(Minghui.org) For the past several years, our local coordinator has arranged for home visits for five Falun Dafa practitioners who were suffering from illness karma. I helped them study the Fa, send righteous thoughts, and rectify their cultivation state. I stayed with them for long periods of time, basically until they were able to make a breakthrough in facing their tribulations. While helping them, I’ve improved my own cultivation state and xinxing. I’d like to share some of these experiences.
Ms. Ling had symptoms of illness karma, and had developed breast ulcerations that oozed pus. The coordinator asked me to visit her every Tuesday and Wednesday, to study the Fa, do the exercises, and send righteous thoughts for an hour with her. Other practitioners were helping her as well. After being there for a month, she said to me, “How come the others don’t show up any more? Did I hurt them?”
I understood her feelings, as most practitioners who were suffering illness karma looked forward to being with other practitioners. Through sharing and having their righteous thoughts strengthened, they were able to find their attachments and overcome their tribulations.
I comforted her by saying, “Don’t worry. Many practitioners are tied up with other work. Some took on coordination work, some are writing articles for the experience sharing conference, and some are also helping other practitioners who are experiencing similar situations as you. Please don’t worry about them. As long as I have time at night, I’ll come here for sure.” In the following couple of months, as long as nothing else important came up, I always went to her home to study the Fa with her. After sending righteous thoughts, I would catch the last bus home.
One day, Ms. Ling appeared to have strong illness karma elimination. A few practitioners who learned about her situation helped her send righteous thoughts for the whole night. The next day, the coordinator asked me to stay at Ms. Ling’s place for a few days. She also mentioned that several senior practitioners were going through illness karma tribulations to varying degrees. For instance, her mother-in-law Ms. Wen was also feeling under the weather, and had called her early in the morning to share with her about her symptoms.
What hit me was that Ms. Wen had another illness karma tribulation, which triggered my memory of the time that I studied the Fa at her home. Before that, she appeared to have some illness symptoms, and another practitioner and I had been to her home for as long as a month to send righteous thoughts. However, she became fearful, saying the area where she lived had many cameras installed. Because of that, she stopped having practitioners gather at her home to send righteous thoughts and do the exercises. She later found out that the so-called cameras were in fact electricity poles that had been newly installed.
During the pandemic I went to visit Ms. Wen, with the purpose of sharing with her my understanding based on the Fa. However, I held a negative attitude toward her for going to the hospital for treatment, and she didn’t take what I shared to heart. After the lockdown was lifted, when I went to her home to send righteous thoughts, I lacked compassion, and only went through the motions. I always felt that she lacked faith in Dafa, and that therefore, sending righteous thoughts might not help her. And after she stopped practitioners going to her home for group exercise out of fear, I looked down on her even more.
This notion, though obscure, always lay dormant in my thoughts. Therefore, when the coordinator told me about Ms. Wen’s recent situation, my resentment, dissatisfaction, and despise popped into my mind. All of a sudden, my two front teeth began to hurt. I immediately realized that it was my resentment of Ms. Wen that brought on this toothache. But still, I wanted to use a regular person’s approach to solve the problem. I picked up a pair of pliers, and, while looking in the mirror, began to pull the tooth. My tooth didn’t come out, and hurt even more. I tossed the pliers away and began to look inward. What I saw was all negative aspects of Ms. Wen, and I realized that I overlooked many of her positive points.
Although Ms. Wen was in her 80s, every week, she went out on foot to clarify the facts to people with other practitioners. She often went out from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., and traveled more than two miles. But she never complained about being tired or of any hardship she endured. Every time we went to her home for Fa-study or group exercises, she prepared sitting mats, water, and napkins for us.
Thinking about this, my resentment disappeared. I realized that I should begin to think of the issue more from her perspective, and help her strengthen her righteous thoughts. How could I resent her? I felt I’d let her down. After I sent righteous thoughts and finished the exercises, my toothache was completely gone.
I went to Ms. Ling’s home to ask if she needed company. I brought a duvet, mug and audio player with the Fa lectures on it. Her daughter had also come home during her school break. There were two bedrooms. If I were to stay over here, she’d ask me to sleep in the big bed for sure. But after I left, she’d have to clean up the house, despite the fact that she was still suffering from illness karma. I asked her opinion by saying, “I brought my luggage over. If you want me to stay, I’ll stay. But if you feel it’s better to have your daughter here instead, I’ll go home after Fa-study.”
She said she was fine with her daughter being around, so I headed home. If it were before, I wouldn’t have sought her opinion, nor would I have brought my duvet to stay over at her place. This time, the fact that I was more considerate was solely attributable to my experience gained by staying with Ms. Cai.
There was a time when Ms. Cai wasn’t diligent and held a lot fear. She asked me to stay over at her place to study the Fa and send righteous thoughts. In the beginning, we were at peace, but later on, her actions started to irritate me. Every night, before I went to bed, she always prepared hot water to have me wash my feet. Even though I did it, I felt uncomfortable deep down. My feet were very clean and didn’t need to be washed every single day.
When I did the sitting meditation one time, I realized that when Ms. Cai asked me to wash my feet it wasn’t because of my odor, but rather due to her own issues. In order to avoid developing odors, she had formed the habit of washing her feet every day. At that time, I didn’t think about this, and had some resistance. Only until later did I understand that every practitioner has his or her own habits. Since I went to stay at her place, I should go along with these peoples’ living habits and arrangements.
It was exactly this experience that helped me correct my behavior and make me think from the other’s point of view more. I could truly feel that Ms. Cai’s righteous thoughts were getting stronger and stronger. And as a result, she was in much higher spirits.
I didn’t have a close relationships with any of the practitioners I helped. The reason I could go to their homes to help whenever they needed me was because in my day-to-day life, I was employed as a caregiver and personal support worker. I looked after someone who was paralyzed and bedridden. Every morning, I arrived at my employer’s home at 7:30 a.m., turned the patient over, helped him go to the toilet, made his meal, then fed him. At 9 a.m., I needed to help him do some exercises.
Since he was bedridden, his body was quite stiff. Thus, it took me a great deal of effort to turn him over. After we were done with the exercises, I was totally exhausted. I needed to turn him over every other hour, plus make sure he drank warm water and had some fruit outside of his three meals a day. As he was incontinent, I had to clean his clothes every day. Only after his wife came home at 7:30 p.m. could I go home. If the coordinator practitioner arranged for me to stay at the homes of practitioners who were suffering illness karma, then I couldn’t go home and rest during that time, and had to go to their places instead.
One night three years ago, I found out that Ms. Dong was experiencing illness karma and needed urgent help. The coordinator arranged for me to stay over at Ms. Dong’s place. That day, we had the biggest snowfall in our city. After I did two transfers on public transit, braving the wind and snow, it still took quite a bit of walking before I finally arrived at Ms. Dong’s home.
It snowed the entire night. The next morning, I walked through 13 inches of snow to get to my employer’s home. A couple of days later, the surface of the road became icy. One-foot-long icicles formed on the low eaves near the buildings. Many people took a detour to avoid being hit by the icicles, but it was the only way for me to get to Ms. Dong’s house. A month after the heavy snow, I still had to walk on the icy road very carefully every day. The biting cold wind made my face and hands red and numb. Sometimes I had second thoughts, thinking that it was too cold and far away, that I should take a break for two days. But, when I thought of the practitioner suffering from illness karma, who was still hemorrhaging, I gritted my teeth and persisted in going there.
After arriving at her home, we sent righteous thoughts together for as long as an hour. We got up just passed 3 a.m. to do the exercises and finished the five sets of exercises all in one go. This lasted for a month, without pausing for one day. Empowered by Master Li (the founder of Falun Dafa), a month later, she fully recovered and began to go out to clarify the facts. The day before I left her home, her mother put a basket of eggs into my hands. She became teary and said, “Thank you! You’ve come to my home to help her for a month. No matter the weather, you never skipped a day. Even her family members couldn’t do that.”
I was moved by Ms. Dong’s quick recovery, the trust among practitioners, and her mother’s words. In society nowadays, who can still have no pursuits and help others selflessly? This is very rare among ordinary people, but it is very common among practitioners. Only through cultivating Falun Dafa, could such a group of altruistic beings be created.
On this point, I recalled something that happened not long ago. Besides going to the homes of practitioners who were experiencing illness karma, I spend my spare time participating in truth-clarification work and handing out informational materials about Dafa.
One night, when another practitioner and I were handing out materials, suddenly it became very windy with bursts of thunder. I asked the other practitioner if we should find a place to shelter until the weather got better. She replied, “It’s not necessary. We’ll get there soon.” Miraculously, protected by Master, when we arrived at the residential area where we were to hand out materials, it began to pour. When we finished handing out the materials, the rain didn’t stop, and it was past 9 p.m.
I was worried that we might miss the last bus. In the rain, there suddenly appeared a person riding an electric bike. Since the rider had a raincoat on, I couldn’t tell who it was. Only when that person got off the bike, did we realize that it was the coordinator practitioner. She took out a raincoat and umbrella and handed them to us. I sincerely thanked her, then went to catch the bus. By then, the roads were flooded and the water was up to my calf, yet I felt warm deep down.
I thought I had missed the last bus, but when I got to the bus stop, a bus was there waiting for me. I was the only passenger, and the bus didn’t stop until I got off at my stop. Under such harsh conditions, even cab drivers would refuse to take any passengers, yet compassionate Master sent a dedicated vehicle to take me home. I can’t express my gratitude enough. I firmed up my mind: Regardless of the weather, I can’t stop helping Master save sentient beings.
The experience of helping practitioners with illness karma has greatly benefited me. During the process I managed to get rid of my ego, tempered my endurance, understood the Fa in a more rational way, and harmonized with the Fa. Now, as long as I get on a bus, I quietly recite, “How Humankind Came To Be,” “Why Save Sentient Beings,” “Further Understanding,” “Expounding on the Fa,” “Cautionary Advice” in Essentials in Further Advancement, and others of Master’s articles.
The words in Master’s new articles have eliminated the postnatal notions and bad thoughts in my mind. As soon as those bad thoughts, which were hard to detect, popped up, I could see through them and eliminated them all. Gradually, I learned how to cultivate my speech, and regained the feeling of cultivating that I had when I first started practicing Falun Dafa. My body and mind have melded into the Fa.
Thank you, benevolent Master, for having safeguarded me all along and given me hints when I needed them. I am so fortunate to be a Dafa practitioner immersed in the Fa, and I will not forsake my mission. I hope practitioners can strive forward and be diligent, and not disappoint Master’s compassion or the expectations of sentient beings.
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
