(Minghui.org) As a youngster I was weak and sickly. I started to practice Falun Dafa because medical treatments proved ineffective. At that time, my intention to practice was to rid myself of illness and improve my health.

Soon after, my body recovered and my ailments disappeared. It has been more than 20 years since I started practicing Dafa. During that time I have had false signs of illnesses. Some of them appeared to be quite serious, including hereditary diseases in my parents’ families.

My father’s family has a history of lung disease. He passed away from it. My younger sister, a year younger than I, died at the age of 17 from blood loss after being treated for bronchial dilation. Our family was devastated by her death. This was my first emotional hurdle, soon after obtaining the Fa.

Not long after, I developed the same symptoms as my late sister. I started coughing day and night. My mother was scared and insisted that I take medicine. My heart wasn’t moved and I threw the medicine out when she wasn't looking. For seven or eight years, every fall, I had a hacking cough for about a month. I knew that this was to purify my body and eliminate karma.

Shortly after I passed this test, I developed the symptoms of a gynecological condition common in my mother’s family. As a teenager, I suffered from menstrual cramps. I remember one time, curling up under my desk in class in extreme abdominal pain. I thought I had food poisoning. It wasn’t until I practiced Dafa in my 20s that the menstrual cramps disappeared.

After practicing for more than 10 years, I had the symptoms of metrorrhagia (irregular uterine bleeding), another gynecological condition. I was alarmed and frightened! Looking inward at that time, I realized that I had not studied the Fa solidly and was therefore not able to deny the old forces’ arrangements.

The pain from the metrorrhagia was intense. As a veteran practitioner I thought to myself that, if I died, it would leave a negative perception of Dafa. At that time, I still lived still in China and was working in a banking system with several thousand employees. Another practitioner and I validated the Fa at work, so they would see me. My father was a head director where he worked, and his employees also knew that I practiced Falun Gong. I thought that I could not die and considered taking medicine and going to the hospital. I asked my husband to buy the medicine for me, but when I thought about it, I realized that this was not in the Fa and that the symptoms were just an illusion.

I passed out three times in five days. On the sixth day, with the help of a fellow female practitioner, I strengthened my righteous thoughts. She said, “With Master near you, what are you afraid of?” I said to myself, “I won’t go to the hospital, I won’t take medicine, I’ll give my life to Master.”

That same day, I stopped bleeding, and that night I had a dream that Master was offering me heavenly fruit. After eating the fruit I felt that my body was cleansed by its wonderful juice. The pain in my body subsided. I began to do the exercises diligently and was able to increase the amount of time I did them daily. In a short time, I was able to complete the five exercises without stopping, and miraculous things happened to my body. Within two weeks, I started to pass growths, from a heavy flow to less and less. A close relative who is a doctor said they were uterine fibroids. She said that the chance of that happening without medication or surgery was one-in-a-million. She remarked that I was cured by Falun Gong. Many relatives in my family have also learned about the miraculous healing effects of Dafa.

I wondered why I bled for those six days. Each time, just before I passed out, I would cry out, “Master, please save me!” The symptoms were much more dangerous than cancer. As a veteran practitioner, I realized that my cultivation level was still limited. I had thought of taking medicine and going to the hospital. If I hadn’t developed righteous thoughts during those critical times, I believe I might have died. After finally letting go of the attachment to life and fear of death, I was able to pass this test.

Master said,

“When disciples have ample righteous thoughts, Master has the power to turn the tide.” (“20th Anniversary Fa Teaching,” Collected Teachings Given Around the World Volume XI)

I realized that the most important thing for practitioners is to have faith in Master and in the Fa.

My daughter is 21 years old. She is a smart and hardworking young woman. A month or two after she was born, she had convulsions, threw up everything she ate, and cried all night long. I was in tears. At the local hospital, she was diagnosed with cerebral palsy, for which there is no cure.

Fellow practitioners came to help me with some chores, and we studied the Fa together. One of them discovered that I had put a picture of Master in a closet. She said, “I now understand why your child is sick. During this period of Fa-rectification, you don’t even dare to display Master’s picture in your house.”

I then suddenly remembered a recent dream. There was a knock on my door and I opened it to see a middle-aged woman I later realized was my mother-in-law. She came in and we talked. After a while, she took on the appearance of a demon but she wasn’t able to harm me. She said, “Though I can’t harm you, I will harm your child.”

I realized what this dream meant. My husband’s family members all oppose Dafa. Even when I clarified the truth to them, they would not listen, fearing that it would affect their own interests. When my mother-in-law took care of me after my daughter was born, she kept me from studying the Fa and cultivating. She was so insistant that I became afraid. I tried to maintain harmony on the surface. I thought that she wouldn’t be with me for long and I should obey her, so that we could just get along. I didn’t realize that my own improper thoughts had brought so much difficulty to my child and myself.

I sent forth righteous thoughts to correct my mistakes, and many fellow practitioners joined me to add support. In the end, the real change came after I overcame my own fear and was no longer bothered by my husband’s family’s threats and objections. The moment I put up Master’s picture in my house, I thought, “No one can touch this.” The illusion of my child’s illness also disappeared.

In the process of cultivation, there are all kinds of notions and attachments, some of which cannot be discovered in a timely manner. There are also attachments that appear to be hard for me to eliminate and yet easy for others to deal with—and vice versa. All of these can generate different illusions. I know that, by practicing diligently, I can break through them.

Up until the fourth grade, I had frequent fevers and was often taken to the hospital for injections and medication. From the time I started practicing Falun Dafa up to this day, I still have occasional false fevers. Not long ago, during a truth clarification event, I handed out a lot of Dafa informational materials. When I returned to my apartment exhausted, I began to develop symptoms of a cold accompanied by a fever. I couldn’t sleep all night, constantly coughing. Suffering and enduring through it, the symptoms disappeared in a week. Thank you, Master, for your encouragement and for eliminating the karma for me.

I think it was obvious that Master was pushing out karma to help me to improve in cultivation. If I was not a practitioner, I could have died from those illnesses. As Dafa practitioners during the Fa rectification period, with strong faith in Master and the Fa, we can do well in cultivation and do a good job of saving sentient beings.

Above is my experience and understanding of sickness karma.

Thank you, Master! Thank you, fellow practitioners!

(Presented at the 2024 Philadelphia Fa Conference)