Tribulation

When I was reading articles on the Minghui website on the evening of May 13, 2019, a strong, ferocious power attacked my brain. I almost passed out. I immediately held the thought: No one can take my life.

I asked Master for help, and recited the Fa}:

“I’m Li Hongzhi’s disciple, I don’t want other arrangements or acknowledge them.” (Teachings Given on Lantern Festival Day, 2003)

I also recited loudly the formulas of sending forth righteous thoughts. My son, who was studying the Fa next to me, also joined me in sending forth righteous thoughts.

I felt that my body was locked, and it was very painful. I sweated a lot. I kept the thought that nobody can persecute me. I kept asking Master for help. About ten minutes later, I vomited and discharged dark blood clots. Neither I nor my son panicked.

It was the time for doing the sitting meditation, and I felt something trying to invade my body. I tried my best to eliminate whatever it was.

The second morning I was exhausted. But I told myself to overcome the tribulation with righteous thoughts. No demon can play tricks on me. I will act like a practitioner, and do what I should do.

I did the exercises as usual. But I felt very uncomfortable during the second set. I did not give up. I fell down after 50 minutes.

I recalled the story of the old lady Master mentioned in Zhuan Falun, who got hit by a car. I told myself firmly – I am fine.

My son helped me up. I was fine. My pants were wet. It was because I discharged dark blood again. I said to my son that I thanked Master for pushing the dirty karma out of my body.

During the past 20-some years, I passed many tests with Master’s protection, and never was in real danger. But this time, I felt unusual danger. Evil rushed towards me, trying to get into my body, and ruin my cultivation. It happened a few times within a dozen days.

Whenever it invaded me, I called my name, pinched myself, tried to keep my main consciousness awake, and let the enlightened side eliminate the evil. I also asked my son to send forth righteous thoughts for me.

We recited Master’s poem together:

“Swift like lightning, soaring to cosmic heightsMighty like a thunderbolt, reaching beyond heavensSweeping across the cosmos, no place untouchedEliminating altogether all that's decayed and deviant”(“Righteous Thoughts,” Hong Yin IV)

After multiple times, I clearly sensed that we defeated the evils. I believed that this dangerous tribulation must be caused by my unrighteous mind. I looked within carefully, and found the reason.

The Unrighteous Thoughts

Practitioner Yu (pseudonym) passed away two months ago. I failed to treat this incident based on the Fa. I was instead governed by human sentimentality, and felt very sad. Yu was 65. She started cultivation before July 20, 1999. Her husband and daughter cultivate too. They were all persecuted and imprisoned. The sum of their sentences was more than 30 years. They were good local coordinators.

I have known their family since 2010. I witnessed their experience. I asked myself why such a practitioner, who had passed so many tests, suddenly passed away. Did she reach consummation? Was this Master’s arrangement? What kind of effects would such a form of consummation have on our local Fa-rectification and saving people? Why did her family fail to stop it from happening?

I suddenly had a thought. I am 88, much older than her. Would I pass away suddenly too? It was such an unrighteous thought that gave the old forces an excuse to persecute me.

Sickness Karma

Although I passed the test of life and death, and got rid of the anxiety, but the evil didn’t give up. During the following months, I had severe pains in multiple parts of my body every now and then, feeling like a knife cutting and being electrically shocked. The pain lasted for a dozen days each time. I once had pain in the chest. I could not breathe or swallow food.

Following the pains were dizziness, sweating, and fatigue. I also had hypoglycemia. Once I had severe diarrhea. I went to the bathroom dozens of times a day for three days.

I told a fellow practitioner about it. She said, “Discharging bad stuff is a good thing.” Her words were a great encouragement to me, because I was trying to pass the test with righteous thoughts.

It was Master’s teachings about hardship and karma that guided me to struggle through the months of pain. I sometimes told my son that it was very painful. He always told me to keep the solid belief, which always gave me confidence.

Master said,

“Don’t let up in studying the Fa;amidst it transformation happensLet nothing sway conviction;of it comes right fruit and the blooming lotus”(“Diligence and Righteous Enlightenment,” Hong Yin Vol. II)

I enlightened that all the pains were tests that I must pass in cultivation. Master used them to improve my xinxing and solidify my righteous thoughts. It was Master eliminating my karma and purifying my body. As long as I cultivate on the Fa, improve my xinxing, eliminate attachments, and not deviate from the righteous way, the old forces would not dare to touch me, and Master will protect me.

Enlightening to the Dao

I calmly read the Fa every day, memorized Zhuan Falun, and watched Master’s lectures. I also read articles on the Minghui website. I clearly felt that the tribulation this time was greater than ever. In the past, I always had righteous thoughts when passing the tests, and never had negative thoughts. Whether facing sickness karma or the police, I always magically had Master’s help, and passed the tests without any real danger.

This time it was different however. The thought karma and negative thoughts often bothered me. I thought that I had put down life and death, and the attachment to my son in 2000, when I spoke out for Dafa. But I found they came back this time. I felt that the courage I had at the beginning of my cultivation had weakened. I failed to strive forward diligently, and no longer thought about improving myself. Due to selfishness, I also developed fears of hardship and persecution.

I even told myself to “slow down” when clarifying the truth in public, to avoid danger. I comforted myself with the excuse that I had done a lot, so I could slow down now for safety. With all kinds of physical problems in 2018, I had slacked off in saving people. My cultivation had entered a deviant path.

Enlightening to it, I told myself that to change I must not slack off and let the old forces have excuses. I must not betray Master’s salvation. If I missed the precious opportunity of cultivating in the Fa-rectification period, I would regret it forever. I knew I must be diligent, and make changes.

When the pandemic started in January 2020, I realized that I needed to hurry up to save people. I told people on street to recite “Falun Dafa is good; Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good,” to avoid being infected. Many people thanked me.

I came back to the righteous path arranged by Master. I saw the brightness. I came back to the diligent state. The selfishness was replaced with the Buddha nature. I improved myself, and the old forces’ arrangement of sickness karma failed.

Solving Cultivation Problems

Human Notions

I treated practitioner Yu’s death with human notions, which gave the old forces the excuse to persecute me. Master said in 2015:

“And it is under precisely these circumstances that you cultivate. It really is dangerous if you can’t treat it with all due seriousness. And in some cases they go so far as to select a practitioner, not even considering whether the person has attachments, for purposes of testing the practitioners in that locale, so as to elevate people’s xinxing and test their faith. They will cause that cultivator to die, make that Dafa disciple depart early, and make others waver. This approach doesn’t seem right, but on a larger level they do have grounds for it, which are, how could such a large group of cultivators not be put to the test—not be tested to the core? So they do have grounds for it, and all of this is thus terribly serious for you.” (Fa Teaching at the 2015 West Coast Fa Conference)

However, I still fell into the old forces’ trap in 2019, and almost lost my life.

Passing Critical Moments

To completely deny the old forces’ arrangements, we must not only understand the teachings in our minds, but also carry them out in action. Master said,

“The path of every being is very complex, and so are the situations he encounters. At critical moments, when you are at a crossroads of whether you will be able to make it through, if you do poorly you will lose your life, but if you do well you will break through.” (Fa Teaching Given at the 2014 San Francisco Fa Conference)

Approaching Limit of Lifespan

I put down the fear of getting old and approaching the limit of my lifespan.

Master said,

“...a being's choice is up to him, even if he made some kind of vow in history. At critical moments it's still up to him what he wants to do.” (“Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Philadelphia, U.S.A.,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. II)

Getting Old is of No Importance

I understand that Dafa is a cultivation practice of mind and body. Our lives will be extended with consistent cultivation. So we don’t have to be afraid of getting old, or death.

I am 88. I obtained the Fa when I was 66. The Fa made me understand the meaning of life. I have made up my mind to follow Master until the end. I know that senior practitioners should be even more diligent. I am of good heath and good memory. I can move around without any trouble. Many people have been amazed by it. As long as I genuinely cultivate, what should I be afraid of? Not to mention that the fears of getting old and death are attachments that we should eliminate.

Motivation in Cultivation

Master said,

“Today, the ability of Dafa disciples to get to that final step will create the path for human beings to become Gods. Never before in history has that happened.” (“Teaching and Explaining the Fa at the Metropolitan New York Fa Conference,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. III)

Master created the path of cultivation for us, which never happened in history. We have the opportunity of becoming gods. I cannot express my appreciation to Master’s boundless compassion with language.

I felt ashamed when looking at my human notions, which are so petty and dirty. When passing the tests, my motivation was to walk to the end of cultivation and finish the path of becoming a god as arranged by Master. Only by keeping the physical body can I validate the Fa in the human world, and fulfill my task of saving people.

Since my motivation is altruistic and noble, the power of Dafa helped me to overcome all kinds of tribulations. My xinxing was improved, the incorrect physical state disappeared, and the evils were eliminated by Dafa.

Lesson Learned

The lesson I learned this time was that I failed to study the Fa well so that the improvement of xinxing was delayed. The whole process was too long, and I wasted time that should have been spent on saving people. I failed to eliminate human notions thoroughly. I still had attachments to showing off, self-righteousness, looking down on others, and being only willing to talk to the practitioners that I liked.

I now understand that the process of overcoming tribulations is a process, in which divine thoughts defeat human thoughts. It all relies on righteous thoughts that accumulate through studying the Fa, and solidly cultivating every day.

I must go back to the state that I had at the beginning of cultivation, catch up in cultivation, and cherish the precious opportunity of cultivation in the Fa-rectification period. I must study the Fa well, solidly cultivate, and walk out of the human realm. I must do the three things well, walk well on the rest of my cultivation path holding righteous thoughts, only so I can pay back for Master’s salvation.

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